Making decisions about whether to stay in a job or make a jump

Making decisions about whether to stay in a job or make a jump to another role is never easy. Change is hard. But the fabulous Charlie Mackesy reminded me recently, “Imagine how we would be if we were less afraid”. And imagine what we might achieve if we follow our purpose. Another wise woman made me imagine what we might achieve if we chased opportunities that had the potential for greater ‘spheres of influence’. For me, I can’t get away from imagining what kind of world we would live in if we could break cycles of entrenched disadvantage. Imagine what that would mean for our kids, our families, our communities, our country.

I have always been driven?to better understand and address complex social problems to help children, families and communities thrive. This has shaped my work for over three decades now: from the coal face of supporting children and families in the disability sector, to organisation and community level interventions, to philanthropic funding, executive and governance roles and leading for systems change.

It’s one of the primary reasons I became the CEO of the Centre for Social Impact in January 2017. I wanted to not only better understand these problems but also help to catalyse other people’s and organisations’ positive social impact.?

From an organisational perspective, it’s been transformational. At CSI, we reset the organisation’s finances, governance, leadership, legal agreements and culture. We grew our team nationally, at UNSW, Swinburne and UWA, scaled our reach and lived our values. While these are all really important enablers, I’m most proud of our demonstrable moments of impact through our collaborations with governments, corporates, not-for-profits, social enterprises, philanthropy and communities.?

Deciding to leave the CSI CEO role was not easy. But CSI’s future is strong, with a great executive leadership team in place, a highly engaged and supportive Board and Advisory Council and, happily, I get to stay involved in executive education as a Professor. Overall, I am and remain driven by how I can best make a difference to the people and places around me.

And looking at what is around, I can’t look away from the fact that in this wealthy country we still have entrenched cycles of disadvantage. It’s not okay?to?have 1 in 6 children and young people living in poverty. It’s not ok that we have 10-year-olds in prison. It’s not okay that a child’s life outcomes can be determined by whether they had the opportunity of decent early childhood development. It’s not okay that 1 in 200 people are homeless on any given night. It’s not okay that we still haven’t closed the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in many areas. It’s not okay that so many women and children experience domestic violence. I could go on…

The bright side of this darkness, however, is that in this country we have incredible families, communities, leaders, organisations, and businesses, who all have a shared intent for a different, better future.?

It’s for these reasons and more, that I’m so excited to be joining the Paul Ramsay Foundation as its Chief Alliances Officer. This is an?opportunity to help evolve how the Foundation approaches and works with others, given that effective systems change requires deep engagement with government, the not for profit sector and others at a range of levels to influence policy, practice, and funding. This is an opportunity to work systemically, collaboratively and with humanity and humility.

This opportunity brings together those three decades I’ve spent understanding, working and advocating for social purpose; the two decades I’ve spent as an applied social policy academic to better understand complex social problems to help children, families and communities thrive; and the last five years as CEO of CSI gaining a deeper understanding of and working with and across the social purpose ecosystem, teaching and applying systems thinking and helping to catalyse positive social change. It enables me to draw and build on my insights and practice of philanthropy (as a grantee, grantor and collaborator) and to apply my expertise and love of adaptive leadership and building coalitions with people across sectors for shared social progress.

Breaking cycles of disadvantage is one enormously complex challenge. It cannot be solved alone, quickly, or with simple solutions. Change requires strong alliances with people, communities and organisations across sectors to make progress. I look forward to working with many of you collectively.?Together, we can not only reimagine, but also reshape the future before us.

Prof Kristy Muir, 6 August 2021

Read the media release here: https://www.csi.edu.au/news/csi-announces-leadership-changes/