Went to a Leadership Launchpad event on Monday 7th September at the New Continental on Broadgate, Preston.

It was an event hosted by North West Vision and Media and it was aimed at getting the leaders of creative industry into a leadership programme, called LEAD.

LEAD operates via many host institution’s, the one we were being sold was run by Lancaster University, and it was interesting to find out what was offered by the programme. LEAD offers the chance to learn more about leadership, especially if your business is three/four years underway and you need the chance to step back and get a different viewpoint. It’s not like a degree course, it’s very hands-on and there’s lots of workshops, guest speakers and action-learning.

The unique thing about this LEAD programme is that it is only for creative businesses, as they found that people who lead these kinds of organisations have a different perspective on things compared to conventional businesses – who are often largely driven by profit and not much else.

So, while there was a bit of hard sell the evening was a good chance to learn more about the programme. I’m definitely not in a position to go on it yet but it’s the sort of thing that in a few years time, if successful with Blog Local, I might give the time of day to – and it would also depend how the business is financially!

The event was free, which was nice, and speaking to the nice ladies from North West Vision & Media afterwards it was eye-opening to find out just how many networking events there are for not just creative businesses but businesses in general across the North West and also all the opportunities for funding, partnership working, grant funding and training that North West Vision & Media can help businesses tap into.

Image credit to anselm23

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On October 10th they are holding a 360 Day. This is where all the graduates from Common Purpose are encouraged to spend a day out of their comfort zone and doing or reading something that they wouldn’t normally. This could even be meeting someone new and different and having a conversation about a topic you wouldn’t normally discuss.

I’ll be having a think about what I’ll be doing on 10/10, but I’d encourage you to take up the challenge. Think about what you could do on that day that would be outside of your comfort zone. It’s not a nice place to be but it helps you to see things differently.