In this edition of Leadership Insights: 3 questions with…, we speak with Richard Campbell, Managing Director of News at Future plc, where he is responsible for publishing The Week and The Week Junior in the US and UK. He is also a non-executive director at Business Leader, supporting founders and CEOs of mid-sized UK companies.
His career began in newstrade marketing at BBC Magazines before becoming Publisher of Radio Times. He later earned an MBA from Cambridge Judge Business School.
From 2019 to 2022, he worked with education start-ups at Ark Ventures (now Purposeful Ventures), including leading strategy and operations at Now Teach. He returned to media in 2022 to lead The Week and The Week Junior after their acquisition by Future.
And here’s what Richard had to say about the leadership lessons he wishes he’d learned sooner—from building trust to leading with curiosity.
- If you could rewind the clock to when you started out on your leadership journey, what advice would you give yourself?
Don’t rush. I had worked in publishing for less than 5 years and was 29 when I was appointed Associate Publisher of Radio Times, then and probably still now the biggest magazine brand in the UK. I was incredibly well supported by my manager Kathy Day, and many other colleagues, but it was a big step up and I probably rushed to assert myself to prove myself. It wasn’t necessary.
Sometimes it’s important to go slow to go fast, particularly when building the relationship capital and trust to work together effectively with other senior stakeholders. It’s worth investing the time to build trust as someone new and stepping up. Once you’ve done that alignment on objectives and driving pace in achieving results becomes a lot easier. Critically it leaves you better prepared for the difficult moments too knowing you have relationships that will withstand significant challenges and intense pressure.
- What is the best advice you have been given about creating a positive team culture or being a leader?
Be quicker to showcase what you don’t know rather than what you do. You don’t reach any sort of leadership position generally without having shown a degree of technical proficiency and some domain knowledge. Largely this is, rightly, taken for granted. Therefore leaders don’t win support by showing how knowledgeable they are but really can win support by showing interest, curiosity and humility in respect of the many things that other people know better.
The most effective team cultures are filled with interest, curiosity and humility in addition to other essentials like passion, competitiveness and humour. A leader can’t create all of this alone but they can take responsibility for fostering the conditions that enable these qualities to come to the fore, as well as role-modelling them wherever possible.
- What is the one book that has most influenced your approach to leadership?
Despite choosing to go back to university in my early 30s to pursue a full-time MBA I have never been an avid reader of business books. I really like Patrick Lencioni’s ‘The five dysfunctions of a team’ however. I only read it a couple of years ago but in many ways it reinforces and summarises a number of things that I think and have found to be important.
Broadly speaking, in the style of a business parable which works well as an audiobook, it advocates for building vulnerability based trust as the foundation for having the difficult conversations that drive commitment, accountability and results. It really resonated with me and I would genuinely recommend it to anyone. On the downside it probably promotes more time in meetings, especially for leadership teams, but on the upside it is a powerful lesson on how effective teams can drive great results through better relationships at work.
I would also recommend How to Make a Billion in 9 Steps by Richard Harpin, owner of Business Leader and founder of HomeServe, which he grew from an initial £50k investment to a £4.1bn sale. Richard is hugely passionate about helping businesses grow via Business Leader and his book is full of practical wisdom.
The book is packed with simple, actionable advice. Two favourites of mine are “Copy and Pivot”, taking what works elsewhere and improving it and “Follow a Not-to-Do List”, which is all about ruthless prioritisation. Both offer refreshingly pragmatic tips for anyone leading growth and change.