I wasn't the academic child. Nigerian parents who wanted a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer or an accountant, and a route through private school and boarding school designed to produce one. They're sweet people and they wanted the best for me. But each time I did something well, it still landed as a disappointment. I can still picture the headteacher's office and his face at two A's, five B's and a C.
When the university applications came round I declined all the advice and read menswear fashion design instead. It was the first decision that was properly mine. It also taught me the thing I've used in every role since: how to turn creativity into something that answers a brief.
Then a decade of consulting. Transformation projects, target operating models and multi-million-pound procurements, for the University of Oxford, the Open University, University of the Arts London, the University of Portsmouth, the University of London, Cambridge University Press, Autoglass, Scania, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda, among others. Business analyst, project manager, product owner — different hats, one thread. Helping organisations understand themselves, untangle complexity and move forward with clarity. The principles turn out to work on the leaders inside them too.
Then a book, StrengthsFinder 2.0, which gave me language for something I'd been doing without noticing. I can see what's great about a person, usually before they can. That's the ability the whole practice sits on.
The best leaders are whole people. Not performers. People who know what matters to them and build everything from there.
