Leading in uncertainty – the move from blame to aligned interests

There’s no room for the blame game as you lead your business out of the pandemic. That’s the view of boardroom veteran David Gregson talking to The Alexander Partnership’s Lloyd Wigglesworth for this Talking Leadership podcast. 

A hugely experienced businessman – David has sat on more than 30 boards and chaired at least half of them – some of his key lessons and advice for leaders include:

• be honest that, as the leader, you do not have all the answers
• bring people together with diverse perspectives to avoid group think. Reassess whether your talent pool has enough outside views
• empower and align people by setting out a direction and a compass rather than loads of rules.

COVID-19: leaders have learnt the need for clear, confident communication

As businesses emerge from the lockdown, PwC’s Chairman and Senior Partner Kevin Ellis talks to The Alexander Partnership’s Lloyd Wigglesworth on some of the key themes surrounding business and high-performance leadership. 

Kevin identifies several critical areas for business leaders in this Talking Leadership podcast including the importance of clear, confident and simple communication, building rapport virtually, and how leaders have been making key decisions during the crisis with smaller groups for speed and effectiveness. 

The collision of megatrends – the leadership challenge

“Sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can take their place”. So said Marilyn Monroe and in this Talking Leadership podcast, The Alexander Partnership’s Lloyd Wigglesworth talks to Leo Johnson – author of Turnaround Challenge, Business & the City of the Future, presenter of BBC 4’s Futureproofing and Head of Disruption and Innovation at PwC – who describes how we have arrived at the “most Marilyn of moments”, when business leaders need to reinvent the future as well as protect the present. 

Johnson argues that the collision of megatrends such as the inequality crisis, a debt crisis, a climate crisis and a manufacturing crisis have created an inherent vulnerability which is being exposed by the biological crisis. Leaders need to not only consider how to protect their business through this crisis but to allocate enough time and energy to understand the megatrends and consider how to create something new that's going to work.