You know when you go along to an event and it’s exactly what you didn’t know you needed? That was Lead with Tempo for me.
Firstly, it was brilliant to see so many content friends — old and new — including Trisha Brandon, Clare Scott, Laura Hiles, Lene Bayerlein, Pia Dawson, Lorraine Burrell, Lauren Tormey, Leah Bowden, and more.
Secondly, it was the way the talks balanced excellent advice on being a great leader, with encouragement to prioritise our wellbeing and joy. Several people mentioned caregiving throughout the day too, which made my heart glad as it’s Carers Week.
‘You don’t have to carry the weight of the discipline on your shoulders’
The way Sara Wachter-Boettcher talked about the danger in the ‘vocational awe’ some of us have for content strategy/design and the tendency to see it as a noble calling really resonated with me. I hope it’s not too arrogant to say that I think there’s a connection with my Button talk and the workshops I ran on thriving in the everything, everywhere all at once of content? The question Sara posed to think about who we are when we’re not at work is also one I’m going to to take away and ponder on.
‘LinkedIn doesn’t tell you about the role of privilege’
I loved this reminder right at the tail end of Shannon Leahy’s very pragmatic talk about growing your career.
‘There isn’t one magical process…which really sucks’
I think I need this, from Anna Söderbom’s talk, as a sticker, a poster, and maybe even a tattoo?
‘What can you turn into a template?’
Danielle Small’s case study on how AI can help overworked teams cut down on surface work was really interesting. And I loved Danielle’s infectious excitement when they spoke about terminology.
‘Focus on the company bets’
Nicole Michaelis’ talk was a real standout for me. Nicole talked about the importance of making an impact via leadership, and focusing on the things the company/organisation is betting on. Being able to show exactly how our strategy or approach ladders up to the key areas of focus, is essential. And it’s why I’m so rabid about making sure every strategy I work on specifically and aggressively references the org strat/OKRs/goals/whatever.
‘They want to find their people’
Mario Ferrer gave us a beautiful reminder of why community matters and what it can achieve. Hearing about Mario’s work in Spain took me back to the early days of content strategy, and the meetups in London and Brighton that had such a huge influence on my career.
‘The art of managing up and across’
Jen Shaefer gave a masterclass in managing peer leaders and senior leaders. There were so many excellent practical takeways from this talk. I also appreciated — and needed — the reminder to ask the people around you for feedback.
‘Leadership isn’t glam’
Heldiney Pereira’s talk looked at his role as a volunteer Director of a branch of Samaritans. I was lucky to do a lot of work with Samaritans a few years ago, and got to visit branches and meet Directors. Aside from the great takeaways on managing your mental health as a manager, it was great to shine a light on this very tough, very important role.
‘It’s impossible to be a perfect leader’
Candi Williams’ talk was the perfect end to the day. Candi brought us right back around to where we started, with a reminder that good is good enough, and that we need to reconnect and prioritise ourselves outside work.
