With the prime minister incapacitated, the death toll from Covid-19 growing and no end to the social distancing measures in sight, leadership has seldom been so important. Over the Easter bank holiday, we are turning the spotlight on leaders who have faced challenging situations and overcome them, forging in the process the businesses and organisations that keep this country running.
For Gary Gallen, the CEO and founder of rradar, leadership is ‘a behaviour and an attitude.’
Gallen founded rradar in 2011 and it has grown to be a national firm with offices in several cities, specialising in litigation and commercial law, as well as technological solutions, to help businesses reduce their legal risk.
Speaking exclusively to the Leaders Council of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in January, Gallen explained that it is absolutely vital for a good leader to recognise their own strengths and weaknesses and to have a genuine willingness to learn from others.
By convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom is said to be ‘primus inter pares’, or ‘first among equals’, and it was immediately apparent that this was exactly how Gallen considered his own position at the helm of rradar.
‘I am a great believer in collaboration and education,’ he explained, ‘and you need to make sure the people you are leading can achieve at the same time as you.’
As the sole founder of the business, Gallen stressed that the early stages of starting a business require ‘resilience, confidence and face’ to see your idea through to fruition. He spoke of the sacrifices that needed to be made and how crucial it was to bring the right people on board to help develop the business beyond the early stages.
‘The system and the process and the structure needs to develop behind the leader first,’ he said, ‘and you need to have the right people on the bus with you before you can drive forward. There are layers that need to be built behind the vision.’
This he said is the advice he would give if he could go back in time to 2011 and speak to himself at the beginning of the rradar journey. He explained that the desire to press ahead with your idea and grow it as quickly as possible can be overwhelming but you need to have the self-discipline to hold yourself back, assemble a strong team and wait until the structure is sound before attempting to reach the heights of which you know you are capable.
Crucially, ‘you’ve got to have a very strong sense that you are doing the right thing.’
As a lifelong learner, Gallen said he keeps a diary where he notes down key learning points every day. He makes sure he refers back to his notes each month, quarter and year so that he never loses sight of the lessons he has learnt.
‘You’ve also got to be canny and astute as to where you look for the information and guidance you need as a leader,’ he said, ‘look for the people who have made the journey you are on yourself.’
You can listen to Gary Gallen discussing leadership, on The Leaders Council podcast, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WtgnaFv6NM&feature=youtu.be
