In Praise of People - Louise Obi-Drake

I shared in January, that in 2022 on the 22nd of each month, I will be sharing an ‘In Praise of People’ post, to acknowledge the people and organisations who’ve supported the growth of me and my business, which has in turn enabled me to embed strong foundation blocks and now put me in a position to start building and grow to the next stage.

This final In Praise of People post of 2022 is an important one, because it features a woman who (literally) changed my life!

If you speak to her, she’ll say that it was me who changed my life, that I did the work (and I did do the work and also continue to do the work!), but I will argue with her until the day I die that there is a before Louise Obi-Drake MSc, FRSA, BA Hons, AHEA came into my life and an after! And that my life radically changed, for the better, when she did.

I’ve said to many people in my network, indeed shared on here, that the HEY100 Clore Social Leadership Development Programme in #Hull 2018 changed my life.

The programme enabled me to connect with some phenomenal leaders from across the city who continue, 4 years on, to embody generous leadership and create change within Hull and the East Riding. (Seriously, check out the work of Harriet Johnson and Paula Bielby and the incredible HEY Confident Futures network and all the leadership development opportunities Harriet and Paula have curated for leaders across the city! For those of you who don’t already know, I bloody love #Hull and that is, in part, because of the richness of the people and the vibrant, welcoming, community spirit I feel every time I am there!)

The programme gifted me structured space to explore my ‘why’ and reflect on what really matters, and I learnt (and still use!) Clore Social Leadership’s development framework of ‘Know Yourself, Be Yourself, Look After Yourself’, which has become a daily mantra for me now as well as featuring a lot in my own work.

However, it was Lou who ‘held the space’ as the Programme Director / Facilitator, who brought the content of the programme to life and offered me both a high support and high challenge space, that subsequently catalysed my growth, kickstarted the thought of leaving my full-time job and catapulted me into some rapid change.

It was Lou who then supported my progression post programme and amplified my opportunities as a freelance facilitator; Lou gave me my first commission in the Leadership Development space, taking me on as a facilitator in Clore’s programmes, and then as a Programme Director, a role I am still so grateful to hold today.

It was also Lou who, after I’d trained as a Lumina Spark practitioner, spotted an opportunity to add extra value to Clore’s programmes and tested using Lumina Learning #LuminaSpark within Clore’s offerings to the Social Leadership sector, a feature that has continued even after Lou moved on from her Director of Innovations role.

Whilst I may have done the work, I know it was Lou who was the catalyst for the professional life I am now living. She opened the door to my learning and growth as a person and opened literal doors of opportunity to grow my business.

And so, Louise Obi-Drake MSc, FRSA, BA Hons, AHEA this In Praise of People post is for you.

I am indebted to your brain breaking, mind expanding, fun loving, joy bringing, universe encompassing brilliance and so grateful that I continue to be enriched by your multi-perspective, context focused ways of experienced the world.

I’ve no idea what future adventures will now unfold but I do know that I’m very excited to see!

(I promise there will be rum 😉)