7 Renowned Leaders On The One Leadership Lesson They Swear By

The journey of leadership is a special thing. It can change everything for the leader individually, and it can also change the entire world. But the journey, and indeed the pursuit of good leadership is not linear. It involves a multi-layered path with inexhaustible twists and turns, and no path is the same.  

When our group CEO Adirupa Sengupta sat down with seven renowned, inspiring leaders to record the second season of her aptly named podcast, In Pursuit Of Good Leadership, the above sentiment was loud and clear. And it was for this reason that she decided to take the opportunity to include one particular question in every episode, no matter the theme, that could provide a leg-up, or a new mantra, or even a tangible action that any individual can use in their own pursuit of good leadership.  

Here, we share their words.  

Hannah Jones, CEO at The Earthshot Prize 

“Be You. Be authentically you. Show up and tell people what’s happening in your life. As a woman going through the workplace over the last 30 years, I had to wear a shield around myself for a lot of that time. I was a single mum, I had a type 1 diabetic child, there was a lot of complexity in my life and I never felt like I belonged. But I never felt particularly free to pull down the shield because I was living in a 20th century leadership model where people had stay at home wives, and where you didn’t talk about your personal life, and you didn’t show up to a meeting and say ‘Wow, I don’t feel great today, could you help me?’, asking for help was showing vulnerability, and that wasn’t how leadership was described.  

But what I have discovered is that when I lead with my heart, and when I show up with vulnerability, my team and my partners and all the people around me step in and step up and support me. In doing so, we become a world class team.” 

Hamed Amiri, author, speaker, advocate  

“Know you purpose, that you’re supposed to be a servant leader, and really be there, and lead by example. That’s more than one, but for me that’s my advice, because if your purpose is to be a servant leader, stay true to your purpose and really look at what that means to you and how you come across, because it’s the perception and the image that we create that has an impact on the environment that we want to create.  

I hope I’ve demonstrated the right behaviours to show this to people. And everyone is different and everyone is distinct, so for me my purpose is, whether it’s tomorrow, or if it’s five years or 20 years from now, that will be my time. I want to leave a legacy that people say Hamed made a difference. He inspired me. That’s what drives me. Every day, my purpose is to make a difference in society, and in my community, to leave something behind that is long lasting, similar to my brother. That’s my purpose.” 

Nick Craig, author, speaker, coach  

“Whenever I get on a call with my coaching clients, and we talk about whatever is going on, we’re in a frame, maybe six by eight. And the problem is, within that frame, there is no solution that’s going to help anybody. The key to being a good leader is making the frame bigger. If you make the frame big enough, there’s always a way to solve it.  

Another way to say this is that the difference between managing and leading is a very simple distinction. Managing is about following the map and doing it really well. Leading is about being a map maker. Historically we’ve live in a world where the leader’s job is to find the right map, but the reality is that we live in a world today where there are no good maps. We live in a world where the only people who are going to get to be good leaders are ones who are map makers, and that requires a deeper purpose. Those are the people who always see the frame as a bigger frame. From their perspective they have multiple options and they go to all kinds of interesting places that no one else goes, because of their purpose. As a result, they are the ones changing the world.” 

Michelle King, author and former Director of Inclusion at Netflix 

“Giving to others is actually how you give to yourself. So recognise that we are actually here to serve, and the meaning and contribution and everything we leave behind is what success is. It’s not the job title. It’s not pay. The more you can invest in the people, you work with, invest in other people, help to shape a positive lived experience for them, you are going to benefit from that. That’s the great secret we have in workplaces – that giving to others is how we give to ourselves.” 

Isobelle Panton, youth advocate and Head of Student Recruitment at University Academy 92 

“Leadership doesn’t have a persona that works one dimensionally. So what I mean is that loads of people are leaders without being given the recognition that they are leaders. Loads of potential leaders aren’t given the opportunity to be leaders because there’s a perception around what a leader looks like in industries. You only have to look at boards and see that 22 per cent of UK boards are not representative and are all male, to know that we still have this architype around what a leader is.  

So my lesson in leadership is that some of the greatest leaders I’ve ever come across aren’t in a position where they have ‘manager’ in their title or anything like that. They are leaders because they are thought leaders in their space. We need to have a broader definition of leadership in order to help create this generational change that we need to see in organizations. So not thinking of leaders as the person with the title who might fit the description of someone in your company, and start looking at people in your organization who, say, go to the kitchen and make seven cups of tea and know what everyone’s tea order is. Or someone who sees a piece of litter on the floor and feel inclined to pick it up. Those people are leaders to me as well in their own right and I think we need a broader definition as such to be more diverse and inclusive.” 

Becky Kekula, motivational speaker, disability inclusion advisor  

“Don’t be afraid to lead. I’ve heard so many stories where people are afraid of what their friends and peers may think, and they don’t take their career to that next level, and they just stay content at where they’re at because they don’t want to show off. But don’t be afraid to find what you’re passionate about and move up, because of what you can bring to the table. Even executives versus entry level folks – anyone can be a leader.” 

Patrick Regan OBE, charity founder, speaker, author 

“For me, it was always going back to the why do I do this? What’s the passion? What’s the hope? I remember Jim Wallace saying that Martin Luther King never stood up and said, ‘I’ve got a complaint to make’, and he didn’t say, ‘I’ve got a really interesting five-year business plan.’ No, he said, ‘I’ve got a dream,’ and that vision is what always has to be there. That vision is what produces energy and passion and that’s what drives you forward. A very good friend of mine said that a really good leadership lesson is remembering that vision and frustration are the same thing. They’re just spelt differently.  

Because if you’ve got a vision, then you’re constantly frustrated because you want to see it happen. So you have to manage vision, and manage frustration at the same time. And when you do then you see the change.  

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