Navy Narnia: The Leadership Lessons Hiding in My Wardrobe

Knowing Self-Aware Leadership

Hello KSKOers

Sometimes self-aware leadership announces itself in big moments, but more often it slips in through the side door, disguised as a practical decision you didn’t realise you were making. Clothes are one of those everyday choices we rarely stop to think about, yet they shape how we feel, how prepared we are, and how others experience us long before we speak. What started for me as a travel-friendly wardrobe solution slowly became an unexpected exercise in reflection, recognition and regulation. Join me in exploring how a navy capsule wardrobe, a suitcase and some charity shop gems turned into a lesson in self-aware leadership hiding in plain sight.

Looking forward to joining you on your leadership journey!

Over the last year, I’ve been gradually transitioning my wardrobe to navy. Plain navy, dark navy, light navy, stripy navy and ‘will go with navy’. What started as a practical decision slowly became a moment of reflection, one of those everyday choices that quietly reveals what you value if you pause long enough to notice it.

You see, for the last few months of my time at A Better Start Southend, I was commuting 150 miles each way between Gloucestershire and Southend. If I arrived at Southend with the rain hammering down after leaving Gloucestershire in the sunshine, my suitcase wasn’t always filled with the most appropriate attire. The long commute forced me to pay attention to my limits, what I could realistically carry, and how being unprepared impacted not just my comfort, but how I showed up.

I made the decision to create a capsule wardrobe. In the interests of having a suitcase I was able to carry from the west side of London to the east, and having ready-to-go mix-and-match attire at my destination, I opted to create a wardrobe that would always work with navy. It was a small act of self-care, but also an act of regulation: removing an unnecessary burden so I could arrive calm, prepared and professional.

Recently Vogue published a piece on how to create a capsule wardrobe to stand the test of time. Clearly, I’m more in fashion than I thought!

I thought about black, but Nicky Ficken does black better than me. So, I chose navy. I already have lots of navy clothes and from what I know about navies and blues, they’re a good choice for the workplace to facilitate good communication whilst ensuring a professional tone. Before I say a word, what I wear is already shaping the relationship tone, and that’s something I’ve learned to be far more intentional about.

If you check out the research, there are a number of studies that explore the colour of clothes. Navies and blue consistently top the charts in terms of high trust.

Blue is also the colour of the throat chakra, and you may or may not believe in chakras and energy, but you can’t argue that blue is its colour. There’s little to no link between the vibration of blue and effective communication, apparently. However, blue is thought to be psychologically calming. This is borne out by the introduction of blue light on subway platforms on the Yamanote line around Tokyo. Over 10 years, they saw an 84% reduction in suicide attempts. Other countries have picked up this preventative measure and are using blue light in their stations too.

But, back to clothes.

Swapping my whole wardrobe to being navy-aligned could have been seriously expensive, so I opted to put my money in the coffers of the charity shops. Over the last year and more now, I’ve done my best to buy my clothes, bags, boots and trinkets from charity shops. This is one of those points where beliefs quietly turn into behaviour, whether we intend them to or not. Where I live, I’m very lucky because the end of the high street closest to my house has five well-stocked, well-used charity shops, and another three just down the road.

Today alone, I bought three jackets, a blouse and a skirt for under £40. I’ve bought scarves, dresses, tops and all sorts at my local charity shops and gone home chuffed at having bagged a bargain. There’s something deeply satisfying about knowing that a choice has worked on multiple levels: practical, ethical and financial.

We’re living in an age where fast fashion is increasingly damaging our environment. France is leading the way in banning ultra-fast fashion and the European Union is closely watching the outcomes. Buying pre-loved is an all-round good idea. And if navy isn’t in fashion this season, how am I going to update my wardrobe? I’m all for buying what you like and regularly bask in the notion that ‘if it’s never been in fashion, it can never go out of fashion’.

Putting my hard-earned money into charity makes me feel a lot better than spending money with big companies that buy cheap from sweatshops, dodge paying tax wherever they can and have no shame at binning surplus stock when they decide that navy’s out and green is in. These choices might look small, but they’re constantly observed, interpreted and remembered, whether we notice that happening or not.

We started our journey to my navy Narnia by talking about needing a cardigan when all I had was a sleeveless top and we’ve come all the way around to talking about the psychological impact of colour, the environmental damage caused by fast fashion and the benefit of buying pre-loved. Somewhere along the way, reflection crept in, recognition followed, and behaviour adjusted.

But how does this link to self-aware leadership?

If we consider the nine directions of the self-aware leadership compass, this shift to navy connects to:

• Care: mainly self-care, in the form of being prepared, comfortable and warm or cool, depending on the weather. It’s about knowing the limits of what I can carry and the need to look professional when I get to my destination. When leaders don’t focus on these basics, it shows up elsewhere, often in their capacity to listen, adapt and regulate.

• Trust: you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, so how I look matters. What I know about blues, positive communication and instilling trust means sticking to blue hues helps me create the relationship tone I want before any conversation begins.

• Behaviour modelling: I believe in sustainable fashion, I believe that we need to help ourselves if we want to keep this planet from disintegrating and I believe that money in the pockets of charities is better than the pockets of millionaires. Leadership shows up in what we repeatedly do, not just what we say we care about.

What does this mean for you, as a leader? Here are some reflective questions to ask yourself:

1. What are the everyday choices you make on autopilot that could become intentional and say something meaningful about who you are and what matters to you?
   Think about the small, practical decisions you make to get through your day and what they might be quietly communicating about your values and priorities.

2. How aware are you of the messages you’re sending before you say a word, and how deliberately are you shaping those messages to create trust, connection and the relationship tone you want?
   From how you show up to how you’re perceived, where might a bit more self-awareness help close the gap between your intention and your impact?

3. Where do your beliefs show up in your behaviour, and where might there be a disconnect between what you care about and what you’re modelling to others?
   When you look at your choices through a self-aware leadership lens, how well do they align with the world you want to create?

The Last word

What started as a practical solution to a wardrobe dilemma turned into an exercise in self-awareness hiding in plain sight. The shift to navy wasn’t just about clothes, it was about noticing what I need, what I value, and how my everyday choices ripple out into trust, care and behaviour modelling. Self-aware leadership doesn’t always announce itself in big moments or bold gestures. More often, it shows up quietly, in the decisions you make when no one’s watching, in how prepared you are, how you show up, and how closely your actions match your beliefs. Something as simple as a wardrobe refresh can become a defining stage in your self-aware leadership journey so think about what you do on auto pilot and make the shift to deliberate choice.

Nia is an expert leader who talks the talk and walks the walk. She is an academically awarded thought leader in self-aware leadership and practices self-aware leadership every single day in her role as a strategy and operations leader.

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