161: The Courage of Vulnerability | Tim Creswick

Tim Creswick is the founder and CEO of Vorboss, a telecommunications company which he set up 17 years ago and now employs over 400 people. He is also the newly appointed Chair of the Board of Directors at the Institute of Telecommunications Professionals.
This is a courageous, vulnerable and inspiring episode of success,  challenge , divorce, therapy, mental health and never stopping in the pursuit of personal growth. 
All leaders must understand that  success comes at a price and self awareness and self care are non-negotiable.  
Tim completed  his high school education but decided to drop out of Oxford University before completing his degree in order to pursue his entrepreneurial spirit. 
Tim describes himself as an outsider, and only felt a sense of home when in his 30's. He appreciates the contrasting experience he has of anonymity in his commute and everyday life and the weight of responsibility and accountability of being the CEO to over 400 people. 
Tim truly believes that good leadership means not being invincible. He tells me about his experience of going through a divorce when Vorboss was only about 15 people and the process could have seen the closure of the business. He felt he could not talk about this at work as he didn't want to worry anyone. This is now in stark contrast to running a thriving business that has received over £250-300 million in investment. 
Tim has made a deliberate decision as an introvert to be authentic, open and deeply human as a leader in order to experience personal growth. He has a tattoo 'Never Stop' when at end of 2019 he was at very low point and his mental health declined significantly following his prolonged divorce proceedings. Tim got to the point that his depression was leaving him feeling hollow and numb. Just getting out of bed and functioning would be an effort each day. This difficult period was also one of the most empowering times for Tim in the business as people knew something was wrong but they also saw an incredible drive to push the business even harder. For Tim, overcoming the challenge of getting out of bed in the morning left him feeling invincible for the rest of the day.  Being a leader is a deeply personal journey but you have a choice of the experience (shadow) that you provide to those you lead and interact with each and every day. 
They say 'it's lonely at the top', so check out next week's episode focused on 'Executive Loneliness' with Nick Jonsson. 



 

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