From Purpose to Policy with Caroline Lee-Davey, CEO of Bliss
From Leading Lights by Abi Mellor from MOREVER
February 2, 2026 · 50 min · Season 2 · Episode 17
About this episode
Caroline Lee-Davey discusses how to turn purpose into policy change while staying true to an organization's mission.
What does it take to turn purpose into real policy change, and keep your organisation anchored to its mission along the way? In this episode of Leading Lights , host Abi Mellor is joined by Caroline Lee-Davey , Chief Executive of Bliss , the UK’s leading neonatal charity. Caroline shares how purpose-led leadership can move beyond good intentions to deliver tangible change. Her campaigning experience is broad and deep, including benefitting from a quirk in the British parliamentary systems, the Private Members’ Bill, to bring the Neonatal Care Leave and Pay Act into law , transforming support for families with babies in neonatal care. Caroline reflects on staying true to mission, navigating the realities of charity leadership, and why trusting your gut instinct matters more than following logic alone. This is a conversation about campaigning that delivers, leadership that is sustainable, and the quiet determination behind real impact. Content note: this episode includes discussion of neonatal care and supporting families with babies born premature or sick. In this episode, we explore: How Bliss turned frontline insight into national policy change The stages of a successful…
People in this episode
Host: Abi Mellor
Guest: Caroline Lee-Davey
Topics covered
- purpose-led leadership
- policy change
- neonatal care
- charity leadership
- campaigning
- inequalities in neonatal outcomes
Keywords
- neonatal care
- policy change
- charity leadership
- campaigning
- purpose-led leadership
- inequalities
- introvert leadership
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Bliss, British parliamentary systems
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