RELATING TO: A LITTLE BOOK OF LEADERSHIP LESSONS BY STEPH EDUSEI

*This book and its PDF were gifted to me by the Author*

BUY THE BOOK ON AMAZON HERE!

“Not ‘little’ in that it was diminished or insignificant, but ‘little’ in that it is, I believe, short and snappy. I want it to be the type of book that people will pick up and think, ‘this doesn’t look too overwhelming to read.’ I want it to be the type of book you can dip in and out of and get something out of every chapter individually, without having to read the whole thing.”

‘Introduction’ of A Little of Leadership Lessons by Steph Edusei

Noticing this book on Steph’s Facebook page (which you can follow here), I was immediately taken by the title and the thought of learning something so profound and professional from someone who I have known for a number of years and have met (I used to volunteer for the Communications and Marketing department of the Hospice Steph is CEO of: St Oswald’s Hospice). I was pleasantly surprised to read in the Introduction of the book that there was going to be ‘key learning points’ and ‘suggestions for further learning’ at the end of every Chapter. As Steph writes though: ‘if you don’t feel it’s important to dig into theories and read around a subject right now then just ignore that bit, I completely understand…’I however, love elements like this! So, I seriously couldn’t wait to get started…

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO BUILD A SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY | WORLD SOCIAL MEDIA DAY 2025

“Social media is the ultimate equaliser. It gives a voice and a platform to anyone willing to engage.”

Amy Jo Martin

Having now been blogging for over twelve years (it’ll actually be thirteen in January!) I have developed a huge passion and interest in the communications and marketing industry. This is why I’ve now had a number of voluntary roles in that sector – with my new one being announced on my start date of July 8^th – as well as having also completed a number of online courses relevant to it too. Over the years, my career experience, and education, I’ve learned how to create Strategies in this industry: particularly around marketing and branding, but I’ve also picked up how to create a Social Media Strategy and I thought with today being National Social Media Day, it was the perfect opportunity to share this knowledge and understanding…

A QUICK, BUT HUGE, THANK YOU TO CATS PROTECTION’S CELEBRITY & INFLUENCER RELATIONSHIP MANAGER: ALICE, BEFORE LEAVING THE CHARITY…

“Don’t let the sun go down without saying thank you to someone, and without admitting to yourself that absolutely no one gets this far alone.”

Stephen King

Dear Alice,

Thank you!

Thank you for being one of the first, most Senior staff from Cats Protection to have faith in my ability to create content, faith in I’m NOT Disordered’s potential, and faith in the very real chance of success our collaborations could have.

One of my most favourite memories of our online relationship though, wasn’t about ‘work’ and collaborations… I remember contacting you in April 2021 after the loss of my first bunny; Pixie about the impact her death was having on my first rescue calico kitten; Emmy. There are not many people I would turn to in that situation – and especially not to ask for advice – but you were the one. I think this speaks volumes for our working relationship and for your passion and interest in the entirety of Cats Protection’s cause and the very reason you’re all here. Not a lot of charity staff have such a dedication and investment in both their career and responsibilities and the cause and work of the actual charity they’re working for too. It’s a rarity and something which really helps you to stand out as both incredibly special and incredibly important in Cats Protection and actually, in my blog’s entire journey too!

THE ULTIMATE GUIDANCE TO WORKING WITH AN INFLUENCER

“No one else knows exactly what the future holds for you, no one else knows what obstacles you've overcome to be where you are, so don't expect others to feel as passionate about your dreams as you do.”

Germany Kent

A little while ago, I wrote a blog post titled: The Most Transparent Blog Post I’ve Ever Written (which you can read here) and in it, I talked about being given – numerous times now – the label of ‘influencer’ by others. I decided to do some research at the beginning of the post, in the hope that it would provide me with evidence to fight me meeting the definition of the label, but instead, I found (in this article) that due to the following of I’m NOT Disordered (2.3 million readers) I’d be deemed a ‘Mega-Influencer!’ And on talking to my Waythrough Recovery Worker, I agreed that my blog is at a standing in terms of both popularity and reputation, that I can no longer demean or deny it. So, here I am(!) agreeing to be an Influencer! Now, this blog post was actually inspired by a recent meeting with a few of Waythrough’s Communications and Marketing team, where the idea of the organisation working with Influencers was discussed. The Manager said that I was the ‘perfect person’ to have involved because of my ability to bring actual, lived insight into this world, and so, here’s the blog post which provides guidance to working with an Influencer…

THE MOST TRANSPARENT BLOG POST I’VE EVER WRITTEN

“Transparency fosters a sense of trust and provides serious motivation.”

Billy Boughey

Now, I’m very uncomfortable referring to myself as an Influencer but having the number of readers that my blog has (there’s over 2.3 million of you lovely people!), the fact others have labelled me it, and that I’ve been working with the Celebrity and Influencers Relationship Manager of Cats Protection – and I’m certainly not a Celebrity! – I think it’s perhaps time I try to accept it and own it! So, in a conversation I was in recently, there was talk about the fact that so many people can form opinions of an Influencer’s life, without recognising or realising that the content they see, is what the Influencer has chosen to let you see. It’s not their entire life. Their entire story. I’d like to think my mental health blog and the content I produce on social media (particularly I’m NOT Disordered’s brand-new Instagram: @imnotdisordered) is more balanced, transparent, and honest. So, in this post, I’m going to chat through more about that conversation and the thoughts and opinions within it, my thoughts on being deemed an Influencer, why I think my content is different, a ton of transparent insight into blogging and social media. As a sort of sidenote: I’ll be creating another ‘most transparent blog post…’ about mental health soon…