Author: Liz jarman

Wisdom, Effort, and the Discipline of Reflection “You are so wise” Why reflection, not effort alone, is the discipline that raises the standard of your leadership. Experience alone is not wisdom.Effort alone is not excellence. Both require something more intentional . We often assume that time served equals insight, and that hard work guarantees quality.…

I Am Not a Fundraising Advisor. Or Am I? Why strategic clarity is often the missing lever in successful fundraising. I was recently approached to support on a fundraising engagement. The brief was familiar.Refine the fundraising strategy.Build out a prospect list.Coach the team. I declined. There are outstanding professionals who specialise in fundraising mechanics. Prospect…

Build the Muscle. Then Be Willing to Break It. Why scaling through government often feels harder than building the original model. I often say to leaders, you need to build the muscle. Your advocacy muscle.Your fundraising muscle.Your board muscle.Your government partnership muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it becomes. Recently, during a workout,…

A candid conversation with women CEOs International Women’s Day often celebrates achievement. Titles. Growth. Scale. Those matter. But we speak far less about what leadership actually requires once you are in the seat. The pressure. The scrutiny. The recalibration. The decisions that carry weight long after the meeting ends. Over the past year, I have…

Organisational effectiveness as you grow Practical tools to help you see see where strain is building and what matters next Over the past few weeks, I have shared a series of LinkedIn posts on organisational effectiveness as organisations grow. They have prompted a number of thoughtful conversations, so I wanted to share the underlying resources…

How do you bring your board with you when your model needs to change? Five practical lessons from shifting a direct service model to national scale through government systems. I was recently asked by Spring Impact to contribute a short reflection to their Scale Mail newsletter on a question that continues to surface whenever I…

Hiring the highest score is not the same as hiring the right person Why clarity on what you actually need matters more than a perfect recruitment process I was discussing recruitment recently with a fellow CEO and I was reminded of a conversation I had with a senior leader that stopped me in my tracks.…

Rethinking careers, promotion, and progression Three lessons from the CEO seat that changed how I think about talent When I was a CEO, one of the most enduring shifts we made was in how we talked about careers. We moved away from the idea of a single ladder and started using the language of squiggly…

A hard leadership skill to learn Why focus, timing, and boundaries protect your mission One of the hardest and most counterintuitive leadership skills I had to learn as a CEO was this: Saying no is a strategic skill. I did it a lot.And yes, it caused friction at times. But it was essential. Not because…

Stepping into a CEO role: four phases to recognise early Your first year as CEOWhat to notice early, before experience turns into habit A new CEO reached out to me before she had even stepped into the role to ask for some guidance. As a starting point, I shared my 21 things I wish I…