Over the last couple of weeks, a number of people have asked me a simple question:
“So, what comes next?”
The honest answer is that I am still building it.
In truth, I started thinking about the next chapter long before I left the Greater London Authority. Writing Becoming More was part of that process, although that is probably a story for another day.
For now, I find myself in a familiar situation.
Building while flying at the same time.
It is both exciting and slightly unnerving.
When I joined the GLA in 2019, I was asked to help establish a new programme management office. At the time, I had one direct report and two colleagues whom I managed through a matrix arrangement.
Over the next seven and a half years, that evolved into a twenty-person team and later into joint leadership of a function of around 150 people, with direct responsibility for around ninety colleagues.
The story of Cee4Bee was similar.
What started as a conversation between Dotun and me in a coffee shop near Fenchurch Street became a registered charity supporting more than 1,200 people through the commitment of trustees, volunteers, advisers and a wider community of supporters.
Reflecting on those experiences, I have realised something.
I seem to spend a lot of my time building.
Perhaps my first degree in Building and Construction has been finding unexpected ways to justify itself all these years later.
The interesting thing about building, however, is that it never completely stops feeling risky.
Every new chapter starts with uncertainty.
My editor asked me a question after reading the manuscript for Becoming More:
“Ayo, what happens next?”
The slightly frustrating but honest answer is:
I don’t fully know yet.
I have ideas.
I have some convictions.
I have a sense of direction.
I have already found myself in a number of encouraging conversations around advisory work, governance and future opportunities.
But there is still work to do.
Perhaps that is part of what becoming more really means.
Having the humility to keep learning, the courage to keep building and the resilience to stay with uncertainty long enough for something worthwhile to emerge.
One of the things I have done recently is bring together my writing, speaking, reflections and wider work into a new website here at AyoAkande.com.
It is also where people can follow the journey towards the publication of Becoming More (LID Publishing, February 2027), subscribe for occasional reflections and book updates, and explore some of the ideas I care deeply about, including leadership, opportunity, exposure and helping people, teams and organisations grow and deliver under pressure.
For those who have asked what comes next, this is probably the first glimpse.
And for those who have supported previous chapters, thank you.
I suspect the next one may prove just as interesting.
