Another Future Shapers program has wrapped, and we’re thrilled to welcome 22 new alumni to our ranks. Their Community Action Pledges blew us away, and we can’t wait to see the impact they’ll have on our community. We wanted to share a reflection from graduate Anna Kingston, which beautifully captures what the Future Shapers experience is all about:
“I recently graduated from the Future Shapers 2026 program and have been trying to work out my thoughts on where it has left me, 6 months after starting.
Future Shapers is a leadership program, but I wouldn’t say that I’ve emerged out the other side feeling like a ‘leader’ or someone who is even ready to try and define what that even means. This is nothing critical to the course itself, rather, I’m left with feeling a little more confused than usual.
My career has not been a straight forward one – I’ve got so many bows to my arrow that it can be hard to know where to shoot. Energy is finite, time is scarce, and resources thin. Never has it felt more necessary or important to know where to shoot my efforts, what targets to shoot for, what goals to aspire to.
And yet, at the end of Future Shapers, it feels like so many doors of curiosity have now been opened, and I can’t help but wanting to peek in them…
At the end of the course we are encouraged to expand our network, and our sphere of influence, to take confidence in taking up some space.
But imposter syndrome is bitch, and on a platform full of experts, professionals and Very Confident Opinions, it can feel just a tad disingenuous to mould myself into just one more into the sea of Linkedin.
I’ve still got much more to digest on what this past 6 months have shown me, but I am very grateful for having had the opportunity. Lifelong learning is definitely a thing – and as uncomfortable as this current state of confusion might be, I’m sure what will emerge from the murk will be well worth the ride.”