About Steph
I didn't always know what kind of leader I wanted to be.
For a long time, I thought good leadership meant becoming more like the leaders I saw around me. More certain. More polished. More willing to put work first.
Over more than three decades of working and leading, I've learned something very different.
I've learned that leadership can be ambitious without consuming us. That compassion and accountability aren't opposites. That we don't have to have all the answers to lead well. And that some of the things we're encouraged to hide, our doubts, vulnerabilities and humanity, can actually make us better leaders.
Today, those ideas sit at the heart of my work, whether I'm leading an organisation, speaking to an audience, coaching another leader, writing or creating Leading Well.
My leadership story
My career didn't begin with a plan to become a Chief Executive.
I started in the NHS in an administrative role and, over the years, moved through management and into increasingly senior leadership positions. I've since worked across healthcare and the voluntary and community sector, served on boards and led organisations through change, challenge and uncertainty.
Today I'm Chief Executive of St Oswald's Hospice, a large children's and adults' charitable hospice in the North East of England. I'm also a Director of the North East England Chamber of Commerce and Chair of both Tyneside Cinema and Eliot Smith Dance.
But the job titles only tell part of the story.
There have been times in my career when I've doubted whether I belonged in the room. Times when I've tried to lead in ways that didn't feel like me because I thought that was what leadership required. And times when I've had to question the idea that being committed means constantly doing more, working harder and putting yourself last.
Those experiences have shaped how I lead today and much of the work I now do with other leaders.
I believe we can be ambitious and human. We can make difficult decisions with compassion. We can care about performance without creating cultures that exhaust people. And we can lead successfully without becoming someone else in the process.
More than a job title
I'm proudly both Ghanaian and Geordie. I grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne with a Ghanaian father and English mother, and both parts of that heritage have shaped who I am and how I see the world.
Dance has also been part of my life for decades. I'm a dancer and dance teacher, as well as Chair of Eliot Smith Dance, and it remains one of the places where I find joy, challenge myself and remember that there is much more to life than work.
I'm also the founder of Black All Year, a podcast and events that amplify Black voices, explore the realities of racism and celebrate Black lives, achievements and experiences.
All of those parts of me come into how I lead. I've stopped believing that professionalism requires us to leave pieces of ourselves at the door.
Experience & recognition
Over the course of my career, I've held senior executive, non-executive and board leadership roles across healthcare, charities, business and the arts.
My current and previous roles include:
Chief Executive, St Oswald's Hospice
Director, North East England Chamber of Commerce
Chair, Tyneside Cinema
Chair, Eliot Smith Dance
Former Non-Executive Director, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Former Co-Chair, The Angelou Centre
My work and leadership have also been recognised through a number of awards and honours, including being named Transformational Leader at the Northern Power Women Awards, inclusion in the Northern Power Women Power List and BusinessCloud Northern Leaders list, and receiving a Special Recognition Award at the Best Business Women Awards.
I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law by Northumbria University, and my first book, A Little Book of Leadership Lessons, was shortlisted for a Business Book Award.
Where my work takes me now
Alongside my role as a Chief Executive, I speak, write and coach, and I've created Leading Well, a membership space for thoughtful leaders who want to find more sustainable ways to live and lead.
I'm also the host of Leading Well with Steph Edusei, where I have honest conversations about leadership with people who are doing it, living it and continuing to learn along the way.
Different parts of my work take different forms, but the question underneath them is much the same:
How can we achieve great things without losing ourselves in the process?
A Little Book of Leadership Lessons →
Leading Well podcast - coming soon