Leadership

I find leadership to be one of the most challenging and rewarding parts of my job, it is without doubt one of the most important. My views on leadership were originally shaped in consulting and retail where the focus on building people, teams and great places to work is a core part of the DNA.

I love Steve Radcliffe's simple, but powerful guide, based around defining the future, engaging the organisation and delivering the agenda - Future, Engage, Deliver. This was passed on to me by one of my old bosses and friend, Rob Fraser (ex CIO of Sainsbury's), based on Steve's work at Boots. The principles laid down in Gung Ho! are also rich in learning; can you engender the Spirit of the Squirrel, the Way of the Beaver and the Gift of the Goose in the teams you lead?!

One of my favourite leadership quotes comes from Justin King, the ex CEO of Sainsbury's, who led the transformation whilst I was there:

"the job of leaders is to create more leaders, when you do that, everything else is easier".

Finally....

We all know that fundamentally our leadership style is shaped by our values, I try to live by some very simple ones:

• lead with passion and keep growing - none of us are the finished article - never stop learning, be open to feedback and lead with conviction - what shadow do you cast as a leader?

• doing a great job is really, really important - when we're being asked to do something, let's do it well and deliver on our promises - after-all, customers pay our wages

• everybody matters - we are trying to achieve something together so let's appreciate and celebrate all of us for who we are and treat each other with respect