Hard work alone doesn’t always move your career forward, writes Renee Murray, head of people and culture at indie media agency Half Dome.
Sometimes, despite your effort and ambition, you find yourself stuck, unclear on what’s holding you back or how to shift gears.
For many years, I underestimated the power of clarity, both professionally and personally. It’s only with the benefit of hindsight all these years later that I’ve realised how often progress stalled not because of a lack of capability or effort, but because I didn’t yet have the perspective needed, without the noise or distraction, to see the path ahead or to recognise and be proud of the path already walked.
Clarity comes from understanding perspective: your own, the situation you’re operating in, the environment around you, and the expectations at play, at work and in daily life. Without this, even highly capable people can feel stuck, reactive, or misaligned. At the time, I didn’t label the people who helped me find that clarity as mentors. They weren’t part of a program or a formal structure; they were leaders and peers who took the time, often in unplanned moments, to listen, challenge my thinking, and create space for curiosity.
Often these conversations start with a simple, “I’m feeling a bit stuck on this,” or they end with you thinking, “I hadn’t looked at it that way at all”. Those conversations changed how I fundamentally thought about situations. They removed invisible barriers, helped me ask better questions, and apply insight in ways that built momentum and solved real problems. Looking back, those moments shaped my leadership more than any role or title ever could.
Mentorship isn’t a new concept; it’s embedded in how we learn to exist in the world. From childhood, we observe, test boundaries, and grow through both guidance and experience. Leadership development is no different. There’s no single subject or university degree that produces an exceptional leader in isolation. In my experience, leadership capability develops when people learn from those around them and genuinely value different perspectives. When leaders fail to do this, a significant opportunity is lost, not just for individual development, but for collective progress.
Strong leadership isn’t built from the sidelines. It’s formed by leaning into problems together, contributing to solutions, and working through complexity in real time. In my day-to-day work, mentoring is simply part of how I lead. One question I consistently ask is, “What if it doesn’t go that way?”. This isn’t about preparing for the worst; it’s about preparing. Too often, people enter important conversations having only rehearsed the outcome they hope for. When the response differs, they become unsettled or reactive.
I see the same dynamic in my personal life. My fifteen-year-old will often ask, “Mum, what would you do in this situation, and what if this happens?”. She calls it “work mode chat”. In reality, it’s real-world thinking in action. This is where the true value of mentoring sits. It’s not about providing answers or steering conversations toward predetermined outcomes; it’s about helping people think through possibilities so they’re prepared to navigate whatever unfolds.
Despite this, mentoring is often deprioritised. It’s seen as time consuming or discretionary. In our industry, we can’t afford this mindset. In an environment where replacing a single mid-level professional can cost a business up to double their annual salary, we risk talent leaking out of our organisations simply because they can’t see a path forward. I once mentored four individuals over six months where three had initially believed their only option for growth was to leave. What shifted wasn’t capability, but perspective.
I’ve learned that clarity shouldn’t be something people discover late in their careers, or only after frustration or burnout. Leaders have an obligation to help develop this early, through conversation, reflection, and guidance.
So, what if it doesn’t go that way? I’ll tell you what I tell my daughter: when we don’t create clarity, we risk losing the insight that fuels growth and the potential waiting to be unlocked.
