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Reflections of a New(ish) Leader

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I started writing this just one year on from making the jump from my full-time role in clinical neurophysiology to a strategic leadership role, a  point where I was just starting to see  myself as a leader. Maybe it was provoked by me being awarded my Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Leadership and Management Practice with Distinction and gaining that shiny CMI Chartered Manager badge (call me Danielle Johnson BSc. MSc. FCMI CMgr), or the 12-month milestone that made me feel like I finally had the credentials to be a leader. It has been a journey to really find myself as a leader and start to envision the kind of leader I want to be moving forward. In those first few months, I remember sitting in meetings not understanding a word anyone was saying – it is literally a whole new language – “ strategy, workstreams, operationalising ’ – what does it all really mean?! Leaving a clinical role I was pretty senior in and making a career pivot into transformation, innovation and projec...
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Introverts Can Be Leaders Too

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For as long as I can remember, I’ve been at the receiving end of comments about the apparent ‘flaw’ in my character.  I remember for years any school report or feedback would state that I should “be more confident” or “be more assertive”, as if that small piece of advice could transform my whole personality type.  I’ve often been mis-judged as being quiet or shy, my naturally reserved and thoughtful nature interpreted as standoffish. On my graduate scheme I received feedback that I was “aloof” and I was always conscious of coming across as unsociable, not acknowledging the reality that this more reflected the discomfort I felt in my environment rather than a problem with my attitude. I always feel like I need to appear more extroverted, to make people more comfortable with my introversion in social or professional settings, and to make sure they don’t interpret me as still lacking in confidence or self-esteem.   That’s because we live in a world that values extroversion. ...
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On Belonging

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 As I look up at my bookshelf, I notice some of the new additions from the past six-or-so months. ‘Mixed/Other’ by Natalie Morris, 'Maybe I Don't Belong Here' by David Harewood and ‘Living While Black’ by Guilaine Kinouani – overlapping themes of identity and belonging, difference and acceptance. Since the pandemic, I have found a new passion for reading; books have been my serenity, a mode of self-care, allowing me to completely clear my head except for the words on the page and the image they create in my mind. But more than that, in books I have found a sense of belonging; page by page they have allowed me to explore different parts of my identity, understand my heritage and the experiences of those before me, widen my perspectives to empathise with the behaviours of others and subsequently, process my own experiences and emotions - I think of the James Baldwin quote, “ You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you re...
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On Success

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My idea of success was much clearer when I was younger than it is now. It was the vision of me, in a business suit and heels, sitting in an office behind a door which had my name on it, returning to the house I owned and sitting around the dinner table with my partner and children. Money, status and fulfilling what society expected of me was what mattered the most.  But as we get older, our perspective naturally shifts and 'adult life' evolves into something not quite like what we pictured it to be as children. We start to consider that the list of things we wanted to achieve before we hit thirty might just have to be pushed back to forty, or be re-considered altogether - at least that's what has happened for me.  For many of us, the events of the past few years have further shaken our perspectives and forced us to re-evaluate and adjust. For me, the last few years have been characterised by change, and this has urged me to reconsider many different aspects of my life, to r...
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On Love

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A few weeks ago a work colleague was telling me another story about her husband and children. At the end of her story, and probably in response to my blank expression, she asked "so, do you have someone or...?". I didn't know what to reply - "no, I don't have anyone..." didn't quite seem right. The dynamic of the conversation between this younger colleague with fully-fledged mother and wife status and my single-self seemed strange and uncomfortable and I felt almost as if I was looked upon with pity. It got me thinking, why is being single seen as some kind of fault? Why is 'having someone' considered the ultimate achievement? Why do we prioritise romantic relationships above all other relationships in our life?  This conversation hit particularly hard considering that a few months prior, I saw in the new year in Ghana. As champagne bottles popped and I watched fireworks exploding in the sky above me, my hand firmly enclosed in someone elses, I t...
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A career break, a COVID pandemic and an introduction to Medical Cannabis

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This time last year, the cannabis industry was something I knew absolutely nothing about. However, a career break from my role within the NHS, paired with some unexpected circumstances due to the COVID pandemic, landed me in the world of plant-based medicines. In the Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (where I had travelled to with the plan to undertake a research project on the impact of epilepsy and introduce a diagnostic EEG  clinic), I received a crash course in cannabis (thanks to The Director of Cultivation at my sponsoring company) and subsequently developed a keen interest in the potential of this drug to treat a whole range of conditions, including epilepsy. Life in the Caribbean gave me a whole new perspective on many things, one of the most interesting being the use of natural and native plants and herbs as treatments and healing aids, which are sworn upon by locals, as they have been for many years. With discussion about the efficacy of the  papay...
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