Turning 30: What I’ve learnt…
To get the party started, I asked Paul Callaghan, our Chairman and Co-Founder to do a small speech. I’m lucky enough to have seen Paul speak numerous times. He can motivate and captivate you and he can make you laugh and cry. Wednesday night’s speech was one that made us laugh, but with a few surprises.
Paul shared his “twenty top tips for business”- tips that he first shared in a keynote he delivered at Ward Hadaway’s Fastest 50 back in 2005. What surprised me, was how many of his tips related to behaviours that are embedded in Leighton’s culture 17 years later.
Here at Leighton, our values underpin everything we do, including how we behave and how we make decisions. And whilst today’s values came from the team in 2017, I didn’t realise just how much of it was based on the values and behaviours of Paul and the leadership team back from back in 2005.
Here’s how we talk about Leighton’s culture today…
Okay, so the first thing you need to know is we really love what we do, and we never settle for second best. We work with tenacity, take ownership of our actions, and strive to make a really positive difference to our customers, colleagues and community.
Or in Paul’s words from 2005: “Be passionate and believe in what you are doing” and “Put your heart and soul into the business”.
Equally important at Leighton, is being proud of what we achieve. I think Paul sums this up perfectly with his last tip: “Enjoy your life, your job, your business success. This is not a dress rehearsal so live every day to the full”. At Leighton today, we try to celebrate colleagues personal and professional successes, creating an environment for them to be happy, fulfilled and produce their best every day.
Colleagues at Leighton are naturally curious. We ask lots of questions, we’re open minded, and we love exploring new ideas. We aren’t afraid of failure and love to push at the boundaries of the possible as we seek positive change.
This aligns perfectly with Paul’s 2005 tips of being imaginative and creative and thinking ‘outside of the box’. For me though, the real success has been the ability to create a culture where we are prepared to take risks and are not afraid of failure as we see it as something we will learn from.
At Leighton, this value is all about honesty, accountability, and integrity. In essence, we do what we say we are going to do, when we say we will do it. We use good judgement and do “the right thing”. As Paul said in 2005: “be honest and ethical” which is exactly what we endeavour to do every day with our colleagues, customers, and suppliers.
Anyone reading this article who knows Leighton will know that one of our greatest strengths is our ability to nurture those around us. In fact, LinkedIn (well mine network at least) is full of Leighton alumni, who have gone on to do amazing things with their lives. Colleagues at Leighton never stop learning and constantly want to improve. In our business, everyone is a teacher and a student. I believe this is a key reason why our customers keep coming back.
I think Paul’s tips of “learn from your failures”, “hire bright kids and give them their head” and “become a role model for others” are summed up perfectly in this value.
In 2005 Paul said: “But don’t forget your life balance. Your kids grow up faster than even a fastest 50 business”. I think this is the other aspect of nurturing at Leighton, in essence we care. We care about our colleagues, our customers and our community and we are encouraged to care about ourselves. Supporting our colleagues, so that work and life “fit” together is very much part of how we do things at Leighton.
Our final behaviour is one of collaboration. We see software engineering (and indeed business) as a team sport. We work with our customers, their other partners and each other to successfully deliver business value. As Aristotle said: “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. How do we achieve that at Leighton? Well in 2022, we do exactly as Paul advised in 2005. We surround ourselves with people who are cleverer than we are, and we hire from a wide range of backgrounds and of course we hire people that smile and laugh.
Now I must admit, I had to Google what it "espirt de corps” means, but in doing so discovered that it is defined as a feeling of pride and mutual loyalty by members of a group. And whilst we don’t explicitly draw it out in our values, our high performing teams create psychologically safe environments that have mutual trust and loyalty and a pride in the work that they are doing.
So, here’s to learning a lot more over the next 30 years!
If our culture resonates with you and you’d like to join an organisation who are both agile and experienced why not get in touch.
To get the party started, I asked Paul Callaghan, our Chairman and Co-Founder to do a small speech. I’m lucky enough to have seen Paul speak numerous times. He can motivate and captivate you and he can make you laugh and cry. Wednesday night’s speech was one that made us laugh, but with a few surprises.
Paul shared his “twenty top tips for business”- tips that he first shared in a keynote he delivered at Ward Hadaway’s Fastest 50 back in 2005. What surprised me, was how many of his tips related to behaviours that are embedded in Leighton’s culture 17 years later.
Here at Leighton, our values underpin everything we do, including how we behave and how we make decisions. And whilst today’s values came from the team in 2017, I didn’t realise just how much of it was based on the values and behaviours of Paul and the leadership team back from back in 2005.
Here’s how we talk about Leighton’s culture today…
Okay, so the first thing you need to know is we really love what we do, and we never settle for second best. We work with tenacity, take ownership of our actions, and strive to make a really positive difference to our customers, colleagues and community.
Or in Paul’s words from 2005: “Be passionate and believe in what you are doing” and “Put your heart and soul into the business”.
Equally important at Leighton, is being proud of what we achieve. I think Paul sums this up perfectly with his last tip: “Enjoy your life, your job, your business success. This is not a dress rehearsal so live every day to the full”. At Leighton today, we try to celebrate colleagues personal and professional successes, creating an environment for them to be happy, fulfilled and produce their best every day.
Colleagues at Leighton are naturally curious. We ask lots of questions, we’re open minded, and we love exploring new ideas. We aren’t afraid of failure and love to push at the boundaries of the possible as we seek positive change.
This aligns perfectly with Paul’s 2005 tips of being imaginative and creative and thinking ‘outside of the box’. For me though, the real success has been the ability to create a culture where we are prepared to take risks and are not afraid of failure as we see it as something we will learn from.
At Leighton, this value is all about honesty, accountability, and integrity. In essence, we do what we say we are going to do, when we say we will do it. We use good judgement and do “the right thing”. As Paul said in 2005: “be honest and ethical” which is exactly what we endeavour to do every day with our colleagues, customers, and suppliers.
Anyone reading this article who knows Leighton will know that one of our greatest strengths is our ability to nurture those around us. In fact, LinkedIn (well mine network at least) is full of Leighton alumni, who have gone on to do amazing things with their lives. Colleagues at Leighton never stop learning and constantly want to improve. In our business, everyone is a teacher and a student. I believe this is a key reason why our customers keep coming back.
I think Paul’s tips of “learn from your failures”, “hire bright kids and give them their head” and “become a role model for others” are summed up perfectly in this value.
In 2005 Paul said: “But don’t forget your life balance. Your kids grow up faster than even a fastest 50 business”. I think this is the other aspect of nurturing at Leighton, in essence we care. We care about our colleagues, our customers and our community and we are encouraged to care about ourselves. Supporting our colleagues, so that work and life “fit” together is very much part of how we do things at Leighton.
Our final behaviour is one of collaboration. We see software engineering (and indeed business) as a team sport. We work with our customers, their other partners and each other to successfully deliver business value. As Aristotle said: “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. How do we achieve that at Leighton? Well in 2022, we do exactly as Paul advised in 2005. We surround ourselves with people who are cleverer than we are, and we hire from a wide range of backgrounds and of course we hire people that smile and laugh.
Now I must admit, I had to Google what it "espirt de corps” means, but in doing so discovered that it is defined as a feeling of pride and mutual loyalty by members of a group. And whilst we don’t explicitly draw it out in our values, our high performing teams create psychologically safe environments that have mutual trust and loyalty and a pride in the work that they are doing.
So, here’s to learning a lot more over the next 30 years!
If our culture resonates with you and you’d like to join an organisation who are both agile and experienced why not get in touch.
