About Me: Daria Williamson
Who I am and what gets me out of bed in the morning
From 1977 to today
I’m a child of the 80s, so I grew up during the glorious years of glam rock and metal (think Poison, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe). Not to mention strong, iconic women like Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Tina Turner… The eyeshadow! The hair! The outfits! And that was just the men!
I was coming of age in a time when “Girls can do anything!” was the catch-cry, and I fully believed it. Nothing seemed off-limits, so I dreamed of being a lawyer, an architect, a teacher, a doctor… anything that sounded interesting and challenging.
I ended up choosing social work, and started my university study, only to discover I didn’t connect with the ethos of a couple of lecturers — I distinctly remember one of them telling us, “Everyone is a victim of their upbringing — no one can actually change”. At that point, I switched out my major and finished university ASAP!
I started work in office administration roles, and quickly found myself the team leader of a customer service team. Less than a year later, I was the manager of that team, and several others. I had no idea what I was doing, so spent my non-work hours with my nose in business and leadership books, trying to figure out what “good” looked like. One evening, it dawned on me that what had sent me into social work was what I was doing in business: trying to make things better for the world around me.
That was the start of my leadership learning journey, and as far as I can tell, I’ll never be finished. There’s so much to learn about myself, other people, how our brains, minds, and emotions work, and the huge potential we can unleash when we work together for the common good.
As I learn, I try to share my learnings with others, to help us all move another step forwards. That’s my life’s work, and writing on Medium is one of the ways that I’m doing that work.
What makes me, “me”?
- Optimism — I believe that we can always create a silver lining
- A belief we can create a better world — we aren’t merely victims of circumstance and the decisions of others; we are powerful agents of change, individually and together
- Curiosity — I’m fascinated by so many things! I find myself diving down rabbit holes when I discover new topics, and I love talking to experts and drawing out their knowledge and passion.
- Love of learning — my Mum always told me “A day in which you haven’t learned something is a day wasted” and I’ve taken that to heart. I love facts, ideas, concepts, principles, trivia and philosophy, and I gather as much as I can of each, every day
- Love of people — you’ll find me striking up conversations with strangers, as well as enjoying the comfort of long-term friendships. People are the best! What would we do without them?
What gets me out of bed in the morning?
- Making a difference and being a force for good.
- Doing work that I love, find meaningful, and improves things for others.
- Thinking, playing with ideas, talking things over with others.
- Stretching the boundaries of my mind.
- Coffee (I’ve lived in Brazil and Italy — coffee is one of my favourite things in the entire world!)
What influences me?
Basically anything that has a slant towards optimism and taking action to improve the world around and within me.
That means things like:
- Positive psychology
- Strengths-based development
- Appreciative Inquiry
- Lean/continuous improvement/kaizen
- Emotional intelligence
- Systems thinking
- Conscious capitalism
- Mindfulness
Who influences me?
While there are so many schools of thought that influence me, they pale before my wonderful family, friends and colleagues.
I have been incredibly fortunate to have so many amazing people in my life — some for a moment, some for a lifetime.
I am who I am because of who they are 💜
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Daria Williamson is a coach, facilitator and trainer based in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. She specialises in helping people who are stuck in a rut to get unstuck using their innate strengths and capabilities. She writes a monthly newsletter about making the human stuff at work easier, and can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook and, occasionally, Instagram.
