When I applied for the programme two years ago, I argued that leadership was rooted in humility, transparency, empathy, and the ability to convey the 'why' to others. At the same time, however, I think I had a rigid conception of the actions of a leader – head-down, resilient, getting through things without asking for help, and then taking accountability for your actions. These beliefs came from two things: (a) being a football referee for four years, where for 90 minutes each weekend I was the ultimate figure of authority, and therefore needed to constantly take and convey the reasoning behind decisions; and (b) being an estranged student, where the onus was always on me and me alone to deliver.

 Now, whilst I would agree more than ever with those first set of values, my conception of leadership no longer includes the latter – thanks to this programme. First, my LiA in a strategy role with Allia, a charity providing support programmes for early-stage social enterprises, enabled me to learn that great results come taking a step back, talking to others, and seeing the bigger picture. For the first few weeks, I had put myself into an imposter-syndrome hole, and only came out of it by talking with my colleagues. Second, my group research project relied on our group being open to criticism, to new ideas, and to different ways of thinking. In combination, these experiences showed to me that asking for support does not invalidate your leadership, but reinforces it.

I would argue that my leadership has developed most in my improved confidence as a written and verbal communicator. First, through the research project, I undertook a considerable amount of outreach to potential interviewees, facing many rejections but ultimately remaining resilient. This necessitated significant revisions to my written communication, iterating over time to gain more responses, and eventually convert those into interviews. Being open to a change in approach certainly helped with that. I would add that my written and editing skills improved significantly through the actual research paper – ensuring a consistent through line, brevity, and clarity in my analysis.

Also, the programme significantly improved my confidence networking, speaking, and interviewing. At Allia, I was given ample opportunities to network with business leaders, small-scale social enterprise owners, and early-career professionals. Networking has never been my forte, but Allia gave me the opportunity to work on that. Beyond my presentation for them, Allia also really refined my ability to communicate purpose – I remember the Director, when we had our morning meetings overviewing our tasks for the day, constantly asking ‘why’. I hated this at first, but soon realised its importance: forcing me to think on my feet about the rationale of everything, so that I work with purpose and intent. Furthermore, conducting interviews for the research project gave me the particularly important insight of the other side of interviews – which has given me far more confidence in interviews for graduate roles.

The Laidlaw programme has helped me figure out what I want career-wise: what will get me out of bed in the morning and drive me to consistently deliver. In part, it has done this by providing me with the opportunity to question myself. At Allia, I realised that entrepreneurship and strategic development were not necessarily my interests. Whilst I loved having a social impact, I learnt that I prefer to plan things and follow frameworks/structures, that I loved stakeholder engagement and hated ‘creative thinking’ when feeling like an impostor. Through my research project, I increasingly accepted what I was actually interested in – things like housing and transport policy – more so than my actual degree (International Relations). In combination, these gave me great clarity over how I actually want to start a career: doing something with tangible social purpose in housing and transport policy.

 Moreover, this programme gave me real experience, allowing me to start working towards this career ambition. In the same summer, I leveraged my LiA to get a role as a Political Intern for a political monitoring organisation, later renewed for a second summer after my research project. The research into short-term rentals and overtourism then enabled me to get my current part-time job, as a Parliamentary Reporter specialising in housing and transport. Hopefully, this will help to get the dream graduate job that I didn’t know I wanted before starting this programme. I don’t think its hyperbole to say that this programme has been pivotal for me.