The Access:VFX Podcast
How Do You Actually Become a Leader in VFX and Animation? Part 2
Getting the leadership title is one thing. What happens when you actually have to do the job? When you become responsible for other people’s careers. When you have to deliver feedback you know someone won’t like. When you’re promoted and quietly wonder whether somebody has made a terrible mistake. Or when you discover that the behaviours that made you successful are precisely the ones you now need to unlearn. In Part 2 of 'How Do You Actually Become a Leader in VFX and Animation?' hosts Simon Devereux and Nene Parsotam reunite with Emma Kolasinska, Executive VFX Producer at Lux Aeterna; Lucy Cooper, Managing Director at Union Visual Effects; Dan Cripps, Animator, Animation Director and Head of Animation at Blue Zoo Animation; Kate Lander, Director, Career Expert and Workforce Development Specialist; and Jon Mason, Founder of Jollywise. This time, the conversation gets even more personal. The panel explores the strange experience of growing into a leadership title, the loneliness that can accompany senior responsibility and why feeling ready often comes long after the promotion itself. They share some of their biggest mistakes, from hiring decisions and financial blind spots to accidentally sending a Disney pitch to Nickelodeon! ...and explain why honesty, accountability and learning from failure are essential to building trust. They also challenge some of the industry’s most persistent leadership myths. Confidence is not the same as charisma. Admitting that you don’t know something is not weakness. Hiring people who are better than you is not a threat. And leadership does not mean having all the answers... it means bringing together the right people to find them. The conversation also looks beyond the workplace. When so much of your identity is tied to your career, what happens when the job changes... or disappears? The guests discuss mentoring, family pressures, burnout, side projects and the importance of building a life that is bigger than your title. This is an honest conversation about imposter syndrome, confidence, mistakes, identity, resilience and why becoming a leader is rarely the polished success story it appears to be from the outside. Because leadership isn’t 'golf and lattes.' As Jon Mason puts it, it’s usually 2am in the morning!
