In our 3 Questions With… series, we ask leaders the same three questions to uncover the thinking, experiences and philosophies that shape how they lead.
This time, we speak to Jamie Ward, Head of Talent and Learning at Channel 4, whose career spans the BBC and global organisations including DHL, Carnival, Rio Tinto and Sony Pictures. With a PhD in organisational behaviour and an MBA from Imperial College London, Jamie has spent his career helping individuals and organisations grow.
Living with a severe visual impairment, he is also a passionate advocate for challenging outdated perceptions of disability in the workplace, working to not only open doors for visually impaired talent, but to accelerate them into leadership roles. His answers are simple, honest, and quietly powerful – centred on kindness, curiosity, and the courage to not always have the answer.
If you could rewind the clock to when you started out on your leadership journey, what advice would you give yourself?
There are three things that I would offer to my younger self: be kind; be curious and be open. Leadership, at the end of the day, is all about relationships, and being kind to others enhances those relationships on a day to day basis. Not being kind is also the one thing ultimately that one will regret at the end of ones working life.
Being curious and asking questions is a key skill for someone like me who loves learning but it’s also key to understanding those you work with. It’s also the most valuable skills in coaching. And finally, being open to what people say and not jumping in to finding a solution, listening in other words. It’s OK to hold the tension of not knowing as a leader and sometimes people just want you to acknowledge them.
What is the best advice you have been given about creating a positive team culture or being a leader?
Find out what people are good at and then give them the space to do it. I find it almost amusing the way that some senior people will recruit the best people for the job [or the best consultant for the job] and then tell them how to do it, or reject their ideas or give them such intense feedback they may as well have done it themselves.
If you’re going to get a great person in your team, give them as much freedom of ideas as you can. That doesn’t, by the way, extend to AI. I’m very critical of work generated by a machine.
What is the one book that has most influenced your approach to leadership?
Michael Bungay Stanier’s ’The Coaching Habit – Say less, ask more and change the way you lead’
Also, an excellent book on leadership and selling, “Humanwise” by Helen Wada, has just been published and is available on Amazon. I would highly recommend it. It talks about how to lead from within, and sell with confidence.