Four uncommon lessons from a world class CEO. Nicholas Moore.
A few months ago, I was lucky enough to sit in on an offsite for Willow. It was a three-day festival of planning, connecting, and clarifying. One session stood out, though. It was from our incoming Chairman, Nicholas Moore. Nicholas is the former CEO of Macquarie Group. He held that position for ten years, with over thirty-three years at the company.
Nicholas was there to talk to us about values. He was cheerful and approachable, but what I was not ready for was how practical his advice would be.
Push power to the frontline.
Nicholas told us that the people with the greatest insight into the customer were those on the front lines. Staff who interacted with the customer had the greatest ability to show how to please them and so their ideas must be discovered and nurtured.
Freedom within boundaries.
Those closest to the customer can also pursue those ideas but allow them to fail within boundaries. Let staff innovate and try new things, understanding that not everything will be a success. Most ideas will fail, but that learning will propel you to an even greater ability to grow.
Own it.
Now staff are heard and have the autonomy to create a better future, they must act and own it. Nicholas told us that everyone in Macquarie is encouraged to act like a small business owner. You need to do whatever is required to see your business flourish. One interesting point was that he would never move someone out of their “business” without consent and a suitable replacement had been trained.
Grow where you are planted.
Ideas are cheap, execution matters, and his advice for us on that day was wise. Grow where you are planted. Rather than being hypnotised with a flashy idea in an industry where we do not understand how to execute, choose the maybe less flashy idea in an adjacent industry and execute well, using momentum from past achievements to improve your chances of success.
I learned a lot that day and was surprised how Agile this advice was.
Thank you, Nicholas.
