The Belief Loop — Bonus Edition

What I Said to 800 Guests About Belief

This issue in brief: I had the honour of delivering the graduation address at UTS Business School last Friday. This is what I shared with over 200 economics and business graduates, their families and friends, about belief before proof, heart intelligence, and the courage to back yourself before the outcome is certain.

Lightly adapted for this newsletter from the address delivered on 29 May 2026.

Last Friday I stood on a stage at UTS Business School and delivered the graduation address to over 200 economics and business graduates, their families and friends — around 800 guests in total.

It was one of those moments that comes with real responsibility. These graduates had worked for years to reach this day. Their families and friends had sacrificed to be in those seats. And I had one chance to say something that might actually matter.

I want to share it with you here — because I believe these ideas are just as relevant to this community as they were to that room.

[Photo: With Ethan and Aunty Julie in the Chancellery before the address. Two of the people in this speech, in the room on Friday.

When I received the invitation to speak at UTS Business School, I did what any serious speaker would do.

I panicked. Then asked my eleven year old son for advice.

Ethan went quiet for a moment — which for Ethan is unusual — and then he said:

“Mum, you have to say yes. Those people will have been waiting their whole lives for this moment. This is important. No pressure.”

He was right. No pressure.

Belief before proof

I took his advice seriously and have been reflecting for weeks on what could be most valuable to share with a room full of graduates stepping into their next chapter. And I kept landing on the same word.

Belief.

Not just belief. Belief before proof. The decision to back yourself, back an idea, back a future — before you have a single piece of evidence that it will work.

Having had the privilege of working alongside thousands of C-Suite and emerging leaders of global companies through Abundium, and as part of the UTS Business School community, I’ve observed across industries, across countries, across every level of success — the people who sustain the greatest impact share one quiet quality.

They are willing to hold an unproven belief about what is possible for themselves and others, before anyone else can see it.

The greatest threat

You are graduating into one of the most extraordinary and fast-moving moments in human history. Artificial intelligence is reshaping every industry, every profession, every assumption about what work means and what leadership requires.

And the world needs your ambition, your ideas, your energy now more than ever.

Yet the greatest threat to your potential isn’t the economy, the algorithm, or the competition. It is a shrinking of what you are willing to believe is possible for yourself.

One of the most important skills you will ever develop — more valuable than any technical expertise, any credential, any connection — is your capacity to hold a bold, unproven belief about your own future, before you have a single piece of evidence to support it.

Heart intelligence

Machines have artificial intelligence. You have something no algorithm can replicate.

Heart intelligence.

This isn’t being soft. It is the ability to make someone feel truly seen, to ask the question no one else thought to ask, and to negotiate with empathy.

Belief isn’t just a thought. It is a physical state. When we truly believe something — it doesn’t just live in our minds, it moves into our bodies, our nervous systems, in the way we breathe and carry ourselves — it changes everything. It changes how we show up. How we lead. What we attract.

Try it now. Think of a bold belief for your future. Take in a big deep breath — a belief breath — and release it slowly.

That is belief moving into your physiology. That is belief doing its work.

What bold faith actually feels like

I know what it feels like to back an unproven belief.

I moved from England to Australia with no guarantee, no roadmap — only a quiet, persistent knowing. I could visualise myself living here before I had physically arrived. My heart knew before my head did.

Sitting in that room was my Aunty Julie, who believed I could make that journey before I fully did myself. She always told me — enjoy the journey as well as the destination.

Full circle, Aunty Julie.

That is what bold faith feels like. And it is available to every single one of us.

On self-doubt

For those still finding that belief — wondering whether you are really good enough, whether you truly belong, whether everyone else has it figured out and you are the only one who doesn’t — here is what I want you to know.

That feeling of self-doubt is remarkably common among the highest achievers. The very people who have worked hardest to get where they are.

Sometimes, doubt means you care. That’s not a weakness. That’s proof it matters to you.

Confidence grows from action, not before it. Be brave first. Confidence follows.

There’s an African proverb I come back to often — if something is for you, it won’t pass you. You can’t always choose the timing. The timing chooses you.

Trust that.

When belief gets tested

When COVID hit in 2020, I was working as a principal in an executive search firm. Our Managing Partner called the whole firm one morning. I sat in our bedroom, not knowing what was coming. By the end of that call, a third of the firm had been made redundant.

Including me.

I was the primary breadwinner in our family. I sat feeling the full weight of that responsibility. I walked straight out to my husband in tears. He held me and said — it’s going to be okay.

He was right.

Because you can’t choose the timing. The timing chooses you.

Belief doesn’t get tested on the good days. It gets tested in the weeks afterwards — when the phone isn’t ringing, when the market is flooded, when you’re applying for roles that feel wrong and the processes are slow and you wonder if you’ll ever land the right job again.

It’s like hitting the wall in a marathon. Your legs are cramping. Every reasonable instinct says stop. That’s exactly the moment that defines you — not reaching the finish line, yet the choice to keep going when stopping feels like the only sensible option.

A mentor called me during those weeks and simply said — back yourself.

The courtyard, the ginger shot, and Abundium

Soon after, a new opportunity emerged. My former colleague and future co-founder Rich had a vision. I was his belief partner. Our mission was to build a new kind of leadership network for the multinational business community with social impact at the heart. We were convinced you can build a better world through better leaders.

Six years ago we sat in my courtyard, had a ginger shot, and said — let’s go large or go home.

That was the moment Abundium was truly born.

What I have learnt is that there is a cost of thinking small. The cost of thinking small is exactly the same as the cost of thinking big. Both require your time, your energy, your years.

The difference is what you build with them.

Shoot for the stars and you may reach the moon. Yet aim for the footpath and that is exactly where you’ll land.

We were unproven as co-founders. There was no data that said we were the right people to build something that would genuinely matter to some of the most sophisticated leaders in the country. Yet we backed ourselves anyway, had mentors who believed in us, chose bold faith over certainty, showed up fully and consistently. And the universe aligned.

Today Abundium is a community where leaders come not just to network, yet to believe bigger — in themselves, in each other, and in what’s possible.

The no that felt like the end was the beginning.

The Belief Loop

Through that experience, and years of working alongside extraordinary leaders, I came to understand that growth is never a straight line. It is cyclical. It’s the Belief Loop.

It begins with Belief — bold, unproven faith before the evidence arrives.

It moves into Alignment, Gratitude, Awareness, Service and Capacity.

And finally Receiving — actually letting success in. Which for most high achievers is the hardest step of all.

And the loop begins again with another belief breath.

The people who believed in you

Before I close, I want to ask you to pause for a moment.

Think about the people in your life who believed in you before you believed in yourself. Whose faith in you was the bridge between who you were and who you are today.

Never underestimate the power of surrounding yourself with people who believe in you. And in turn, become that person for someone else. Be the one who sees what’s possible in others before they can see it themselves.

That is one of the greatest gifts one person can give another.

And one more thing a mentor once shared with me — if you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right.

What I want to leave you with

Believe before you have proof. Be brave before you feel confident. Believe in what makes you irreplaceable — your humanity, your heart, your difference. Let doubt remind you that you care. Enjoy the journey as well as the destination. Surround yourself with believers and become one for others. And when success arrives — let it in.

Ethan was right. You have been waiting your whole lives for this moment.

Congratulations, graduating class of 2026!

Thank you for being part of this loop. Your presence here, reading and reflecting, means more than you know. If this issue resonated, please hit the follow button to make sure the next one finds you.

Dani x

Next issue: Service — why shifting from self-reference to contribution is where ambition becomes something larger than yourself.

In summary

A graduation address distilled to one idea: belief before proof. The capacity to hold an unproven belief about your own future — before the evidence arrives, before anyone else can see it — is the single greatest differentiator between those who build something meaningful and those who don’t. Be brave before you feel confident. Surround yourself with believers and become one for others. And when success arrives, let it in.