#9 - The Edge of Influence: Why Some Voices Shape Decisions While Others Get Ignored

How do you think, going a bit off topic here, but it's so interesting, A lot of, again, a lot of the themes in this podcast have been around self-awareness.

How do you feel your levels of self-awareness have changed? What have you had to learn about yourself in this role to cope or to manage or to thrive? Yeah, I guess, I mean, I've been doing it just short of seven years.

It

feels a lot longer in a great way.

It feels like I've always been around doing this.

Before that, I spent about 15 years in other public affairs roles as well.

I think when I first started...

I was quite wary and aware that I was new to the kind of small business scene particularly.

I don't look very much like a political lobbyist.

There's another thing I

love about you.

You're not that professional corporate image.

No, I don't

at all.

Like we say, it's kind of the edges.

There's times I need to be extremely serious and really stern if I need to be and look the part as well.

But the other part of it, I am daft as a brush at heart, really.

But a big part of my job is to get people to, it sounds very Machiavellian, but it's not.

I do want people to trust me because if they're going to confide in me, tell me a problem in their business, tell me an opportunity in their business, for a stakeholder to say, we've got this opportunity to help businesses, what do you think we should do? If they don't trust me, and also with that visibility, how I use social media, they need to see the whites of my eyes a little bit.

It's that

blend, isn't it? And I think

you're

in quite a big role.

You are a person with influence and influential... um you know clout but you are still very human and i think you you bridge that blend beautifully yeah i don't have people say you

don't look like you would be doing the kind of job you do and i'm sure there's a compliment in there