Leadership Pathways Creating Future Leaders in Sport and ... · the skill-sets for their ultimate career aspiration. “I approached it as building skill-sets along a path”, said

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Leadership Pathways: Creating Future Leaders in Sport and BusinessMarch 2017

02 Reed Smith LLP Leadership Pathways: Creating Future Leaders in Sport and Business

ContentsIntroduction 03

Acknowledgements 04

Executive summary 05

Setting your direction: career goals 06

Personal attributes 08

Early leadership exposure 10

Mentoring, coaching and sponsorship 12

Managing change and transitions 14

Influence and relationships 16

Defining ‘top job’ success 18

Attributes of successful future leaders 20

Conclusion 22

Leadership questions 23

Appendix: About this report 24

About Leaders Performance Institute 25

About Reed Smith LLP 26

Leadership Pathways: Creating Future Leaders in Sport and Business Reed Smith LLP 03

As the worlds of business and sport become ever more fast-moving and competitive, leaders of organisations face increasing performance demands from shareholders,

sponsors and customers. Decisive and skilful leadership will be crucial to maintain high-performing and sustainable teams and businesses, particularly given the range and scale of challenges facing organisations in both sectors: attracting and retaining the best talent, greater regulation and accountability, a heightened (social) media spotlight requiring leaders to be media-savvy, the impact of internationalism, and the increasingly louder cry from generations entering organisations for a sense of mission and purpose.

Introduction

Faced with these complex and varied dilemmas, nurturing future cohorts of the most able leaders becomes an increasingly high priority, and our research seeks to answer questions relating to the creation of effective ‘leadership pathways’ in organisations. What best enables individuals to carve effective routes to top roles? How can we help our team members to effectively negotiate career transition points, and what might best help future leaders in both sectors to cope with the changes in skill, mind-set and behaviours required? Finally, and perhaps most importantly, what will be the future demands of the ‘top jobs’ in these two fast-changing environments, and how can we support (and encourage) today’s top talent to aspire to such demanding positions?

This report is, we believe, the first primary research to explore these complex issues in the sports and business sectors, approaching them through the lens of the personal developmental stories of leaders from the two sectors.

The results provide challenges and questions, but also allow us to draw out best practices that will enable organisations in both sectors to better nurture high-performing leaders in the future. In this sense, we look forward to the on-going debate and discussion that will, we hope, follow the report’s publication.

Nigel SpencerGlobal Director of Learning & Development,Reed Smith LLP

Clive Reeves, PhD Managing Director,Leaders Performance Institute


We are extremely grateful to the senior leaders drawn from sport and business who kindly agreed to take part in the research and generously gave their time to be interviewed. It

was a privilege to hear their individual leadership stories and we hope that the insights which this report shares can represent a small gift back to them all, and their organisations.

Acknowledgements

• Emma Hayes – Manager, Chelsea Ladies Football Club.

• Lucinda Hicks – COO, Endemol Shine.

• Conor O’Shea – Head Coach, Italian National Rugby Team.

• Melanie Richards – Vice-Chair, KPMG UK, and Partner.

• Mark Robinson – Head Coach, England Women’s Cricket Team.

• Sara Symington – Performance Director, England Netball.

• Simon Timson – Director of Performance, UK Sport.

• Mark Benson – CEO, Moving Picture Company.

• Diana Brightmore-Armour – CEO UK, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited.

• Dena Brumpton – CEO Barclays Wealth and Investment Management.

• Michael Cole-Fontayn – Executive VP and Chair EMEA, BNY Mellon.

• Damien Comolli – Football Consultant.

• Clare Connor – Head of England Women’s Cricket, England & Wales Cricket Board.

• Paul Grayson – Head Coach, Yorkshire Diamonds & Durham MCC University.

We would also like to acknowledge the support of global law firm Reed Smith LLP and the Leaders Performance Institute, under whose joint aegis this project was carried out.

Comments on earlier drafts were kindly provided by Professor Chris Brady (Director of the Centre for Sports Business, University of Salford), Roger Parker (Asia Managing Partner, Reed Smith LLP), Kevan Skelton (HR Director EME & Global Director of Recruiting, Reed Smith LLP), Jon Stokes (Senior Research Fellow, Saïd Business School Oxford University), and the Leaders Performance Institute editorial team.


The report explores eight common themes that emerged from our research and the individual career journeys we studied across both sectors.

• Setting your direction: career goals

• Personal attributes

• Early leadership exposure

• Mentoring, coaching and sponsorship

• Managing change and transitions

• Influence and relationships

• Defining ‘top job’ success

• Attributes of successful future leaders

For each theme, we present the key findings, combining direct quotes with the latest leadership development research to give context to our interviewees’ observations. For organisations, we suggest actions to be taken related to each theme and challenge organisations to use the research findings to reassess their approaches to leadership development. By adopting the best practice methods discussed in this report we believe that generations of future leaders will be better prepared for an ever more challenging and changing world.

The report concludes with a number of questions for both current and future leaders. Our aim is to equip everyone with key questions with which they can regularly challenge themselves as they develop their own career journeys, maximising the chances of achieving their goals.

Executive summary


Setting your direction: career goals

“I approached it as building skill-sets along a path ... having the ultimate goal allowed me to be proactive in seeking the most relevant experiences”.

How to set (and achieve) effective career goals boasts a significant body of literature which speaks about the power of both longer-term goal setting (e.g. Whitmore’s ‘end/dream

goals’1) but also the importance of shorter-term ‘learning by doing’ experimentation.2 But which strategies did our group of leaders find most effective to carve their own pathways to the top, and were there any consistent themes?

Research findings and insightsThe research indicated that our interviewees used differing approaches successfully, but three consistent themes were often repeated and form useful best practice.

Long-term goal-setting and career path stagesOf our 15 leaders, three business leaders and four sports leaders spoke about having set themselves clear, long-term career goals, with comments including “I always knew that I wanted to run the business”, or “I always wanted that top sporting director role”.

However, all emphasised that even establishing clear career goals still entailed managing a level of ambiguity on creating the most effective paths. To create more clarity, two leaders explained how they had consciously broken down their pathway to stages, always planning two career steps ahead of their current role. This approach allowed them to consider whether their next step fulfilled (at least some) of their criteria for a subsequent goal and – importantly – whether each step would help them to build the skill-sets for their ultimate career aspiration. “I approached it as building skill-sets along a path”, said one, with another commenting “having the ultimate goal allowed me to be proactive in seeking the most relevant experiences”.

Following one’s passions and interestsFive interviewees (three from business and two from sport) emphasised that their career path decisions had been driven mostly by connecting with aspects of jobs which particularly interested them, their passions and preferences.3 One commented: “There was no ‘grand plan’: instead, I focused on areas of my job where I was particularly interested which, for me, was around people and team leadership. So it was about seeking roles and making choices where I could spend time on these passions”.


Two sporting leaders made very similar comments. One said: “I never had a clear plan or time frame: but I did consciously explore areas I enjoyed to see where those would lead, building my skill-sets and improving as I did so”. Another emphasised a related point of curiosity (see ‘Attributes of successful future leaders’ below) explaining that “I didn’t know where it would lead: I just kept ‘looking over the fence’ for stretching and different experiences”.

Helping others succeedThree leaders (from both sport and business) added a useful, different perspective. Their aim was to progress their careers by helping their clients and colleagues to succeed: “More than having a specific long-term goal, I always aimed to grow my career through collaboration, asking myself how I could help my clients and peers to succeed. Ultimately they are going to be the reason you succeed or fail, so how could I see things from their perspective and maximise their chances of success?”

“I never had a clear plan or time frame: but I did consciously explore areas I enjoyed to see where those would lead”.

1. J. Whitmore, Coaching for performance (3rd edition) (London/Boston 2002).

2. H. Ibarra, Working identity: unconventional strategies for reinventing your career (Harvard 2003); ead. Act like a leader, think like a leader (Harvard 2015).

3. Our findings align with the earlier research of ‘Job sculpting’ to maximise workplace motivation and retention, see T. Butler, J. Waldroop, ‘Job sculpting: the art of retaining your best people’, Harvard Business Review (September – October 1999).

Actions for organisations• Build individuals’ self-awareness early on, maximising

the use of feedback, to create clarity on who they are and where they would like to go in their career.

• Ensure that your leaders have regular, longer-term career and goal-setting conversations with their direct reports.

• Create as many opportunities as possible for individuals to play to their strengths, aligning their roles with their passions and interests.


The personal attributes which lead individuals to rise to leadership positions have an extensive literature, including on fundamental issues such as whether the key characteristics are

more a result of ‘nature’ or ‘nurture’. We were curious to see how the actual career stories from our own research would support previous theories and whether or not patterns would emerge.

Research findings and insightsSignificantly, the career stories from our own leaders revealed very consistent themes.

Seeking challenge and the ‘growth mind-set’4

Regularly seeking challenge and adopting a ‘growth mind-set’ were almost constant themes amongst all the leaders we interviewed – with our leaders telling numerous stories of how they deliberately cast themselves into environments and situations where they knew that they would be challenged. Examples included:

• sport and business leaders both taking the decision to move internationally and force themselves to adapt and succeed in different cultures; and

• focusing on self-development (ranging from formal learning programmes to regularly seeking 360 feedback), and talking with their team about being on their own developmental journey to role model an openness to learning.

Embracing ambiguityMany leaders also spoke about the need to embrace ambiguity as they progressed, seizing opportunities and having an appetite for taking risks. A business leader described once being told about their new role: “There is no job description: your challenge is to see where our business is going, find your niche, and use your skill-set to add value”. One of our sporting leaders talked similarly about creating their own niche: “Looking back, I had three jobs, but none were prescribed roles, they just evolved or came together from projects we were doing – but they were all tightly focused around areas where the organisation needed to improve”. This theme of ‘creating your own role focused around organisational need’ emphasises the increasingly fluid nature of organisational structure, and how good leaders move towards ambiguity and opportunity, not away from it.

Personal attributes

“See where our business is going, find your niche, and use your skill-set to add value”.


“I realised that what was creating opportunities for me was being hungry, committed and delivering for the senior stakeholders”.

4. Carol Dweck’s concept of the ‘growth mind-set’ is that where an individual does not view their capabilities as fixed traits but, instead, as abilities which can be developed through dedication and hard work, seeing challenges as opportunities to improve. C. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (New York, 2007). See also the concept of ‘Deliberate practice’ to develop peak performance. K. A. Ericsson T. T. Krampe and C. Tesch-Römer, “The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance”, Psychological Review 100.3 (1993), 363-406.

Opportunities through commitment and ‘beyond barriers’Another clear theme emphasised by eight of our interviewees (both in sport and business) was that they created career opportunities from their energy, passion and commitment: “I realised that what was creating opportunities for me was being hungry, committed and delivering for the senior stakeholders”.

A refusal to see (or accept) barriers was a further key mind-set, which led to our leaders taking action, responsibility and seizing opportunities. Examples ranged from a young high-performing sportswoman throwing herself into the leadership of her school’s boys cricket team (an unprecedented situation at the school!) and the habit of another leader to deliberately seek cross-functional insights: “I went out of my way many times to attend meetings that had nothing to do with my department ... It helped me to understand the organisation better, and my goal was to look at improving whatever skill-set I could!”

Actions for organisations• Ensure that leaders in your organisation role model

– and regularly talk about – the importance of regularly challenging oneself and stepping out of one’s comfort zone.

• Mandate that individuals spend time in other functions and offices of your organisation to build broader organisational learning and ‘glue’ across departments.

• Allow team members the autonomy to define elements of their role and determine how they will add most value.


The classic McKinsey article ‘How executives grow’5 underlined the fundamental importance of stretching, on-the-job experiences early in people’s careers as a core element of

leadership development. More recent research has corroborated this view, emphasising that early exposure to positions of responsibility influences individual aspiration and skill development, enabling people to develop successful pathways towards future leadership positions. We were interested to see if the experiences of our own senior leader sample would mirror these previous findings. Was there consistent evidence of early leadership experiences, building the skill-sets to subsequently hold senior leadership roles?

Early leadership exposure

“It felt a privilege to be trusted, and my first solo interaction with clients gave me great confidence, it told me ‘we can rely on you’”.

Research findings and insightsDeveloping leadership skills in parallel to a ‘technical’ skill-setFrom our interviews, defined early leadership experiences occurred consistently amongst our senior sportsmen/women. These leaders (across a range of sports from men’s rugby to women’s football and cricket) spoke regularly about having actively sought out – and held – significant leadership roles from when they were very young, often as teenagers. Two points are noteworthy. Firstly, that their early (formal) leadership experiences, including structured coaching around these leadership skills, occurred very early, in parallel to their technical skill development. Secondly, there appears to have been an inherent motivation to lead that was nurtured.

There were two distinct phases of this leadership experience for the sporting interviewees: during their playing careers, and then as they transitioned to post-playing career phases. However, at both stages, early leadership experiences were typical, allowing the practical application of the leadership skills developed very early on. As one commented in relation to the post-playing phase: “One week I retired from playing, next week I was the sporting director, a significant leadership position”.

Exposing team members to early client-facing responsibilityOur business leaders spoke more of leadership experiences after an initial career phase where a ‘profession’ or technical

5. H. Handfield-Jones, ‘How executives grow’, McKinsey Quarterly (Winter 2000).


skill-set had been developed: the classic ‘T-Shaped’ career path. Formal leadership roles generally occurred later, and their early memories of ‘leadership’ were more the feeling of being trusted when they first were allowed to ‘fly solo’ in client relationships. As one said, “It felt a privilege to be trusted, and my first solo interaction with clients gave me great confidence, it told me ‘we can rely on you’; that was a major transition for me and my first memory of client-facing leadership”.

Some of these leadership opportunities were no doubt created by the individuals, having a mind-set of seizing their chances and refusing to see barriers (see ‘Personal attributes’ above). However, there appears also to be a consistent (and successful) organisational mind-set at play. Sporting bodies/clubs in particular appeared willing to take risks and – following the best practice in the McKinsey research – to be ready to put people into roles when they were known to be not fully prepared.

Senior mentors as ‘air cover’ to ensure success on transitionTo assist the new leaders in coping with such early responsibility, there were regular comments about the importance of the Board/senior mentors acting to provide ‘air cover’: “I was happy to go into [the new leadership role] blind – there were lots of things we all knew I wasn’t good at: but the Board covered me and let me learn”.

“I was happy to go into [the new leadership role] blind – there were lots of things we all knew I wasn’t good at: but the Board covered me and let me learn”.

Actions for organisations

• Build ‘skills’ and ‘knowledge’ in parallel: run development programmes for both skills development and technical/functional knowledge to enhance adaptability, flexibility and curiosity.

• Expose high-potential employees to leadership opportunities as early as possible so that they learn leadership ‘by doing’.

• Assign members of senior management to provide ‘air cover’ for new leaders in their early months in role, maximising the likelihood of successful transitions and succession planning.

5. H. Handfield-Jones, ‘How executives grow’, McKinsey Quarterly (Winter 2000).


In our interviews we were curious to explore the differences in how coaching, mentoring and more proactive advocacy or ‘sponsorship’ have been used for leadership development. Coaching to develop

elite team performance is embedded in the history of sport whereas, in business, formal coaching is a much more recent development. But when – and how – has coaching been most effectively employed in both fields? Also, would we find consistent evidence of the often-spoken about need for proactive ‘sponsorship’ of high-potential team members to create opportunities and to enable future leaders to progress?

Research findings and insightsMentoring to create ‘leadership mind-sets’Eleven of our interviewees, across sport and business, emphasised the power of mentoring relationships without which they felt that it would have been difficult to negotiate moments of career transition. Many of the leaders said that the greatest value of the mentoring was not around technical skill development, but to develop a ‘leadership mind-set’: “they shaped my thinking and gave me the courage to put the ‘big problems’ on the table; for me it was more about the subtle leadership issues including how I should react or what to do when I was feeling lost”. The two most commonly cited criteria for excellent mentors were trust, and also the importance of ‘challenge’. The latter emphasises that excellent mentoring is not about such relationships being comfortable, with a typical comment being: “The best mentor ‘woke me up’ by being really challenging at key moments; otherwise I would have gone down a really different path!”

Coaching at moments of transitionAmongst our sporting leaders, longer-term coaching relationships were often cited whereas, in business, coaching was often shorter-term, and focused around very specific goals at a time of change. Our senior businessmen and women did not all speak about formal coaching support, (emphasising its more recent, and still inconsistent, deployment), but those who had utilised it explained how their coaching enabled them to work through specific career ‘gateways’. “Executive coaching was extremely

Mentoring, coaching and sponsorship

“The best mentor ‘woke me up’ by being really challenging at key moments; otherwise I would have gone down a really different path!”


important for me at times of promotion or change, but I didn’t use it as a constant ‘crutch’: for me, coaching helps me find a safe space to work on very specific goals and problems at a specific time”.

ConfidenceandopportunitycreationthroughsponsorshipSenior colleagues and mentors acting as more proactive advocates or ‘sponsors’ were referenced by three of our interviewees as having created opportunities and a path to leadership roles, two from business and one from the sporting world. “I had great sponsors who pushed me to try things which otherwise wouldn’t have happened – one insisted that I should go for a leadership role which I may not have applied for otherwise: it gave me the confidence ‘you can’ at a critical time”. Another spoke of their senior sponsor “deliberately opening their network to me and allowing me to build connections, advocating to that group to give me opportunities: that was key for me”. In our sample of leaders, both men and women benefitted from this activity, and one specifically referenced that their sponsors engaged in this activity to build effective succession strategies for senior leadership roles in their sporting organisation.

“The sponsorship gave me the confidence ‘you can’ at a critical time”.

Actions for organisations• Use coaching as a high-value development tool

across the organisation, particularly for people transitioning into new roles.

• To embed best-practice leadership development in your organisation’s culture, recognise the leaders who devote time to mentoring as the ‘heroes’ of the organisation.

• Actively sponsor high-potential individuals, creating developmental pathways on which they build skill-sets to subsequently hold the ‘top jobs’.


The transition from a technically competent team member to a leadership position is arguably the most difficult transition to make. In this research, we were interested in how these

changes impacted our senior leaders in professional sport and business, and the strategies they adopted to successfully manage this transition.

Research findings and insightsThrough the conversations with our leadership group, three themes emerged as being helpful for achieving smooth transitions to more senior leadership roles: a readiness to change, accepting role change, and developing breadth of experience.

Readiness to changeSeven leaders (from both sport and business) spoke about the need for openness and adaptability. As one business leader commented: “having the ability to be adaptive and flexible was incredibly important because I needed to accept being less involved in the ‘day-to-day’ and also to communicate differently“.

Two specific changes referenced were the importance of re-contracting with (former) peers and also the importance of spending more time at a relationship level. On the former topic, one sports leader said, “you have to make the change quickly from peer to leader and establish the right relationships and bonds”. With regard to the ‘relationship focus’ issue, one of our business leaders reflected: “I was a task-focused professional at the beginning of my career - but in my first leadership role I realised that I needed to change quite fundamentally to be successful, focusing much more on relationships”.

Accepting role change A key point mentioned by eight of the leaders was that as their role changed, it was important to master the challenges of ‘letting go’, accepting a deficit of information and that one cannot always be the expert. “I suddenly realised that I now needed to be flying at 50,000 feet, not 5,000 feet”, said one leader, with another adding, “the reality is that you can’t own or manage the day-to-day detail, you just don’t have the time: so it is about being comfortable letting go and making decisions without all the information”. The importance of avoiding detail allowed for time and energy to be applied to wider areas, as one of the business leaders said: “To transition effectively into the leadership role, I had to let go of the detail – which I found very difficult – and focus more on setting the agenda, engaging the team and managing the dynamics”.

Managing change and transitions

“As I transitioned I had to get used to the fact that I couldn’t be the ‘expert’ any more and I needed to let go”.


Developing breadth of experienceThe final theme to emerge was the importance of developing a breadth of experiences. Five of the business leaders moved in their career to develop new experiences (see ‘Personal attributes’ above), whilst four of the sports coaches we interviewed also sought out experiences outside their sector during their career. As one sports leader said, “I started in the non-professional era which helped as I thought more broadly; but I also went into banking and studied commerce and law before moving back into coaching”. Another leader described how they developed through “exposure to new experiences and different things; I put myself in interesting situations to learn”. The vast majority of our leaders believed that their varied experiences prepared them to succeed in their subsequent, senior level roles, with a business leader commenting: “I think that the range, breadth and depth of experiences was incredibly important for me later on as you have to deal with so many different things as a leader”.

“I think the range, breadth and depth of experiences was incredibly important … you have to deal with so many different things as a leader”.

Actions for organisations• Before promotions take effect, ask individuals to

define a specific list of which tasks they will delegate and ‘let go’ to ensure that they focus at the right level in their new role.

• Ensure that team members across the organisation are given a range of varied projects to maximise their breadth of experience.

• Reward people for building ‘relationship’ skill-sets when in largely ‘task-focused’ roles to create individuals with rounded capabilities ready for broader leadership roles.


There is a plethora of research6 that suggests the abilities to influence and build effective relationships are critical capabilities for leaders. As part of this research, we wanted to

explore which specific elements had been important for our group during their leadership journeys, and how these skills had helped them to succeed.

Research findings and insightsThe role of relationships emerged strongly in all the interviews with leaders from the sport and business worlds. The importance of investing in relationships, having supportive peers and achieving through others were seen as critical factors in building a successful career as a senior leader.

Investing in relationshipsFour business leaders as well as four sports leaders emphasised the importance of relationships to succeed at a senior level. This finding is consistent with what has been well documented in the literature but, interestingly, what often emerged from our interviews was the conscious effort required to make this happen. One business leader commented: “You have to invest the time and energy. I made a really conscious effort to work hard on my engagement skills to get the most out of my team, approaching them on a human level”. Another added: “I found that one benefit of investing time to build more connections was that I could make a conscious choice about those whom I thought were key to helping me and the firm succeed”. Our interviews also corroborated the often-made connection between a focus on relationships and an ability to influence others. “I’ve found time and again that to influence others to see your view, especially if you feel that something should be done and a course of action taken, it comes back to those peer relationships so that they will listen to you and trust your judgement”.

Supportive peersSeven leaders (four sports and three business) described how important a supportive person or board member had been, especially at times of transition when our leaders had been put into a leadership role early (see ‘Early leadership exposure’ above).

Influence and relationships

“I was clear that the support network and success would be built on the relationships with peers because they are the ones who help you succeed at times of transition, you don’t do it all yourself”

6. R. B. Cialdini, “The power of persuasion” Stanford Social Innovation Review, 1, 18-27; D. Carnegie, How to win friends and influence people (London 2006); D. Archer, A. Cameron, Collaborative leadership: building relationships, handling conflict and sharing control (Abingdon/New York 2013).


One sports leader said that, “I was lucky to have an amazing board; where I had no knowledge, they covered it and let me learn. They were very supportive whilst still being challenging”. A number of the leaders discussed the importance of using their network and trusted colleagues at moments of change: “When you are moving into a role, you need to use your network and relationships to be your advisory group”.

Achieving through othersFive sports leaders and two business leaders described the importance of managing others and delegating responsibility, with the realisation that a leader couldn’t – and shouldn’t – do it all on their own. One business leader said, “I realised that the point made to me by one of my senior mentors was very true: leadership is about achieving through others, which is a very different skill-set and mind-set”. A sports leader described how driving the collective mind-set in their team had been important: “What worked well was getting people to share their ambition without compromising on their values, to be part of the collective rather than being an individual”. The empowerment of colleagues was also repeatedly mentioned by leaders in sport and business. One leader stated: “I empower people to be at their best and don’t micro-manage, I just let them execute their responsibilities”, whereas another explained the importance of delegating ownership to colleagues. “I delegated a lot more and gave ownership to people. I said to people that one day it will be your turn so I trust you to do a good job”.

“I made a really conscious effort to work hard on my engagement skills to get the most out of my team, approaching them on a human level”

Actions for organisations• Create a ‘peer advisory group’ forum for senior

managers to support each other and to share ideas.

• Measure individuals within your organisation on how well they build strong, and broad, internal networks.

• Ensure that team members set objectives which drive collective, rather than individual action.


Defining ‘success’ in a senior role is difficult and can be subjective, depending on the nature of each individual’s role, the situation they inherit, or their organisation’s stage of

development. However, we were interested to ask our cohort of leaders how they had defined ‘success’ for themselves and what, on reflection, they felt had been major factors which helped them to deliver on some (or all) of these goals.

Research findings and insightsOn these topics, a number of interesting themes emerged with many of the leaders interviewed referencing the importance of creating an environment for success, providing a vision and direction, and leaving a legacy.

Creating an environment for successThere was a strong belief amongst the group that the world was changing at an ever faster pace (see ‘Attributes of future leaders’ below). With the backdrop of a shifting external environment, a focus on creating an environment where teams knew of the critical need to adapt and be agile was reported by five sports leaders and three business leaders. One leader said “business is changing so fast now that you need to create a culture of continuous learning in your teams to help them succeed through this constant change”. Another leader talked about the importance of another ‘environmental’ element, namely creating a place where people wanted to work. “Sometimes I think we don’t focus enough on creating an environment that people want to be part of, an identity that people buy into, so that we can then all work towards our goals from a good starting point”. From our interviews it was clear that the leaders valued creating the right environment highly, believing it increased accountability as well as motivation. One leader explained: “we put things in place that made it more tangible and made people more accountable; it made the club have a real sense of ‘family’, but it didn’t just happen, it happened because we worked hard at it”.

Translating your vision to the team’s individual goals To deliver effectively in the ‘top job’, one theme which recurred often in the comments from our leaders was the need to paint a compelling picture of the future for one’s team and organisation, a vision to draw one’s team towards which would give a sense of purpose and momentum. In addition, however, five of those interviewed spoke about the importance of communicating this mission in a way which made it easy for their teams to translate it into their day-to-day activity: “You know what the people need to do, but how do you expect others to know how to do it? What

Defining ‘top job’ success

“Sometimes I think we don’t focus enough on creating an environment that people want to be part of, an identity that people buy into, so that we can then all work towards our goals”.


I focused on was creating a clear line of sight from our vision to each person’s role in it – setting their objectives in line with that vision and managing them accordingly”.

Leaving a legacySix sports leaders and two business leaders described the importance of leaving their company in a better place after they left, with some stating that legacy was a major factor by which they would judge if they had succeeded in their ’top job’. Those working in sport talked about leaving a sustainable system and being motivated by long-term success. One sports leader said: “I hope my legacy will be a sustainable system, so the things we have put in place and the way we work endures over time”. Another stated, “I’m passionate about leaving behind a sport that is highly regarded, better than when I first entered it and one that people are proud to work in”. Many of the leaders discussed how they wanted the business to continue to grow beyond their leadership, with one leader commenting: “my legacy is being able to walk out of here tomorrow and everything remains the same, it’s not reliant or dependant on me, I was merely the driver of a very big bus and it’s time for a new driver”.

“My legacy is being able to walk out of here tomorrow and everything remains the same, it’s not reliant or dependant on me, I was merely the driver of a very big bus and it’s time for a new driver”.

Actions for organisations• Ensure that your teams talk about the culture they

want to create and work in, and agree everyone’s role in making that happen.

• Connect individual goals with the overall business vision and strategy.

• Challenge your leaders to define what they want their legacy to be, and work with them to achieve it.


We asked the selected group of leaders from professional sport and business, what attributes the leaders of the future will need to be successful. Experts suggest that the

world is changing at a faster pace, becoming more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (the ‘VUCA’ acronym often used), so we wanted to explore the skill-set required to become a successful future leader in this increasingly ‘VUCA’ environment.

Research findings and insights Our leaders discussed a range of skills required to lead organisations in the future but three themes recurred frequently. These themes were communication, adaptability / broader knowledge, and developing others.

CommunicationCommunication, and its importance in leadership, was discussed by eight of the leaders interviewed, often observing that such skills were noticeably changing with the advance of technology. “Communication skills are going to be really critical … it’s about fighting the technology in one sense, and my question to my teams is always: are they building the relationships to help them succeed, walking the floors to ‘check-in’ with everyone?”. Another leader described how listening to others will be a vital ingredient for success in the future: “they need to listen well and to realise they won’t have all the answers”. In terms of how one builds great relationships, a fundamental communication element commented on by one interviewee was the importance of truly listening to others and maintaining a level of openness: “if there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it is the need to have an open, informal style, really listening to others, and not-pre-judging: building relationships is about focusing on their agenda, not mine”.

Adaptability and broader knowledgeSix business leaders and three sports leaders highlighted the importance of adaptability and being comfortable with change because of the ever-changing world. One leader thought, “given the pace of change in the world, being adaptable, agile and flexible are critical now”. Another business leader stated that it was important to “be comfortable with change and ambiguity as the business world is evolving so quickly, it has got bigger and more inter-connected”. A broader and global outlook was also

Attributes of successful future leaders

“Be collaborative, appreciate the value that comes through difference, and think about achieving through others”.


considered important for future leaders, with a further piece of advice being: “have a global outlook and understand the increased connectivity and its impact”. A curiosity to learn and develop yourself was also highlighted as a future competence, with a sports leader saying, “I would say to focus on personal development and expose yourself to different things as you will need a broader knowledge to understand all the emerging areas. You need the curiosity to learn”.

Developing othersOf the 15 leaders interviewed 12 discussed how developing others would remain a critical leadership skill in the future, for two reasons. Firstly, to help you stay fresh and relevant as a leader and, secondly, to develop leadership succession within the organisation. One leader described how others can help leaders make a difference: “be collaborative, appreciate the value that comes through difference and think about achieving through others”. In addition, a sports leader said, “make sure you connect with a strong support network around you and give them opportunities – it helps you stay fresh”. A number of leaders talked about mentoring future leaders and taking responsibility to develop leadership skills in others. One sports leader described how “mentoring has a huge role to play, we don’t share enough knowledge downwards and we need to challenge future leaders to grow” whilst a business executive predicted that the best future leaders will build successful organisations by “consciously feeling a responsibility to help and developing leadership capabilities in other people”.

“Be comfortable with change and ambiguity as the business world is evolving so quickly, it has got bigger and more inter-connected”.

Actions for organisations• As technology advances, maintain the focus on

developing the face-to-face communication skills of your employees at all levels.

• Connect your organisation across functions and geographies to share knowledge and experiences.

• Embed a culture of long-term organisational improvement: measure your senior leaders on developing the next generation.


To conclude, both sports and business landscapes are changing at a rapid speed and thus require strong leaders to guide organisations through the increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world. The evidence presented in this report demonstrates that the role and skill-set of a leader will need to shift with the changing environments that businesses and teams operate within. Future leaders will need to have strong communication skills, a broader knowledge base, adaptability, resilience, and to invest in developing those around them. In terms of career pathways, interestingly, our research suggests that paths to the top job are not linear and that there are multiple routes to follow. However, what became clear when speaking to our senior leader group was that there are a large number of common skills, mind-sets and attitudes which, collectively, often lead to success. These range from creating an environment for success, translating your vision into the team’s individual goals, and being committed to leaving a legacy. Also critical were the personal attributes which enabled our leaders to manage their various career transitions and to maintain peak performance: seeking challenge, adopting a ‘growth mind-set’, embracing ambiguity, seeing opportunities rather than challenges, and ‘letting go’ to empower and develop others. As President Obama said recently, “you can’t do this on your own”.

Conclusion


Future leaders

1. Where would you like to be two steps further down your career path – and are you developing the broader skill-set to get there?

2. What stretching challenge could you proactively set yourself which would add most value to your organisation?

3. Are you seizing opportunities for early leadership experiences?

4. Do you have a mentor or coach who consistently challenges your thinking as well as offering support?

5. Which two behaviours could you change or adapt to be even more effective in your current role?

6. With the mind-set of continuous learning, what development activity would best develop you next? A formal learning programme, or 360 feedback from trusted colleagues or key stakeholders?

7. Are you being curious to find out about other areas of both your organisation and also the broader industry?

Current Leaders

1. Are you thinking of ‘your client’s client’, considering how you can assist senior colleagues or clients / customers to succeed in their own roles?

2. Do you utilise mentors and coaches effectively to create your own ‘space’ to think through complex challenges?

3. Do you consistently review where you need to ‘let go’, delegating responsibility and ownership to your team, allowing you to operate at ‘50,000ft, not 5,000ft’?

4. Do you create an energising environment for your team and communicate to them how their daily actions will deliver your collective mission?

5. How much time do you invest in relationships which will create a ‘personal boardroom’ of key advisors and influencers?

6. What actions do you take to create the right environment and culture for success in your organisation? And how do you communicate these values and culture to your team?

7. If others were talking about your legacy to the organisation after your had left, what would you want to hear them say?

Leadership questions


A total of 15 structured interviews were completed with a group of leaders from the sporting and business worlds between January 2016 and September 2016. Our methodology comprised the use of a consistent questionnaire, created by us for the project to explore the career paths of individuals in each sector who have risen to significant leadership positions. We were curious to explore how they developed their careers, how they negotiated key transition points, and their learning on what had helped them to succeed. From these individual journeys, our aim was then to look for common themes or approaches which might best help both individuals and those in organisations responsible for developing leaders. The ambition of this report is twofold. Firstly, to support – and challenge – organisations on how we can best develop leaders to succeed in their increasingly challenging senior roles. Secondly, to share the learning from our leaders’ career stories and enable individuals to utilise this collective ‘best practice’, guiding their own development pathways.

Appendix: About this report


The Leaders Performance Institute connects, inspires and educates the global performance community in sport and beyond via events, insight, research and professional development programmes. The Institute’s fundamental purpose is to challenge and evolve the thinking of performance practitioners globally. A founding membership of over 500 of the most innovative clubs, franchises, leagues and high performance organisations from over 32 countries and 37 sports sits within the Institute’s network. Members include New Zealand Rugby Union, Cirque du Soleil, Kansas City Royals, United States Olympic Committee, LA Clippers, Atlanta Falcons, English Premier League, San Antonio Spurs, Team Sky, Arsenal FC, Stanford University and Red Bull. Learn more about the Leaders Performance Institute at leadersinsport.com/performance

About Leaders Performance Institute


Reed Smith is a global relationship law firm with more than 1,700 lawyers in 26 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses, from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises. Its lawyers provide litigation and other dispute-resolution services in multi-jurisdictional and high-stake matters, deliver regulatory counsel, and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions. Reed Smith is a pre-eminent advisor to industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, advertising, entertainment and media, shipping and transport, energy and natural resources, real estate, manufacturing and technology, and education.

About Reed Smith LLP


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Leadership Pathways Creating Future Leaders in Sport and ... · the skill-sets for their ultimate career aspiration. “I approached it as building skill-sets along a path”, said