It started as an idea. A space to explore the insight between leadership and impact. A place to write, reflect, challenge, and hopefully, offer something useful. Three months on, InterThread has become more than a blog. It’s become a lens. A rhythm. A leadership practice in its own right.
And the biggest insight? Writing isn’t just communication. It’s clarification. It forces honesty. And it reveals patterns you don’t always spot when you’re in the thick of things.
Themes That Keep Coming Back
Looking back on the last ten posts, certain themes have surfaced again and again. Not by design, but because they matter.
- Influence over authority: In Command vs. Influence, I reflected on the kind of leadership that works when people don’t have to follow you. That’s not just for volunteers. It’s true in any matrixed or trust-based system.
- Assumptions vs. clarity: Are You Leading Through Clarity or Assumption? tackled the silent productivity killer: leaders who assume everyone’s on the same page, without ever checking.
- Busyness vs. meaningful outcomes: In Are You Busy, or Are You Delivering?, I wrestled with the trap of looking effective but achieving little. A hard lesson, and one I’m still learning.
- Blind spots over skill gaps: What You Don’t Know Is Leading You was one of the hardest to write. Because it’s personal. Because it’s true. And because every leader, no matter how capable, is limited by what they can’t, or won’t, see.
- Ethical leadership isn’t soft: The most recent post, Ethical Leadership Is Not the Easy Option, matters deeply to me. Because the older I get, the more I realise that courage is ethical. And systems don’t drift towards values. They drift away from them unless we’re intentional.
Each post stands alone. But together, they map out something bigger. A picture of leadership that isn’t just about effectiveness, but about integrity. About presence. About doing the hard work behind the easy words.
What Writing Has Changed in Me
One of the biggest shifts for me has been how I think about leadership itself. I used to see it primarily in terms of delivery, goals, KPIs, progress. But InterThread has helped me see leadership as a values-based act. It goes beyond the day to day. It’s about how you show up, not just what you achieve.
The act of writing has slowed me down, in the best way. I’ve noticed things I might have ignored. I’ve caught habits before they settled. I’ve thought harder about what I’m modelling, and where I’m still learning.
It’s also made my leadership more porous. Colleagues, volunteers, peers, they’ve shared reflections back. Challenged my ideas. Offered different lenses. The very thing I hoped InterThread would become has started to emerge… a shared space to think, not just speak.
To be honest, I worried when I started this that it wouldn’t be relevant. But I’ve realised this is as much for me as it is for anyone else. And that’s been freeing. I enjoy it. I look forward to it. It gives me clarity and challenge.
What Comes Next?
I want to go deeper. Into practice. Into story. Into the hard trade-offs leaders have to make when values, people, and outcomes pull in different directions. I want to feature more voices. Show what leadership looks like outside the spotlight. And ask bigger questions about the systems we’re part of.
But I also want to keep it honest. Not polished. Not preachy. Just thoughtful, grounded, and real.
Final Reflection
Three months in, I’m more convinced than ever that leadership isn’t defined by job titles or outputs. It’s revealed in how we show up when no one’s watching. It’s shaped in reflection. And it grows through conversation.
If InterThread has made you pause, reflect, nod, or even disagree, I’m grateful. That’s the point.
So here’s to the next thread.
InterThread 
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