Give to Gain: Leadership, Purpose, and the Power of Showing Up

International Women’s Day always invites reflection. It asks us not only to celebrate progress, but to consider how we support, uplift, and empower others along the way.

This year’s theme, “Give to Gain,” resonates deeply with me. Throughout my career in healthcare leadership—and in founding the International Society for Patient Engagement Professionals (ISPEP)—I’ve come to understand that the most meaningful professional growth often comes from what we give: our time, our ideas, our energy, and sometimes even our vulnerability.

But giving doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens alongside the complexity of real life.

For me, that reality includes raising four teenagers, supporting an elderly mother, navigating leadership responsibilities in healthcare, and managing ADHD. It’s a balancing act that is messy, imperfect, and constantly evolving.

And yet, it’s also where some of the most important lessons about leadership have emerged.

Leadership Beyond the Job Title

Healthcare leadership often carries an image of certainty and control. Leaders are expected to have the answers, to manage complexity, and to keep systems moving forward.

But the reality is that leadership is far more human than that.

When I founded ISPEP, the goal was simple but ambitious: to create a professional home for people working in patient engagement. Patient engagement professionals are often innovators, bridge-builders, and system changers—but historically, they haven’t always had a clear professional community to connect them.

Building ISPEP was an act of giving.

Giving time to develop a shared vision. Giving energy to bring people together across disciplines, sectors, and countries. Giving belief to the idea that patient engagement is not a “nice to have” but an essential part of better healthcare.

What I’ve gained in return has been extraordinary: collaboration, insight, inspiration, and a global network of people committed to making healthcare more inclusive and responsive.

Leadership, I’ve learned, is not about standing above a community. It’s about standing within it.

The Hidden Layers of Leadership

One of the truths that rarely gets discussed openly is that leaders often carry multiple invisible roles.

Outside of work, many women are also caregivers, organisers, emotional anchors, and problem solvers for their families and communities.

In my own life, leadership meetings often sit alongside school schedules, teenage life moments, and the responsibility of supporting an ageing parent. Like many women, I am constantly shifting between roles.

Some days that looks seamless. Other days it looks chaotic.

But these experiences have also shaped my leadership in profound ways.

Parenting teenagers teaches negotiation, patience, and perspective.

Supporting an elderly parent reminds you of the realities of healthcare systems from the patient and caregiver side.

Living with ADHD means thinking differently—often creatively—and sometimes managing the challenges of focus, energy, and organisation.

All of these experiences bring empathy and insight into leadership.

Healthcare, after all, exists to serve people whose lives are complex, messy, and deeply human. Leaders who understand that complexity are often better equipped to build systems that truly work for patients and communities.

ADHD and Leadership: Different, Not Deficient

There is growing conversation about neurodiversity in the workplace, but stigma still exists.

ADHD is often framed around its challenges: distraction, overwhelm, executive function struggles. Those realities are real, but they are only part of the story.

ADHD can also bring creativity, curiosity, high energy, and an ability to see connections others might miss.

In founding and building something like ISPEP, those qualities have been invaluable. Vision often requires the ability to imagine possibilities before they exist. It requires persistence and passion, sometimes bordering on obsession.

At the same time, ADHD requires systems, support, and self-awareness. Leadership becomes not just about managing organisations, but also about managing your own energy and wellbeing.

There is power in acknowledging these realities openly. When leaders talk about the ways they work differently, it creates space for others to do the same.

And healthcare systems benefit from diverse ways of thinking.

The Power of Community

One of the most powerful things I have gained through giving is community.

When you create spaces where people feel valued, heard, and connected, remarkable things happen.

Professionals share knowledge more openly. Innovations spread more quickly. People feel less isolated in their work.

That is the heart of what ISPEP seeks to build: a community where patient engagement professionals can learn from each other, develop professionally, and collectively strengthen the impact of patient partnership in healthcare.

Community is not something that appears overnight. It grows through consistent acts of contribution—from leaders and members alike.

Every time someone shares an idea, mentors a colleague, or contributes to a discussion, they are giving something of themselves.

And the entire community gains.

Rethinking What “Balance” Means

People often ask about work-life balance, especially when they hear about juggling leadership roles with family responsibilities.

The honest answer is that balance is rarely static.

Sometimes work demands more. Sometimes family does. Sometimes your own wellbeing needs attention.

Rather than striving for perfection, I’ve learned to aim for alignment: making choices that reflect what matters most in that moment.

There are days when leadership means making big strategic decisions.

There are other days when leadership means showing up for your family, your community, or yourself.

Both matter.

And sometimes, the most important leadership decision is recognising when you need support.

Giving as an Act of Leadership

The theme “Give to Gain” reminds us that leadership is not measured only by outcomes or titles. It is measured by the impact we create through our actions and our generosity.

Giving can look like mentoring someone early in their career.

It can look like building a professional community where none existed before.

It can look like speaking honestly about challenges so others feel less alone.

For women in healthcare leadership, the path is often complex and multifaceted. But it is also powerful.

Every time we support another woman, advocate for patient-centred care, or challenge systems to do better, we contribute to something larger than ourselves.

And in doing so, we gain far more than we give.

We gain connection. We gain growth.We gain the knowledge that the work we do today helps shape a more inclusive, compassionate healthcare system for tomorrow.

On this International Women’s Day, I’m reminded that leadership is not a solo journey.

It is a collective one.

And the more we give to each other, the stronger we all become.

Onwards