​What Nobody Tells You About Leadership: Fear, Failure & the Reality of Success

Leadership is often presented as confidence, decisiveness and having all the answers. But what happens behind the scenes?

In the latest episode of The MorePeople Podcast, Richard Hanwell sits down with Kirsten Catella, Sales & Marketing Director at Wyvale Nurseries and BALI Board Director, for an honest conversation about leadership, career progression, failure and the realities that come with being responsible for others.

With 26 years in horticulture, Kirsten has experienced leadership from both sides of the table - learning from the good, the bad and the very ugly along the way. Her approach to leadership has been shaped by a simple ambition: to leave things in a better place than she found them.

You don't have to be ready to take the next step

Kirsten's career wasn't mapped out through a series of perfectly timed promotions. Instead, some of her biggest opportunities came from simply being willing to say yes before she felt ready.

“It’s just being willing to make a risk on myself and keep going forward.”

It's a powerful reminder that career progression doesn't always come from having every box ticked. Sometimes, it's about recognising that you're capable of more than the role or expectations currently placed around you and having the confidence to take the next step.

Great leaders don't play the blame game

One of the clearest distinctions Kirsten makes between average and great leaders is how they respond when things go wrong.

Great leaders don't look for someone to blame. They take ownership, look at what can be learned and focus on what happens next.

That doesn't mean falling on your sword or believing you're a failure because you've made a mistake. It means acknowledging what happened, learning from it and moving forward.

As Richard puts it, “fail” can be viewed as the first attempt in learning.

And that's particularly important when you're leading others. If people are afraid to make mistakes, they become afraid to make decisions. And without decisions, there is very little progress.

Leadership isn't about having all the answers

The traditional idea of management has changed significantly.

Kirsten describes the difference between the management culture of years gone by, where people were given KPIs, told what to do and expected to get on with it, and the leadership culture needed today.

Modern leadership is about empowering people to think for themselves.

When someone comes to Kirsten with a problem, her first response isn't necessarily to give them the answer. Instead, she'll ask: “How do you think it's best to resolve that?” Sometimes she'll steer them towards another option. Sometimes she'll let them try their own idea and be there to catch them if it doesn't work.

That's the difference between doing a job for someone and helping them develop the confidence to do it themselves.

The part of success people don't see

Perhaps one of the most powerful parts of the conversation is Kirsten's description of what leadership looks like away from the boardroom.

People see the job title.

They see the presentation.

They see the board position.

They see the successful outcome.

What they don't see are the tears of frustration, the self-talk on the drive into work, the hours of preparation and the constant questioning about whether you could have done something better.

And most importantly, they don't see the fear. “The fear never goes away. You just learn to do things despite the fear.”

It's an important distinction. Confidence isn't necessarily the absence of doubt. Sometimes it's simply the ability to acknowledge that doubt and keep moving anyway.

The power of being 1% better

The conversation also explores MorePeople's familiar idea of being 1% better.

For Kirsten, this isn't about working longer hours or pushing yourself harder. It's about taking that extra step.

Ask the additional question.

Speak up when you have an idea.

Give something a go.

Ask the question you think might be a stupid one.

Put yourself slightly outside your comfort zone.

Those small improvements might not feel significant at the time, but over five, ten or twenty years, they compound into something much bigger.

As Kirsten explains, you can underestimate how much you can learn over ten years while simultaneously overestimating what you can achieve in ten days.

Progress takes time, and that's okay.

Staying curious is what keeps you growing

For Kirsten, one of the biggest differences between people who continue to grow and those who plateau is curiosity.

The people who continue to develop remain hungry for knowledge. They look outside their immediate role, ask questions, seek new experiences and stay open to learning from others.

Those who plateau can become protective of what they already know.

And that's particularly relevant in an industry as diverse and fast-moving as horticulture, where there are constantly new technologies, ideas, businesses and challenges to understand.

You don't have to know everything.

You just have to remain willing to learn.

Creating more opportunities for women in horticulture

Kirsten also reflects on how much the industry has changed during her career, particularly when it comes to opportunities for women in leadership.

There is still work to do, but the landscape is changing. More women are taking positions on boards, leading businesses and becoming influential voices across the horticulture industry.

Kirsten points to organisations such as Women in Horticulture as an example of the growing community and support available to women working across the sector.

For Kirsten, the answer isn't complicated: keep showing up, keep creating opportunities and keep talking about the progress being made. Visibility matters. Representation matters. And so does demonstrating to the next generation that leadership roles are genuinely open to them.

You don't need a job title to be a leader

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the conversation is that leadership isn't something you suddenly acquire when you become a manager or director.

You can lead from anywhere.

You can improve a process.

You can challenge the way something is done.

You can support a colleague.

You can ask better questions.

You can influence the people around you through the way you communicate and behave.

As Kirsten puts it, “You don't need to be a manager or a director to lead.”

Ultimately, leadership comes down to consistency, authenticity and the impact you have on other people.

Your personal brand isn't simply what you post on LinkedIn. It's what people say about you when you're not in the room and, perhaps more importantly, how you've made people feel when they've been around you.

Leaving things better than you found them

For Kirsten, that is what motivates her now. Earlier in her career, success was about managing her own career, time and results. Today, it's about helping other people do the same for themselves. It's about developing people who can go on to achieve more. It's about creating lasting change. And it's about leaving things in a better place than she found them.

That might just be one of the simplest, and most powerful, definitions of leadership.

Listen to the latest episode of the MorePeople Podcast to hear the full conversation with Kirsten Catella and discover what leadership really looks like behind the scenes.

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