Ben Welsh: Life is a leadership course

Despite a 30-year career in advertising, DDB chief creative officer Ben Welsh has never had formal leadership training. Instead, he’s taken life lessons from The Aristocats, military leaders and his father. Here, he passes on his pearls of wisdom to other aspiring leaders following DDB Sydney’s win of Campaign Brief Agency of the Year.

As a leader, it sometimes worries me that I have had no formal training in leadership. Not once has a company thought to send me to a leadership course, despite having been in what they call ‘leadership positions’ for more than 15 years.

Does that mean I have nothing to learn or there’s no point trying to teach me?

I’m coming to consider life a leadership course. We are receiving lessons in leadership from the moment we’re born – from parents, older siblings, bigger kids at school, teachers, and bosses – monkey see, monkey do. On top of that we learn from literature and TV; culture if you like.

Here are five lessons I’ve learned about leadership.

One: I’m the leader, I’m the one that says we go…. ok, let’s go

This one’s from that great philosopher Walt Disney, specifically, The Aristocats. Napoleon and Lafayette are two farm dogs who are awoken by an evil butler in pursuit of the cats (who are ably led by Thomas O’Malley) one night. Lafayette starts barking and running off, but is pulled back by Napoleon, who barks out the above before running off himself. The leader decides when to act after getting the views of the team.

Two: A leader is a dealer in hope

This one is from a more famous Napoleon, Bonaparte who was a remarkable leader. Even after the loss of his army, following a disastrous retreat from Russia and the loss of his freedom following his exile on Elba, he managed to raise an army big enough to fight at Waterloo. At the beginning, all he had to sell was hope, but hope is a very precious commodity. Without it we are lost. Be wary, have a plan, but always be optimistic.

Three: With great power comes great responsibility

Spiderman fans will recognise this one, but technically everyone’s favourite web-spinner wasn’t the first to point this out*. The French Aristocracy got there much earlier with their concept of Noblesse oblige; the belief that the nobility, who were the power at the time, had an obligation to lesser mortals. Rousseau said as much in the Social Contract – a monarch needs to rule well enough not to be overthrown. I guess it was too little too late, but to me – and my noble blood is debatable – Noblesse Oblige remains relevant today when it comes to working late, weekends and more positive opportunities. Both should be shared.

Four: If you want someone to do a job, let them do it

That’s a poor approximation to a quote I can’t find, but the meaning has stayed with me for many years. It’s the essence of delegation; find someone who is capable of doing a job (in this case leading an army to fight Rome) and then let them do it. It may not have ended well for the Carthaginians, but they started off with two famous victories before settling down to get drunk on southern Italian wine. Delegation is hard and, in my experience, rare. Too many Australian corporates have too many micromanagers in positions of power. Delegation requires trust, both ways and an understanding that your delegate won’t necessarily do things the way you would.

Five: It’s the head boy’s job to make sure everyone wants to come to work

This one is from my father and while the language dates it, I think it’s absolutely spot on. It’s your job, boy, girl or other, to create a working environment that people find rewarding – both emotionally and financially. And that can only happen when you’re doing all of the above.

Monkey see, monkey do? I think it’s more a case of whatever works for the monkey.

* ok, it wasn’t Spiderman aka Peter Parker, it was his uncle Ben.