42km, A Backpack And Some Leadership Lessons

42km, A Backpack And Some Leadership Lessons

Over Easter, I did a thing — a first for me — and there's a bigger why behind it that I’d love to share.

For years, I’ve held a quiet dream of walking a Camino in Spain. Like many, my imagination was captured after watching The Way with Martin Sheen. But life seasons matter, and for a long time, it wasn’t the right time. So, I tucked the dream away.

Fast forward to 2023 — life had shifted. The Camino dream returned, stronger and more possible than ever. I knew this was my season to make it real.

And so, at the end of August 2025, my partner and I will set out to walk the Camino Del Norte (The Northern Way). We are thrilled and deeply looking forward to this extraordinary adventure.     

Easter Training: Half of the Timber Trail     

As part of our preparation, over Easter we walked half of the Timber Trail — part of New Zealand’s Te Araroa Trail — covering 42 km across two days. Starting at Piro Piro, Day 1 brought challenging weather, in fact, to be brutally honest, it absolutely chucked it down! But we completed 17.5 km. Day 2 was longer, but blessed with perfect conditions, and we made it back to Ongarue.

This wasn’t just a ‘walk’. It was a crucial foundation test:

• Trialling my new pack (which felt so good I mostly forgot it was there!).

• Testing shoes and socks — sounds basic, but our Camino will be around 1,000 km, so it’s critical. Foot health can make or break the journey. And FYI, I have changed my shoes after this hike! So glad we did this test.

• Stress-testing gear and ourselves across all weathers.

Long-distance walking strips away the noise. No phone coverage. No endless chatter. Just walking alone together, present with our thoughts. A deep, quiet disconnection that, ironically, reconnects us to ourselves. Something far too rare in our fast, busy work lives.

Walking and Leadership

As I walked, it became clear: this journey is a metaphor for leadership. Just like testing our hiking foundations, leadership success comes down to mastering, measuring and refining our leadership fundamentals. And we can revisit these foundations when we need to. It's not a 'one and done'.

Solid leadership is not just a collection of tactics; it’s an ongoing, conscious practice of how we lead ourselves, our teams, and our organisations. Often, we don’t get taught these foundations — we patch together habits from leaders we admired (or vowed never to emulate!). No wonder leadership can feel hard, lonely or unclear.

But here’s the good news: it doesn’t have to be that way.

Even in my coaching work with CEOs, Country Managers, Senior Leaders and high-potential talent, we often circle back to revisit and refine these basics — because they underpin everything bigger: strategy, succession, culture, talent development. And it feels so good when we can enjoy the wins along the way.

Key Leadership Foundations

Across my coaching work, a few consistent themes always emerge:

• Delegating Effectively
  Handing over work without losing confidence or control — building trust without stepping back in at the eleventh hour and taking work back because it either hasn't been done the way you wanted or in the time frame you need it. Sound familiar? Don't worry, you're not alone!

• Engaging and Motivating Teams
  Understanding what drives your people to bring their best selves to the work that matters. To do this, you want to understand what motivates them, what they value, among other pieces of vital information. Sometimes leaders feel these conversations are awkward, but they can be easier than you think once you have a good framework to follow.

• Creating Effective Meetings
  Moving beyond relentless back-to-back meetings to designing your day to allow for meaningful time that drives deep work and progress. Meetings are a mirror of your culture, and this can be fascinating when you take a moment to consider what is really going on.

• Mastering Influence and Communication
  Recognising that relationships are a leader’s #1 currency. Influence is not just about persuasion and winning but about understanding the deeper patterns behind how humans make meaning and decisions based on what matters most to them.

Of course, there are many other leadership foundations. But these consistently show up as the building blocks that make leadership feel lighter, more intuitive, and more impactful.

Exciting Announcement: Lead with Impact Zoom Masterclass Series

I'm excited to announce a new Lead with Impact Masterclass Series delivered via Zoom.

It’s designed for all leaders who want practical, insightful, short and sharp development that is linked to everyday leadership actions. Senior leaders will see how these tools and approaches can positively impact the strategic people, talent and culture initiatives within their organisation.

We’ll focus on pragmatic tools you can immediately apply, while understanding why these foundations matter to your overall leadership impact.

The Zoom Lead With Impact Masterclass Series looks like this:

For those who commit to all three Masterclasses above, they are eligible to attend the bonus complimentary Masterclass below:

Investment:

These Masterclasses can also be run in-house and tailored specifically to your organisation, depending on your needs. If this is an option you would like to explore, let's chat so we can discuss outcomes and investment options.

Need some help

If you’re ready to build leadership muscle without the blisters, sore shoulders or frustration, reply to this email and we’ll get you (or your leaders) scheduled onto the programme.

Just like Camino training, the right foundations will take you further, with far less pain.

Let’s do this.