12/12/2024
Welcome to our new staff spotlight section which highlights the many services delivered by Cork City Council on a daily basis.
In this edition of our staff spotlight, you'll get to know our Chief Executive, Valerie O'Sullivan.
Tell us about your job as Chief Executive of Cork City Council?
The CE is where the buck stops for the delivery of services and development to Cork City and its people. It’s a great job, that I’m very privileged to have, and could not be done without a great team. The City Council is a big business, with a budget of over €326 million next year, a staff of around 1,700 people and a brief wider than any private organisation that I know of.
Can you describe how you arrived in this role?
Well, I didn’t plan it! My career was about trying to get things done, and in every assignment, trying to leave a place better than I found it. My mantra is always “do the right thing” – even when that is harder, or it’s not what you’d like to do, or you don’t agree with it. Work, like life, gives you plenty of opportunity to step up. It's up to you to take them. I never forget that we owe the taxpayer good service – they put us where we are. Funnily enough, I find that if that’s your motivation, your CV writes itself. I had opportunities along the way to leave the public service and I never took them. I suppose you either have public sector values or you don’t. Working for profit driven reasons never once appealed to me. The variety of experience you get in local government is vast compared to other sectors. I have also been lucky – to have had great bosses, great colleagues and frequently changing briefs.
What does a typical day involve?
There are no typical days anymore! The only thing that every day has in common now is that there aren’t enough hours in them. I think it’s important to be selective about accepting invitations, about what to focus on, about what’s important – otherwise time can be eaten and not by productivity. The job is to manage the City Council and the City, and to make sure we are all focussed on serving its communities – residents, business, arts, sporting, commercial, cultural, and many more – and to do so in a sustainable way. You don’t achieve that by wasting time or prevaricating. Every day also involves making decisions, sometimes quickly. I don’t think the organisation would survive without that!
What is your favourite part of your job?
So much! Being in a position to get things done, finding ways to do things instead of reasons why we can’t, working with great people at all levels in the organisation, seeing staff succeed at something, making a difference, big or small. They’re the things that get me up in the morning.
What can make your job challenging at times?
My own lack of patience maybe! Lack of pace. Being unable to just do some things, because local government is pretty centralised. Lack of resources to do so much more in the city.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Grow a thick skin – everyone doesn’t have to like you or your style or your decisions and they won’t. Be ok with that. When I was younger those things mattered – I’m over that now and there’s great freedom in it. And no matter what you do in a day’s work, whether it turns out to be the right or wrong decision, be able to look at yourself in the mirror and know you did it at that time for the right reasons.
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