President’s Blog

As I have mentioned elsewhere being President was not on my life/career plan (please humour me with the idea that there has ever been ‘a plan’). Has this opportunity given me experiences, lessons, connections I wouldn’t have otherwise had? A resounding yes. Has it been hard and at times a little all consuming, also yes. Would I recommend it, another yes. Being part of BAA Board for a long time has been rewarding on many levels.

For those of you watching Celebrity Traitors I would like to mis-quote one of my comedy heroes Miranda and say life is all about connection. Wherever you work within Audiology we are supporting our customers, clients and patients to create and maintain connections in their lives. It is one of the fundamental reasons many of us decided to come into this profession.

It is the connections I have made whilst on Board and as President that mean the most. At the beginning of my stint as President, I was at a bit of a turning point personally with my career and could have quite easily simply walked away and I was very tempted to do so. Having spent two years meeting such a wide variety of people connected to Audiology has reaffirmed that I actually do quite like it and was right not to change careers completely. I have met and worked with such a variety of people, from different backgrounds, working in different sectors at different points in their careers. It has been fascinating and I feel I have learnt so much and been given an insight into parts of our profession I simply wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t become President.

It has continued to be a challenging time to be in Audiology, and it can be easy to point out what is wrong, to focus on age-old rhetoric and tribalism within the sector. What I have seen is examples of absolute excellence, innovation and care everywhere, in all parts, by many different clinicians. We should definitely celebrate that.

It doesn’t come naturally to state what I may have done that I am proud of (apart from a rather spectacular piece of parallel parking the other week, in a busy street no less), but I am proud of the joint working that is happening across the different professional bodies and how the Joint Audiology Leaders Group is starting to work. Communication is now far more regular, open and transparent and it is clear we all are working towards the same goals – this connection is very important to me. Building the trust between us all and spreading that to our members is happening, the keyboard warriors will not stop this. Again to drop a quote clumsily in – we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us. Again, connection.

Thank you for your support over the two years. I am very much looking forward to seeing what Saima achieves within her presidency. I get to stay around to help create the World Congress of Audiology, so will have a front row seat to watch her success.