In the Room

There was an air of excitement and anticipation in the learning centre at Aviva in Perth last week.

The ExCo and CEO Amanda Blanc were in town, for their second module of Lead the Way, a new flagship leadership programme.

Over lunch, everyone had the opportunity to munch n mingle together.

Jaycee, one of our cohort participants approached me, and asked if Amanda would join our group for a little while for a chat and a photo opportunity too.

So, off I went to ask the question to her business manager and secretary.

Sure enough, a little after lunch, Amanda joined us for a photo and mixed with our cohort delegates.

As a key strategic priority, it was clear that she has a strong vested interest in the programme, participants and outcomes.

What stood out even more was how she showed that interest.

She didn’t just step in for a quick photo and move on. Taking time to engage with members of the cohort, she looked around the room, asked questions about the flipcharts we’d created and posted on the windows.

Then she listened.

The kind of listening where you can see someone thinking about what you’ve said, not waiting for their turn to speak.

There was warmth in it.

A genuine curiosity about people’s experience of the programme and what it meant for them.

It was a quiet but powerful signal.

There’s a paradox in leadership that’s easy to talk about and harder to live: personal humility alongside professional will. High standards and clear ambition, paired with the willingness to stand in a busy room over lunch and simply be present. To ask, to hear and to learn.

Of course, we did get the photo.

It was a slightly jostled, everyone-squeeze-in moment that took a little longer than expected. But what people will remember isn’t the picture. It’s the few minutes of real connection.

A small act, perhaps. But sometimes leadership is exactly that.

Where might a few minutes of genuine attention make a difference for you?