Editor’s comment Happy January! The first month of a brand new year. A time traditionally given to reflection, resolutions and new beginnings. This issue is a new beginning in the most literal sense there is, as it marks my first as Executive Editor. And this extended version of the Editors Comments might be the scariest thing I’ve written in a long while. When faced with blank page paralysis, I sought some advice and very helpfully was told to use these words to officially introduce myself and to tell you who I am, what I do and what I’ve done. It was also suggested that I tell you what I’m about in a deeper sense. What do I stand for? What do I believe in? And of course, to tell you why I took this role. Very logical and sensible advice, right? Just one problem. Talking about myself? Hate it. There’s nothing worse. What am I about? Well, usually GIFs, emojis and swear words. Why did I agree to become the Executive Editor? That’s easy. Because of you. And because of the ‘me’ that I used to be. When I was a School Business Leader, I didn’t know or give much thought to the SBLs up the road. I kept my head down, my house in order and myself very much to myself. Whilst I loved, excelled and thrived as an SBL, I also felt isolated, anxious and vulnerable. It was like playing hand after hand of poker and just hoping I’d win enough chips to keep playing and to keep a seat underneath me. It was a life of high stakes
and adrenaline which led to very high highs and some very low lows. We want to I didn’t know then how powerful collaboration with other SBLs could be. hear from you! I didn’t fully understand how my uniqueness as an SBL was a Is your school doing something superpower and not something wonderful? Do you have an opinion that made me odd or an outsider. or experience you’d like to share? I couldn’t imagine that if I A story suggestion? Or some looked beyond my organisation, advice you’d like to share with that I would find the kind of your peers? Get in touch support, knowledge and advice – email laura@ that I now know is out there. I also intelligentmedia.co.uk know now how much I actually needed it and would have benefitted from it. When I decided to become an SBL coach back in 2016, my mission was to share that knowledge and provide that support and advice to every SBL that I could reach. Whilst this continues to be my mission as a coach, it’s a mission that has evolved. The people I’ve worked with, the opportunities I’ve had and the things I’ve seen over these last seven years have somehow brought me here. It’s only when I sat down to write this for you that I realised what it all means. As a coach, my job is to help SBLs figure out what they need to do to get where they want to go. But to be a successful coach, I had to figure out a few other things for myself first. I needed to find my voice in a sector that likes to do things the way that they’ve always been done. I needed to have the confidence to say what needed to be said in the way that I wanted to say it. I needed to screw down the courage to keep saying it to more and more people in as many ways as I possibly could.
I didn’t fully understand how my uniqueness as an SBL was a superpower
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