(Our insights come from conversations with over 2000 executives world-wide.)

Every incoming executive says that they will be a better leader than their predecessor, until they end up in the role. The effects of power and the unique pressures endured by a leader have filled our literature for millennia. Some of these effects go beyond the reach of training, structures, and accountability mechanisms. If you become an executive tomorrow, who you are as a person will be brought out and will determine the success of your leadership more than your specialist skills. Your ability to make decisions will be the key skill, and with it all your personal limits and flaws thinking, your biases, fallacies, insecurities, ideologies, paradigms of thought, and inferences will determine success.  

During the recent Post Office scandal in the UK the public have been incensed by the argument given by Paula Vennels that she acted in the best interest of the organisation. It may seem ludicrous and incredulous to us, but in executive search and now leadership training I have seen all too often how personal pecuniary and power aims are fused (or confused) subconsciously with those of the organisation. Most leaders exhibit these traits. We only tend see them when they make larger mistakes. Most of the time, leaders succeed in covering up their mistakes, and this alone occupies a big portion of their job.

Sir Keir knows this, but now that he is in executive office, the descending forces of the job will squeeze out into view the vices of his team. When leaders came to us to find new executives, it was rarely because the outgoing leader wasn’t good at their job. It was mostly about politics; mostly about survival. We only see this in politics because of its heightened level of exposure.  

One of the hardest things the Prime Minister will achieve is to maintain (and I use his own phrase) ‘leadership as service’ as the prevailing executive culture through his tenure. This cultural goal will be affected almost instantly, but maintaining it will get harder with each challenge, each reshuffle, each new scandal, each crisis. Will some of this culture be eroded? Almost definitely. The real question is how much. Here is why I believe there will be more ‘leadership as service’ left at the end of his premiership (whenever it is) than the ‘government of integrity’ culture left at the end of his predecessor’s.  

The new Prime Minister has an ISTJ personality (Introverted, Observant, Thinking, Judging). These may not jump out as strong leadership traits, and during my years in executive search they comprised few CEO positions in the c-suite. Indeed, ISJTs make up just 15% of leaders according to the reputed Myers Briggs leadership personality research. Much is said about their composed and rational approach to problem solving and conflict management, their self-awareness, their intelligence. Little, however, is said about the effect this has on culture and it will not be negligible. To most executive search firms (and their clients for that matter) these do not qualify as the sexy candidates; they never excited us. However, in leadership training I have learnt much about them.