As businesses across the country face up to the current economic situation, the group managing director of Openview Security Services, the largest privately owned security company in the country, spoke with The Leaders Council about continuing to provide services amid a pandemic. Meanwhile Heathrow’s CEO criticises the two-week quarantine.
Leadership in Focus
For the past three decades, Openview has led the way in the provision of specialist security services. In an interview with The Leaders Council of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, group managing director, Mark Ingleson considered how leadership has changed amid the pandemic.
According to Ingleson, the outbreak of Covid-19 has “had a profound effect, although we are continuing to provide services to our clients.”
Having operated in the sector for over a quarter of a century Ingleson and his team are well versed in changing circumstances. He notes: “This an eclectic landscape – some of our clients wanted us to continue providing services to them, while others have closed up shop.”
In spite of the pandemic, Ingleson and his employees are pleased to see the government continue to operate, in particular the introduction of the new Fire Safety Bill. Openview believe this confirms the government’s commitment to improving the fire safety of buildings, while making clear the responsibility of building owners. With the specific expertise of Openview and the highly experienced staff overseen by Ingleson, they are well qualified to respond to such legislation.
Ingleson provides some sobering words for those who find themselves particularly concerned by the impact of Covid-19. He concludes: “It is quite a difficult situation to manage, but unfortunately it’s a situation that none of us could foresee. We have to manage what we have in front of us.”
Leadership Today
Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, has admitted that the UK’s testing system is not ready “at this moment” to reduce the two-week quarantine period for those returning from holidays in Spain.
While countries, including France and Germany, are already able to use such tests to reduce the quarantine time for arrivals from countries with high Covid-19 rates, pressure is growing for Boris Johnson to follow suit.
According to Dowden: "We are looking and reviewing other measures we can take to address this but at this stage not the case that we can simply test at the border," who continued that: "We keep all these things under review."
The government has faced criticism from the CEO of Heathrow, who has said it would be possible to introduce a double test system in a fortnight. At present, tests at airports would cost each passenger around £150.
Leadership in History
Sixty-six years ago today, J.R.R Tolkein published the first part of The Lord of the Rings, one of the leading fantasy epics of a generation. With recent exhibitions on his life’s work at the Weston and continued interest in his extensive corpus, Tolkein demonstrates that excellence can come from the most unexpected of places.
