Back to work

I spent more than 15 years at the National Theatre, and when I finally stepped away, I promised myself one thing: don’t rush into the next big thing.

I’ve had the pleasure and priviledge of ten wonderful weeks off work. I’ve spent time with my daughter, doing the school run, homework, baking and crafting. I’ve tried to declutter and organise the house with varying degrees of success. I’ve sold more items on Vinted than I even realised we owned. I’ve enjoyed the sunshine and beautful Spring weather.

But more importantly, I’ve taken time to stop, to reflect on the past, to plan for the future and to enjoy the little pleasures in life.

Seeing a parakeet on my morning walk, not stepping on a tiny snail, flying a kite in the park, catching up with colleagues and friends, walking on the beach, going to the circus, ice skating, going to Center Parcs, watching the trees blossom and the daffodils bloom, watched a lamb being born, enjoying play dates and hunting Easter eggs.

Spring 2025

As the Easter holidays drew to a close, I turned my attention to getting “back to work”. A different kind of work and a different way of working - more on that soon!

I realised I was excited and energised about the prospect of working again. The time I’d had away had replenished me and although I hadn’t been working as such, my mind had been percolating and planning in the background so it was ready with ideas and projects when I sat back down at my desk.

Work is going to take on a bit of different shape moving forward. I was sharing Week Notes updates about my role at the National Theatre as we developed and delivered our digital strategy. I won’t be walking away from digital, or indeed from theatre but I will be working on different projects and hopefully sharing different perspectives. I hope you’ll stay around for what is coming up in the future.

I will also continue to share my collection of watching, reading and listening each week for those that would like an insight into the variety of things that pique my interest and the amount of low brow television I consume. Safe to say, I’ve read, watched and listened to a lot over the last ten weeks and I won’t bore you with them all but a selection below.

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Watching / Reading / Listening

📺 Zero Day on Netflix. It clearly had a lot of money spent on it and not sure whether it will be renewed for a second series. The ended didn’t quite answer all my questions and felt a little unresolved but Robert de Niro is a fantastic actor.

📺 Running Point on Netflix. It was an easy way, not too much basketball and a fairly predictable storyline.

📖 The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman. I have to confess that I haven’t finished this as it’s quite a dense read and without a commute my non-fiction reading has reduced. However, for understanding the implications and challenges posed by AI it’s definitely worth checking out, from what I’ve read so far!

📖 The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up by Marie Kondo. I read this book many years ago thanks to a recommendation from Jaz Sandalli. During the pandemic as everyone cleared out and sent their items to charity shops, I was busy launching National Theatre at Home. When I knew I had time off work, I wanted to prioritise making my home a space that works for my family. The process hasn’t finished yet, however I’m making good progress and looking forward to once I’ve decluttered, sorted and tidied the house.

📖 The Trial by Rob Rinder. I was craving fiction to read before bed and this worked well.

📖 The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer. I was finding a niche, crime fiction written by TV personalities.

📖 We Solve Murders by Richard Osman. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. On the look out for my next crime fiction by a TV personality, recommendations welcomed.

📖 We need to talk about the first female BBC Director General by Tara Conlan (a fellow substacker, and full disclosure my sister-in-law’s sister). I find it astonishing that in 2025, we’re still talking about the first female anything. I hope the BBC will use this opportunity to herald in a new era.

📖 The Next Act: A Vision for the UK’s Creative Future from BCG. They redefined the creative industries to include culture. It seems strange to me that culture wasn’t already included within the creative industries. Challenges faced across the sector including a skills shortage, changes in consumer behaviour and content consumption and the risk of AI disruption.

📖 Teach AI to Work like a member of your team by Rohan Narayana Murty, Ravi Kumar, Hemanth Yamijala and George Nychis. For Harvard Business Review. An interesting persepctive on the productivity paradox of AI and the need for it to understand the context, the ‘how’ of the team and not just the ‘what’.

🎧 Overcoming fear of finding out with Channel 4 from the Media Odyssey podcast with Marion Ranchet and Evan Shapiro (both fellow Substackers). It was interesting to hear about their experimentation and innovation, particuarly in relation to a legacy business and concerns about cannibalisation.

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Career Transition

There was a theme to my reading as I think about the next steps in my career and professional life so if that’s your thing or you’re thinking about what might be next for you take a look below for some articles and podcasts that I’ve found interesting.

📖How to Answer “Walk Me Through Your Resume” by Marlo Lyons for Harvard Business Review.

📖6 Questions to Help You Decide What You Want in Your Next Job by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic for Harvard Business Review.

📖What Effective CEOs Do After Their First 90 Days by David Lancefield for Harvard Business Review.

📖A Guide to Updating Your Resume When Moving from Public to Private Sector by Marlo Lyons for Harvard Business Review.

📖 A Guide to better breaks at work by Kira Schabram and Christopher M. Barnes for Harvard Business Review. As someone taking a break this one caught my interest but useful even when thinking about how to structure your time.

📖 Want to use AI as a career coach? Use these prompts by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic. For Harvard Business Review. AI can be a useful companion when working through options and assesssing possible future opportunities. I also think there’s a huge amount of value in speaking to people and in testing possibilities.

🎧How to find a job you actually want. Fixable podcast.