Building something bigger than ourselves
Ed and I are very excited to be expecting our first baby. In November I’ll be heading on parental leave for a year, spending time in both our now-home of Wellington and my first home of Vancouver.
I’ve been with Humankind for 10 years now, almost the entire time I’ve lived in New Zealand. Being introduced to our founder, Samantha Gadd, and her vision for Humankind has been one of the defining parts of my life here. Over the past decade, I’ve had the privilege of helping build the business alongside some exceptional people.
I’m really not sure how I’ll go personally with a whole year away from work, but professionally, I couldn’t feel more confident about stepping away right now. Humankind is stronger than it’s ever been, experiencing rapid growth thanks to a truly world-class team.
I’m incredibly proud to introduce the leadership team who will lead Humankind while I’m away.
Anna Muir will step into the role of Acting CEO after ten years playing a pivotal role as a Director, leading Humankind to where we are today.
Charlotte Brochoire Falamić will become Acting Director, P&C, bringing deep strategic P&C expertise, a strong commercial lens and trusted relationships with C-suites and Boards.
Sophie McLernon has been permanently promoted to Director of Growth, joining our Leadership Team. Her drive, client focus and embodiment of our values have made a material impact on Humankind’s success this past year.
Charlotte Bates continues as Director, bringing the leadership, judgement and relentless focus on quality that has helped shape Humankind over her eight years with us.
They’re backed by an exceptional team across Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Napier.
With little turnover at the senior level, opportunities to step into new leadership roles don’t come around every day at Humankind. My leave has created one of those moments, and when planning, I knew we had the people internally who were ready for it.
Seeing it all take shape has made me incredibly proud of the depth we’ve built, and put into focus a few of the philosophies that have shaped how we’ve been building Humankind.
Our role is to build something bigger than ourselves
My job as CEO isn’t to make myself indispensable. It’s to build the team, develop leaders and create a whole system that is bigger than any one of us.
People are better than me at many things, and to grow, we’ve needed multiple leaders who who can see the business as a whole, balance competing needs and risks, make great decisions and hold a high bar collectively.
I’ve had to learn when helping isn’t helpful
I genuinely love helping people solve problems, which means my instinct is often to get involved.
Something I've learned has been that my instinct to help can sometimes get us somewhere faster, but not necessarily somewhere better.
Some of the periods when Humankind has accelerated fastest, including right now, have been when exceptional people are playing in their fast lanes with genuine ownership.
Growth should create opportunity
I’m motivated by growth: growing our impact, helping our clients grow, and seeing our business grow.
Hands down, my biggest driver is the opportunities growth creates for our team. We have exceptionally talented, ambitious people, and talented, ambitious people want to keep growing.
Growth creates opportunity, and opportunity and real responsibility build capability.
As I prepare for new job as Mom, I'm confident in what’s ahead. One of the best things I can do for Humankind right now is step back for a while and I can’t wait to see what the team does with the space.
