WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.879 Why does that matter to you? Why is your vision 00:00:03.879 --> 00:00:06.740 what it is? And what are some of the stories 00:00:06.740 --> 00:00:14.880 that pertain to your why? Well, psychologically, 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:18.320 I was set up for this because I went through 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:20.780 some very hard times when I was a child. And 00:00:20.780 --> 00:00:33.039 I witnessed the abuse of power. by really the 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:36.299 headmaster of the school I was at. And I think 00:00:36.299 --> 00:00:40.740 that kind of really set me up to say, I want 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:46.920 to help leaders to find other motivations rather 00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:54.759 than just feeding their egos and their sort of 00:00:54.759 --> 00:01:02.700 shallow demands. so that they don't harm the 00:01:02.700 --> 00:01:07.439 people for whom they're responsible. So it's 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:09.719 all about an abuse of power, really, and how 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:16.620 to get leaders sufficiently skilled that when 00:01:16.620 --> 00:01:21.140 they have these raw impulses, they can resist 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:24.439 them because they have a sense of responsibility 00:01:24.439 --> 00:01:30.340 for the people who work for them. One of the 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:34.260 lines, and I think there is a very bold statement, 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:37.159 one of my very close friends, he mentioned it. 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:40.260 He really believes in it too. The absolute power 00:01:40.260 --> 00:01:44.980 corrupts absolutely. Absolutely, yes. So keeping 00:01:44.980 --> 00:01:47.260 yourself in check and putting checks and balances 00:01:47.260 --> 00:01:50.060 for your own self to govern your own body, I 00:01:50.060 --> 00:01:52.560 think it's very, very, very important, specifically 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:54.579 if you feel like you're rising to the occasion 00:01:54.579 --> 00:02:01.109 of leading more people than yourself. So I would 00:02:01.109 --> 00:02:04.930 love to hear some of those stories that added 00:02:04.930 --> 00:02:14.629 to your why, Tom. Well, I mentioned my early 00:02:14.629 --> 00:02:19.750 experience. But I think, you know, I mean, I've 00:02:19.750 --> 00:02:24.530 been in business, I've been in the military, 00:02:24.710 --> 00:02:28.789 I've been in... the airline business before that. 00:02:28.830 --> 00:02:31.449 I was in engineering before that. And, you know, 00:02:31.469 --> 00:02:33.210 you go through life and you see good leaders 00:02:33.210 --> 00:02:41.909 and you see bad leaders. You see people who are 00:02:41.909 --> 00:02:46.449 either good or less good at this. It's fascinating 00:02:46.449 --> 00:02:49.729 how in so many organizations, people are promoted 00:02:49.729 --> 00:02:53.229 because they were good at doing whatever it was 00:02:53.229 --> 00:02:57.240 that they were doing. people don't look at well 00:02:57.240 --> 00:03:00.000 never mind what he was doing what are we going 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:03.939 to ask him him or her to do and is that person 00:03:03.939 --> 00:03:08.939 resourced to do that you know we put people into 00:03:08.939 --> 00:03:14.300 managerial situations positions and we don't 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:16.240 prepare them for it and then we're surprised 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:22.969 when they mess it all up um so Yeah, so I've 00:03:22.969 --> 00:03:26.830 seen the good and the bad, you know, along the 00:03:26.830 --> 00:03:31.789 way. I mean, even in the military, I've served 00:03:31.789 --> 00:03:36.310 with some absolutely unbelievably good leaders, 00:03:36.409 --> 00:03:42.770 just extraordinary examples of humility with 00:03:42.770 --> 00:03:50.710 skill and just fantastic. And I've been... under 00:03:50.710 --> 00:03:56.110 one or two people who are frankly awful at that 00:03:56.110 --> 00:04:00.569 um and and so you know you see the mistakes they 00:04:00.569 --> 00:04:03.449 make you see the decisions they make and you 00:04:03.449 --> 00:04:06.990 know there's there's one level which is people 00:04:06.990 --> 00:04:10.849 just not being skilled and there's another level 00:04:10.849 --> 00:04:17.519 which is there They have dysfunctional characters 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:23.120 which they live out around the people or on the 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:30.699 people that are around them. And that's not good. 00:04:30.860 --> 00:04:34.220 That's really not good. But we see it being lived 00:04:34.220 --> 00:04:42.670 out in the world right now. particularly in the 00:04:42.670 --> 00:04:45.970 politics of the world. What is the best leadership 00:04:45.970 --> 00:04:49.689 experience that you have had in your experience 00:04:49.689 --> 00:04:53.610 with the military or other people? What would 00:04:53.610 --> 00:04:59.170 you like to share with us? Gosh. Gosh, gosh, 00:04:59.230 --> 00:05:14.589 gosh. What a big question. I've got all sorts 00:05:14.589 --> 00:05:28.209 of incidents coming into my mind. Well, I mean, 00:05:28.230 --> 00:05:30.970 if I can use myself as an example here, I don't 00:05:30.970 --> 00:05:35.350 know if that's a good thing or not, but I remember 00:05:35.350 --> 00:05:44.500 when I was in the Marines. um and i had a i had 00:05:44.500 --> 00:05:48.720 a marine who was a he was a real a real troublemaker 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:54.040 he was in trouble all the time and uh he's in 00:05:54.040 --> 00:05:58.160 fights and kept on getting into you know being 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:02.079 put into into prison for short periods of time 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:10.029 and um i went to my um Good morning, officer. 00:06:11.889 --> 00:06:15.829 And I said to him, I want to take a chance with 00:06:15.829 --> 00:06:18.589 this guy. I'd like to make him a last corporal. 00:06:21.230 --> 00:06:26.670 And my boss said to me, you're out of your mind. 00:06:28.930 --> 00:06:31.610 But I said, no, I think there's a really good 00:06:31.610 --> 00:06:33.750 side to this guy, and it's just not coming out 00:06:33.750 --> 00:06:39.339 for various reasons, which I explained. So he 00:06:39.339 --> 00:06:42.800 said, all right, be it on your own head, you 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:47.399 take responsibility. So we had the guy in and 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:50.220 we said, right, we're going to give you some 00:06:50.220 --> 00:06:54.420 responsibility. And I remember the next day, 00:06:54.540 --> 00:07:00.439 he'd been to the clothing store and he had bought 00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:05.910 himself a complete new kit. And his trousers 00:07:05.910 --> 00:07:08.970 were pressed immaculately. His shirt was pressed 00:07:08.970 --> 00:07:15.649 immaculately. And he was a transformed young 00:07:15.649 --> 00:07:22.689 man. And, you know, I was so pleased because 00:07:22.689 --> 00:07:26.129 we'd taken a risk. I mean, my boss had as well 00:07:26.129 --> 00:07:28.569 because it could well have come back onto him. 00:07:30.110 --> 00:07:34.350 But this young man... was given some responsibility 00:07:34.350 --> 00:07:38.910 and he responded to it. And it was a turning 00:07:38.910 --> 00:07:46.689 point in his life. So, and really what it was 00:07:46.689 --> 00:07:52.149 is that I saw something in him that there was 00:07:52.149 --> 00:07:57.870 a kind of frustration that needed to have a way 00:07:57.870 --> 00:08:03.230 of expressing itself and being given responsibility 00:08:03.230 --> 00:08:12.730 for others was the magic bullet, really. So that 00:08:12.730 --> 00:08:19.009 was a great success, and I was really chuffed 00:08:19.009 --> 00:08:32.899 with that. I suppose that, you know, During the 00:08:32.899 --> 00:08:41.419 Falklands, there was a moment when 4 -5 Commando 00:08:41.419 --> 00:08:45.919 were going to do an attack. And of course, for 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:49.720 those that remember the Falklands or that know 00:08:49.720 --> 00:08:54.799 about it, it's a very inclement place to walk 00:08:54.799 --> 00:09:03.679 on. There's all sorts of obstacles. The CEO had 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:10.460 made all the plans. He'd briefed everybody on 00:09:10.460 --> 00:09:20.620 what he wanted to happen. They were on radio 00:09:20.620 --> 00:09:27.000 silence. The companies had found out to start. 00:09:27.799 --> 00:09:30.759 the attack but they had to go past the start 00:09:30.759 --> 00:09:34.700 line it's you know they use that kind of nomenclature 00:09:34.700 --> 00:09:39.940 and um the guy in charge of one of the companies 00:09:39.940 --> 00:09:43.379 i had to send a runner back because they were 00:09:43.379 --> 00:09:45.899 on radio silence saying i haven't got to the 00:09:45.899 --> 00:09:50.559 the start line yet and and everything all the 00:09:50.559 --> 00:09:55.600 timings were were out because of this and um 00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:00.740 the ceo And he demonstrated this to me on a number 00:10:00.740 --> 00:10:04.559 of occasions, getting really frustrating, really 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:09.860 bad news, stayed as calm as a cucumber, just 00:10:09.860 --> 00:10:14.480 steady, and sent the message back to his company 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:17.200 commander saying, let me know when you're ready. 00:10:17.539 --> 00:10:23.940 That was it. And, you know, I see people who 00:10:23.940 --> 00:10:28.639 can lead in really... tough, difficult circumstances 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:35.299 and keep their cool and their state of mind sharp 00:10:35.299 --> 00:10:43.000 like that. That's good stuff. Tom, thank you 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:45.179 for sharing that. What was the lesson that you 00:10:45.179 --> 00:10:49.740 learned in that experience? I would love to see 00:10:49.740 --> 00:10:53.000 what was something that you carried with yourself 00:10:53.000 --> 00:11:01.049 through those experiences of leadership. I think 00:11:01.049 --> 00:11:03.509 the older I've got, the more I've had access 00:11:03.509 --> 00:11:08.929 to pragmatism. That sense of being steady when 00:11:08.929 --> 00:11:16.769 things are going really badly. I was talking 00:11:16.769 --> 00:11:20.009 to an old client the other day and he's holding 00:11:20.009 --> 00:11:25.590 down a mammoth job at the moment. Mammoth. With 00:11:25.590 --> 00:11:30.970 challenges and... shortfalls and you know millions 00:11:30.970 --> 00:11:35.570 and millions of dollars uh that they're trying 00:11:35.570 --> 00:11:39.269 to recoup through frankly very bad management 00:11:39.269 --> 00:11:48.690 and he went on holiday and he spent sufficiently 00:11:48.690 --> 00:11:54.049 long away that he got this sense of um balance 00:11:54.049 --> 00:11:57.870 which he might have lost a little bit prior to 00:11:57.870 --> 00:12:01.289 going away and when he got back you know the 00:12:01.289 --> 00:12:04.289 phone was going crazy and everybody said oh rush 00:12:04.289 --> 00:12:09.769 rush this and terrible terrible that and and 00:12:09.769 --> 00:12:14.210 he said no there's nothing that terrible going 00:12:14.210 --> 00:12:17.289 on right now it's all pretty pretty awful but 00:12:17.289 --> 00:12:19.909 it's not that terrible we'll deal with it in 00:12:19.909 --> 00:12:21.870 the morning you know he's getting these calls 00:12:21.870 --> 00:12:25.379 all at night and it's like having this steadiness 00:12:25.379 --> 00:12:29.899 and a willingness to see that not everything 00:12:29.899 --> 00:12:34.860 needs to be dealt with like that sometimes you 00:12:34.860 --> 00:12:41.340 need to take some time to breathe see the overall 00:12:41.340 --> 00:12:45.259 situation have a sense of proportion and balance 00:12:45.259 --> 00:12:51.440 and not be panicked into doing something because 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:57.659 somebody around you is feeling like that Thank 00:12:57.659 --> 00:13:02.200 you for sharing that. We have talked a lot about 00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:07.460 the why and the what. I want to dive deeper into 00:13:07.460 --> 00:13:11.120 what are your insights about leadership. To you, 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:14.379 what would you say, Tom, defines a great leader? 00:13:14.580 --> 00:13:19.480 What do you see as a scale for future there? 00:13:23.500 --> 00:13:31.679 Well, I think great leaders have humility definitely 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:38.019 they understand their position in the world and 00:13:38.019 --> 00:13:44.240 they don't over inflate it and they have great 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:48.120 self -awareness that's the fundamental skill 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:54.580 of a great leader is great self -awareness and 00:13:54.580 --> 00:14:02.159 it's It's very much undermined today. But I think 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:12.919 it's, as I say, it's fundamental. And they care. 00:14:13.419 --> 00:14:16.960 They care about their people. They care about 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:20.480 their organization. They care about their impact 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:31.649 in the wider... environment and system. So, yeah. 00:14:33.090 --> 00:14:37.929 That's a bunch of qualities. It is. I can definitely 00:14:37.929 --> 00:14:40.470 dive deeper into every one of them, but I'd love 00:14:40.470 --> 00:14:42.809 to dive deeper into the self -awareness one. 00:14:43.169 --> 00:14:45.549 Tell me more about that. What made you choose 00:14:45.549 --> 00:14:48.750 self -awareness as one of the qualities, or what 00:14:48.750 --> 00:14:51.090 did you experience in your life that was like, 00:14:51.129 --> 00:14:52.750 hey, self -awareness is something that great 00:14:52.750 --> 00:14:59.960 leaders need to have? I think that self -awareness 00:14:59.960 --> 00:15:07.340 gives you the ability to challenge yourself. 00:15:08.919 --> 00:15:14.820 So when something happens, you don't get knee 00:15:14.820 --> 00:15:19.080 -jerk reactions. You can have a conversation 00:15:19.080 --> 00:15:25.399 going on in your mind that says, I noticed that. 00:15:26.409 --> 00:15:33.830 I now feel very angry. I notice that it feels 00:15:33.830 --> 00:15:38.929 like the situation is completely hopeless. I 00:15:38.929 --> 00:15:41.830 notice that this is unbelievably exciting what's 00:15:41.830 --> 00:15:45.570 going on. Whatever it is, it's a case of noticing, 00:15:45.929 --> 00:15:51.009 being aware, seeing it, and having that sense 00:15:51.009 --> 00:16:01.169 of proportion so that you can respond as opposed 00:16:01.169 --> 00:16:04.830 to react appropriately. Thank you for being here 00:16:04.830 --> 00:16:06.710 today. I'm really happy that you tuned in to 00:16:06.710 --> 00:16:09.169 Vision Pros Live. I'm looking forward to seeing 00:16:09.169 --> 00:16:12.230 your reactions as these episodes continue to 00:16:12.230 --> 00:16:13.929 move forward. This is going to get more and more 00:16:13.929 --> 00:16:16.250 fun. We'll have more and more engagement as well. 00:16:16.269 --> 00:16:18.190 We'll invite people to participate in the show. 00:16:18.350 --> 00:16:20.370 And thank you for giving us your time and attention. 00:16:20.649 --> 00:16:23.289 Have an excellent time building out your vision 00:16:23.289 --> 00:16:24.690 and becoming a Vision Pro yourself.