Leading in Febrile Times…

Leadership is something I spend a lot of my time thinking about and working on.

Whether it’s through businesses like the Global Centre of Rail Excellence that I’m directly involved in; as Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Wales Trinity St David or in mentoring leaders in industry and business across the world, I’m constantly thinking about what makes successful leaders at all levels of an organisation.

The need for leaders to take ownership of their own development is very important. No matter how experienced or how talented an individual you are, there is always learning that you can take from others about how to lead a team or an organisation. Indeed, I still have my own network of trusted and experienced advisers that I go to for help and support when I face a tricky challenge.

Although we have much farther still to travel, we are getting in better in supporting talent at all levels and from all backgrounds to develop. Our workplaces are helping greater a diversity of individuals with talent and ideas to come through and the support structures for advice and help is certainly better than when I started my career.

That’s important because perhaps never has there been more scrutiny on leaders within companies, charities or public sector bodies to demonstrate and deliver progress against the ambitions of the organisation. In these febrile times, leadership challenges every part of your skillset.

These were some the issues I talked about when I was asked recently to meet young leaders from across the Commonwealth at Windsor Castle recently.

The event was held from 13th to 15th June 2024 at St George’s House, Windsor Castle and was hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat, in partnership with a range of bodies that included my own University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

The event was a chance to support young leaders from across the world to discuss ongoing challenges around health and innovation for the benefit of the Commonwealth’s 1.6 billion young people.

What astounded me was the energy, the vitality and the vision of the next generation of Commonwealth leaders. These young people are disruptors – they see the opportunity for creativity, reform and innovation-led growth in the field of healthcare in their own countries and were prepared to make bold and brave changes to achieve it. They were also what I would describe as ‘open leaders’, not scared to protect or shelter their own new ideas, but content to share approaches; to be challenged about what it takes to move from good to great and eager to take their learning back home.

What struck me vividly in my time with the young people was how they were handling the scale and pace of change. To them, artificial intelligence is not rapidly developing technology to fear, it’s a tool that offers significant opportunities to re-shape fundamental services like healthcare in creative and innovative ways. They were preparing to succeed, but ready to learn from failures along the way.

It was great to talk to the Commonwealth leaders and pass on the lessons that I’ve learned from more than thirty years as a leader of businesses right across the world. It was also great to talk to them about the Global Centre of Rail Excellence and about how it will be a leader in the field of rail and mobility innovation – a place not only for new product innovation, but a platform for leaders and disruptors to think through what tomorrow’s railway looks like in terms of technology, standards and safety.

When the Global Centre of Rail Excellence is up and running I’d like to invite some of those young commonwealth leaders up to Onllwyn to learn from us and to hear about how they are getting on!

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