‘A good leader has to be able to listen’
THEY might have made their name providing eye care to customers around the world.
But for Dame Mary and Doug Perkins, good leadership is as much about listening as it is seeing what is happening – apt given their move into audiology in recent years.
The couple are proud that their Guernsey business has grown to become a global firm with 32,500 people, having started it on a ping-pong table in their spare room.
So, what’s their recipe for ensuring you’re a good leader?
‘They have got to be trusted,’ said Dame Mary just before she and her husband took the stage at the conference organised by Leaders – a Guernsey-based consultancy – and held at St Pierre Park.
‘I think they have to be good communicators to be able to communicate a very clear plan to people, including to other leaders in the company, because you have different levels, so they can actually translate that further down to people below them as well. They have to be able to get that strategy over in a very clear way.’
She added: ‘I also think a lot of leaders nowadays don’t listen. So they’ve got to listen. I mean this, not just listen because you’re going to jump in what with they’re going to be saying next but to listen to what people want, what people are saying. Also to listen to the innovators in their companies. There are a lot of good ideas out there. They’re not the custodian of all the best ideas of the whole world. But to really listen to what people are thinking and feeling.’
Being able to have the right mix of people was another important aspect of leadership, according to Mr Perkins.
‘A lot of people will recruit people who are like themselves. You’ve got to have this divergence. You’ve got to have the people orientated; the innovators; the governance people.’
He added: ‘As a board you actually have to work together as a team because every person on every issue is equally important. But you’ve also got to know where the speciality skills and the culture are in order to use all the resources of the group.’
Embracing technology was also important, with Mr Perkins highlighting how it was now possible in a single morning call to talk with 150 people in 10 different countries.
Specsavers’ partnership model was another big advantage, he said.
‘A lot of our key people around the world are stakeholders and we run it as a very tight team in that uniform culture. That’s definitely a big advantage in having champions and a common culture that is not hierarchical.’
Agreeing with her husband, Dame Mary said: ‘The thing that makes Specsavers so successful, and I’m not afraid to say that, is the joint venture partnership we have. They are partners, they are owners of their business. We give them all the support services to have a successful business.’
Being a high street business, it meant that Specsavers was able to respond to changing consumer demands by visiting partners, talking and listening to them.
‘We are in the high street – you cannot run that sitting behind a desk,’ said Dame Mary.
n Major General Paul Nanson, commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, offers his thoughts on leadership in Wednesday’s Guernsey Press Business page.
