Stepping up

For more than 35 years, I have watched my wife build an impressive career in public health and, more recently, in local government. She has worked hard, embraced every challenge and steadily progressed to become a director at a Melbourne council. What has always impressed me most is her ability to step up whenever a new opportunity arises. Time and again, she has taken on bigger roles, learned new skills and succeeded, even when the path ahead seemed daunting.

Despite her achievements, she still has a touch of self-doubt about whether she could become a council CEO. I often remind her that she already has the qualities needed for the role. She understands local government, has strong leadership skills, knows how to work with people, and has decades of experience making important decisions. From my perspective, she has all the ingredients to be an outstanding CEO.

Over the next three weeks, she will have the opportunity to act as CEO while the current CEO is on leave. I see this as more than a temporary assignment. It is a chance for her to experience the role firsthand and prove to herself what others already know. Sometimes confidence comes not from being told you can do something, but from actually doing it. Perhaps these next few weeks will be the experience that finally changes her mind and helps her see herself as others already do.