A personal story about parenting, leadership, and learning to lead with trust and vulnerability. 

Empowerment, to me, is about owning our own power and using it to lift others up. 

As a coach and mentor, this is where I get to live my purpose – by encouraging growth, agency, and confidence in ourselves and those around us.

Through my own journey of self-awareness, I’ve learned that true empowerment comes with discomfort. It requires us to show up vulnerably. As Brené Brown reminds us, vulnerability builds trust – and trust is the foundation of empowerment.

I experienced this first-hand when my son first travelled alone to India – a country I love and had often spoken about. On his first night, he called in distress: exhausted after 18 hours of travel, hungry, and overwhelmed. My instinct was to fix it – to protect him – but I knew that this was his moment to step into his own power.

I shared how I’d felt on my first solo trip to India: scared, uncertain, alone. I encouraged him to breathe, to focus on what he did know, and to look for support around him. Then I let go – trusting him to find his way. Those next few days were tough. I heard nothing. But when he finally called, I learned why: he had found his footing. He’d listened, reached out, and was already off on his adventures. That moment taught me something lasting – empowerment isn’t about rescuing someone. It’s about helping them trust themselves. And when they do, they often rise in ways they never expected.

This lesson echoes in the way I support team members stepping into leadership. When someone comes to me unsure or overwhelmed, I resist the urge to jump in with answers. Instead, I share moments from my own journey – times when I, too, felt uncertain. I show up vulnerably, reminding them that leaders don’t always have the answers, and that fear is part of growth.

Empowerment, in leadership, is about helping others recognise their own capacity –

and anchoring that in what matters most to them. It’s not about pushing them into the deep end, but standing at the edge with them, holding space while they find their footing.

Just like my son, I’ve seen people surprise themselves when given the confidence and space to lead.