Sir Ranulph Fiennes on leadership: 'There are times when you have to be dictatorial'
"There are times when you have to be dictatorial, when you feel that you are more confident in the right way of doing things than others are," says Sir Ranulph Fiennes of leadership.
But what does he know? He only led the first hovercraft expedition up the Nile; only led the team that discovered the lost city of Ubar on the Yemen; was only the first person to circumnavigate the world along its polar axis, and recently, only ran 156 miles across the Sahara Desert, in six days, at the age of 72...
Speaking ahead of Midtown Big Ideas Exchange Events' season finale – where he will deliver an autobiographical speech before entering into a discussion about modern-day approaches to leadership, with panellists Toby Young (associate editor of The Spectator) and Rachel Burton (Google's Head of HR) – adventurer Fiennes reveals that there are many facets to being a good leader.
"A good leader is good at delegating, as well as just leading," he says. He uses the example of negotiating the crossing of a crevasse field – his particular "expertise". "I would look at it carefully and decide whether it could be done equally easily, or with equal difficulty, anywhere else. In which case, I would wake everyone up and say: 'Look, today we are going to be crossing some major glacier... let’s have a discussion as to what we, as a group, think is the best way.' I would thereby get brownie points for appearing to be democratic...
"But if I looked at it and I saw, 'No, I've seen that sort of thing before. Over there, on the right, that is the way we’ve got to go', I would not put it to them. I would say, 'We are going to go over there, on the right, because that is best [way]. Don’t ask me why I know, but it is.' And I'd be dictatorial... but don't do it per se, just because you're the leader – when you can appear democratic, that's good."
In his line of work – polar expeditions, record breaking, pushing ones body to its absolute limits (in Fiennes' case, to that of 'heart attack mode' – not a joke) – a good leader will recognise and reward strength of character. "We’re looking for character, because you can't change that, but you can teach skills," he says.
In business today, this translates as someone with a "good record of relationships with staff and employees", and a "good way of choosing financial directors from past businesses, bringing in with them people that they have trusted from the past". This, Fiennes believes, makes a good leader because it's the leader's "immediate circles that we’re talking about – and that’s true of government as well.
On the topical note of government and leadership, Fiennes claims he admires David Cameron, predominantly for his pragmatism. "He’s pragmatic, and given the cicumstances and the way that the UK is at the moment – with the Scottish referendum and the European one – it would not be a good idea if we had a strident, determined person. We need a pragmatic one, which I believe Cameron is."
A fan too of Angela Merkel – "also pragmatic" – when it comes to leaders past, however, it's Captain Scott who stands out; the English Royal Navy Officer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic, and who "produced more scientific information about Antartica – including the fact that it was a continent – than all the other international polar expeditions of the first half of the 20th century".
As for others in his field, travel writers/explorers Wilfred Thesiger and Dame Freya Stark are up there, not only for what they managed achieved in the gruelling conditions of 'hot expeditions', but perhaps more so for facing one of the greatest dangers known to man: other man.
"They were up against very dangerous people in the areas where they went. They were very brave. Ice can suddenly behave badly, and you can get bad luck and get killed by crevasses, but it’s not out to get you... Whereas with people, they are...
"Even if you [consider] an urban British setting; when you are walking through a city and you hear a load of yobbos coming towards you on a pavement, you get frightened. Much more frightened than when a polar bear comes a bit close to you on the ice."
Is that really true?
"I'm telling you," Fiennes responds. "I’ve experienced both..."
Sir Ranulph Fiennes will speak at Midtown Big Ideas Exchange on 25th April, 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm at The British Museum, WC1B; bigideas.inmidtown.org
ArticleSir Ranulph Fiennes on what it takes to be a good leaderRanulph FiennesMidtownAhead of his keynote speech at Midtown Big Ideas Exchange, the Guinness World Record holder discusses qualities of leadership