Q & A
Future focus
In conversation In this series, an emerging leader and their leader sit down together to talk about their leadership journeys. This issue, the conversation is between Riding for the Disabled Association’s Rachel King and her leader Lee Heard, who speak about navigating how to lead when you have – or are supporting someone with – a chronic mental health condition Rachel King (RK): What have been the defining moments in your leadership journey? Lee Heard (LH): When I have supported individuals to progress within the organisation or into other things. I’ve always had the mindset that my role in supporting people on their leadership journey isn’t necessarily to keep them in the organisation in which we’re involved, but to support them to develop skills to contribute to the organisation now and to use in the future.
LH: What has your leadership journey looked like so far? RK: It started within sport: I was very active as a young person. I volunteered to coach younger teams and was the Young Voice rep for my local netball club. During my placement year from university, I joined the 12-month City Year programme, volunteering in schools to support young people at risk of exclusion. Once a week, we attended a leadership learning programme, which really drove me forward into the leadership space. Through different periods of my life, I have struggled with my mental health. Pre-diagnosis, I wouldn’t have been able to recognise how my mental health was impacting or shaping my leadership journey, whereas, post-diagnosis – and now living openly with
Bipolar disorder and leadership
Rachel says: “Only around 20% of people living with longterm mental health conditions, such as bipolar disorder, are in employment. In many ways, we are navigating a professional world that was never designed with us in mind. Aside from a handful of high-profile celebrities, I have rarely seen someone openly living and leading with bipolar disorder, and certainly not in a senior leadership position. That absence of visibility is part of what motivates me to speak about this openly.” Rachel King
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