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Discover Diaries: Svetlana Leu | Week Two

In partnership with our Clore Social, we’re delivering our pilot ‘Discover’ programme in Spring 2019: a four week online introduction to leadership. As part of this, we invited participants to keep ‘Discover Diaries’ – thoughts, insights and ‘notes to self’ about this new learning experience.

Svetlana Leu: Week Two

After careful thought and consideration about who I was as a leader in week 1, week 2 took me back to basics, allowing me to think about the ‘why’. Why am I doing the work that I do? What is my purpose? Why does my organisation do the work it does? This type of reflection based on the Golden Circle by Simon Sinek was important as the ‘why’ often gets lost or forgotten but in fact, it should remain at the forefront of your everyday tasks. As Simon said, ‘people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.’ With that in mind, I realised that part of being an effective leader is encouraging others to remember their ‘why’ and the organisation’s ‘why’, as this is one of the driving forces and motivating factors for success.

Week 2 was also filled with theory on system leaders and collective leadership, including ideas on how to effect change within your company as well as nationally and internationally. Although I am not yet in the place to fully implement all of this theory, there were useful takeaways that I felt I could incorporate and consider at this stage such as seeing the bigger picture, reflecting and building a positive vision for the future. 

Overall, I am enjoying the variety of resources and tasks we have been assigned so far. From podcasts and Ted Talks to long read articles and filming yourself discussing your ‘why’, the Discover Programme offers something for everyone and is designed for the leaders of today.

Read Svetlana’s Week One Discover Diary here.

By Svetlana Leu, Account Manager, SUTTON.

Themes Alumni Journeys Qualities of Leadership