LQ – Legacy Quotient: Leave Your Enduring Leadership Imprint

LEADERSHIP WISDOM LQ – Legacy Quotient: Leave Your Enduring Leadership Imprint

Consider Field Marshal Lord David Richards GCB CBE DSO DL
(Podcast 298). Throughout his career, he led operations in East Timor and

Afghanistan, commanded NATO forces, served as Chief of the General

Staff (CGS) and, ultimately, became Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), which

is the professional head of Britainʹs armed forces.

In our conversation, we addressed a crux point in David’s leadership: his

command in Sierra Leone in 2000, where he defeated brutal rebels and

protected many lives. His actions to avoid bloodshed required ingenuity

and moral courage. He shared:

ʺIn Sierra Leone, I knew I could do more than what I was ordered

to do, but I couldnʹt openly disobey orders. I had to find a way to

achieve my objectives while appearing to follow instructions.”

Leaving a meaningful legacy can sometimes require finding thoughtful,

principled ways to bend rules when necessary – not out of defiance, but out

of a deep commitment to what must be accomplished.