Nigel Girling CMgr CCMI FIoL.
Head of Professional Qualifications & Development at the Inspirational Development Group.
What do you do now?
I lead the design, development and assessment of professional programmes for leaders and organizational clients at IDG – a global leadership specialist consultancy.
Where did your career start?
After being suspended from school as a disruptive influence (!), I toured the world as a musician before arthritis forced a career change and sent me into business. I became a very green and incompetent CEO in my 20s and failed miserably, which sent me on a lifelong journey to learn how to be an inspirational leader. I’m still on that journey 40 years later.
Has there been a stage in your life where you first appreciated what great leadership looked like?
Several stages at different and pivotal moments. I had some terrible teachers at a very poor school, but also a couple of brilliant ones who challenged and stretched my thinking about the world. Later I had a couple of wise mentors - Frank and Trevor - who smoothed out some of the edges of my approach - both still friends and frequent sources of inspiration.
Like many, I experienced bullying, exploitation and harassment in my early career, so it was the recognition that it didn’t have to be that way which first switched the light on for me. In the 80s, I realized that being a successful leader didn’t just mean delivering tangible results or getting tasks completed; that leaving a legacy of humanity and decency was at least as important and that the shadow you cast as a leader lives long after you’ve gone, for good and bad. It matters to me that people smile when they think of me. I spent more than a decade as the CEO of The National Centre for Strategic Leadership trying to pass those lessons on.
Do you have any examples of what you have done to develop yourself as a leader?
I truly believe that every day is a school day. I’m almost obsessed with thinking about everything – why things happen, what things mean, why people do the things they do, what works and what doesn’t – so my greatest guide and teacher has been frequent reflection.
I’ve developed myself professionally up to doctoral level and been a chartered leader for many years, but the most important thing I ever understood – and it took me quite a while to get this – was that being a leader wasn’t really about me. It is my responsibility to serve, support, inspire, mentor and develop colleagues so that they can be their best selves. Being a member of professional institutes is an important aspect of that and enables me to share and get ideas and to inspire great leadership across the profession.