When was the last time you thought about how you're leading yourself? Not your team. Not your organisation. Not your stakeholders. You. For many senior communications professionals I work with, that question draws a blank or an uncomfortable pause. Because we're trained to look outward. To support, advise, hold things together for other people. Turning that same intentionality inward can feel unfamiliar. Or indulgent. Or simply like one more thing that has to wait until t

There's a particular kind of exhaustion that comes with leading communications through organisational change. It's not just the volume of work — though that's real. It's not just the complexity of the messaging — though that's significant. It's the sustained effort of holding things together for other people, while quietly carrying the weight of uncertainty yourself. Communications directors and heads of comms are, in times of change, often the ones everyone turns to. The

I want to make a case. A proper one. The case is this: communications professionals are not just good at their jobs. They are, in many ways, naturally equipped to be exceptional leaders and the world of work would look rather different if more of them stepped fully into that potential. Now, I recognise I might sound biased. I am a communications professional. I have built a business around supporting communications professionals to grow, lead, and thrive. So yes, I'm inve

This might be uncomfortable to read. Doing great work is not enough. I know. I don't love saying it either. Because communications professionals are, on the whole, hard-working, conscientious, deeply committed to the craft. They care about what they do and the difference it makes. But caring and doing brilliant work won't automatically make your value visible. And invisible value is, ultimately, undervalued value. This is one of the topics my clients as to explore mos

Let me ask you something. When did you last feel like your boundaries were truly holding? Not just the ones you've written down, or the ones you intend to keep but the ones that are actually working. The ones that mean you finish work at a reasonable time, that you're not carrying the weight of the job into your evenings and weekends, that you feel like you're giving from a full place rather than an empty one. If your answer is 'I'm not sure' or 'it's been a while' — you'

I want to start with something honest (you'd expect nothing less): I didn't always feel like I knew what I was doing. I worked hard, I cared deeply, I said yes to things that scared me. But for a long time, I wasn't sure what was actually helping me grow and what was just keeping me busy. There's a difference. Now, after more than a two decades in communications — as a practitioner, a leader, and now as a mentor — I've had the space to look back with a bit more clarity. A