To truly prepare for leadership in the cultural sector, there's one crucial shift you must make.

If you're gearing up for leadership, it's likely because you excel in your current role:

As an exceptional administrator.

A dynamic producer.

An inspiring director.

A savvy marketeer.

You've mastered your craft and gained valuable management experience along the way.

But these roles focus you on execution:

Overseeing operations.

Managing teams.

Executing tactics.

Acting.

Delivering.

Doing.

Yet, the essence of leadership lies not in doing

but in deciding.

To decide originates from the Latin 'de-caedere,'

meaning 'to cut off.'

Decisions carve out paths forward by literally slicing away alternatives.

The heart of good strategy

is choosing what to do

and why

saying yes to that

and no to the rest.

After all

You can do anything but not everything.

And it is this —prioritising, selecting, relinquishing control, empowering others and shouldering responsibility for outcomes— that transforms you:

From an operator to a strategist.

From a doer to a decider.

From a manager to a leader.

So if you want to prepare for cultural leadership

make this one crucial change:

Stop doing.

Start deciding.