I trust the last few weeks have treated you well and the year is finding its flow.

Our family is well into the swing of the school/uni/VCE year and as you can imagine with such a broad mix of educational forays, chaos ensues.

Our team at Tank are preparing its first of what I hope will not be our last series of Open Dialogues on work we do — Impact Storytelling will look into the key principles of the community research work we do, and how it aligns with impact strategy. We're not presenting anything really — just sharing the old-fashioned way.

Through open dialogue and discourse. Which in itself is a key principle in conducting ourselves in research settings.

I'll be accompanied by four remarkable women with whom I've learned more from than most on the subjects we grapple with together.

And this is the crux of this weekly thought because as I look back on my career, I find myself surrounded by powerful women.

And I use the term 'powerful' here to illustrate the meaning of the word directly — strength, resilience, fortitude — a word that we've been taught to think of as masculine, is in fact, the right word to use here.

If my career was to be a large, expansive oil painting hanging in a gallery, it would have me somewhere off in the distance writing or drawing in my notebook, and in the foreground will be a gathering of smart, intelligent women who inspire me, coach me, teach me and allow me to see within me, my own strength in being vulnerable.

My own power as a person in this world.

They will gather in this very large oil painting and celebrate how they helped me understand that there is safety, strength and power to be found in embracing who we are, in finding our identity and in the simple act of coming together in the foreground of an oil painting.

It is the women in my life who do this, and for this I count myself lucky.

They helped me understand how important it is to advocate for those that can't advocate for themselves, and how critical it is to turn the volume up on the voices we don't hear.

They taught me to listen with more than just my ears and my mind, and that the simple act of listening is more than just in the doing.

It is in the feeling and the experiencing.

It is in the sensing and understanding.

It is in the makeup of what we choose to change about ourselves so we might see one another as more than the superficial. Something so many 'leaders' struggle to do.

I see the way my eldest daughter — now an adult —carries herself with confidence and strength — a young woman emerging into the world and I know that part of it is a shield of protection and another part is the fire that she within her. A fire that is fierce and powerful. Revolutionary. Angry at injustice and creative in her approach to solving problems. I see her ability to think and feel — even to feel, then think — to create and tear apart, and feel both fear and vulnerability.

I see a leader already made, not in the making.

I see all of this in her and am reminded at the leadership lessons the women in my life impart on me each day.

And as I look at the small group of women who are the heart of our business, I see a humility and a humanness that is incomparable.

I see power that is admirable and noble; a settled sense of harmony in the way they balance their accountability to the task, and their responsibility to leave this world in a better place through the work they do. An ability to rethink and reimagine each time is inspiring — to throw out all that has been assumed and admit that in this moment, we know nothing, but we will listen.

I see this very delicate balance, and am in awe.

See you next week,