The first thing to say is that this leadership journey has been transformative. If there is one takeaway from this post, it is that Laidlaw is perhaps the only opportunity, at least at my university, to properly throw yourself in the deep end.

I saw this first in my summer research project. Few other programmes at UCL let you take on a research placement outside your own department, and those that do usually require you to stay within the same broad area, such as STEM. As a history student, I joined UCL's Earth Sciences department to explore the world of volcanoes and satellites. It was eye-opening, and I loved it. My Leadership in Action project threw me in the deep end again, when I went to Mexico City to help a small composting company with its growth challenges. Learning leadership means throwing yourself in at the deep end, and between the summer experiences and the leadership training, this programme gets the balance right, at least it has for me.

My understanding of leadership has changed too. Before Laidlaw, I thought leadership meant having a clear vision and getting people behind it. My Leadership in Action project with Hagamos Composta, a community composting network in Mexico City, showed me that the most useful thing a leader brings is often not their vision. It is their willingness to listen. Laidlaw's 3Cs framework (Change Maker Values, Character and Capacities) helps me make sense of how my thinking changed.

Character

Our biggest mistake was starting our interviews with staff too late. We didn't hold the first one until week two, and it changed everything. Conversations with branch heads and the finance and welfare leads taught us more than any document had. From then on we rushed to speak to as many people as we could, but some, like the company's lawyer, were simply too busy by then. The lesson has stuck with me: understand how an organisation actually works, and why, before trying to improve it. Next time, I'll start listening on day one.

Character also meant humility about our role. Hagamos Composta wanted our fresh perspective, but it is a community built on a shared mission, run by people with very little time or money. Our job was to strengthen it without changing what it is.

Change Maker Values

I learned that values show up in small decisions. Staff had real concerns about sharing financial data, so I proposed communicating progress in percentages rather than pesos. That kept transparency without creating risk.

I stayed in one of Mexico City's wealthiest districts. Riding the cable car through the outer neighbourhoods made me realise how narrow a slice of the city most current customers represent. That shaped the subsidy model I designed, in which customers who can afford to pay more help fund collection for lower-income households. Ethical leadership means asking who is being left out, even when fixing it is years away.

Capacities

Working in a team of four taught me to divide work around people's strengths. I focused on operations while others led on funding. I also learned that the best solution is often the simplest. Customers were confused by three different WhatsApp numbers, which I called "the three-number problem", so we proposed routing everything through one. Plastic contaminating the compost was costing staff hours, so I designed a "no plastics" sticker for the buckets.

Above all, I learned that time is as scarce as money. Every recommendation costs someone something, and choosing one action means giving up another. Good leaders don't just do more. They choose well and are honest about trade-offs.

Acting as a global citizen

I want to carry these lessons forward. That means listening before I propose, designing around other people's constraints, and asking whose voices my evidence leaves out. Being thrown in the deep end taught me that you don't need all the answers to lead. You need to listen, adapt and be honest about what you don't know. A summer abroad doesn't make you a global citizen; what you do afterwards does. I'm grateful to everyone at Hagamos Composta, who gave us so generously the little time they had.