Welcome - the leadership conversation I want to start

by Becca Bradd
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Nobody tells you, when you step into a leadership role, that one of the hardest parts will not be the strategy, the politics, or the pressure. It will be figuring out how to lead as yourself.

For twenty-one years I worked in human resources. For fifteen of those I was in senior leadership including five years as a Board-level People Director in the NHS. I have sat in difficult rooms and carried difficult decisions. I have navigated organisations that were not always designed for people like me.

And for much of that time, without fully realising it, I was performing leadership rather than doing it.

I was doing the role and often doing it well. But I was also watching myself do it. Wondering whether my instincts were right. Whether the way I naturally led with curiosity, with quiet authority, with a deep commitment to people was really the right way. Whether I needed to be harder, louder, more certain. Whether leadership looked different from the outside than it felt from the inside.

I do not think I was unusual in this. I think it is quietly common. And I think it costs organisations and individuals far more than we account for.

Here is what I now believe: the leaders who have the most impact are not the ones who have perfected the performance of leadership. They are the ones who have stopped performing it altogether.

That sounds simple. It is not. It requires clarity about what you actually believe, what you want, what is getting in the way. It requires confidence that does not depend on the approval of a room. And it requires courage especially if you are someone whose leadership has ever been questioned, overlooked, or underestimated.

That is what coaching, at its best, creates space for. Not to become someone else's idea of a leader. To become more fully yourself.

I founded RB People and Leadership Advisory because I believe that kind of thinking space should be available to every leader particularly those who face barriers to accessing it. This blog is part of that. It is where I will share what I notice, what I think, and what I believe about leadership, identity, and what it means to lead with clarity, confidence and impact as yourself.

I hope something here is useful. And if it resonates or if it does not I would love to hear from you.

Becca

Get in touch: beccabradd@rbpeopleleadership.co.uk


About the author: Becca Bradd is an executive coach and founder of RB People and Leadership Advisory Ltd. She works with senior women leaders, those stepping into executive roles, and leaders who face barriers to leadership.