North Star and Servant Leaders

Guest Author:  Stuart Seymour, Chief Security Officer (Group CISO and CISO), Virgin Media O2

I recently spoke at a technology conference on the subject of leading high-performing teams. I was reflecting on my career and wanted to share some of my learnings.

 In crafting my keynote, I immediately came to a choice – I could highlight some of the great teams and leaders that I had come across and juxtapose them against some of the bluntly terrible ones I had had.

So, I guess the first lesson is that you have choice. And this is critical to leadership and leading teams. One of the most impactful prayers I learned at school (all-boys Jesuit boarding – but that is another story in its entirety………) was the prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas – or the Serenity Prayer. Give me the Serenity to understand those things I can change, those things that I can't, and the wisdom to know the difference. As a leader, there are things you can change. You can change how you come into work. You can own as opposed to pass down a problem. You can shield your team from turbulence as opposed to passing it down.

So, in writing this piece, I chose only to focus on the positives. That is not to say that there is not a great deal to be learned from bad leadership and ensuring you are not that person.

The Standards You Choose to Accept

There is, however, a bit of a boiling frog syndrome and something which I must admit I fell victim to in the past. If you are in an environment that tolerates disrespect, selfishness and close-to-the-line practices, you will inevitably be shaped by this and even start to assimilate. And it takes deep reflection and awareness to realise it's happening. Also, inevitably, the lessons come after and not during.

There is so much more to say, but I chose not to dwell on that, and I chose the positive take. Like this choice, there are others that you have from what you accept, what standards you set, what you prioritise; will that be the “the what” or “the how”.

The Power of a North Star

I had the privilege to serve in the British Army for 12 years, and there I took two critical things with regard to leadership which are still with me. Have a ‘North Star’ and ensure that your team knows what this is and buys in. This North Star can change, and you need to adapt it as the situation changes. Our threat is dynamic and evolves. The key thing is that as the North Star (or mission) changes, the team must be fully led in and also fully bought in.

If everyone is clear on their objectives, knows where they have to get to and why they have to get to the team operates at a higher level. Further, once this understanding is reached, then other critical aspects like empowerment and ‘mission command’ (I want you to take this hill but I don’t care how you do it) come into play.

Serve to Lead

The second important aspect I took from the Army was Servant Leadership. Indeed, it was the motto on our cap badge at Sandhurst: “Serve To Lead”. That to me means that you are in the service of your team. In a long run you are first on the log. You lead by example.

I had an interesting discussion with a “top leadership coach” from a top consultancy. His argument was you should never be on the log. That job is for others. They might perceive that as you not trusting them or micromanaging them.  I think I must have been ineloquent in my arguments, as there was no changing his mind. It is all about example and doing the hard yards with the team, not micro-management or doing their job for them, but showing them that if there is going to be some hard work, simply you are the first in. Others will then follow. You eat last in case the food runs out. You shun the executive dining room and join your team in the canteen; you are first to an incident and the last to leave.

Why the How Matters More Than the What

II firmly believe that, though there are others, having these two pillars (North Star and Servant Leadership) as your foundation, you will not go wrong.

In moving from military to commercial life, there were other aspects of leadership which I learned. I teased it in the second paragraph. I learned that the How is as important, if not more so, than the What. There is no point in delivering all of your objectives and projects if no one will want to work with you and if you leave a dozen broken people behind you.

I initially found some of this hard to discern. Some of this is hidden in the hierarchical nature of the military and, of course, the necessary inflexibility of some missions due to the peril or jeopardy that they inherently contain.

It seemed to me that in corporate life, especially in high-stakes transformation programs, pyric victories were abundant. The system got delivered, the migration was done, the organisation was redesigned, but predominantly and significantly at the cost of human capital.

Even in the age of AI, I fundamentally believe that humans (in or out of the loop) will continue to play a critical role. But that is another discussion for another time. The ‘how’ is critical because it will ensure that no matter how tough the next major transformation is, people will still be with you and, as mentioned above, will join you on the proverbial log.

Going Far Together

This is where leadership crystallises, and a team starts to form. Focused on the ‘how ’, people mountains get moved and the ‘what just follows. Indeed, I have found that to go fast you go alone, but to go far you need to go together.

Creating Psychological Safety

The focus on the How, combined with Servant leadership ethos, will soon develop a fertile ground for other important concepts to develop.

I remember working at a major US defence and Aerospace company and looking at the criteria to achieve an ‘outstanding ‘ rating. One initially surprised me, which was “this person is not afraid to fail”. I was initially taken aback; our work was mission-critical; surely failure was not an option.

But then, thinking about it more and reflecting on how some of the world's amazing ‘moonshots’ have landed, they are all grounded in failure. No one has landed their shot the first time. It is all about trying, failing, learning, adjusting and trying again.

Being allowed to do this is not only great for innovation but also creates psychological safety within your teams. Curiosity is nurtured in this environment, which in turn leads to innovation. Mistakes are not covered up, which means the team can move faster, together knowing that having all the same aims, they are safe with each other. And if you think about it this is second on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, only being beaten by the physiological (Eat, sleep, breathe, etc.).

Leading by Example

Finally, the last aspect of leadership is being a role model. You are reliable; you turn up on time (in fact 5 minutes before); your word is ironclad, and you do as you say. Integrity is non-negotiable. Always.

The Leadership Playbook

So distilling this into a playbook for leaders:

You have a choice. 

• There will be things you can control and things you cannot. Focus on the ones you can.
• Align your teams to a North Star and get their buy in – but this can change.
• It is a privilege to serve your team.
• Be the first on the log and the last to eat. Make sure that everyone is taken care of before you look after yourself.
• The 'How' is more important than the What – be aware of the Pyrrhic victory.
• Build a culture of psychological safety where your team is not afraid to fail. This will unlock the keys to innovation and also transparency.

The 2AM Club - Exclusive Offer to join via TechSellers