Hi there,
How are you and how's your week been?
I want to share something that might change how you think about career transitions - and the leaders you're developing.
Last week, I met Sarah. Former marketing director, 20-year corporate veteran. The kind of leader every organisation wants to keep - strategic, reliable and brilliant at leading people.
Then her father died suddenly.
In the midst of her grief, she found herself in his pottery studio. As she worked with the clay, something unexpected happened. For the first time in years, she could breathe. The constant tension melted away. And a question emerged that she couldn't shake: "Is this really what it's all about?"
Six months later, she left corporate life to teach pottery workshops.
But here's what makes this really interesting. Sarah's positioning for the workshops isn't about teaching pottery. She's teaching executives how to reconnect with themselves. How to find clarity through creation. How to lead from a place of wholeness rather than burnout. Her workshops are booked solid with senior leaders from companies you'd recognise.
Why? Because she understood something was needed from the pain she was feeling - and turned it into something that people could connect with.
And I truly believe this to be true: Our deepest challenges often become our most powerful teaching tools.
Sarah couldn't guide others through transformation until she'd navigated her own. Her grief didn't derail her career - it redirected it toward something more impactful.
I see this pattern everywhere:
- The manager who struggled with work-life balance becomes the champion for flexible working that actually works
- The leader who burned out creates the most effective wellbeing programmes
- The executive who navigated redundancy builds the best career transition support
- The team member who experienced loss develops the most compassionate bereavement policies
It's exactly why I created PUSH because I knew, from my own experience, that managers need help relating to others, communicating and let's be deeply honest - understanding and managing themselves.
So, maybe it's time for us all to stop seeing life challenges as career interruptions and start seeing them as leadership development.
Your employees' personal struggles - the ones they try to hide - might be exactly what qualifies them to solve your biggest people challenges. That person returning from stress leave? They might design your best mental health initiative. The manager navigating divorce? They could revolutionise your employee support programs.
Three ways to apply this thinking:
1. In talent conversations: Ask 'What life experience has shaped your leadership style?'
2. In succession planning: Consider not just achievements but transformations. Who has turned challenge into wisdom?
3. In your own leadership: What personal challenge are you trying to keep separate from work? How might integrating that experience make you more effective?
The most innovative people solutions often come from those who've lived the problem.
Here's to leading with all of who we are.
Have a beautiful week, friends.
Cate x
Hi there,
How are you and how's your week been?
I want to share something that might change how you think about career transitions - and the leaders you're developing.
Last week, I met Sarah. Former marketing director, 20-year corporate veteran. The kind of leader every organisation wants to keep - strategic, reliable and brilliant at leading people.
Then her father died suddenly.
In the midst of her grief, she found herself in his pottery studio. As she worked with the clay, something unexpected happened. For the first time in years, she could breathe. The constant tension melted away. And a question emerged that she couldn't shake: "Is this really what it's all about?"
Six months later, she left corporate life to teach pottery workshops.
But here's what makes this really interesting. Sarah's positioning for the workshops isn't about teaching pottery. She's teaching executives how to reconnect with themselves. How to find clarity through creation. How to lead from a place of wholeness rather than burnout. Her workshops are booked solid with senior leaders from companies you'd recognise.
Why? Because she understood something was needed from the pain she was feeling - and turned it into something that people could connect with.
And I truly believe this to be true: Our deepest challenges often become our most powerful teaching tools.
Sarah couldn't guide others through transformation until she'd navigated her own. Her grief didn't derail her career - it redirected it toward something more impactful.
I see this pattern everywhere:
- The manager who struggled with work-life balance becomes the champion for flexible working that actually works
- The leader who burned out creates the most effective wellbeing programmes
- The executive who navigated redundancy builds the best career transition support
- The team member who experienced loss develops the most compassionate bereavement policies
It's exactly why I created PUSH because I knew, from my own experience, that managers need help relating to others, communicating and let's be deeply honest - understanding and managing themselves.
So, maybe it's time for us all to stop seeing life challenges as career interruptions and start seeing them as leadership development.
Your employees' personal struggles - the ones they try to hide - might be exactly what qualifies them to solve your biggest people challenges. That person returning from stress leave? They might design your best mental health initiative. The manager navigating divorce? They could revolutionise your employee support programs.
Three ways to apply this thinking:
1. In talent conversations: Ask 'What life experience has shaped your leadership style?'
2. In succession planning: Consider not just achievements but transformations. Who has turned challenge into wisdom?
3. In your own leadership: What personal challenge are you trying to keep separate from work? How might integrating that experience make you more effective?
The most innovative people solutions often come from those who've lived the problem.
Here's to leading with all of who we are.
Have a beautiful week, friends.
Cate x
