Come to Play

"Just be a good person, Cameron."

I have put myself back 'In the Arena', this time on the other side of the podcast desk.

Soon, I found myself having a conversation I had never had.

This is not a coincidence. My inquisitor is Andrew Horsfield, who is well experienced in drawing out the conversation we need to have. He has his own podcast, the wonderfully named "The Messy Middle." He is thoughtful, generous, and courageous, and this conversation would come with these expectations.

"Let's make this good", was the clear understanding I had after chatting through the prospect of him hosting me on my podcast.

Andrew knows there is little value in the 'known/spoken' dialogue that dominates most of our conversations, but offers nothing by way of solution to the challenges leaders face. We quickly move into the 'known/unspoken' that leaders need to have, mostly avoid, but we are pleased when we do, and over time, a place I have been prepared to go, as have many of the guests 'In the Arena'.

But there is another level it can go, and we did.

A new conversation, joining of dots, questioning of beliefs, challenging of ideas, minds ticking, knowing that it would be recorded and offered to the world with all of it's uncertainty.

These are the best conversations.

I have chosen some quotes from the podcast that I found myself writing down, even though I spoke to them in the podcast, just to give you the flavour of our chat.

"The currency of our existence is the conversations that we get to have"

Is there any more meaningful measure of the important aspects of our existence than the conversations we get to have?

Family, friendship, teams, organisations…the conversations we have will be the difference maker.

People often say they want more clarity, but clarity is an outcome, as is team, as is culture. All of these are the result of the connections that we have built, and the currency of connection is conversation.

Leadership creates the conditions for these conversations.

"It's all on you, but it's never about you"

It seems like the paradox of leadership. Accepting full responsibility for leadership, but never making it about you, even though it often feels like it is about you. Having the two egos as Neil Craig described in his appearance 'In the Arena'.

He spoke of the 'performance ego', the one that says, "I've got this", but also having the 'quiet ego', the learner inside, taking in the imperfect feedback the world is giving them, reflecting, responding, growing, adjusting just to make the sure the 'performance ego' has in fact "got this".

"We repeat what we don't repair", is the idea that comes to mind.

"Never trust a leader without a limp"

The challenges and setbacks we face become sources of wisdom and authenticity. This visible evidence of being tested ‘In the Arena’ provides credibility that only comes from facing difficult moments and learning from them.

"Come to play"

The 'come to play' attitude and expectation requires both preparation and presence.

This is about creating environments where people bring their best thinking to crucial moments.

The goal is not 'your idea', but 'best idea', but we need to hear 'your idea' to get to 'best idea'.

Have you done the work?

Is your idea forming?

Are you ready to articulate it?

"Creativity and humanity are the two words which define my approach"

Leadership is fundamentally creative work, and many people think of ideas around creativity as something that is domain of artists, writers and musicians.

"From our constraints come our opportunities" is a favourite quote, and so it is with leadership. to see possibilities and find a way.

This creative orientation pairs with recognising our shared humanity: that we're all people trying to work it out, mistakes and learnings along the way. Leaders are not the binary heroes or villains of simplified narratives.

If I could distill our entire conversation to its simplest yet most profound advice I wished I'd received when embarking on this leadership journey, it would be:

"Just be a good person, Cameron."

I deliberately use the word 'good', not 'great' Greatness is fleeting - but to be consistently decent, caring, generous, and grateful, to draw on the best part of ourselves, well, I'd be good with that.

Notebook ready.

Play on!