We just need to be ‘Better Humans & Better Leaders’ and we need to show it!
By: Peter Thomas
Tags: Leadership, Organizational Culture, Business, CEO, Reflections Of Life

We just need to be ‘Better Humans & Better Leaders’ and we need to show it! Peter Thomas Follow Jul 29 · 4 min read

I’ve had the chance to reflect on many of my recent conversations with a number of key people in my network — Executive Chairs, CEO’s, CFO’s, NED’s, Coaches, Consultants, and many other experts some still working and others waiting for their next role, who have considerable knowledge and experiences across multiple sectors around the globe. And I have arrived at inflexion point in my thinking — although many who know me would agree that I have always had an empathetic approach to people, there seems to be a consensus in all of our thinking:

We just need to be ‘Better Humans & Better Leaders’ and we need to show it!

COVID-19 has done one thing dramatically to business, and that’s exposed many boards, leaders and organisations and laid bare faults and traits to such an extent that far too many have been ‘found out’. What do I mean by that?

Organisational leadership behaviours and traits are pushed to the fore in times of crisis, and having worked through a number of these situations, you really do see who you need next to you in the trenches — and importantly, who you want with you when you ‘go over the top’ — and who you don’t!!

You will be amazed at the people who actually show up ready for action, its normally not the obvious executive…

Also, critically it exposes those that are clearly not suited to leading and managing in these incredibly challenging and changing times — a crisis is not for the faint hearted. Additionally, which can catch out many leaders, it has also revealed to many that their own values and ideals no longer align with the organisation they work for. So, the exodus begins…

There’s a brutal unveiling and inevitability about it all…

In some of my conversations, colleagues have shared their observances on not only themselves and their own conduct and capabilities, but their executive teams too, where they have questioned their abilities and actions.

That is particularly tough on many genuinely good people, who have worked tirelessly and extensively during the crisis, and you could judge it unfair.

So, the resetting will start, but how will it play out?

Organisations of all sizes — SME, Mid-Cap, Large-Cap, FTSE, PLC etc, need the skill levels at the very top that now actually reflect where their business sits and importantly, where it wants to go — it needs a different kind of leadership now and more than likely, a new direction.

But this exposure is a good time to reflect, rethink, reset and go again. A creation of a vision and story that’s fresh and exciting — isn’t that what businesses and its leaders should do?

There’s much talk now on the ‘resetting of corporate values and behaviours’, and I for one agree with that, but the change has to come from the top, without doubt. A servant leadership style perhaps?

The Executive Chairs, Boards, NED’s and CEO’s all now have to grasp the critical function of our behaviours, our real values and our natural traits that we not only display outwardly but impart to others in our circle.

Take for example #ESG — which should reflect the ‘socially conscious’ organisation?

How many of us can relate to the Values chart that’s placed on many corporate walls and websites, but how many organisations actually ‘walk the talk?’ Debatable I know.

Then there is the awful and truly upsetting George Floyd event, which pushed to the fore the #BLM campaigning across the globe. Leaders now have to face a stark reality and some troubling truths and deal with this entire dynamic across their organisations — which will inevitably shine a light on everyone’s behaviours..

What is all this doing and showing?

Us humans can at times, be cruel, destructive, selfish, greedy and take no interest in others. Something which you can clearly see within many businesses across the globe. But we are all inherently good, aren’t we??? Or am I being naïve and over optimistic?

Unfortunately, there is an intuition and perhaps an instinct that many boards, shareholders and leaders just want to return to ‘the way it was’ — in some cases exorbitant profitability for shareholders over profitability for reinvesting for the many? Is that too generalist a point, I’m not sure? But it just does not ‘sit right’ now, not today.

These are strange times yes, but there is light ahead. There are now many opportunities to make a real tangible difference in our approach to work and people.

Let us be better people, better humans, of course better leaders and better organisations — for the benefit of all, not the few.

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