A Final Reflection on the Laidlaw Leadership in Action Program

“I reflect on my reflections…” –Jason Segel, The Muppets

While re-reading my previous entries, I noticed that the predominant feelings expressed were awe and excitement. For instance, take the tirade about the diversity of London. Or the description of the Tortoise newsroom as a hierarchical, yet welcoming-once-familiar place. Most of my life up to this point has been at home, in school, and in various odd jobs in California and New York. But now the world has opened. 

By ‘opened’ I mean that the world outside my comfortable spheres of family, friends, and academia now seems more accessible. I feel very lucky to have had this opportunity. The small things–like booking my first international plane ticket–as well as the big things, like helping build a community network at a media organization like Tortoise, have changed me in ways that I will continue to notice throughout the next few years. This experience has made me more patient. It has also made me realize the importance of executing a general vision in a very specific manner. Tortoise’s relationship with its community partners is good as it stands, but its goal is to continue expanding to include a more diverse range of voices. And in order to do this, we interns helped organize outreach to organizations, trusts, charities, and universities. Our project is coming to a close, but by no means will the community network growth stop here. The team at Tortoise will continue to strive to create a more inclusive newsroom.

I’ll definitely miss the people. An office full of Brits brims with dry humor and quick wit. All of the interns, community network teammates, and journalists were very kind and welcoming. After we leave, we will stay in touch via email or Linkedin (as most people have exchanged contact information). 

The main lesson that I learned was about communication. Everyone has a different communication style, and it’s important to remember and implement the right one at the right time. For instance, when communicating with people in the office, we were expected to be efficient and somewhat casual. When emailing old community partners, we took a friendly and familiar tone. When cold-calling potential community partners, we were expected to be formal and thorough. This lesson will be useful in other service projects and leadership roles. 

The next chapter of my Laidlaw journey will probably be reflective. I tend to mull things over for a long time before coming to the sort of conclusions inspired by assignments – which are still very valuable, as they capture of-the-moment honesty. The next chapter of my life will definitely reflect what I learned here.

This experience also made me want to work harder and smarter to create long-term value. Doing work with the podcast team reminded me that people are doing incredible things. Despite the fact that this is not the human race’s most fabulous era – what with COVID, Roe, the war in Ukraine, the Johnson affair, and the list goes on – good people exist, and they are striving to make the world better. Caroline Criado-Perez’s podcast “Visible Women” (here’s a link if you want to check it out! https://www.tortoisemedia.com/listen/visible-women/) has forever changed the way I look at feminism and inspired me to pick up a project that I’ve been neglecting for a very long time. The basic idea is a story told from the perspective of an obscure female character, like a modern version of Atwood’s The Penelopiad. It’s not directly related to Laidlaw but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while. It’s relevant here because Laidlaw granted the tools (of good-quality research) and the inspiration (through the second-summer experience) that will drive this creative project.