Ten years ago, I got my first leadership job in the arts. It had come after a long and frustrating search for my next move, involving a lot of job applications and an almost equivalent amount of rejection. I’d got everything I could from the job I was in and I was (I thought) ready to step up. I was doing a producing job for a small scale venue which, over the four years I’d been in it, had incorporated not only producing the shows but also, at various points, learning to code so I could update the website, designing all the marketing materials on Photoshop, looking after all of our individual donors, having an intimate knowledge of the box office booking system, and doing a couple of front of house shifts every week for a bit of extra cash. I thought that having that breadth of knowledge of all the different bits of an organisation would mean that, when I finally got to be one of the people in the driving seat, I would know what I was doing.
This makes me so happy! I can't wait to ready everything else you have in store. What a fantastic opening essay, brought me back to the good ol' times together (where to me you were exactly the opposite of lost and confused <3 )
Reading this, so much resonated with me, particularly that feeling of 'shell shock' when you first take on a big leadership role. Gulp. I am a big believer in the importance of finding time to think for yourself, and perhaps this substack is just that for you! I look forward to reading more.
Bravo Rachael. I’d love you to share some of your go-to resources and leadership gurus. What was the daily one you mentioned over dinner?
This makes me so happy! I can't wait to ready everything else you have in store. What a fantastic opening essay, brought me back to the good ol' times together (where to me you were exactly the opposite of lost and confused <3 )
Reading this, so much resonated with me, particularly that feeling of 'shell shock' when you first take on a big leadership role. Gulp. I am a big believer in the importance of finding time to think for yourself, and perhaps this substack is just that for you! I look forward to reading more.