In the second of our series of blogs by existing senior leaders, we hear from Jo Youle, CEO of Missing People on her career journey and tips for developing and future leaders. You can find Jo at @JoeyYoule.
1. To set the scene, can you give us an overview of your career to date?
I’ve followed a more unusual road and done things a different way, which as it happens is a line from the most successful song I ever wrote.
I was flying for a few years as a songwriter and artist. Signed to a record label, writing and recording albums, touring in our band - playing pubs and the big stages, quaking in my boots behind the piano.
Little did I know that years later it would help me in my CEO role – standing on the same stages, striving to win people’s hearts and minds with stories and words.
One of the best things I ever did, new to London aged 19, was to become a Samaritan.
I count my lucky stars for the day I walked into the Central London Branch in Soho. I am still inspired by a set of values as near to religion as I can get – of kindness, compassion, listening, no judging – what we all need when times are tough.
And in amongst it all I spent a fair few years at my dining room table studying for a social policy degree with the fab Open University.
And as the music died, (which sounds more dramatic than the more prosaic ‘falling out over musical differences’), I joined Missing People - the start of an amazing journey in what has always felt like a spiritual homeland. Taking calls on the Helpline, which I went on to run before leading the Services team, and now 8 years in to leading the organisation.
And I’ve been a proud trustee of the great charity Brook for young people – recently stepping down after 6 years there.
2. Have you always wanted to be a senior leader?
I remember the day the previous CEO at Missing People rang me to tell me he was going.
And I think the conversation went like this:
Martin: “so where does that leave you, Jo?”
Me: “I don’t know, in the s***?”
Martin: “Jo, I meant would you consider trying for the CEO role?”
Me: “Oh!”
I think that says it all really.
The furthest point I’d got to was thinking I was a good number 2 to the top dog. The support act if you like.
3. Did you encounter any barriers on your path to senior leadership and, if so, how did you overcome them?
I think I’d become a paid up member of the imposter syndrome club and I didn’t even know it.
It took me a lot of manoeuvring in my own mind to get me there, a tale told in my Tedx Talk Dare Yourself
I’ve trained to be a coach now, with the marvellous Meyler Campbell after experiencing the magic of coaching myself. And this self-doubt, particularly amongst women, is an area I’ve noticed coming up lots.
I’m hoping I can play a part in helping others overcome it too because we need more than the usual suspects to lead.
4. How would you describe a ‘leader’, and has this changed throughout your time in the sector?
Leaders are people that take you to a place you may not have got to on your own.
They chorale the ideas and inspirations of others, of teams, of organisations into a story.
They are the amplifier. The person prepared to just bloody well stand up and sing the song.
One of my favourite Ted talks is this one because it helps to see that we needs leaders of all styles, of all backgrounds.
5. What advice would you give to aspiring and developing charity leaders today?
To keep asking if what got you here, will get you to where you want to be.
As someone prone to thinking (sometimes too long) before doing, I’m drawn to Herminia Ibarra’s mantra in her book ‘Working Identity’- to ‘act your way into new ways of thinking’, versus ‘think your way into new ways of acting.’
To remember, we are capable of learning no matter what age we are. Like Feldman-Barrett explains in ‘How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life Of The Brain’, our “wiring is not static”. We can learn new things, learn to predict differently and change future outcomes.
And it can be hard to keep stepping up, like learning to play a musical instrument: clumsy at first but with time and practice there’ll be moments when it feels like the song is playing itself.
Photo credit: JSR Agency