What are you made for? Leadership lessons for life

“I sat down to plan this lecture, and I thought, when I was 14 or 15, what would I have wanted to know about leadership?”

London Business School Professor of Organisational Behaviour Randall S Peterson addressed a different crowd from the executives and MBA students he usually teaches. A sea of young, expectant faces gazed back at him.

The students, from local state schools across the City of Westminster, are wearing brightly coloured t-shirts, marking out the teams in which they’ll be pitching business ideas later on as part of London Business School’s Enterprise for Schools Day. The room is filled with an anxious silence.

Before the lecture begins, a group of boys from Westminster City School explain they’d like to learn what it takes to run a business. One fancies going into real estate. Another dreams of building a clothing brand. A third is eyeing up online trading. None of them have ever set foot in a lecture hall like this before.

“Do you see yourself as a leader someday?” Randall asks. “Maybe as an entrepreneur, you’re going to need to lead people, or perhaps you just want your friends to follow you? The advice is the same.”

The art of persuasion

Whether you want to be CEO of your own company, or simply hold sway over your peers, leadership, Randall explains, boils down to one key principle: getting others to respond to you and do the things you’d like them to do.

Leadership is not about being the smartest person in the room, he adds. “Steve Jobs got fired three times by his own company because he was so difficult to work with. They eventually brought him back to focus on technology. Only then did it kind of work out.” If you want to lead, you need to understand – and be good at working with – other people; especially those who are different from yourself.

Despite their initial nerves, the young audience are quick to catch on. When asked, they identify the following qualities required for effective leadership: open minded, compassionate, empathetic, resilient and emotionally intelligent.

It is important, though, to differentiate between cognitive empathy – understanding what others feel – and affective empathy – feeling what they feel. “As a leader, if others are scared, and that makes you scared, that’s not helpful,” Randall explains. “But understanding that they’re scared – and why they’re scared – that’s super important.”

Start with a mirror

While it’s vital to understand other people, understanding yourself is the single most important dimension of leadership, Randall asserts – what drives you, how you react under pressure and how others perceive you.

Randall used the example of the Johari Window, developed by Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in 1955, as a tool to help people better understand themselves and how they relate to others. It encourages self-awareness through reflection and feedback, helping you unpack what you know about yourself, what others see, and what might be hidden or unknown. Greater self-awareness can improve how you lead and connect with people.

It can also help leaders get the most out of the people they lead. “The more people can be themselves, the less they have to hide and fit in, the more energy they're going to have for their work,” Randall explains.

Achievers versus power seekers

“So, do you want it?” Randall asks. A few students nervously raise their hands.

Motivation to lead boils down to two factors, he continues:

1. The need to achieve – Some people are motivated by the chance to make an impact, improve the world, push for progress.
2. The need for power – Others are driven by influence, status and control.

Both motivations are valid, and sometimes people exhibit a blend of both. The important thing is to understand those motivations and avoid any potential clashes.

“Everything I’ve ever done in my life is driven by the need to achieve,” Randall confides. “I have zero interest in power or competition. But I do want to make the world a better place. That's what gets me up in the morning, gets me out in front of people like you, and the executives that I teach.”

The real revelation, he explains, was that he could work with others who have competing motivations. “It took me until I was 30 to realise I could work with some of the ‘need for power’ people. I let them be the headline and I'm behind the scenes making sure it’s done right.”

Building bridges

The best leaders build bridges – between ideas, between people, between challenges and solutions. “When you are the broker connecting people, research shows you are more influential. You're seen as a leader,” Randall elaborates, “and the good news is in work, it means you get paid more and you're more likely to get promoted earlier if you are that person who connects others.”

More dolphin, less cow

 “I’m going to leave you with this,” Randall concludes; “I want you to be more dolphin, less cow. We’re in the ocean here, and dolphins are made for the ocean. Cows? They can swim – Google it – but it’s hard work. So, what are you made for? That’s a lifetime question I want you to consider.”

As the session ends, there’s a tangible shift in the room. “That was really inspiring, and it’s given me ideas,” one girl tells her teacher. “It gave me a picture of what to think about for the future,” another adds. A third reflects, “It gave us confidence – in ourselves, and putting ourselves out there in front of other people. We all have the potential to be leaders.”

Outreach events like this one are an important part of life at London Business School, Randall explains afterwards; and it’s not just the young people who benefit. “A lot of the same messages apply to any audience, but it was a useful exercise for me too, to distill those messages to a different audience.”

For these students – many of whom may not have previously imagined themselves in leadership roles – his talk is an empowering reminder that leadership is not about where you come from, but how you connect, communicate, and inspire others. Ultimately, it’s about discovering what you’re made for, and having the confidence to dive in.

 

This event was proudly sponsored by the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital (IEPC), as part of London Business School's £2m Entrepreneurship Experience, designed to equip aspiring entrepreneurs with essential tools, networks, and expertise to build and scale successful businesses. 

Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital