A gloriously sunny Calderstones Park was the venue for the 2023 Beyond Leadership Gathering.

It was a chance for the Gather community to hear the incredible stories from those who have been there and done it. To get fresh insight, practical tools, and to build meaningful connections with fellow leaders.

With the stage set and the tee pee assembled, first up with a fascinating keynote on agile leadership was CEO, best-selling author, and leadership advisor Rupal Patel.

Responding to change

Fresh from speaking at the White House, she took us on her journey from CIA agent to the corporate boardroom – a career that as she put it “has come with high degrees of unpredictability”.

For Rupal being an agile leader is “having the ability to change your behaviour and how you respond effectively to whatever the changing circumstances are”.

She shared five ways we can all learn to be more agile and respond to change: intentional constraints, exposure, intuition, curiosity, and experimentation. It was a great mix of actionable lessons and insight into her high-octane career. Explore Rupal’s keynote in more detail here.

Panel discussion

Rupal was joined on stage for a panel session by Chris Teague, Co-founder of People Activation, and Amanda McKenna, former Co-founder of the UK's largest independent digital agency, turned angel investor and strategic consultant.

Chaired by our very own Katie Bolas, Project Director at Gather, it was a lively discussion around the challenges of heading up a business and leadership agility.

A common theme was the importance of managing your time and taking control of your routine.

Chris Teague reflected on the importance of “freedom”. He says he “hates routine” but “my wife says I’m the most routine person she knows”. For Chris creating the space to do the things that energise him – the run in the morning or the Friday decompression pint with a friend – are vital.

This resonated with Amanda McKenna too who is “not good at flow and being organic” as she put it, “I find myself spinning lots of plates, young children, work, I need to compartmentalise my time. There are things I just have to do to set myself up for the day, like banking exercise first thing.”

Rupal shared how she’d taken time to outline her personal energy map, to make the most of the natural rhythms and internal shifts in energy we all have. As leaders “we do get to control at least some of our time” and by aligning our energies with our activities we can avoid some of the “friction we feel in our day-to-day lives”. Pay attention to when you feel creative and schedule writing and presentations for that time and when you’re feeling more introspective get stuck into some strategy.

On the subject of agility, Chris shared how at People Activation, they have worked to bake agile rhythms into their team culture. It’s less a way of working and more a way of thinking that allows people to respond in the most appropriate way to meet customer needs and create value. “From day one, we wanted to build a culture of empowerment – rather than telling people what to do, we ask people what do you think?” It’s an ongoing challenge and 17 years on “it can still be slow and frustrating at times” but they see people thrive when they are empowered to use their judgement to respond to challenges.

Reflecting on her journey taking a business from a team of two to a headcount of 300, Amanda recognises she was too "in the weeds in the early days". It's a challenge she sees with many of the leaders she now coaches. For her, "true agile leadership is when leaders take the role of visionaries, architects and coaches, empowering the organisation, setting them on the path and nurturing them on the way".

She added that "too many companies don't approach team and team optimisation as a broad discipline". Think about a football coach, after a game, the team comes together and they talk over what went well, how the team could improve, and what to build on for the next match. These perpetual learning questions are conversations not had enough, especially when we're having to adapt and shift during times of frequent change.

Getting practical

After a break in the tee pee for drinks and catch-ups, it was time to pick up some practical leadership lessons.

Leading a business can be intense, stressful and at times lonely. The three workshops were a chance to connect, recharge and refocus.

In the calm of the tee pee it was time to dive into the science of sleep and learn how it can transform you as a leader with University of Oxford Post-doctoral Researcher Lorna Daniels.

Techniques that could be useful for the group who were learning about the ever-increasing march towards AI with former Director of Product for BBC iPlayer & BBC Sounds, Dan Taylor-Watt. AI is probably a factor in many a sleepless night for creative and tech leaders and Dan gave a whistlestop tour through some of the apps and tools that are changing and disrupting the way we work and live at warp-speed.

But far from being "in the doomsday camp" he encouraged leaders to see AI as "an infinite intern" with the potential to make operating a business more efficient. It does have the potential to render some roles redundant but will deliver a whole raft of different roles in the industry.

He went on to remind the audience that with each new media the death of the previous one is predicted, "just like Paul Delaroche who said on seeing the first photograph that painting was dead".

Offering more light relief was Sam Avery, Artistic Director of the Comedy Trust. He explored ways that laughter and humour can make you a more resilient and happier leader. Empowering everyone to harness the positive power of humour in their daily lives.

Looking to the future

The event closed with a chance to network, meet the speakers and digest the day. In the panel session, Rupal was asked what was the best piece of leadership advice she’d ever been given? She answered, “Be careful who you surround yourself with. Studies show that you are the average of the people you spend time with. So curate and choose them – from health to wealth, to interests and tastes, those around you can make a huge difference to how far and how high you will go.”

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