Iain Blatherwick - Trust and integrity in leadership

Nottingham Business School Business Leaders

Corporate lawyer Iain Blatherwick never intended to be a leader.

But when the retiring Managing Partner at his law firm Browne Jacobson told colleagues there were no suitable internal candidates for the job, Iain recognised a challenge.

Months later he was elected as the new Managing Partner – and went on to lead a decade of remarkable growth, during which the company’s annual turnover rocketed from £30m to more than £80m.

Browne Jacobson now sits half-way up the list of Britain’s 100 biggest law firms.

Iain tells the Nottingham Business School’s Business Leaders’ Podcast: “When my predecessor said he didn’t think any of the internal candidates [including myself] were up to the role… I thought, Hang on! I’m going to prove you wrong here!”

Iain was originally reticent to put himself forward for the job. He had an old-fashioned idea that a leader had to be a “superhero figure” who expects people to follow them.

He soon realised this wasn’t the case.

“My view was that a leader was someone who had all the answers. Now I’d say leaders must be willing to listen and learn,” he tells Honorary Visiting Professor Mike Sassi, in Episode 22 of the NBS podcast.

“The key skills are around building trust – and there are several different ways you can do that,”

Early in his leadership, Iain had to rely on the trust and goodwill he had already built with the firm’s 500-plus staff, when a banking glitch meant they didn’t get paid – in the week before Christmas!

Staff were obviously concerned, and news reporters were calling to ask if the company had financial problems.

Iain says: “That was particularly tricky… but it comes down to trust. At those moments you just have to speak to the workforce and say what has happened. If you’ve created an environment of trust, then they’ll believe you.”

The technical issue was sorted, and the staff were paid. But it taught Iain a valuable leadership lesson.

“If people inherently trust you, those moments – tough as they might be – are much easier,” he adds.

Iain’s advice to today’s graduates starting out today in a career they hope might lead to leadership, is similarly straightforward.

“Curiosity is a much under-valued attribute. If you’re really interested then that’s a good start,” he says.

“And be willing to learn. If you understand the business [where you work] as a whole, you’ll understand the part you can play in it.”