Speaker 1 00:00:05 Hey there, thoughtful listener. Are you looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers and clients? Well, I've had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video you can watch with no opt in required, where I'll share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months, with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for over 15 years, and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to up my influence. Com and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. Also, don't forget the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for great guests. Go to up my influence. Com and click on podcast. I'd love to have you. With us right now. Graham. Wilson. Graham. You are known as a leadership wizard. You are the founder of Success Factory over 31 years in business. Your website is the Success Factory.

Speaker 1 00:01:23 Dot. Co.Uk. Graham, it's great to have you.

Speaker 2 00:01:27 It's fantastic to be with you. Josh. Can't wait to get started.

Speaker 1 00:01:30 Yeah, absolutely. So I'd love to learn. What is it that you do as a leadership wizard?

Speaker 3 00:01:35 Okay.

Speaker 2 00:01:36 Well, the actual name was given me to by a client. I said to him, you know, after working for a while, so what is it that you like about me? What difference do I'm making? He said, oh, you just just make things so simple. You're a bit like a like a leadership wizard, you know? And you know, we can take your stuff and apply it. And, you know, we often say on our programmes, the most important thing is what happens afterwards. They what they do with the stuff that we we teach and we, we help them to learn. So it's sort of stuck and, it sort of, it felt good. so that sort of became a bit of a brand really, helps, obviously, with the books written and the work we do.

Speaker 2 00:02:10 So it's a, it's a good conversational, in a social setting as well, when people say, oh, I just saw you on LinkedIn and you're a leadership wizard, what does that mean? So, I guess for me, it's about how do I decode leadership for today's world? How do I help founders, you know, startup organizations, even global organizations we work with? How do I help them to to look at what the leadership looks like in today's world? And, you know, not to interested in research, looking backwards, what I'm really interested is, yeah, what do we need to see? What behaviors, what thinking, what mindset is do we need to be successful going forward. So I guess so you could call me a leadership wizard.

Speaker 1 00:02:46 On that note, I would love to get your perspective. over the past three decades, you know, the evolution you've seen in common, thought around, Leadership. And I, I'm certain that you've seen quite a bit of evolution. And so I'm hoping you can give us just kind of a quick history lesson and then take us to where we are today, and then afterwards we'll talk about the future.

Speaker 2 00:03:12 Yeah, sure. Yeah. Well, my, my first career, actually my first decade of my life was in the, in the military, in the British Army. so I was grounded in, fantastic leadership, opportunity at a young age. And what that showed me was the importance of team working, high performance, elite working. but but also around a concept called mission command, where, you know, as senior leaders, you're there to really share the mission. I guess we'd call that purpose now, in today's world. And then it's about training your teams to have enough capability to be able to then work out what to do to achieve the mission. So I started, you know, in that sort of vein really at a young age. And it was a really good, great grounding in leadership philosophy, but also going out there and put it into practice. I then joined the corporate world and, I was quite amazed at how, behind, they were, in leadership thinking. And what I found really with not only with the organization I work for, but but also the customers we had, the clients we had is I was finding that, you know, this is obviously going back 40 odd years now, where a lot of organizations were over managed and under led, and the whole sort of concept of, you know, management by the manager knowing the answers, having appraisals, annual appraisals, working in silos.

Speaker 2 00:04:30 You know, the manager was the, the expert and led from the top and told you what to do. And I was quite shocked, really, because my early years have all been around empowerment and, training people to have the capability to make decisions under pressure. So I did that for a while. I thought, yeah, maybe it's just isolated in in the environment I'm in. But the more and more I sort of searched and looked and worked with different organizations like, wow, it's all the same. so 30 years ago, well, 31 on the 32 years ago, I sat on the beach and I thought, do I want to do this corporate life for the rest of my life? And I wrote down what a wonderful life is for me. And then I said, well, if that's a wonderful life, how do I create a business that gives me that wonderful life? And what is my purpose? And my purpose really is around helping people to understand what leadership really is. And so I talk about how you as a leader, how you awaken possibility in people to deliver extraordinary results.

Speaker 2 00:05:27 you know, it's interesting that not many organizations would have a measurement around the confidence of their team. they do an elite sport in the military, but, you know, or trust or care, so that that concept of leadership is really where it all started. And obviously 30 odd years ago, it has changed. And I do believe we're actually in a new world. And I think, you know, if I summarize really, I think the context we're in now is completely different to what it used to be. We're in a world where the pace of change is so fast we can't actually keep up with it. And, you know, as leaders, it's not possible to have all the answers anymore. And so gone are the days of management from the top and management from experiences about how do you leave people with a common purpose to make a big impact, to solve customer's issues and challenges? But how do you then engage them, empower them by giving direction, autonomy and support. And what that requires, of course, is a different mindset.

Speaker 2 00:06:21 And you have how do you lead without knowing the answers? You know, you know you need to change something, but you're not sure what the problem is, not sure what the solution is. So what we tend to work and the evolution of leadership these days is, you know, in the military they talk about this Vuca world, don't know, and, you know, volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. And and that's really what we do. We help leaders to be able to become more agile in their thinking, to be more collaborative, to become more humanistic and to move away. We still need great managers, of course, but but we also need great leaders who can deal with ambiguity and uncertainty and complexity and take that, you know, collective approach to, to really drive performance. And I always say that you know, the role of a leader is leaders to create a high performance environment where success is inevitable. So, you know, do do people really think about that every day? So we give them the tools and techniques to be able to do that.

Speaker 2 00:07:07 So I guess that's a little potted history. So moving from a bias towards management to more of a bias towards leadership and coaching mentoring I guess that's right.

Speaker 1 00:07:18 Yeah. You have worked with the biggest of the big, enterprise level companies throughout the world, and I'm certain, you know, at the SMB level as well. But you've worked with Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, Fujitsu, Office Depot, DuPont, Bank of America, Unilever, Land Rover. The list is quite impressive. over your decades. and so I'm wondering, Graham, could you, maybe share a couple of principles that you think are are just absolutely spot on today, maybe kind of building upon what you've already shared? and I'm thinking perhaps we could share something a little tactical. that our friend listening right now could, could maybe take back to their next meeting or start implementing themselves, in their day to day routine.

Speaker 2 00:08:11 Sure. I think, you know, when you think about leadership, I always think when you think about leadership, the only thing you're really in control of is is your behavior.

Speaker 2 00:08:19 the rest of it is about people choosing to to follow you or not. And I think sometimes, certainly in startup mode, you can get so locked up in the tech or the, the product you're developing and you forget it around people. we often say when we're teaching project management, you know, it's 80% people. You know, the the process is not easy. It's the people stuff, which is all about the relationship. So, you know, being able to understand who you really are as a person, I think is the foundation. I think it starts with who. so, you know, doing some self-awareness, understanding your personality, understand your strengths, build a way of working that builds on your strengths. And, obviously conversate with other people that you need around you to to be successful because you can't be brilliant at everything. I think it's once you know who you are, then it's really about being able to articulate your leadership brand, your your leadership journey. what's important to you, your non-negotiables, I guess, and your values.

Speaker 2 00:09:14 And, then it's around. You know why you do what you do, which is really around, you know, common purpose. So for me, my purpose is about awaken possibility in people to deliver extra results. So if I have a tough day and, it hasn't been going well, I can reflect on that, I think. Well, actually, did I get someone to think differently, or did I teach them a tool or a technique? And if I did, then it's been a great day. So help us to become more resilient. If you have a clear purpose about what impact you want to do. And, what's your legacy? I guess once you've worked that out, really, which is obviously who you are and why you do what you do, I think the next step then is to to really work out what type of leadership you need in the context you're in. so, you know, if you're leading, for example, we have some of the global organizations I talked about, you know, even within those organizations, you know, like, for example, Siemens, for example, they're throwing away their complicated leadership frameworks now and saying, look, we need a set of guiding principles, but we want to train leaders and develop leaders and educate them to be able to think around what's the style of leadership that's appropriate for the country, the culture.

Speaker 2 00:10:19 you know, if I'm leaving a, I know, a digital lab, in, in Manchester, in the UK, for example, that might be different than running a heavy engineering plant in Germany, for example. So you can't just take what you did in the last job and apply it to the next job. You've got to look at the situation and craft their approach. I see that a lot in startups. You know, when when organizations started to get to that, there are 100, 200 people where they've done the startup stuff. It's very entrepreneurial. They know everything. They've done everything, they've done every job. but then suddenly they're starting to employ people and they start to, you know, get team leaders and, you know, heads of departments, all that stuff. And they really struggle because the style of leadership they started the business with, isn't relevant for the context of now in particular, if they're going for fast growth. so so I think, you know, leadership is about the ability, the art form of really understanding the context you're in and then working backwards and saying, okay, well, what style or what approach of leadership do I need to take in today's world? So once you've done that, I mean, I talk about, you know, you know, genetic, I suppose, from a key point of view, I guess, is, what I call ten leadership disciplines that I found over the, I guess, the 40 odd, nearly 50 years of leadership I've been involved in is, it tends to be a set of principles or disciplines, that are common.

Speaker 2 00:11:37 So if I quickly share those with you, for me, number one is about, you know, the role of leaders to create a high performance environment where success is inevitable. so you've got to think about what is a high performance environment and then remove the blockers. so, yeah, a lot of people set fantastic goals, but don't go the next step and say, well, what could stop us? So a little tactical tip there is if you're setting your strategy and your goals. It's worth getting your team together and saying, okay, what do you think can stop us? Identify those risks and remove as many as you can. And if you can't remove them, then have a plan B. if they do rear their ugly head, you know that you can do something about it. so that's the first thing. Second thing is around people, which is around awaken possibility. So building confidence in people, mentoring, coaching, developing them I think is really important. I think when you do that and you get out of the way, then they surprise you how good they are.

Speaker 2 00:12:25 So building that a psychological safety in that, you know, that sort of care aspect is one of the things I noticed when I left the military was the lack of care in the corporate world. You know, care is is key to high performance. I've worked with in the sports world as well, and a lot of athletes will tell me is that they won't listen to a coach unless they know the coach cares for them. And I think that's that's stuck with me really. So I think that's actually I think the third thing then really is about striving to be authentic. You know, I think, you know, this whole bit about, you know, leadership is all about being real. You Yeah. My grandfather ran the docks in Liverpool, which was quite a tough, sort of gang warfare sort of type of environment, I guess, back in the day. But he said, you know, the leadership thing was all about being real. The more real you are, the more people will believe in you.

Speaker 2 00:13:13 They're more likely than to to follow you. So I think that's key. So striving to be authentic. I think next thing is, you know, you can't be successful without a team. And this is particularly important in growth of organisations is that, you know, the success often with the leader is not down to the leaders but the team that build around them. So being able to build a high performance team, you know, set up your team to success, being able to sustain high performance. So through reviewing and reflection and actual learning I think is key. you know, in today's world, we have to unleash innovation and, you know, an innovation. You know, often people think about new products or new services. But for me, it's around. Yeah, everything we do is looking at how we improve things right down from, you know, marginal gains. You know, the 1% improvement, or add up Rather to a new product or service, you know, in terms of transformational stuff or changing a market, for example.

Speaker 2 00:14:01 And we have to unleash that innovation. And for me, that's a collaborative process. So how do we collect ideas? You know, how do we take those ideas? How do we decide on the best bets. You know, how do we embed those and make them work and add value? because I always think innovation is about, you know, how you take an idea through a hazardous journey, and add value to society? I think that's key. I think the next thing that really is, is around, you know, how how do you manage ambiguity and risk? I think in today's world, you know, we need clarity. So I'm a big fan of simplicity. I always talk about leadership principles, being around boldness, simplicity and speed. So being courageous, being bold, challenging the norm, doing things differently I think is key. keeping things simple. You know, in a complex world, the more simple it is, the better. I've certainly learned that from sport, and certainly in the military.

Speaker 2 00:14:51 and the third thing about that is speed. I think a lot of people confuse speed with being busy. And you can be really busy or really efficient doing the wrong things. So for me it's about being effective. So I often talk about the ability to speed up by slowing down. And so that whole strategic agility piece. but my father used to race bikes and my uncle used to race cars, and, they, whenever they raced there, the reason they lost the race was normally because they're going too fast, which is quite ironic in terms of that world. And that's normally when the mistakes happen. so I learned from them is, you know, you need to know when to go fast, but you also need to know when to slow down. So this concept of speeding up by slowing down I think is key. I think another aspect then is around, you know, how you, not only set up your team or, or sustain high performance, but how do you then mentor, coach and teach? I think leaders in today's world have to be teachers.

Speaker 2 00:15:44 So how do we educate people? And I think it was it Gandhi, I think. Or was it and I think it was Nelson Mandela that wasn't it, that the, the greatest weapon we have for change is education So yeah, a lot of organizations struggle with change, but I think what they don't do is start. They don't start with changing mindsets first. They just announced a change and then try and, you know, manage the resistance. So I think there's an educational piece there. And the final thing then of course, is, you know, we've got a dilemma on our promises. So, you know, being really effective at the management staff at getting stuff done, you know, time management, energy management, delegating, you know, all the key things that you're running meetings. Yeah, a lot of leadership stuff done through meetings. So logically, if you're going to be a great leader, you need to be world class at running meetings. But quite often people never have training and simple things like that about how to make them effective.

Speaker 2 00:16:34 and I guess the final thing then really is, you know, your, your measured really on the impact you have. So I often you know when I'm coaching leaders talk about what your what's your legacy. Yeah. What's the impact you want to have on the world. so I think there that's a quick guide through. And then the final bit really is so you've got the who you are, why you do what you do, what you do which is the discipline's the final bit. That, of course, is to turn that into routines and rituals and habits. so a way of working I think is really important. So I always sort of like to look at, you know, leading self, leading my team, get my team together, build our plan. we talk about a lot of, 90 day agile plans now. yeah. How do you how do you then, you know, cascade that through the business, communicate it with meaning, inspire action through through fantastic communication and storytelling. how do you then review and reflect to make sure you're on track? And then how do you then take that learning, adapt, grow and go again? So that whole flywheel approach I think is really important.

Speaker 2 00:17:34 So, so I guess that's the that's the sort of stuff we teach. And then obviously underneath that, of course, here are all the tools and techniques you need to make that happen.

Speaker 1 00:17:42 Yeah okay. Wow. That was a lot. Graham Wilson, your website, is the Success Factory. Co.Uk the success Factory, share just a bit about, who you work with, what that looks like, and, and, what our friend from here should do when they go to your website.

Speaker 2 00:18:05 Yeah. She'll have a look at what we do. We pride ourselves really on, understanding our clients. So I think it starts with what's their needs? What's their objectives? What's their vision? Yeah. What they're trying to achieve. A lot of stuff is bespoke and tailored. we have a core curriculum of what we call a new world leadership curriculum, where we have a range of tools and techniques for all sorts of different areas. You know, for example, we have an innovation toolkit. Yeah, we have, you know, a leadership toolkit.

Speaker 2 00:18:31 We have a team toolkit, we have meeting toolkits. So a lot of those are written on our books as well, of course. So what people really like about us is that we will take a complex situation and give people the tools and techniques in order to be able to then craft their own solutions. so, you know, we're not the sort of organisation will come in and tell you what to do. We're more about getting you to think differently, to generate a load of tools that needs to be able to solve your own problems. So yeah. For example, if we're working with an organization to help them create a strategy, yeah, we won't go away and create a strategy for them. What we'll do is teach them how they can create a collaborative strategy with with their teams and get them to think differently. So I guess that's what we have. If that's the sort of thing you're looking for, then that's what we do. and we tend to work in the areas of obviously leadership, strategy, change projects, innovation, and teams tend to be the areas that they work in.

Speaker 2 00:19:22 And, you know, we don't work with one particular sector. I think, you know, we look at these across the board and that gives us a great advantage. As you said, we've worked and we're honored to work with so many different organizations, right, from startups all the way through to, as I just mentioned before, global organizations. What that does is help us to become very rich in examples and stories. so we teach a lot through stories and examples of what's worked and what hasn't work. And obviously there are certain things we can we can never share, but there are certain generic things that we can can share. I think that helps organizations and helps them to, to then apply it. So we're not heavily theory based. We're more on a pragmatic approach where, you know, this is how you can take these tools and techniques and use them every day.

Speaker 1 00:20:11 I love it. Graham. now you're also an author as well, right?

Speaker 2 00:20:15 Yes. That's right. Yes.

Speaker 3 00:20:17 Yeah.

Speaker 1 00:20:18 Sure. Just a bit about your book and where folks can get it.

Speaker 2 00:20:21 Yeah. So I've written a few books actually. Yeah.

Speaker 1 00:20:23 You have I, I see it now on your website.

Speaker 3 00:20:26 Yeah. This is really.

Speaker 1 00:20:28 Fun. I love the aesthetic of these books.

Speaker 3 00:20:31 Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 00:20:32 We do a lot of, graphic facilitation. So we do a lot of stuff. you know, we, we find a lot of people, you know, to gamble in meetings, for example, they, they never use the whiteboards or that, you know, the big boards. And so we like to get people thinking through, different format. So our books represent that. And so they're very, I call them, coffee table books where they're not sort of books that sit on a shelf. They're the ones you can dip into on your desk. And I've got a problem here. I can look in there as a full of tools and techniques. So leadership labour really is really my thinking. it's around why I think we need to change what I believe great leadership looks like.

Speaker 2 00:21:09 I'm not saying I'm right, by the way, but that's what I believe. and the tools and techniques to be a great leader in today's world. So that's the leash that I bear. The new Leadership manifesto is really a summary document which goes through the ten disciplines and but really ask you questions which are quite deep. And obviously the answers are the questions. If you say yes to every question and you're doing it really well. So that's a great sort of I call those airport books, you know, when you're you're when the plane or a train or something like that way you want to have a quick 30 minutes. So that's the leadership manifesto. I also written, a book around resiliency with my daughter. And my youngest daughter has cerebral palsy, so she's in a wheelchair. And, it's great to be able to relate to her story about how she's overcome adversity. and apply that to our resiliency model. So we have a approach, a particular approach which is very holistic around resilience. So that was really enjoyable.

Speaker 2 00:22:05 It's cool. It's cool because Jenny was saying, well we can't call it resilience that that's really boring. What can we call it. And then we as you see, we work with a lot of Japanese organizations. And I love I love the discipline of the Japanese. I love how they have lots of philosophies and approaches. And, you know, I remember in the Rugby World Cup where you saw the Japanese spectators cleaning the stadiums before they left. And I just loved that sort of aspect. But they have two concepts. One is called kintsugi, which is around, you know, how you take something that's broken and make it more beautiful with the gold and all that sort of stuff? And then Zarb, which is around acceptance of who you are. And so we, we sort of, made up a name. We took the wabi and the Suyin got it. So we got the com URL as well, which helps, but it made it a little bit more interesting. So that was great.

Speaker 2 00:22:57 And then within success factor we have some really great leaders and teachers as well. So Dave Damon specializes in in teams, elite teams. So he's written a book around, team foundations, about how to set your team up for success and how to then sustain high performance. And the final book, that's in there is, no more boardrooms, which, Martin is, a killer facilitator. So he's written about his experiences around how he gets the best out of meetings and all the very practical stuff. And then the final book that I'm working on is really around we call it Change Pro, which is a methodology of combining project management and change management. And this concept, you know, projects is developing the solution. And the change management piece is around getting people to want the solution. And we reversed it, you know, so you do the change piece first and then you build the solution. So that's that's the in progress let's say. but yeah they're all on the website. and you know, they're very practical.

Speaker 2 00:23:54 it's not just a story. It's more about, you know, what you have to do to be successful.

Speaker 1 00:23:58 Ram Wilson again. Your website, the Success Factory that. Co.Uk. Graham, thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker 2 00:24:06 Oh, it's been a pleasure. Fantastic.

Speaker 1 00:24:14 Thanks for listening to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit up my influence. Com and click on podcast. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day. Together, we are empowering one another as thoughtful leaders. And as I mentioned at the beginning of this program, if you're looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, and clients, I have had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video that you can watch right now with no opt in or email required, where I'm going to share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months, with no spam, no ads, and no sales.

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