Walking into a room where everyone seems more experienced can make you question whether you belong. You notice what they know, compare it with what you are still learning and hesitate before speaking. The opportunity you wanted begins to feel like somewhere you should not be.
Kayla recognises that feeling. Taking on responsibility early in her career in sport, she worried that her age and experience made her less qualified to contribute. During her Women Emerging Sports Expedition, she began to reconsider what those doubts meant.
Kayla works in sport, with a focus on grassroots and recreational participation, and continues to compete herself. In this final conversation of the Sports Expedition podcast series, she speaks with Julia about the discoveries that have helped her bring more Energy to her leading.
Not knowing everything can give us room to grow
Kayla remembers hearing a thought during the Expedition that changed her perspective: she would rather experience imposter syndrome than believe she already knew everything.
She had been treating gaps in her knowledge as evidence that she did not belong. Now, she could see them as opportunities to learn.
“Maybe I don’t know everything. Maybe I don’t have as much experience. But I want to learn and I want to grow.”
The feeling did not disappear. Her response to it changed. She became more confident about entering a room and asking questions, without first needing to prove that she had every answer.
Julia recognises something valuable in remaining open to what we do not know, whatever our age or experience. For Kayla, that shift released Energy previously spent questioning her place.
Trying to fit in can drain the Energy we bring
Alongside those doubts was another assumption: before Kayla could lead, she needed to resemble the people already doing it.
Earlier in her career, she had held back from opportunities because she did not think she had reached their level or developed the same qualities. The Expedition helped her question why their way had become the standard against which she measured herself.
“I need to be me, not anybody else.”
Around the time she joined the Expedition, Kayla applied successfully for a role. She describes having greater confidence that she could approach it in her own way.
That confidence also affected her working practices. Instead of automatically following established structures, she began stepping back and asking where more collaboration could help people contribute and grow.
Being competitive in sport does not determine how we lead
Kayla enjoys competing. As a participant, competition is something she actively seeks out. But when Julia asks about her approach to leading, a different preference emerges.
“Leading, we can do it better together.”
Kayla distinguishes between the pleasure she finds in competing herself and the collaboration she wants to encourage at work. Her professional focus on grassroots and recreational sport reflects her enthusiasm for participation, enjoyment and opportunity.
The distinction matters in an environment where competition is so familiar. We can absorb its habits without asking whether they serve every part of our work. Kayla’s experience shows the value of making that choice consciously.
Care can be part of how we lead
Another discovery came through a word Kayla initially rejected: Motherness. Not being a mother herself, she assumed it had little relevance to her.
Listening to other women on the Expedition changed her understanding. She began to recognise her desire to help people develop, access opportunities and become the best they could be.
Those qualities were already present in her leading. She had simply not connected them with the word.
Understanding that connection helped her see how care, collaboration and being herself could support the Energy she wanted to bring. She no longer had to dismiss those qualities because they seemed different from an established picture of success.
As the Sports Expedition series closes, Kayla leaves us with a question that reaches beyond sport: how much Energy might become available if we stopped trying to prove we were someone else?
Listen to Kayla’s full conversation with Julia on the WE Hub, and revisit the Sports Expedition series to explore what you might reframe in your own leading.
