‘Trust your compass’ observed my colleague Matt, a former officer in the Royal Marines. ‘When you’re on exercises, and you’ve been up hill and down dale’ he explained ‘and are lost and disoriented in the dark, when your compass points in a counter-intuitive direction to the one you expect, then the mantra is “Trust your compass”. It’s magnetic. It always points north.’
We were discussing our forthcoming responsible leadership residential for the Forward Institute at the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy, and the challenges our Fellows face in these turbulent times. One thread of our Forward Institute work focuses on the 3 C’s — Character, Company and Context. What courage, character, integrity and responsibility can we bring to our leadership beyond just ‘effectiveness’? Who is among the company we keep, ensuring a diverse range of ages, backgrounds, ethnicities, sectors and perspectives? And how does the context in which we practice our leadership influence and shape what we do?