Aspire

Anything you want to achieve is in your reach and in your rights.

Dear Sam,

This is the last Love the Don’t Know article you will be posting for the Leadership Trust, and it is only appropriate for it to be a thank you note.

You’ve been with us for two years as digital content executive. This was your first job out of university. With a Degree in Biology and a Masters in Biological Photography and Imaging. We did wonder what you saw in us at the beginning but are glad you came to work here. Now, you have been offered the job of your dreams in one of the most prestigious botanic gardens and arboreta in the world, bringing you back to your passion for photography and biology.

I am so very proud that this company has provided you with the experience you needed to be the best candidate for this next position. I now understand what my old boss told me: “My role is to prepare you for your next job”. I didn’t understand at the time. I found it strange that you would want to build someone up to let them fly away. But now I do. And I know how good it feels.

When you came into my office to have a chat about your departure, you said to me: “I am so grateful to have worked with strong female role-models such as you and Janet (your line manager). It has enabled me to see what I can aspire to”.

I can retire now. If the only thing I have accomplished during my time here is to open the eyes of a bright young passionate woman to the fact that anything she wants to achieve is in her reach and in her rights, and given her the confidence to go after her dreams, then I am quite fulfilled.

I am grateful that you have told me how you felt. Not only because it means that as a company we have created an environment in which providing open and honest feedback is valued, but because this has burst open the next stage in my own development. Millennials, ha. You see, I had never considered myself a role-model. Not yet. I have not done enough yet to deserve to inspire the younger generation. For me, that is something I will be when I become an FTSE 100 CEO, or when I find how to effectively prevent PTSD, or when I sort out climate change, or wherever I decide to place the bar that will tell me I am good enough for me.

So thank you, Sam. Knowing that what I am doing, right here, right now, is enough for me to achieve one of the things I care about most, supporting women to fulfill their potential, I will be able to recalibrate my bearings. I will be able to have a more accurate perception of myself, and that will allow me to be more precise in my performance in that I will be able to wipe out the noise which occurs in the space in between self-perception and reality.

I wish you all the best in your new position, and I hope that in turn, you will ensure to inspire those around you.

Léa

12 April 2018

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