“The Future of Our Region is Powered by Your Experience” – Dr Shaid Mahmood

As Chair of the Luminate Education Group, Dr Shaid Mahmood invites community-focused leaders to utilise their valuable experience and contribute in a governance role.

There is a tendency among certain kinds of people to rarely settle with doing just one thing. Just look at some of the most successful people in the world, people like Richard Branson or Bill Gates. As well as co-founding Microsoft, Gates set up a foundation to fight diseases like malaria. Along with his many other ventures, Branson sponsors a charity that helps to find missing children.

You can also find this trait in people you meet day to day. For me, I’ve had an amazing career within the sciences and business, as well as my role at Leeds City Council. But even then, it wasn’t enough, which is why I also coach football teams for my local community.

I believe there are two key things that drive people to keep making a difference in different ways. Firstly, it is their desire to serve the communities that are important to them.

Secondly, I think many of us are driven by the belief that our own experience is valuable to others. It may seem pretentious, but I have often seen first-hand how sharing my experience has helped to create a positive experience for other people. I’m sure that this is the same for you.

You will probably have felt a similar kind of drive in your own ventures and enterprises, and it may have encouraged you to take on new challenges and add extra strings to your bow.

This is what motivated me to take on the role of Chair of the Luminate Education Group. Now, if you are reading this then I can probably assume that you already do at least one thing to give back to your community. You may have been involved in fundraising or volunteering. Therefore, it is probably easy for you to imagine what experience and expertise you can provide in the role of an educational governor or trustee.

“A positive difference”

You can easily imagine how rewarding it is to take on a role like this. You will be able to easily imagine how valuable your experience can be in this varied role which can sway between management, mentoring, coaching, and advising, sometimes in one meeting.

What you may not imagine is how valuable the experience of being a governor can be for you. I have been in this role for almost two years and I have learnt things that I would never have picked up from a textbook, and I say this as a former academic! I’ve learnt lots from the talent I have surrounding me. Our board is pretty dynamic and we’re open to unique perspectives and experiences, which means I’ve learnt so much from other people’s experience. I have also learnt so much about myself that the challenge has been worth its weight in gold.

What you may also not realise is how big of an impact your experience will have on the future of our region. The Luminate Education Group includes Harrogate College, Keighley College, Leeds City College, Leeds Conservatoire, Leeds Sixth Form College, University Centre Leeds and the White Rose Academies Trust, some of the most rapidly improving institutions in the country. In total that makes up almost 30,000 students – a whole generation that will make their own impact on the region.

The group also has the critical mass to make a positive difference to the economy of the city region. As well as these institutions being places that develop the next generation of leaders, they are gradually expanding and will make up tens of millions of pounds of future investment into the region.

But before you take all of this into account, think about what it is that drives you. Why do you get up in the morning? If it is because you won’t settle for doing one thing and want to serve another part of your community, then you should consider taking on a governance role.

If you believe that your experience will be valuable to our region’s future, then write to us now because we want to start that conversation with you.

If you are an ambitious or aspiring leader, proud of your community and passionate about the future of our region, I invite you to get in touch via email with Melanie Halstead, Group Director of Governance, at melanie.halstead@luminate.ac.uk.