PART 2: The Missed Moment - When Ego Blocks Systemic Change

Ironically, the organisation I worked for was involved in the early stages of the REALITIES project — a UKRI-funded, multi-disciplinary initiative led by the University of Edinburgh. The project was designed to explore what a truly human, trauma-informed public system could look like when it integrates health, housing, work, transport, and the natural environment. It brought together academics, artists, frontline workers, councils and communities to co-design alternatives to the fragmented, dehumanising systems we’ve come to accept.

It was the kind of work I had been advocating for consistently. The approach aligned with everything I believed in: evidence-led practice, co-design, trauma-informed support, and a deeper interrogation of what “employable” even means in a broken labour market.

And it was my outreach that opened the door.

We were invited to contribute, to be part of something bold. The potential was enormous:

• Access to gold-standard research

• A chance to feed in real frontline insight

• An opportunity to ground our work in evidence, not anecdote

• A way to strengthen the organisation’s credibility and values in practice, not just branding

But instead of embracing it, the chair of the organisation — who regularly introduced herself as a “world-class economist and employability strategist” — felt... threatened.

Not by risk. Not by resourcing. But by relevance.

She didn’t lean in. She didn’t seek to learn. She didn’t ask how the organisation could meaningfully contribute. Instead, she offered her consulting services to the academic leading the research — a respected professor with decades of experience, deep sectoral knowledge, and a reputation for designing work that actually changes systems.

Yes. That happened.

A chair with no meaningful track record in systems change or relational practice, trying to insert herself as an advisor to a programme that left her completely out of her depth.

It was embarrassing — for her, and for the organisation.

This wasn’t leadership. It was ego preservation.

The idea that someone so committed to self-mythology would rather undermine a groundbreaking partnership than risk not being seen as the smartest person in the room is damning. But it’s not unique. This is what happens when leadership becomes performance. When fear trumps vision. When power is confused with expertise.

And when the people shouting about being “strategic” are the ones blocking actual progress.

The REALITIES project could have been a game-changer. It could have connected our work to something deeper, more ambitious, and more honest. It could have helped us move beyond the usual output-chasing and into something meaningful. But the opportunity quietly disappeared.

Not because the work wasn’t right. Not because the timing wasn’t right. But because someone’s ego couldn’t tolerate collaboration with people whose knowledge exceeded their own.

She poured time into low-impact projects that looked good in reports but led nowhere in reality. While the REALITIES project — a serious, evidence-based, values-driven initiative — was pushed aside.

That’s not just poor judgement. That’s a failure of leadership.

And it cost the organisation. Quietly. Invisibly. But meaningfully.

We didn’t just miss a project. We missed a chance to help rewrite the story of employability in the UK.

A chance to co-create something real.

Clackmannanshire Economic Regeneration Trust #CERT #Clacks #Clackmannanshire #Employability