Leadership Discoveries #25: Leading with Courage, Compassion, and Resilience: Deirdre Garvey, Secretary General of the Irish Red Cross
What is Leadership Discoveries?
You know it best: being an executive leader can be tough. How do you stay inspired and keep moving the business forward with so much going on? Meet Dr. Shirley Kavanagh, Executive Advisor and scholar/practitioner. In each episode, hear Shirley in conversation with top global leaders and experts on leading with integrity, overcoming adversity, and developing other leaders. Presented by Shirley Kavanagh each episode, hear Shirley in conversation with top global leaders and experts on leading with integrity, overcoming adversity, and developing other leaders. Leadership Discoveries is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your favourite podcast platform.
Episode #25
In this episode, I speak with Deirdre Garvey, Secretary General of the Irish Red Cross, about courage, compassion, and resilience in leadership. Deirdre leads the staff team, supports the Board, and works alongside thousands of volunteers in an organisation dedicated to saving lives, alleviating suffering, and helping communities respond to emergencies and disasters. With senior leadership experience in the charity and nonprofit sector since 1995, Deirdre shares her reflections on taking risks, transitioning well between leadership roles, managing the deep emotion and purpose that characterise humanitarian work, and caring for yourself while caring for others. We also explore what people-centred leadership means in a world increasingly shaped by AI.
This episode dives into resilience in leadership. Here's a small sample of what you will hear in this episode:
Why Deirdre felt inadequate as an engineer and what her boss saw that she didn't
Neutrality as a leadership constraint: navigating the Gaza conflict at the Irish Red Cross
Managing emotion and burnout in mission-driven organizations
Founder syndrome and how to build an organization resilient enough to survive you leaving
How Deirdre manages her own resilience when the work never stops
Connect with Deirdre at RedCross.ie and on LinkedIn.
Check out the episode and show notes below.
Show Notes
Courage, Compassion, and Resilience: Deirdre Garvey, Secretary General of the Irish Red Cross
[0:27] Welcome back to Leadership Discoveries!
[0:32] Connect with Shirley at ShirleyKavanagh.com and on LinkedIn, and Deirdre at RedCross.ie and on LinkedIn
[1:53] From experimental physics to humanitarian leadership as Deirdre's unlikely career journey
[4:10] Why Deirdre felt inadequate as an engineer and what her boss saw that she didn't
[8:39] On courage, risk, and career transitions… do we really choose our paths?
[13:52] The startup itch: what draws certain leaders to building from scratch
[15:48] Founder syndrome and how to build an organization resilient enough to survive you leaving
[20:03] Managing emotion and burnout in mission-driven organizations
[22:28] Neutrality as a leadership constraint: navigating the Gaza conflict at the Irish Red Cross
[27:18] What does the Irish Red Cross actually do?
[32:26] How Deirdre manages her own resilience when the work never stops
[36:38] What the charity sector and private sector can genuinely learn from each other
[43:46] The overhead myth: why investment in infrastructure is good for charities
[46:36] It's all about people, culture, and knowing yourself
[48:28] Is there still space for human connection in an AI-driven world?
Connect with Shirley at ShirleyKavanagh.com and on LinkedIn, and Deirdre at RedCross.ie and on LinkedIn