During my Laidlaw journey I have been shown what type of leader I want to be in the future. Despite my past experiences in leadership, such as being a member of the youth parliament and representing the UK in a Model European Parliament, I still underestimated my skills. Participating in this scholarship has given me more confidence in myself and in my ability to be a leader. 

Being a Laidlaw Scholar in Durham, you get access to Durhams Leadership Academy which gave me access to many insightful seminars on how to be an ethical and empathetic leader. During these sessions we were taught how to motivate a team, how to treat our team with compassion, how to create a team that will be successful, and much more. During these seminars I found that I had been implementing the skills that make a good leader for the past few years, realising this instilled a sense of confidence in me that I do have the ability to be a leader. Having access to the Leadership Academy through Laidlaw also allowed me to access their mentoring scheme, and last year I was paired with a family barrister who I have been able to create a strong relationship with. She has helped me develop a clear view of what I want to achieve in my future and has helped me expand my connections in the charity world. She has also taught me by example, as I have seen how she is a good leader by looking at how she treated me. She has challenged and pushed me, whilst also supporting me, which are things a good leader needs to be able to do.  

My Leadership in Action during my second summer made the most impact in my journey to becoming a global and ethical leader. I was honoured to spend 6 weeks in Hanoi, Vietnam working for a human trafficking charity called Blue Dragon Childrens Foundation. During my time here I learnt valuable skills that will help me be a better leader in the future. I was able to be a part of an amazing team that has multiple inspiring leaders. Being able to observe their team meetings I was able to see how team leaders across different sectors – law, social care, communication and marketing – work together to ensure that all the teams are working together effectively in order to ensure the charity runs well. Alongside these meetings they also have regular events where all members of each team attend, which ensures that all team members are interacting with each other (as in the office they were very separate). Additionally, during these events and the weekly meetings the CEOs of the organisation would congratulate the teams on the work they have been doing recently. These actions may seem small, but the leaders of the foundation have made an environment where everyone on the team feels valued and even in my short time there I also felt the impacts of their dedication to creating a nice work environment. The founder and team leaders also made it clear when I was joining that self-care is important in their foundation, due to the intense work they deal with the charity ensures that workers are aware that support is available. They also had activities that employees could do every lunch time – such as yoga and zumba what I chose to do. The leaders of this organisation show a lot of compassion for their employees and the effects of this can easily be observed, the charity has been extremely successful in the last decade and employees all expressed that they feel supported and encouraged in what they do. Being a part of a team like this has shown me what type of leader I want to be and has shown me how important it is to be compassionate in leadership and that it is important to regularly congratulate and check in on the members of your team.  

Working abroad has helped me with the global aspect of being a leader, as working in Vietnam pushed me out of my comfort zone due to the cultural and language differences. There were language barriers with some of my colleagues, and with the children that were present on site. At lunchtime everyone ate together and with many of the children not knowing English most conversations were in Vietnamese. Being in this environment pushed me out of my comfort zone as I had to learn how to make connections with people when they did not have strong English skills. Being able to quickly adapt to new situations and make connection through barriers are important skills as a global citizen and my time in Vietnam has helped me further develop these skills. 

Overall, I have had a very valuable experience being a Laidlaw Scholar. Not only have my leadership and research skills developed during my time as a scholar, but I have also developed personally. Participating in this program has given me more confidence in myself and has allowed me to discover what I want to do after university and what I am passionate about.