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…
I don’t often think consciously about these lessons. But I do often apply them as a leadership coach to startup COOs, ops directors and founders. The following is what I wrote, verbatim.
Integrity first [leadership by example]
For me there’s no greater professional privilege than to lead others, and no greater responsibility. I’ve been honoured to build and lead teams here, and the defining maxim I brought with me from the Army is this: leaders eat last. Quite literally, food in a military setting is served to the most junior rank first. While the most senior officer goes to the back of the queue. For me that tradition exemplifies good leadership and integrity. The greatest leaders are the last to take credit, the first to admit failure, the most willing to sacrifice. Crucially I don’t mean vainglorious sacrifice in pursuit of money, power, or status. I’m talking about noble sacrifice in the service of those they lead.
Integrity doesn’t stop with leaders though. Leaders are accountable for failures of integrity, but we’re all responsible for upholding it. We talk a lot here about giving a shit and winning, but if we truly wish to succeed in the long term that means much more than getting results. It means getting them responsibly, honestly and sustainably. However challenging that might be.
Integrity also means doing the right thing even when no-one is looking, not for plaudits. It means not abusing privilege or taking liberties with benefits because we can get away with it. It means not making decisions at work or on our own time we wouldn’t feel comfortable justifying to our colleagues, our subordinates. Even the public or a court of law. We are only as good as our reputation, and we must never take that for granted.
Always be humble [value impact more than appearances]
Qualifications, seniority and busyness don’t excuse ego or ignorance. We should have the grace to help others and make time to listen to their feelings. Even if our own time is scarce, even if it’s not in our job description, even if it doesn’t help us hit our KPIs. For better or worse, karma tends to come back around.
As well as our colleagues, and those in our charge, we should treat every external party we come across in our Deliveroo capacity with respect. However small their business, however clumsy their approach, however outlandish their proposal. In fact, some of the flagship initiatives I’ve launched in my current role came off the back of relationships I doubted would lead anywhere. With people I was sceptical of.
We mustn’t forget that Deliveroo was once a small, unimpressive company. And plenty of people laughed in Will’s face when he pitched them the concept. More fool them, but let’s not fall into the same trap. We can be critical and focused without being arrogant and dismissive.
Innovate or die [but your job first and foremost is to deliver food!]
It’s imperative we all continue to focus on growing the core business and maximising profitability. Equally, we’ve got to keep an eye on the strategic vision. In order to beat the competition and become the definitive food company, we must differentiate our proposition – for riders, restaurants and customers. So we can’t afford to rest on our laurels for even a moment.
Many people here are working tirelessly to explore new lines of business, broaden our target market, preempt changes in regulation, adapt to changes in consumer attitudes and reduce our impact on the environment. Help them to future-proof the business, even if their ideas seem eccentric or unattainable at this stage. The future has a habit of creeping up on us. And history tells that today’s heretic may well be vindicated as tomorrow’s genius.