115. The Agency of Others

This episode is a recording from the Start Network’s Assembly, which took place in October 2025. Lars Peter Nissen was invited to moderate a panel exploring what leadership looks like when success is contingent on the agency of others — when you cannot exercise direct control but must inspire, build rapport, and create the conditions for a group of individuals to deliver results.

Rather than drawing on leaders from within the humanitarian sector, the panel brings together professionals from two very different fields — football management and musical theatre — to explore what their craft can teach humanitarians about leading through networks, trust, and collective action.

Note: This episode was recorded live at the Start Network Assembly. The sound quality reflects the live setting.

Guests

Natalie Brown: Board Director at Banbury United Football Club and the first Black female board member in UK football. Natalie has a background in media, marketing, and community development, and has worked with Arsenal, The Prince’s Trust, and Mind. She founded the #PlayBrave initiative to help women build confidence on and off the pitch.

Huw Evans: Associate Musical Director on Oliver at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End. Huw is an accomplished conductor and multi-instrumentalist who has worked on shows including Much Ado About Nothing, Sunset Boulevard, Oklahoma, and Come From Away. He trained at King’s College London.

Moderated by Lars Peter Nissen, Director of ACAPS and host of Trumanitarian. Introduced by Lucy Puentes of the Start Network.

Key Themes

Building from the ground up: Natalie shares how she rebuilt Banbury United’s women’s team after inheriting a fractured setup where the manager had left just before the season. After a disheartening first attempt, she “flipped the script” — launching open training sessions for women over 40, which rapidly grew into a multigenerational squad with players aged 16 to 66. Her approach centred on changing the narrative, leading with spirit, and building a movement rather than just a team.

The duet between leading and following: Huw describes conducting as a constant negotiation between setting the tempo and following the performer. With 12 musicians split across three separate spaces, a 30-person cast, and four child actors rotating in the lead role, he conducts via camera monitors — relying on connection, adaptability, and trust rather than direct control. Leadership in live performance, he says, is about creating the conditions for harmony rather than forcing it.

Trust, small gestures, and knowing people’s names

Both panellists emphasise that trust is built through small, consistent actions. Huw takes pride in greeting every deputy musician before the show. Natalie describes how players joined her team simply because they liked who she was and what she stood for. Both draw a direct parallel to humanitarian coordination — where leading a cluster meeting of 50 strangers via camera is not so different from conducting an orchestra through a monitor.

Releasing control: A recurring theme throughout the conversation is the difficulty — and necessity — of letting go. Huw describes the terrifying moment of relinquishing control in a live performance with 2,000 people watching. Natalie reflects on having built the women’s team so personally that she now needs to step back and let others carry the vision. Both see this as essential to sustainable leadership in networked settings.

The power of diversity and emergence: Lars Peter draws the conversation toward metaphor, arguing that biology — not physics — offers the better model for thinking about networks. The emergent quality of a network, like a heart pumping blood from cells and valves, produces outcomes that are qualitatively different from the sum of the parts. Just as a football team needs more than 11 goalkeepers, or an orchestra more than 12 horn players, humanitarian networks need genuine diversity of skills and perspectives.

Resilience and learning from mistakes: Huw shares a candid story of pressing the wrong button during a click track, causing pre-recorded and live children to sing out of sync. His advice: pick yourself up, stay calm, and keep going with integrity. Natalie talks about the power of small daily steps — just 15 minutes of focused effort each day — as a way to sustain momentum when things feel overwhelming.

Credits

Host: Lars Peter Nissen

Recorded at: Start Network Assembly, October 2025

Session title: Choreographing Chaos: Leadership in a World of Networks

Panel introduced by: Lucy Puentes, Start Network

Get in touch: info@truemanitarian.org

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