Looking back at your early education, what skills or experiences from school do you think most prepared you for such a varied and high-level career?
I think self-reliance but, paradoxically, the art of team work too. Personal standards and also the discipline to strive for high standards and the ability to reach and stretch one’s performance. In an environment of achievement, you form the habits to achieve.
You’ve moved between the military, government, and private sector. What advice would you give students about keeping their career options open and transferable?
I think there is an assumption, born of no evidence at all, that skills developed and honed in one sphere are irrelevant in another and therefore not transferable. Obviously if one super-specialised, then options may be narrower but even then, it is likely problem-solving, leadership, people skills, management experience are all being developed. The details may change but there are common denominators: strategy, prioritisation, risk and people. My advice is to be bold, understand your worth but be humble enough to acknowledge there is often a (manageable) mountain to be climbed in terms of re-education and gaining new expertise. Bottom line is that one shouldn’t spend one’s life in a career that brings no joy, sense of accomplishment, satisfaction or contentment.
During your time in the Royal Navy, you held major leadership roles, including commanding ships and multinational forces. What did those experiences teach you about leadership under pressure?
Leadership under pressure is a slightly distorted but recognisable version of leadership under ‘steady state’ conditions. Certain things happen as pressure increases. Time is compressed, decisions have a greater bearing on outcomes, team dynamics change (sometimes for the better, other times not), scrutiny of you as a leader and how you act becomes acute. The greatest lesson is to recognise this pressure and what it brings and be ready for it, and have your team ready for it, in time. It might not arrive as an easily identifiable crisis but rather as a gradual thing – the boiling frog. A leader must be highly aware and continually thinking in terms of threats and opportunities – What now? What next? What if?
You later helped shape defence policy at the Ministry of Defence. How important is it for young people to understand strategy and “big picture” thinking in their careers?
One of the most important skills I ever learned was to force oneself to zoom in and out. I probably think of this in terms of a helicopter – down on the ground with the detail or up high with the whole picture. People often become transfixed with single elements and become annoyed because solutions seem obvious – in the Army there is a saying – ‘if you don’t understand – get a bigger map’. It is very important to acknowledge that complex issues have numerous angles and layers – the more one grasps this the more likely understanding and better decisions will follow. Stand well back and look at an issue in as many different ways as possible. Distrust anyone who declares, often at volume, that the whole thing is quite simple; it rarely is. In terms of career, my advice is to work at gathering a skill set which gives you the maximum flexibility in case you want to change direction. Variety is not only the spice of life, but it is also the provider of options.
Transitioning from the armed forces into senior civilian roles – what were the biggest challenges, and how did you overcome them?
I suppose cultural. In the services almost everyone is highly motivated, highly trained and loyalty, in its various forms, is a badge of honour. If someone says they will do something – it gets done. If someone is responsible for something, then they own it completely and take huge pride in doing so. In the world outside the services these things exist but can’t be taken for granted. Learning how to compensate as a leader is a requirement in transition. Another challenge relates to the earlier question on strategy and absorbing both detail and the bigger map. It was a challenge to encounter a real lack of understanding of what is known in the military as the layers of Strategy, Operations and Tactics. That is to say the big plan to get to a goal, the design layer of moving forward and the detailed plan of who does what and when. For instance, I perpetually encountered Powerpoint slides with wish lists or columns of objectives to be told it was the Strategy – that’s not a strategy.
As Chief Executive of The Whitehall & Industry Group, you worked at the intersection of business and government. What skills are most valuable for working across different sectors?
Between any organisations, on a rising scale there is coordination, cooperation and collaboration. Even to achieve the first of these there needs to be the high levels of communication and trust. To reach collaboration you need to add shared resource, goals and risk. Fundamentally it’s all about interpersonal skills. Understand and neutralise preconception, bias and prejudice, exercise humility and literally treat others as you would wish to be treated. As in most things in life its about people and when it seems not to be about people – it generally is. Learn to communicate – listen not hear, express not tell. Being friendly and kind will get you a long way.
Your career shows a strong theme of leadership and service. What does ‘success’ mean to you now compared to when you first started out?
When I first started out success was objective based – whether that was in my own goals or in achieving what I was required to do in the service. In addition, although objectives never go away as one gets older this becomes more about providing and sustaining an output – life becomes more complicated and a million objectives merge into performance. Obviously, I would say securing what you need for the security of family and yourself. It is probably important to cultivate a strong personal sense of pride in performance and wean yourself off the requirement for enthusiastic praise and reinforcement from others. It’s always nice but if its your only oxygen then later in life you will struggle for breath. Ultimately success in life is linked to happiness for you and your loved ones. Your definition of happiness is a personal thing and shouldn’t be influenced by others.
What advice would you give to students as they leave school to begin their next chapter?
I would say they should acknowledge they are at the start of a marathon not a sprint. It is all out there – energy and enthusiasm are the initial tools you have to work with. Later you will gather experience, a range of skills and confidence. Attack you future but don’t be afraid of setbacks – cultivate resilience like a bank balance – when things are going well then deposit that, when things go less well – don’t crumble but remember that with perseverance you have the ability to succeed. Lastly, keep your options open – beyond a surprisingly modest level, enjoyment trumps money.
