Over the years we've focussed our sponsorships on young people in sports and the performing arts. These sectors build great foundations for very many attributes that are of huge value in the working world: confidence, resilience, flexibility, hard work, determination, winning well, losing with dignity, and many more. I like to keep in touch with our 'sponsored talent', as it is about more than just the money to us. I was delighted to meet up with Millie Christian for lunch in Guildford recently to catch up. Millie has also written a short summary of her time away this year so far:
𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝟮 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲
After a busy Christmas period playing the Spirit of the Ring in Aladdin, the Pantomime at the Gaiety Theatre, I went back to Drama school in Guildford with a spring in my step and was looking forward to the new term, with some new classes and a change of groups.
In our song and dance lessons we have been doing a ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ project. After a week of learning part on the routine, our teacher assigned a dance captain for each set. I was shocked and very honoured to have been made dance captain for my group. This role comes with great responsibility as I oversaw my group and making sure everything looked slick and polished. I felt a real sense of achievement when assigned this position, and I have learned a lot from the experience.
The constant support and encouragement from Stuart and the team at Auxesia and Altitude has been amazing. I’m very grateful not only for the sponsorship but for the regular check-ups and motivation which helps me tackle the challenges which may occur during the intense course and living away from the Isle of Man. Adapting from home life to living independently has been difficult, so I cannot thank them enough for keeping me optimistic and ambitious to achieve more great things.
Bring on the summer term!
I try to meet with, virtually or in person, lots of my business and coaching contacts, and I find this an effective way of keeping up to date with the latest relevant issues. It also helps to ‘ground’ me and encourage me to check in with my own work and approach. Along the way I have lots of discussions about leadership which inevitably entails wildly differing views and opinions.
Out of the proliferation of remote work during and after COVID, a new challenge for organisations has emerged: many important skills are not easily, or cannot be, nurtured through screens. In the traditional office environment, the subtle yet powerful process of learning osmotically plays a critical role. Leaders model behaviours, and employees, often subconsciously, absorb crucial skills such as adaptability, emotional intelligence, and intuitive decision-making. Even resilience can be enhanced through witnessing other people’s coping mechanisms.
Reflecting on what I feel makes a leader truly great, I realise that leadership is generally misunderstood. It should not be about rank or authority;