Leadership starts with Trust

How do you shift from maker to leader? Where do you start? Can you still lead without having direct reports? Most importantly, what do leaders do?

These were some questions I asked myself when I started my leadership journey at Xero. And if you're considering becoming a (UX) leader, chances are, you're also thinking about the same questions.

Leading doesn't necessarily mean managing a team. It's the switch you make from elevating yourself to enabling the people around you. Maybe you have led a project—or a facet of—where you helped boost the team's fluency of user experience, for example. At its core, leadership is not about you but actively connecting with the people around you and helping them grow creatively.

So, where do you begin? If relationships are currency, trust is the capital. It is the basis and foundation of building relationships with the people around you. In my keynote, I'll talk about my journey in leadership, which starts with trust. I'll go through my learnings from organisational management experts, the diverse leaders I spoke to, and practical things I uncovered in the service of leadership.