The Agile Executive. Marianne Broadbent

her somewhat extensive medical experience, in order to truly gain the credibility she needed for that role, and to become a CEO, she had to invest in an MBA.

      A decade or two ago, people working in large organisations or government agencies would expect the organisation to take the initiative in development opportunities for them.

      Organisations do need to invest in their people, but the most effective development takes place in those that are attuned to benefit from it—those with a strong orientation to accept responsibility for their own development and invest in it.

      Professional development, formal and informal, and professional engagement, has always been a key part of my DNA. It has brought me into contact with some fabulous people throughout my career.

      In the work I do today, it is something we look for in those we are working with. I am always amazed at those who seem to get by without this form of stimulation and commitment. They just don’t know what they are missing—until it is too late.

      Self-development is your responsibility

      These days, most employees get that self-development is their responsibility too.

      It’s always been something I’ve prioritised. In the 1970s I developed an early interest in how computers could be applied to indexing and making documents more readily available. This might not sound too exciting to some, but a whole new world was opening up—not much was happening on this front in the school system at the time, but things were starting to develop in local government libraries.

      My local library at Ryde in Sydney was an early mover. While on maternity leave for child number four, I approached them about the possibility of working a day or two a week to understand how this all worked and to gain some experience to take into the education sector.