#20: James Knight MC Royal Marines Officer & St James Place Financial Advisor - Leadership Lessons from Wartime Courage

James Knight is now a Financial Advisor with St James Place. Previously he served as a Royal Marine officer. One notable event was whist leading a 30-man platoon as a commander in Iraq with 1 PWRR. They got pinned down for 8 hours under constant fire - surrounded by a far larger force. They had small-arms, MG & rocket fire constantly in-coming, but held their cordon. The Military Cross (MC) award for gallantry was awarded to James in 2007 for the platoon working together & collaborating under danger & great drama with no losses.

James tells an inspirational story about a RM Corporal in the Aegean Sea rescuing migrants drowning. Sadly, a number of them had already drowned & he took on the gristly job to pull out the dead bodies. That was not a task that anybody willingly takes on, but he & his team did it, without complaint, leading the way for the other more reluctant members of the ship to do more too.  

The Corporal was a natural leader. He repeatedly went above & beyond his duty to do things that others were not willing to do. Quiet & modest - Huge respect for doing the jobs others wouldn’t do. James himself I found to be a humble leader who learn from getting it wrong. “As a troop commander I was mistakenly trying to win the popularity of those I led. Actually I eroded my own authority & boundaries by trying to be their friend & too popular. Instead what I should have sought is respect which is crucial. We all need boundaries”.

Top Tip - “Beware over-control as a leader. Let go to the point where you start to feel uncomfortable - that’s the right amount of autonomy!” 

#InspiringLeadership #leadership #CEOs #MotivationalSpeaker #teamcoach #InclusiveLeadership #Boards 

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