#262: Jonathan Bowman-Perks & Graham Brown

I had a fascinating conversation, as always, with Graham Brown. We covered all the themes that make up Inspiring Leadership in our wide-ranging discussion, including why it is important to see Inspiring Leadership as a lifetime journey that requires integration of all its elements. We also discussed how the impact of one person can rally people to achieve great feats of heroism in war or dangerous situations, such as the storming of the US Capitol. Additionally, we emphasized the importance of providing practical top tips, not just academic insight.

MQ was the first topic we discussed, specifically what people do when they know they are operating in grey areas, such as in the PPI mis-selling scandal when they knew it was wrong. We also explored how missing components of Inspiring Leadership can cause a person to “disintegrate” rather than being fully integrated. When MQ goes wrong, things can become very toxic very quickly. We gave acknowledgement to Andrew Griffiths for highlighting “leadership myths” that people believe to be true but are actually false.

HQ is a key component, particularly the foundation of sleep, movement, and fitness, as well as looking after emotions and their combination with RQ resilience. Overdoing resilience can deplete one’s reserves, make them difficult, snappy, and poor at decision making. We also discussed Graham’s move from Singapore to Japan, remote working, and bullying, including the British Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab being moved from his post.

A big topic close to Graham’s heart is AI, as he studied it at university. We concluded that we still need human input and emotions in some key areas. Finally, we discussed the key elements of discipline, trust, and attitude.