In March, I invited accomplished growth mentor Karen Ancell and experienced management consultant, coach and speaker Will Carnegie to join us at our quarterly corporate offsite. Will hosted an afternoon of exceptional team-building activities, and Karen led an insightful session focused on individual strengths and opportunities for personal development. The environment created helped the team learn a lot about themselves, and each other. The room was buzzing. Will’s story is extraordinary. At just 27, he skippered a crew of amateur sailors in the BT Global Challenge, the only yacht race to circumnavigate the globe against the prevailing winds and currents.
His leadership was tested to the extreme when a freak wave off the coast of Australia nearly killed two members of his crew. The crew’s performance following that was a masterclass in determination, incredible teamwork and keeping calm under pressure. This was also hailed in the press as ‘… one of the truly outstanding achievements of this leg.’ For some of our team, though, hearing Will’s story wasn’t just about listening to an inspiring tale; they were revisiting a shared chapter. Veritas had been the main sponsor of Will’s yacht, and several of our colleagues had been working in the Veritas marketing department at the time. They’d followed the race closely, supported the coverage and even travelled to rest-stop locations to cheer on the crew. To hear Will’s personal account all these years later – and connect it to their own experiences – made it even more powerful.
During the session, Will challenged us to conceptually navigate our own route through the BT Global Challenge. We had to interpret shifting weather forecasts, make strategic calls on speed versus safety and write motivational messages for our crew to read in tough times. It quickly became clear how different decision-making styles emerge under pressure; some deeply analytical, some willing to take calculated risks and some focused on keeping team morale high. The impact of Will’s team-building activities sailed on – even after our virtual yachts had crossed the exercise’s finish line.
Karen and I then reconnected with the Wise & Zeal team to explore how our own strengths – and passions – impact the business. Our shared goal was to define a simple rule, maxim or principle that could act as a compass – Wise & Zeal’s North Star – that would guide every choice we made. And we nailed it. Going forward, everything we do for Wise & Zeal and our customers will be guided and informed by one powerful question:
‘Will doing this help the people we care about thrive?’
- ‘Will changing this process help the people we care about to thrive?’
- ‘Will deploying this new technology help the people we care about to thrive?’
- ‘Will this client campaign help the people we care about to thrive?’
It’s a simple question – and that’s exactly why it works. Asking it reinforces what’s always been important to me: that Wise & Zeal is run in a way that puts our clients and our people at the heart of every decision and supports those who trust us to do our best work.
Our North Star means so much to us and how we move the business forward, and I’m so excited for the journey ahead.