From the President

I am an avid reader and a student on how others lead. I love the concept that no matter how great the goal or brilliant the purpose, a leader is only a leader if they have followers. And why would anyone want to follow me or you?

The concept that leadership is really about creating an environment where people will follow to achieve a goal is something that I have embraced. Leadership isn’t actually about the goal it is about the journey to get there.

Over the last 10 years, since I realised I was in a position where I had to lead, I have read a lot of books from authors like Patrick Lencioni, Daniel Pink, George Kohlrieser, Brene Brown, Susan David, Susan Cain, Simon Sinek, Adam Grant and Jim Collins. I recently set myself a task of going back over these and pulling out the things that I really liked and how I was trying to implement it in my life. I am by no means complete but I am really enjoying going back over material I read before and thinking about whether I have applied it in my life.

I wasn’t sure if the concepts that these authors talk about would align or if there would be concepts at odds with each other. So far, I have been pleasantly surprised that the concepts they present in their books actually line up really nicely with each other. The common themes that run through them are about being authentic, vulnerable, trusting, caring, challenging and committed as an individual whilst creating environments where others feel empowered, free to be themselves, supported, challenged and cared for. It is about recognising that everyone is an individual and what you need to do to enable that individual to flourish. To achieve these things is a huge task, and a massive responsibility for any leader.

I remember a conversation with a friend just before I took on my current role. He was saying that he didn’t know of anyone who had desperately wanted to be a CEO who was actually any good at it. I have often reflected on that statement and whether I think it is true. I think so much comes down to why you want to be a leader, is it for you or for others? If it is about the status, power, influence or money (i.e. for you) then you probably aren’t doing it for the right reasons. If it is about what you can do for others then you have a far greater chance of people wanting to follow you.

My biggest learning is that to be a leader that others want to follow you actually have to put yourself in other people’s shoes and try and see the world as they do it. For an engineer, who has never considered himself to be particularly good with people, this is the biggest challenge that I have ever faced. If you can’t see the world from others views, how can you lead them?

In some aspect of our lives we all end up as leaders, I challenge you to lead others for the impact you can have on other people’s lives. There are so many areas that desperately need good people to stand up and lead, follow your heart and be the leader you would want to follow.

For an engineer, who has never considered himself to be particularly good with people, this is the biggest challenge that I have ever faced. If you can’t see the world from others views, how can you lead them?