Good Leaders Podcast Episode 5: Liam Black

Pioneers Post Podcast

Over his long and diverse career, Liam Black has run a number of purpose-led businesses – both his own and other people's. Now in his sixties, he’s mentoring other leaders to do the same, and has just published a new book: How to lead with purpose – partly a story about his own journey as a purpose-driven leader, and partly drawing from his experiences as a mentor. In this episode, he speaks to old friend Tim West about having imposter syndrome in his first role as CEO, growing bored and moving on (more than once), the importance of building organisations that can thrive without his support in future, and the fine line between authenticity and virtue signalling. He shares successes and failures – and tells us that failing as a leader is different from failing a business. “The big failures for me in my leadership have been when I haven't stayed true to my values,” Black says. “As the CEO, or the chair of something, I think the biggest responsibility you have is to protect the strength and the positivity of the culture. And it's very easy to spoil that and when I have spoiled that by my own behaviour, or by allowing in people who were able to bullshit their way through… those, I feel, are my biggest failures in leadership rather than particular business decisions or business ventures that haven't worked.”