Director with a talent for creating strategic vision and translating into practical programmes | Curator of cultures that champion people, transparency & collaboration | Assembles elite teams with delivery in their DNA
I rarely repost but thought this was brilliantly said, a shift in approach is desperately needed
Founder: Dogsbody Group Ltd | Best-Selling & Award-Winning Author: No Bullsh*t Leadership & No Bullsh*t Change | Co-Founder: No Bullsh*t Leadership e-Learning
Napoleon considered luck to be an innate attribute that some possessed and others did not, like courage or wisdom. By that criteria Paula Vennells, the former CEO of the Post Office would be somebody he’d want on his team. On the day when she spoke in public for the first time in 10 years about arguably the largest corporate scandal in UK history, a general election was called, pushing her from the headline billing she so richly deserved. Nevertheless, I sat through her testimony so you didn’t have to. Aside from a feeling of nausea, what struck me was how somebody of such limited abilities could rise so far. To become a CEO, even of a far more modest organisation that the Post Office, it is necessary to have been promoted many times. Each time in a supposedly competitive environment. Not for the first time in my career I was left wondering what must the other candidates have been like if she was the best. You may already have spotted the flaw in my logic, one that presumes a meritocratic process. There are, depressingly, Paula Vennells everywhere. A chumocracy who shake the right hands, avoid rocking the boat, who know the right words and belong to the right cliques. They rise without trace. Look around you. You can see some now. I’m deeply passionate about social mobility. For me it means a disconnection between the accident of our birth and the outcomes of our lives. Yet without meritocracy there can be no social mobility. Rather than a meritocracy we live in a mediocracy. And we wonder why our economy is moribund, our productivity terrible, our banks collapse, our rivers polluted; why we can’t build houses or fix our public services. Effective leaders fix stuff, get stuff done, fail and fly, lift others. They’re flawed and human – perhaps sometimes uncomfortable, demanding and impatient. They might not always know the right words or fit in. But they have the courage to give it a go. It’s about time we recognised leadership for what it is – both the problem and the solution. And about time we said enough of the bullshit, let’s try a radical new approach: get some people who know what they’re doing in charge.
Having been educated in Scotland and living in England for most of my working life, I have been constantly surprised by what the "Public Schools" in England turn out. These private education establishments enable very mediocre people to believe they are born to rule. I am pleased to have been raised in a much more meritocratic society where a good education for all was more important than buying a huge leg-up for your (often) incompetent son. Is it any wonder it was the Scottish Enlightenment that produced the best of the British Empire, writers of the American constitution, improving the running and establishing the indepence of India, Canada and Australia - rather than any "British Enlightenment"? Excellent article - thank you.
Sadly the election is a choice between which is less mediocre & deceitful. Hard to choose.
Brilliant post and it’s refreshing to see such honesty described in the world we live in. This has always been the case but it was gut wrenching to see this particular individual giving her evidence. A person completely devoid of any sense of morality. Maybe a long custodial sentence would give her time to reflect
What a great honest post! The lack of good honest leadership is hurting the UK, I have found most managers self serving and lacking in real empathy for the people who really get the job done. Paula Venells crying under questioning was pathetic, people have lost their careers, livelihood and some ultimately their lives because these self serving managers, a few crocodile tears cannot absolve her of this terrible injustice and frankly incompetence.
Yes , unfortunately. Local government / NHS , Universities , quangos / charities et al are full of them . A change in employment law to strip them of bonuses & pensions might focus their minds
Having followed the inquiry, the Post Office in the last twenty years has been the last bolt-hole for pathological amnesiacs, sociopathic "thugs in suits", clock-watching time-servers and Machiavellian operators like Venal Vennells. It's a government owned monopoly with no real sense of operating in an external competitive market and so why would there be a functional internal market for talent? The old hard-working people with integrity seem to be the benighted SPMs on the front line!
Similar to our Government!
I’m certain she was not told directly that there were issues with Horizon in the early days but she knew eventually and did nothing nor said anything to correct the situation. She chose to turn a blind eye, wilfull avoidance of the reality because she knew how damaging this would be to Post Office. She allowed the myth of infallibility to persist until the Court of Appeal decision in December 2019 in Bates and others v POL The reporting structure was flawed. Her desire to deal with the issue, absent.
We all screw up from time to time in our careers but you have a choice to live in denial or hold your hands up. In my experience the latter might be uncomfortable but gains you a lot more respect from your colleagues. The PO dug a hole for itself and was only interested in putting people in senior positions who thought keeping digging was the right approach.
Maintenance Manager at Vanderlande
1moPersonally I think she should go to prison