The Power of a Purpose-Driven Career
What does it really take to climb the career ladder and find deep fulfillment in your work? For many of us, the path feels more like a winding road than a straight line. We might start with a specific goal, but along the way, face unexpected turns, challenges, and opportunities that force us to adapt. I recently had the chance to sit down with a leader who embodies this journey: Ysni Semsedini, the current CEO of London Hydro.
Ysni’s career story is a powerful reminder that success isn’t just about technical skill—it’s about a relentless commitment to growth and a willingness to embrace change. With over 20 years of experience spanning electricity distribution, telecommunications, and manufacturing, Ysni has spent his career not just building companies, but building people. His journey from an electrical engineering student to a top executive is a testament to the idea that a career is a living, evolving thing. It’s woven from every choice, every challenge, and every person you meet along the way. You can listen to the conversation with Ysni on the Accelerating Operational Performance podcast or on our YouTube channel. He shares key lessons on building a career with intention, evolving your leadership style, and driving meaningful change in your organization. Not to mention how a focus on people, a clear vision, and a little bit of confidence can pave the way to success.
Building a Career with Intention
Looking at Ysni’s career, it’s clear that his journey so far is a blend of ambition and adaptability. After a year in distribution, he took on a role as a plant engineer in a manufacturing facility. While it may seem like a diversion from the utility sector, it was here that he got his first authentic taste of leadership and accountability, taking on the responsibility of keeping the equipment running and the plant profitable. This kind of experience provides a powerful feedback loop—when you’re the one on the hook for keeping the lights on, you quickly learn the difference between theory and practice.
Then, a new opportunity came to run the ISP at Festival Hydro; this decision, outside of his core technical expertise, was a crucial turning point. It’s a perfect case study for a key career lesson—you can’t just wait for the perfect opportunity; you have to create it. What I like to say is, think of your career as a bicycle. The rear wheel is your core technical expertise, the power source that makes you go. The front wheel represents your soft skills—your ability to build relationships, communicate effectively, and lead people—which steers you toward new opportunities and helps you navigate challenges. For him, this was about recognizing that while his engineering knowledge was a strong rear wheel—the driving force that propels a career forward—his ability to learn new things and build relationships was the front wheel, providing the steering and direction. What stands out most is Ysni’s willingness to take calculated risks and step into new roles, even when he wasn’t an immediate expert in the field.
His approach wasn’t random; a clear, long-term vision guided it. As Ysni shared, he had a specific career plan in mind from a young age:
- By age 30: Become a manager.
- By age 35: Become a Vice President.
- By age 40: Become a CEO.
This kind of proactive goal-setting is a hallmark of a successful career. It provides a roadmap, enabling you to evaluate opportunities not just on their immediate benefits, but also on how they align with your broader objectives. While the exact timeline may change, having a clear destination helps you make intentional choices and recognize when it’s time to move on to the next challenge, even if it means leaving a comfortable role.
The Shift from Technical Expert to People-First Leader
One of the most profound shifts in any career is the move from being a technical expert to a people leader. You want to be the “hero” who can jump in and fix problems. The instant gratification of a job well done is a powerful motivator, but leadership demands a different kind of reward. It’s no longer about being the person with all the answers; it’s about being the person who empowers others to find the answers themselves. This is a transition that many new leaders struggle with—the desire to still be in the weeds, to meddle in the technical details.
Ysni told us that he has to constantly ask himself, “Is this value for the organization?”—amazing advice! Because the impact of an executive leader isn’t measured in hours or days, but in years. The vision you’re creating today may not bear fruit for five, seven, or even ten years down the line. This requires a fundamental shift in mindset, from working in the business to working on the business.
He also shared a valuable framework for thinking about impact at different levels:
- The CEO shouldn’t be missed if they’re gone for six months to a year.
- A VP shouldn’t be missed for six months.
- A manager shouldn’t be missed for a month.
- A frontline supervisor shouldn’t be missed for a week.
- A frontline employee should be missed tomorrow.
Shedding light on the fact that as you rise through an organization, your role becomes less about day-to-day tasks and more about creating a strategy and an environment where people can thrive without you constantly steering the ship. The most effective leaders, like Ysni, understand that their job is to relentlessly remove ambiguity and get people excited to go on the journey with them. They focus on building trust and relationships across the organization, rather than just within their own team, because they recognize that people drive processes, and a company’s success is built on the individuals who comprise its core.
The Vision: The Shift to a Value Creator
“My goal is to have this be the hardest place anyone ever has to leave. I just want it to be a really hard choice.”
As leaders mature, their focus naturally shifts from tactics to strategy. When Ysni moved to a new utility that had just undergone a merger, he wasn’t just stepping into a new role; he was taking on the challenge of building a new corporate culture and integrating systems. This kind of post-merger work is where leadership is truly tested, and it’s also where you realize that your job isn’t about running the business—it’s about growing it.
Ysni’s approach was to create a strategy that aligned the utility’s goals with those of the city itself. He shifted the focus from being a low-cost operator to a value creator. This meant shifting London Hydro’s mindset from one of simply maintaining the status quo to one of proactively enabling new opportunities for economic growth and decarbonization. He created a vision—Vision 2030—to guide the organization over the next five to seven years.
To bring everyone on board, Ysni adopted a relentless communication strategy. Because every leader faces a challenge similar to the game of telephone, especially in large organizations, a leader’s message can be diluted or misunderstood as it’s passed down through different levels of management. The vision gets lost in translation, leading to confusion and a lack of alignment on the front lines. Ysni’s solution is a direct counter to this. He believes that relentless communication isn’t a wasted effort, but a crucial part of building trust and ensuring the entire company is moving in the same direction. He intentionally connects with employees at all levels, reinforcing the company’s vision and values multiple times a year, so that the message, purpose, vision, and values remain consistent and clear. He understands that people won’t buy into a new idea just by hearing it once. It takes repetition, and more importantly, it takes seeing the leadership’s actions align with their words.
This is also where he tackles the challenge of silos. While some degree of departmental focus is necessary, Ysni is working to break down barriers by creating what he calls Leads and Ladders. He explains that “leads” are the traditional paths for career progression up the hierarchy—from a frontline employee to a supervisor, to a director. But to combat silos, he focuses on the “ladders,” which are opportunities for employees to move laterally across different departments and functions. This gives people a deeper, more holistic understanding of how the company operates and helps break down barriers between teams. When an employee from engineering, for example, has spent time in customer service, they can better understand the challenges of that department and champion their efforts to their own team. It’s how you create a unified team that is resilient and ready to face the future.
“Say ‘yes.’ I think sometimes it’s scary to get thrown into new positions… but you’ve got to believe in yourself and you’ve got to take that risk.”
Trusting Your Gut and Finding Your Unique Ability
For anyone looking to accelerate their career, Ysni’s journey offers a few key takeaways. You need courage. This is the courage to say “yes” to new opportunities, even if you feel you’re not 100% ready. As Ysni says, no one is ever truly ready for a big promotion. The trick is to trust your instincts, because your gut feelings are the culmination of all your past experiences and knowledge. It’s also the courage to be honest with yourself about what makes you happy. Don’t chase a title or a promotion for the sake of it. Instead, find a role that aligns with your unique ability—which makes us think of a concept from Strategic Coach that simplifies what work gives you energy. Think of it in three simple circles.
- The circle of Frustration is the outer ring. This is work you’re not good at, and that makes you miserable. You want to avoid this at all costs.
- The circle of Competence is the middle ring. This is work you’re good at, but that doesn’t necessarily give you energy. You can execute these tasks well, but they don’t give you a jolt of excitement.
- The circle of Unique Ability is the inner core. This is the work that you’re not only good at but also love doing. It’s the kind of work that gives you energy, and often, it’s something you were even drawn to as a child.
“It’s not about searching for titles… to me, it’s about being happy.”
Focusing on your unique ability is the secret to a fulfilling career. Because at the end of the day, a career is a marathon, not a sprint, and the most successful people are those who find joy in the work.
Building Your Legacy
Your career is really a tapestry of experiences, and I hope this conversation with Ysni has given you some great food for thought. He’s a fantastic example of a leader who understands that career-building blocks are on a foundation of continuous learning, strategic choices, and a focus on people.
I’ve always said that leadership is a stewardship—you hold the baton for a while, and your job is to hand it off to the next person, hopefully leaving it in a better place. Ysni’s journey shows us that this starts with a belief in yourself and a willingness to embrace the hard work of personal growth. He’s done a tremendous job of building on the legacy of his predecessor and is now focusing on the future of London Hydro.
For me, the goal has always been to help organizations get better and achieve their full potential. I encourage you to take a page from Ysni’s book: take the next step in your leadership journey, trust your gut, and focus on the things that truly make you happy. It’s a sure-fire way to find a career you’ll love. And if you need help getting yourself or your team there with you, I’d love to have a conversation. Reach out to me on LinkedIn or at uniquedevelopment.com.
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