Valerie Littlewood,
People Partner (Supply Chain, Marketing and Communications)
“The most powerful lesson I’ve taken from the programme is that I can lead with creativity, kindness, and authenticity.”
The Personal Leadership Programme has had a profound impact on the way I lead and think. The most powerful lesson I’ve taken from the programme is that I can lead with creativity, kindness, and authenticity, not as separate traits, but as a unified force. I no longer have to choose between being strategic and being expressive; I can be both.
The programme gave me permission to trust my instincts and think for myself. I stopped waiting for templates and began building my own solutions, softening policies when needed, giving dashboards room to breathe, and even explaining complex concepts through comic strips. Creativity became not just flair, but function, a leadership act that shapes systems, embeds emotional intelligence, and guides direction.
Key resources and books deepened this learning. How Full Is Your Bucket reminded me that every interaction fills or drains; Fierce Conversations showed me that clarity is kindness; and Theory U encouraged me to lead from the future as it emerges. These weren’t just readings, they became blueprints I could apply creatively.
I also developed new practices to bring my values to life. I created a playlist reflecting ethics, accountability, creativity, and compassion, using it as a warm-up to think differently and lead more intentionally. The programme inspired me to explore AI, not to replace people, but to translate complexity into human-focused tools. I sketched comic-strip summaries of leadership concepts and designed practical tools to embed in my work.
From this clarity emerged DropKind, a modular app which I developed that tracks micro-kindness in leadership. DropKind will help leaders keep a visual diary of their actions and make the ripple effect of kindness visible, turning it into a tangible and strategic practice.
Overall, the PLP didn’t just change how I lead, it changed how I think, create, and show up. Creativity, kindness, and authenticity are not extras, they are essential, and they are mine to lead with.