Leadership Unlocked

Award winning journalist and broadcaster Emily Maitlis didn’t get to the top of her profession by accident. While the start was more of a coincidence, her hunger for continuous learning, breaking the big news stories and creating content that has a positive and meaningful impact on society and people has seen her cover new ground in a profession that wasn’t an obvious first choice. Journalism, like leadership, also seems to be a profession where aging actually helps.

“With age I've become a better journalist. I would not want to go back to being the 28 year old me. I would not want to be that young again. I would not want to be that naive. I would not want to lose everything I've understood about the world today.”

In the third part of our Leadership Unlocked podcast series, Emily speaks to Professor Bernd Vogel, Director of the Henley Centre for Leadership, about her career highs, obstacles and learnings.

Emily’s exclusive interview with Prince Andrew in 2019 might have propelled her even more into the public consciousness, but her role in uncovering numerous public interest stories and interviewing countless senior leaders and heads of state gives her a unique insight into what it means to be a leader today.

“If you're not giving something new, then really you're wasting everyone's time. You're wasting your own time. You're wasting all of our time.”

These experiences have shaped her own approach to succeeding in a hugely competitive and cut throat profession, which she shares with Bernd, along with her thoughts on the impact of AI on her job, how to protect the truth in journalism and beyond, and what keeps her awake at 3am.

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Being available, honest and not afraid to tackle the tough discussions are key leadership principles that ensure Tommy Olofsen, Chief Marine Services Officer at global ship management company OSM Thome, can keep people his top priority.

“Success for me is that our seafarers who join ships, they come back home safe.”

In the second part of our Leadership Unlocked podcast series, Tommy speaks to Professor Bernd Vogel, Director of the Henley Centre for Leadership, about the challenges of making the right decisions in an organisation where safety is the first priority and driving profitability and reducing costs come second.

Tommy talks about the importance of learning how to lead yourself before you can lead others and that there is no ‘fast track’ to success. He also discusses why being task focussed is not his style and that he leaves the ‘how’ for his team to decide.

“I can make people be their best I think, by giving them the best conditions to do that, and that's what I try to do. I don't tell people how to do their job. I tell people what they're responsible for achieving, and then I engage with them in finding the best way and solving the problems within that framework.”

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Having fun at work isn’t always top of the agenda for senior leaders. But for Christian Pau, General Manager UK & Ireland at The Lego Group, getting the balance right between enjoyment and business challenges is an essential part of both personal and business success.

“What I realised quite early in my life was that I like to take responsibility and also that people trust me, sometimes even ask me to take responsibility.”

In the first part of our Leadership Unlocked podcast series, Christian speaks to Professor Bernd Vogel, Director of the Henley Centre for Leadership, about his leadership journey to an executive position at The Lego Group and what’s shaped his style and approach.

From making tough calls and navigating tensions in the toy/boardroom, through to the need to be (and show) your authentic self. And painfully learning to let go so your management team can thrive while the senior leader provides the guardrails.

And not forgetting the importance of managing your energy buckets (alongside THE bricks), and the role of family and close relationships.

“I think leadership is very much about empowering your team to be autonomous, to ensure they can deliver – and frankly sometimes to know when you need to get out of the way.”

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