Leadership from within: a personal journey towards purpose
Gill Simpson is the Director of chapter forty four, a consultancy and coaching business that helps people and organisations realise their potential by identifying their purpose and putting it to work.
With over 20 years of experience in the private (FMCG) sector, Gill held a number of different senior leadership roles, most latterly on the Executive Board team at Danone where she was Corporate Affairs Director for the Early Life Nutrition business in the UK.
Throughout this time, she has been inspired by the role that coaching can play in helping people transition to leadership roles and become effective, authentic leaders. She is a member of the International Coach Federation and in the process of completing a Post-Graduate Certificate in Business and Personal Coaching.
Leadership is personal. Becoming a leader is an individual process and it starts with self-awareness. It requires a deep understanding of who you are. But how many of us really understand who we are and what we are leading for?
After many rounds of 360 feedback, personality profiling and leadership courses, I came to realise that values lie at the heart of leadership. Values are the energy behind our goals; they help us explain why we do what we do, but few of us can clearly articulate what our own values are. It was only when I understood my values that I began to really make sense of who I was as a leader.
Let me give you an example. One of my values is compassion, and in the world of work it has sometimes felt like more of a hindrance than a help. My compassion links to high empathy, which means I am sometimes openly emotional in certain situations. Some people I’ve worked with have found this uncomfortable; some have perceived it as a weakness. So for a long time I thought it was something I needed to address. And I did need to give it my attention, but not in the way I first thought. Rather than finding ways to control and quash my empathy and emotions, I realised I needed to accept it as an important part of who I am and to find ways to use it as a leader.
One experience has stayed with me. I was on the executive board team of a large FMCG business and we had taken a tough, organisational decision that we knew would impact people’s jobs and lives. It was an organisation that really cared about its people and we gave a lot of thought to how we could best communicate this difficult message to employees. Because of my ability to empathise and unlock emotion in others, we concluded that I should be part of the team making the announcement. What started out as a perceived weakness had turned out to be a crucial leadership quality, and even though it was one of the hardest moments of my career, it was also a defining moment for me personally, as I felt truly valued for being who I am.
This in turn inspired me to think about what I was leading for. I believe all great leaders are in touch with what matters to them, guided by the future they want to see. I know now that what matters to me is people. I want to help others to go on the journey I’ve been on, to have the chance to understand who they are and how they can bring their values into their work as a leader. How they can do more of what really matters to them, and to be more of themselves more of the time. How they can lead with their own purpose.
I’ve now established my own coaching and consultancy business, with purpose. A purpose that supports others to work out what really matters to them and to start leading towards that future. And I’m still on my own leadership journey. Wherever you are as a leader today doesn’t determine where you will be tomorrow. It’s up to you to find the answers and go on your own personal journey to discover your purpose.
You can get in touch with Gill at gill@chapterfortyfour.co.uk or www.linkedin.com/in/gillsimpson.
This article originally appeared in the Autumn 2017 print issue of Purpose. For more on creative leadership, problem solving and purposeful business, please visit thehouse.co.uk or get in touch at hello@thehouse.co.uk.
