The Inspiring Leadership Conference Keynote

I delivered a keynote for the 2017 Inspiring Leadership Conference in Birmingham in June. In my role with the Football Association I had an opportunity to work with a number of successful organisations and individuals from different fields. I wanted to look at what, if anything, they had in common and what they could tell us about leading successful schools. I arrived at the view that there were structural and behavioural similarities and that the success of each organisation in what were very different, yet highly demanding, environments was predicated on high levels of trust.

I had visited a number of schools in 2011 and for the talk I revisited them in May 2017 to find out what remained and what had been abandoned. The best schools retained some of the original core practices. I also visited or worked with several individuals and organisations including Kevin Roberts of Saatchi and Saatchi, Sky Cycling, Innocent Drinks, Les Miserables, London Air Ambulance and Warburtons Bakery.

I wrote it up in a booklet called Trust Bonds: Leadership Lessons from High Performing Organisations which summarises the findings. Please feel free to make copies for your colleagues. Full colour Booklet for Inspiring Leaders Conference

The slides for the presentation are here Inspiring Leaders Keynote

A new, and more detailed, book with the same title – Trust Bonds: Leadership Lessons from High Performing Organisations – is due later this year.