Who develops the leaders in education?

In this episode of the SLT Podcast, Ziggy sits down with Ben Hobbis, founder of Step Up Network, to explore leadership, networking, community, accessibility, career progression, and why educators need better spaces to connect and grow.

Ben shares his journey from working in retail management to becoming a primary teacher, middle leader, assistant headteacher, and the founder of a growing education leadership network. He reflects on the transferable skills he brought from retail into school leadership, including customer service, team management, time management, prioritisation, and working with people.

The conversation explores why being a great teacher does not automatically prepare someone to be a great leader, why middle leadership can be one of the hardest stages in education, and why schools need to think more intentionally about leadership development, talent management, succession planning, and access to opportunity.

Ben also shares the story behind Step Up Network — why it was created, how it grew from a simple idea into a national community, and why smaller, more intentional networking spaces can be more powerful than large events.

Together, Ziggy and Ben discuss representation, diversity, accessibility, leadership pipelines, LinkedIn, mentoring, positive disruption, and why education needs to take networking more seriously.

This episode also marks the official partnership between the SLT Podcast and Step Up Network.

💬 “You can’t call yourself a leader until you’ve created another leader.”

Sponsored by Uniform Education, the official recruitment sponsor of the SLT Podcast.

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⏰ Chapters:
0:00 – Sponsor intro: Uniform Education
0:45 – Introducing Ben Hobbis
1:16 – What makes Step Up Network different?
2:16 – Creating community and real networking spaces
3:01 – Ben’s journey before education
3:59 – From retail work to teaching
5:21 – Moving into school leadership
5:55 – What retail management taught Ben about leadership
8:00 – Becoming a leader without being fully prepared
9:26 – Balancing classroom teaching and leadership responsibility
11:40 – Why great teachers do not automatically become great leaders
13:29 – Leadership for impact, not status
14:06 – What schools miss in leadership development
15:41 – How Ben’s definition of leadership changed
16:41 – Learning from good and bad leaders
19:33 – Why Step Up Network had to exist
20:22 – Burnout, retention, and needing a different space
22:10 – How Step Up Network was built
24:06 – Why Step Up events are intentionally intimate
26:50 – The cost of building a network
28:35 – Building a team beyond education
31:35 – Why networking matters in education
33:53 – Diversity, representation, and inclusive spaces
38:18 – Is leadership accessible to everyone?
42:27 – Talent management and succession planning in schools
47:44 – Leaders creating other leaders
48:14 – Where Ben sees himself in five years
51:47 – Leadership book recommendations
52:42 – Best leadership advice
53:36 – LinkedIn: powerful tool or necessary evil?
54:04 – Networking or mentoring?
55:08 – Great leadership is…
55:21 – SLT Podcast x Step Up Network partnership
56:20 – Final reflections and outro

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📢 About SLT Podcast:
Hosted by Rena Johnson — Deputy Head, Designated Teacher, SENDco & DSL — and Ziggy Moore — Assistant Headteacher & Founder of Moore Education — the SLT Podcast is a bi-weekly series featuring powerful conversations with leaders doing impactful work in education and youth development.