Episode 43 - Leading in the shadows - Sir Alex Younger: Britain's Chief Spy

In this episode we speak to Sir Alex Younger KCMG, the former Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service. Prior to his six-year tenure as ‘C’, Sir Alex was the Head of Counter Terrorism and obtained many operational roles worldwide. His time at MI6 was preceded by a stint in the British Army - first as a private soldier and later as a commissioned officer in the Scots Guards.  We discuss Sir Alex’s captivating and varied career experience, which gives him a unique insight into leadership across a plethora of roles and responsibilities. All of his experiences are underpinned by his advocacy for values-driven leadership as a foundation for success, with his definition of vales being ‘a common set of moral expectations’. He emphasises that trust and empowered delegation, to those that know a situation best, is fundamental to collective success, and he comments on having a bias for action, where leaders must generate and use their agency to make things happen, with self-leadership acting as a foundation to be able to do so. He anticipates a future where a combination of complementary human and technological skill will be required by leaders in order to succeed, and that speaking truth to power is, and will remain, central to the success of the UK’s intelligence agencies.

Om Podcasten

Drawing on over 300 years of British Army leadership experience, ’The Centre For Army Leadership Podcast’ looks to get to the heart of what is required of our leaders and our leadership, to meet the challenges of both today and tomorrow. For the British Army leadership underpins everything that we do. It not only ensures we do right by our people, but critically it underpins our operational success. This Podcast Series seeks to harness diversity of thought and experience, from leaders across the military, sport, academia and business worlds, stimulating debate, awareness and critical thinking. Leadership matters to us all and our successes, and indeed our failures, are so often defined by how well we are led, or indeed by how well we lead. We hope by sharing our experiences and by learning from others we can promote the value of great leadership, and together we can develop ourselves, our teams and in turn the society in which we live.