Leaders Don’t Need More Things to Do, They Need More Time to Think with Aimee Presnall | Season 4: Episode 8

What if the one thing that would make the biggest difference to your wellbeing, strategic clarity and positive school culture as a school leader isn’t another strategy or initiative, it’s simply more time to think?

In this episode of Well-Led Schools, I’m joined for the third time by Aimee Presnall – leadership coach, TEDx speaker and founder of Wellnest. After more than 16 years in education, Aimee built her career around one observation that kept repeating itself: brilliant school leaders burning out while the systems around them kept asking for more.

Aimee’s recent TEDx talk landed on something leaders feel in their bones but rarely hear said out loud: that we’re treating the shadow, not the source; that when leaders don’t have time to think, everything downstream suffers, their clarity, their team’s culture, and ultimately their students.

We go deep on what actually changes when leaders are given space to develop the human skills needed to lead people well, why one-off PD rarely shifts anything, and what it takes for schools to build a genuine coaching culture rather than a tick-box one.

In this episode:

• Why leaders don’t need more things to do, but rather need more time to think
• Clarity vs certainty: what staff want vs what leaders can actually give
• Why giving yourself dedicated time to think feels so difficult
• How recognising your default, high-pressure habits creates the fastest leadership shift
• What one-off PD misses in comparison to navigating the “messy middle” of long-term coaching
• The three pathways into middle leadership (aspiring, accidental, anointed), and how they shape your mindset

About Aimee Presnall

Aimee Presnall is a leadership coach, TEDx speaker and founder of Wellnest. After more than 16 years as a teacher and school leader across Australia and internationally, Aimee built Wellnest to provide long-term, sustained support that one-off professional development completely misses. She partners with leaders through the “messy middle” of implementation, sticking around until cultural shifts take root. 

Wellnest works with school leaders through coaching, workshops, leadership retreats and speaking events, supporting them to build clarity, develop the human skills of leading people well, and create the conditions for their teams to thrive. Aimee is known for her honest approach to what is genuinely broken in school leadership development, and her deeply practical focus on fixing it.

Her TEDx talk, delivered at a TEDx Education event on the Gold Coast, explored one of the most felt but rarely voiced truths of school leadership: that when leaders don’t have time to think, everyone downstream feels it.

LINKS AND RESOURCES

Connect with Aimee Presnall via:

Wellnest: www.well-nest.com.au 

Listen to her TED Talk: youtu.be/qjGM4esebQU?si=5eyFpR_-0KbUngty 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/aimee-parkinson/ 

Connect with me via:

Website: adriennehornby.com.au

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/adrienne-hornby-a4126a205/

Email: hello@adriennehornby.com.au

School Partnerships: adriennehornby.com.au/school-partnerships/