How good a musician would you be if you only learned to play one piece?
How good a mechanic would you be if you only learned to work on one brand?
How good a leader would you be if you only learned one company?
In my last newsletter I wrote about skills-stacks and career-lattices. I wrote about the breathtaking power of skills diversity, and of being ready to move on the opportunities that come your way.
A musician who only plays one tune would quickly lose their audience. And get very bored.
A mechanic who only fixes one make has limited value.
A leader who only knows one way can struggle with the unexpected.
I cannot help but notice that most corporate learning and development programs are focused on them and not you.
They teach you how they do things. Use their systems. Follow their processes. Do things their way.
You learn how to play their tune and fix their car.
You learn how to work “inside” their box.
But what about you?
What about the you that exists “outside” of that box?
I often speak with people who feel this development and growth void.
It is common to feel. Hard to articulate.
If you, or someone you know, might be feeling this, read on.
Allow me to offer a perspective, and perhaps a way forward.
Corporate development is necessary
Let me be clear. I am not anti corporate training.
In many organisations, internal programs are thoughtful, well-funded, and genuinely helpful.
They help you learn the operating rhythm.
They teach you the internal language.
They help you succeed within the system.
That is valuable.
In fact, it is necessary.
If you do not understand the system you are in, you will always feel like you are running uphill in heels!
…but also insufficient
Here is the catch.
Most internal development is designed to help you become a better employee for that company.
“How can you work our machine better?”
“How can you use our tools more effectively?”
“How can you follow our process with fewer bumps and bruises?”
None of that is wrong. It is just not sufficient.
It is the same people, the same culture, the same language, and often the same unspoken rules.
Same taboos. Same sacred cows. Same “we’ve always done it this way”.
It is development inside a bubble.
And if your growth only happens inside that bubble, your thinking can start to take on the shape of the bubble.
The edge of the jigsaw puzzle
Internal development often helps you build the edges of the puzzle.
- You can see the frame.
- You know where things fit.
- You can move confidently inside the boundaries.
But the middle of the puzzle, the part that makes the picture worth looking at, stays unfinished.
That middle is usually built from things your workplace cannot easily provide:
- Diverse perspectives that do not share your organisation’s assumptions
- A space where you can say the quiet part out loud
- New language for old problems
- Fresh standards for what “good” looks like
- Different models of leadership, influence, confidence and career design
And especially for women, that outside perspective can be the difference between “I’m coping” and “I’m growing”.
“When I started the WforW program, I had just begun a new role and wanted a dedicated place and time to gain perspective and bring it back into my work. It has definitely delivered.”
Kama, WforW Alumni
To work on yourself, you often need to get out of the system
There is a phrase I love.
Sometimes you need to step outside the machine and work on the driver.
When you are inside an organisation, you are surrounded by its gravity.
It subtly pulls you toward fitting in, being agreeable, being “professional” in the local definition of the word, solving problems in the approved way, staying safe.
But personal growth often requires the opposite.
Trying on new behaviours.
Testing new boundaries.
Saying what you actually think.
That is hard to do when your reputation, your performance rating, and your manager’s opinion are sitting on your shoulder like a bored parrot.
“It’s a very personal program, not cookie-cutter or corporate, but a supportive community of women where you can talk through real issues and gain practical tools to apply at work.”
Kama, WforW Alumni
“We gained deep insight into our own unique leadership styles, our shadows and roles in creating and reinforcing culture. We received guidance, we learned and challenged each other in a safe, collegiate space”.
Joanne, Leading Women, 2025
Skill stacks and “key-shaped” people
A big part of career resilience is building a broader skill stack.
The more diverse your stack, the more valuable and adaptable you become.
Not because you can do everything, but because you can connect things other people cannot.
You stop being a single tool.
You become a key-shaped person.
You can unlock more doors because you can operate in more rooms.
And in a world of work that keeps changing, that really matters.
New problems are showing up that did not exist five years ago.
New expectations are landing on leaders.
New pressures are pushing on women in particular.
A narrow development diet cannot keep up with a wide world.
“We received guidance, could regularly check our sanity, and learned and challenged each other in a safe, collegiate space.”
Helen, Evolving Women, 2025
A familiar feeling and an open door…
If any of this feels familiar, for you or maybe for someone you know, consider this your personal invitation.
Internal development is necessary but not sufficient.
External development is often the missing ingredient.
If you are feeling that “void” you cannot quite name, it may simply be this:
You have been learning how to succeed in the system,
but not enough about how to expand yourself beyond it.
Sometimes, the most valuable growth does not come from learning more about the organisation you are in.
It comes from giving yourself permission to step outside it.
WforW 2026 Programs – Registrations now open for March 2026 start.
“The opportunity to meet such inspiring and strong women from the WforW network was incredibly beneficial, and I will take these connections into the future.”
Helen, Evolving Women, 2025
