A Leadership Conversation with Natalie Egleton

(By Alma Raheem)

Natalie Egleton is CEO of FRRR (Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal), an organisation that partners with rural, regional and remote communities across Australia to help them thrive on their own terms. Having spent more than a decade with FRRR, Natalie has led the organisation through significant growth and change, while also experiencing firsthand how the role of a CEO evolves alongside the organisation itself.

What I enjoyed about our conversation was how openly Natalie reflected on that evolution: not only what it takes to lead an organisation, but what she has learnt about herself and her leadership along the way.

We spoke about the balance between working in the organisation and on the organisation, the loneliness that can come with the CEO role, and the importance of building an executive team that allows you to operate at the right level. We also explored what Natalie looks for in people who are ready to step into more senior leadership, the changing capabilities leaders will need, and the importance of having a clear personal and organisational compass when so much around us continues to shift.

One of the themes that came through strongly was that leadership at this level isn't something you simply arrive at and master. It requires ongoing judgement about when to step closer to the work, when to step back, what you need to hold yourself and what you need to trust others to carry.

As Natalie reflected, even after many years as a CEO, that balance continues to evolve.

As always, I’ve included a few reflection questions throughout — some prompted by Natalie’s insights and others that I hope encourage current and aspiring executives to consider their own leadership journey.

The Reality of the CEO Role

When Natalie first stepped into the CEO role, FRRR was a much smaller organisation. While she expected to spend much of her time on higher-order strategic priorities, the reality was that she needed to spend considerably more time working in the organisation.

While that has changed as FRRR has grown, Natalie reflected that the tension never completely disappears. There will always be times when a CEO is pulled back into the detail and, particularly when you know how to do the work, it can be tempting to step in.

For Natalie, building a strong executive team was a significant part of shifting that balance. She spoke about supporting her executive leaders to genuinely hold their executive function, which in turn allows her to hold hers. I thought this was an important distinction. A CEO's ability to operate at the right level is closely connected to the capability and confidence of the team around them.

At the same time, CEOs need to remain close enough to understand what is happening. Natalie periodically joins team meetings simply to listen, answer questions and hear directly from people across FRRR. It gives her proximity without needing to be involved in everything.

Natalie also spoke openly about the loneliness of the CEO role, something she particularly noticed after stepping up from within the organisation. The relationships change, people interact with you differently and there are things you can no longer share in the same way.

Coaching and CEO peer networks have been incredibly important throughout her journey, giving her somewhere to think aloud, gain perspective and connect with people who understand the realities of the role.

There was also a lesson that took longer to learn: looking after herself. Like many leaders in the for-purpose sector, Natalie spent years caring for the organisation and everyone around her without creating enough space for her own wellbeing. She is now much more deliberate about taking meaningful breaks and creating boundaries that allow her to reset.

Questions to consider

• Where are you currently spending most of your time - in the organisation or on the organisation?
• Do you have the right people around you to allow you to operate at the level your role requires?
• Who do you have in your corner when you need perspective, challenge or simply somewhere to think aloud?

What Does Executive Readiness Actually Look Like?

Given my work in Executive Search, I was particularly interested in Natalie's perspective on how she knows someone is ready to step into more senior leadership.

Her answer wasn't about technical expertise or already having held the title. She looks for someone's ability to look up and across.

People earlier in their management careers are often understandably focused on their program, function or team. As leaders become ready for broader executive responsibility, Natalie sees them beginning to consider the organisation as a whole. They notice the connections between different areas and start thinking about how a decision in one part of the organisation might affect another.

She also looks at how people manage upwards. Can they anticipate what the executive team, CEO or Board will need to know? Can they take a complex issue, think it through and provide the information required to make a decision?

I thought this was such a useful way of describing executive readiness because it is something I see in Executive Search too. Being exceptional within your function doesn't automatically mean you are ready to lead at enterprise level. The shift is often less about knowing more about your particular area and more about broadening the way you think.

Natalie suggested deliberately exposing yourself to higher-order thinking - reading more broadly about strategy, risk, governance and business, finding mentors who can stretch your thinking and spending time around leaders already operating at the level you aspire to reach.

She also spoke about finding role models and simply observing them. How do they think? How do they behave in a room? What are they noticing? Rather than entering those environments questioning whether you belong there, approach them with curiosity and use the opportunity to learn.

Questions to consider

• Are you focused primarily on your own area, or are you looking up and across the organisation?
• How well do you anticipate what the level above you needs in order to make decisions?
• Who are you learning from who is already operating at the level you aspire to reach?

Leadership Needs a Compass

When we spoke about the capabilities future CEOs will need, Natalie came back to adaptability and the ability to understand what is happening in the environment around you.

Technology, funding models, workforce expectations, service delivery and the way people engage with organisations are all shifting. Natalie believes leaders increasingly need to be able to read the environment, make decisions without perfect information and recognise when they need to change course.

To do that well, you need a compass.

For FRRR, that compass is clear: they are there as partners for rural and remote Australia, supporting communities to thrive on their own terms. When opportunities arise, the organisation can return to that purpose and ask whether what is being proposed genuinely aligns with what communities say they need.

For Natalie personally, her compass comes back to integrity.

I found the distinction she made between an organisational compass and a personal one particularly interesting. In the for-purpose sector, the two can become very closely intertwined. When you care deeply about the work, it can become difficult to separate who you are from what you do.

A three-month sabbatical became an important circuit breaker for Natalie and helped her recognise that while FRRR is a significant part of her life, it isn't her identity. The organisation existed before her leadership and will continue beyond it.

That led to another theme from our conversation that really stayed with me: stewardship.

Natalie described the CEO role as fundamentally a stewardship role. Every CEO holds the chair for a period of time, with an opportunity to influence the organisation in ways few other roles allow. Her advice to aspiring CEOs was to recognise that privilege, but also to enter the role with their eyes open.

Understand the Board, the culture and how the organisation really operates. Do your research and be clear about what you hope to contribute during your time there.

From an Executive Search perspective, I think this is an important question for aspiring CEOs to consider. It isn't simply: Do I want to be a CEO? It is also: Why this organisation, why now, and what am I uniquely positioned to contribute during my time there?

Questions to consider

• What is the compass you return to when the environment around you is changing?
• How closely connected is your identity to the role you hold?
• If you stepped into a CEO role tomorrow, what would you want your period of stewardship to contribute?

Final Reflections

There was a lot I took away from my conversation with Natalie. The CEO role brings enormous opportunity to influence an organisation, its people and its impact, but ultimately every leader holds that responsibility for a period of time. The role is to understand what the organisation needs now, prepare it for what is coming next and eventually leave it ready for someone else to continue the work.

Doing that work well requires stewardship.  It requires the ability to look up and across, build the right people around you, stay connected without needing to be involved in everything, and remain grounded in a clear sense of purpose while the environment around you changes.

For aspiring CEOs, perhaps Natalie's advice to enter the role with your eyes open is particularly important. Understand what you are stepping into, know what you stand for and be clear about what you hope to contribute during the time you are entrusted with leading the organisation.

My sincere thanks to Natalie for sharing her experience and reflections so openly, and for the work she and the FRRR team continue to do alongside rural, regional and remote communities across Australia.

Alma Raheem, Associate Partner, Executive Search