About this Event
Ask most people where they want their career to go, and they can tell you. Ask what they're doing this month to get there, and the answer is often a pause. Not because they don't care, but because we've come to expect that growth is handed to us: by a manager, a program, a promotion. Meanwhile, most of the learning that shapes a career happens in everyday work, but only if we treat it that way.
This hands-on workshop is about taking the lead on your own growth: knowing what you're working toward, understanding how you learn best, practicing what you're not yet good at, and finding the people who will support and challenge you. We'll look honestly at what gets in the way, including the real constraints (no time, no budget, short staffing, and the sense that personal and professional development is one more unpaid task on an already too full plate) and the discomfort of being a beginner again.
Bring a real starting point: a skill you want to build, a place you feel stuck, or an honest objection. "My manager doesn’t give me the time to do this" is welcome. So is "Why won't my people take initiative?" We'll work with whatever you bring
You'll walk out with:
- A learning plan of your own, built mostly from work you already do, so it doesn't depend on extra time or budget
- A first step small enough to start the next working day
- The words to bring your plan to your manager and ask for their support, practiced in the room
For supervisors: a one-page guide to supporting initiative on your team
If you're not in a supervisory role: you'll see why owning your development pays off well beyond your current job or organization. And how it can work even with real constraints (time, money etc.).
If you supervise or lead others: you'll do the same work for yourself, since a team's appetite for growth rarely exceeds its leader's. You'll also hear directly what gets in the way for staff, and practice being on the receiving end of a development ask.
Expect to participate. This is not a lecture
About the Presenter:
Sue Mann is an executive coach, award-winning trainer and facilitator, founder of Sansu Rising and CEO of QinaWorks. Her 30-year career has been defined by high-stakes situations and turnarounds. As the first woman to lead a South African diplomatic mission in the Middle East, she took the mission to a top-five ranking among 92 missions worldwide while keeping staff safe in a conflict zone. She has turned around failing operations and set up the project management office for a first-of-its-kind smart grid project.
Sue has changed careers more than once, from diplomacy to the energy sector to coaching, so she knows what it takes to build your next chapter when no one is handing it to you. Today she coaches leaders and teams through transitions, conflict, resilience and difficult working relationships. She is co-creator of the Confident Manager Masterclass, winner of the 2025 CNY BEST Talent Development Award from the Central New York Chapter of the Association for Talent Development.
Sue is a visiting lecturer at Cornell University, where she earned her MBA and MMH, and faculty for the American Management Association. She is Certified Executive Coach.
The session is in person only
Masks are optional at in person events
All registration sales are final
Event venue & nearby stays
Tompkins County Public Library, 101 E. Green Street, Ithaca, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.