Firstly, I must congratulate everyone who was involved in the inaugural Birmingham Business Best Places to Work awards.
As I am sure the pictures illustrate, this was an absolutely brilliant celebration of the many things, firms and folk who help to give the Birmingham business community its sparkle, and ensure that the city and wider region are indeed great places to work and to build a career.
In many ways the awards were a brave move by the team behind Birmingham Business magazine, as the world needs another awards ceremony as much as the UK needs yet another prime minister. However, these awards absolutely managed to cut through the cynicism and formulaic approach that can mar such ceremonies, and really did feel different, innovative, engaging and full of heart.
It was a privilege to have judged some of the categories and I had an absolute blast on the night itself. I very much suspect that the awards will go from strength to strength and become an essential fixture on the Birmingham business calendar – keep your eyes peeled for details about the 2027 edition and get entering!
A couple of the Best Places to Work awards were focused on individual leaders who others find inspiring. Lis and Wayne were unquestionably worthy winners and recipients of the dazzling trophies (shout out to Dual Works who designed them) in the female and male categories, with both truly embodying many of the traits that I believe are required to make a leader.
Whenever I am asked about leadership or what makes a great leader in my opinion I generally recount a story about my first boss from when I started my career at MBNA Bank. That individual – General Charles C Krulak (worthy of a look-up on Wikipedia) – was a decorated military figure who, upon his retirement from the US Marine Corp, had embarked on a second career leading a credit card company.
He had led men and women into battle, both in Vietnam and in the first Gulf War had had literally written books on leadership. So, when he spoke I listened, especially when he was sharing thoughts and insights on leadership.
Distilling his teachings down somewhat, for The General (as he was known to everybody), leaders were simply men and women ‘of character’, with character being defined as possessing moral courage, selflessness and integrity.
While unquestionably somewhat broad in their definition, I have held onto those traits as my touchstones for the qualities that make a leader throughout my career, and also measured myself against them whenever I have had to make a touch decision or choice.
Am I acting with integrity? Am I being selfless in my decision and not driven by choosing an outcome that is simply easiest or best for me? Am I being brave and taking the right path, even if it seems to be the harder thing to do?
For me personally, if I can check my actions off against that mental list then I always trust that I am leading in the right way, or at least making decisions in the moment for the right reasons. Over the years, and in any number of leadership positions, it has become somewhat second nature for me to do that, and a helpful guide when having to make big decisions or choose a course of action quickly without much thinking time.
Villa fans amongst the readership may recall that The General later became a director at Villa for a period when I was CEO. While his wisdom and guidance were always welcome, one of the things he enjoyed doing was jumping on fan message boards and interacting directly with supporters.
In many way this was brilliant – fans were getting to hear from a director of the club in a direct and unvarnished way, and could flag all sorts of bits of feedback and issues they were having which The General could bring back to the club and get fixed. Customer experience in action!
Unfortunately, over time, and as results got a little worse at the club, fans having a direct line to The General started to cause a few issues and him some headaches as he was challenged on matters where he couldn’t give a clear answer. In the end it was my duty to speak with him and to request that he stop posting on the message boards, something he loved doing and had been good at for a number of years.
Having worked together for over a decade and always having had only the utmost respect for The General having to have that conversation was not something that was easy or I was looking forward to doing. But, using his own teachings and ensuring I was acting with some moral courage, selflessness and integrity, I did just that and the situation was resolved.
It wasn’t quite Darth Vader confronting Obi-Wan Kenobi in the famous apprentice/master scene in the Death Star, but, put into a leadership role, The General’s own words did help me to know that I was at least acting appropriately and leading as I was expected to do.
Ultimately, leadership is difficult and circumstances can certainly challenge your ability to be an effective leader. I would say that I think about leadership every day, thanks to The General, and am constantly striving to be better in all facets of leadership where I have the opportunity.
On that note, congratulations again to all of the winners (and leaders) at the Best Places to Work awards, and I look forward to seeing these awards go from strength to strength.
*Paul Faulkner is vice chairman of the Midlands region for Barclays, and co-founder of Element45
