A year of change
I’ve been quiet on here recently. There’s some big changes coming in 2025 and I’ve taken some time to stop and reflect as well as plan and prepare. It’s still a work in progress.
After 15 incredible years, I’ve decided the time is right for a new challenge and so will be leaving the National Theatre at the end of this week. I’ve loved my time at the National Theatre and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved during that time. It’s a bittersweet decision but I’m excited for the future.
I’ve spent time reflecting on my successes during my career, I’m not one for blowing my own trumpet nor the best at recognising my own impact but this is forcing me to see things differently. I’ll share more on the successes and challenges in a future post.
I’ve been surprised and pleased by the amount of lovely messages I’ve received, people reflecting on our achievements together and wishing me well on my next adventure.
As a result of all this there hasn’t been as much time for reading, listening and watching however I plan to get back to it as I benefited from Week Noting in 2024. It gave me an opportunity to reflect on achievements, to take time to stop and reflect and to share my random watching, listening and reading activities. I’ve noticed a difference in myself by not doing my week notes, my memories aren’t as strong and I’ve not been clear about achievements.
Some Substack Love
I came across this on Substack and I expect some of these will be popping up in my future reading update.
Another great Substack find and inspired to read this book too, so more on this in upcoming Week Notes.
For anyone interested in getting started on Substack check out
’s free Write for Love, Write for Money course.https://bethkempton.substack.com/p/write-for-love-write-for-money
Watching / Reading / Listening
🎧Overcoming fear of finding out with Channel 4 on the Media Odyssey podcast, with
and , featuring Matt Ridley, Managing Director of 4 Studio.A great listen and insight into a strong test and learn approach. An opportunity to disrupt traditional media distribution and bring a different audience to the content, without cannibalising the existing audience. A demonstration of meeting your audience where they are.
📖A Guide to Taking Better Breaks at Work by Kira Schabram and Christopher M. Barnes for Harvard Business Review. Interesting to note the importance of breaks, even micro-breaks. The benefits of positive interactions even during lunch breaks can enhance mood and contribute to better performance in the afternoon. A note that when organisations embed recovery in their culture they unlock long-term resilience, innovation and retention. As someone who has struggled to take breaks at time and is about to take a break in my career this was a really interesting read.
📖Don’t let bad time management undermine your leadership by Elizabeth Grace Saunders for Harvard Business Review. A timely reminder of the importance of delegation and setting time to review what’s upcoming to ensure preparation is completed and delegation is completed as early as possible. The need to set boundaries and re-prioritise when new activities come in.
Back again next week with more.