Leadership Archives - Paul David Mather 💡

Being Shot At Isn’t The Most Stressful Thing I’ve Experienced

Paul David Mather leading soldiers in Afghanistan

Hearing I was a British Army officer in Afghanistan, people often say: “wow, you were so brave!” I appreciate the sentiment, but I beg to differ. I wasn’t brave. I was well-trained, motivated by a clear mission, and supported to achieve it. You can reduce stress in your organisation by becoming a better leader…

How To Become A Better Leader With Effective Delegation

Delegating effectively doesn’t come naturally to most people. I’ve coached many managers who struggle with workload because they spend precious time doing tasks their team is capable of. In my experience, great leaders and high performing teams have typically mastered the art of effective delegation…

The Most Important Leadership Lessons I Learnt At Deliveroo

Leadership lessons from Deliveroo by Paul David Mather

I reflected this week on my personal leadership principles. Then I remembered my “3 life-changing leadership lessons” from Deliveroo. I shared them with the company when I left in 2019, having joined as employee number 15ish 5 years prior…

Easy Operations In A Startup – Keep It Simple Stupid!

It’s easy to overcomplicate operations in a startup and make them hard to manage. It’s comparatively hard to simplify them and make them easy to manage. In 1960 US Navy engineers coined the design principle KISS – “Keep It Simple Stupid”. Here’s how to give your startup operations a big KISS…

How To Grow Your Startup By Scaling Operations

How To Grow Your Startup With Scalable Operations

This is a guest post by operations executive Keir Tutt about scaling operations (learn about him below).

Building a startup seems like a simple formula. You come up with a great idea, perhaps you seek seed funding, then you develop a Minimum Viable Product, acquire customers and sell, sell, sell! Nothing else matters, right..? But once you get some pioneer customers on board and it becomes clear your MVP has legs, how do you progress quickly from hustling to scaling operations for growth – without everything falling apart?

The Best Career Advice For Military Veterans Entering Startup Operations

Transitioning from the Armed Forces to “civvie street” pushes you out of your comfort zone – I know from experience. These days there’s an abundance of free advice and resources available to help service leavers navigate the plethora of civilian jobs on offer. But if, as I did, you want to explore a career off the beaten path – like in the world of startups – it can be more challenging to find useful guidance. How do military operations translate to civvie street?

I spoke to three former military officers from the British Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force (learn about them below). Since hanging up their boots, they’ve each pursued unique and fulfilling careers in the startup space. I asked them what they’ve learned from making that bold career change – good and bad, about startups and the military – and what advice they’d give someone looking to follow in their footsteps.