Jo Youle Blog - My stumble

In autumn 2024, I actually did what I needed to do for the summer to follow. I got fitter. I won’t say ‘beach-body ready’, because then you’d know I’d been ‘got’ by a marketing campaign. I just wanted to feel OK. 

It all came crashing down when I stumbled off the set of Breakfast TV after a live interview the following November. I fell into the arms of the lead singer from the Blow Monkeys, grabbing the lapels of his jacket in an improvised ski manoeuvre to keep myself upright. There was no time to apologise before he was sitting on the sofa. (I am sorry, Dr Robert — hope you don’t have whiplash.) 

Thankfully, my stumble wasn’t broadcast. But on the train back from Manchester, I leant forward and realised my back was hurt — along with my pride. After that, I fell off the exercise wagon. 

I’m sharing this small, sorry story since it feels part of bigger human pattern. 

After numerous visits to the osteopath, I could be exercising again: walking, balancing on my wobble boards, doing a Pilates class. But I’m not, and I don’t really get why not. 

Although, as the new CEO of Windsor Leadership, the timing has worked well. I’ve had more time in my day to get used to travelling. It’s compensated for the crack-of-dawn train journeys to Windsor Castle which is early enough without squeezing in an exercise class in my lounge. I know, excuses, excuses. 

The leaders who join the programmes at Windsor Leadership are ‘doing the exercise’, so to speak. They’re committing precious time when they probably feel too busy. And I know they get something precious in return. 

They have an unusual chance to meet leaders from across sectors: charities, businesses, the military, the NHS and the emergency services, as well as faith and civic leaders. A chance to think and learn and build friendships with each other in private and personal conversation — about how to better navigate the tough landscapes and the issues that affect our organisations: conflicts here and abroad, economics, climate change, social division and the breathtaking speed of change. 

They and their organisations have invested in every sense, because they know that not doing so is a false economy in the longer term. 

Often, when we’re busiest, we give ourselves less time. When the budgetary challenges are greatest, we spend the least. When we need to go for a run, we sit on the sofa. 

I heard Dan Jørgensen, European Commissioner for Energy and Housing, say that no government is doing what is needed now to address the climate crisis. (You can listen here on The Rest is Politics.) He notes the Giddens Paradox* at its heart, saying: “When the temperature gets to the point of no return, there will be nothing we will not be willing to do, but then it will be too late.” Oof. 

In a world that needs so much from us, and asks so much of us, taking a few days out of the hundreds that follow can feel difficult to justify. Yet at Windsor Leadership we see how those few days can create the space, perspective and connections that help us — and then the world — to lead through all that comes after. 

I can’t take the moral high ground though. I’m acutely aware of my own contradiction. Even though I know that the habits that keep us strong — exercise, learning and making great connections — rarely happen by accident. 

So, my resolution, having written this, is to get out of this chair and get the exercise mat out. Someone hold me to account. Please.  

*"Giddens' Paradox" refers to the concept that because climate change is not immediately tangible in daily life, most people will not take concrete action, yet waiting for it to become a visible crisis is too late. Proposed by sociologist Anthony Giddens in his 2009 book, The Politics of Climate Change, the paradox highlights the tension between the long-term, invisible nature of global warming and the need for immediate action.