Post-concussion syndrome and Lead with Tempo

I haven’t written a weeknotes post for ages. I got a minor concussion just over a month ago, which turned into post-concussion syndrome. Illness is a nightmare when you’re self-employed. I took a week off initially, but, in retrospect, this wasn’t long enough. It came at a busy period, and I felt like I had to get back to ‘normal’. My clients have all been incredibly patient and understanding, and I feel so fortunate to be working with such great people. The pressure was all from me. I feel like an idiot sitting here all these weeks later still feeling foggy, tired, and like a worse version of myself. Hopefully I’ve learnt my lesson about rest and recovery.

Last week I was at Lead with Tempo. I was slightly worried about speaking and attending, but it was a restorative experience. Being in community with amazing people gives more than it takes — which is no small thing for an introvert to say.

I wrote pages and pages of notes, but my key takeaways were:

• Elizabeth McGuane talked about her career path being a series of responses to questions other people were asking. Until she made a shift to posing the questions herself. This struck such a chord with me — all my first jobs were things I wandered into following someone else’s questions. Starting my business was the first step into posing the questions myself, and this talk was a great reminder that I need to keep asking.
• Sally Bagshaw’s talk about building a high-performance culture was filled with great advice, but one thing that stuck with me was her point that ‘high performance’ does not equal ‘always busy’. So many people need to hear this.
• I loved the way Anjana Menon talked about the importance of honest, unfiltered feedback, but balancing this with care and tact.
• Jane Ruffino’s talk about building relationships with stakeholders was great. I’m going to take her message that sometimes you need to go into the room with ‘golden retriever at a birthday party’ energy to heart, but also the underpinning point that the willingness of the people you’re working with is key, and you can’t always make it happen.
• Denise Brooks’ talk about supporting colleagues with ADHD was great. When Denise asked, ‘Do you bring the same energy to meeting your team’s needs as to meeting user needs?’ I felt a collective lightbulb go off in the room.
• Tina Johnson-Marcel’s talk about the power of peripheral vision, and observation and listening as a leader was incredible. ‘Observation is leadership’s first language’ – this was another huge lightbulb moment for me.
• Andy Welfe’s talk about pivoting from management to individual contributorship (IC) was so honest and refreshing. I also loved how Andy talked about all the ways you can use leadership skills as an IC.
• Finally, Erin Sian Williams’ talk was full to the brim with interesting ideas about leading design as someone with a content background. Two key takeaways for me were:
  • Define your leadership proposition and what kind of leader you want to be
  • It’s dangerous to position your team as a service — you need to be seen as a key ingredient in success.

I spoke about creativity and content – read an article based on the talk here.