Lynas' breakfast tips
Brian Lynas, a former senior partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, recently visited London Business School to share some of the lessons and ideas he believes students must keep in mind when they return to work. Brian made his remarks during a London Breakfast Series event, which gives students a chance to engage in an informal and private setting with members of the School's seven Regional Advisory Boards. A member of London Business School's UK Regional Advisory Board, Brian recently retired from being a senior partner at PWC, which he joined in 1970. In that time, he worked as the lead partner on major companies such as Reuters, SABMiller and Fosters, with his work covering a variety of audit and investigative projects. The following are some of Brian’s thoughts: Listening
‘You have deep knowledge (from your degrees) that will get you through the door, but you need more to succeed. You need people skills. If you don't listen, then you cannot learn and you certainly cannot respond. If you don't listen, you're flying blind and will crash into a wall. Also, watch the body language of the people you're leading and working with. If someone doesn't understand something, probe and try to understand their issues. Listen to their responses and try to get something out of people. And remember: if you don't follow up, you lose respect.’ Teams
‘If you understand your strengths and weaknesses, you can play to those strengths and then play to the individual strengths of the team. Don't overplay the star of a team. If you do, you get dysfunctional teams. Make the whole better by the sum of its parts. ‘That said, I was never very forgiving of the weaker person. But it's easier to make the weaker person stronger than the stronger person stronger. If you can incrementally improve a weaker person in an organisation, then the whole improves. I struggled with this. I didn't give people enough time. But ultimately, the real success is when the people you mentor surpass you. ‘Of course, if you get to pick your team, pick the best team you possibly can.’ Relationship management
‘If you can take a relationship to the trust and respect level, you're a long way down the road. If you can take it to a friendship, that makes life a lot more fun. If a customer, for instance, really likes you and something starts to go wrong, they're more likely to call you early into the problem and you'll have a chance to fix it before it's out of hand.’ Use a mentor
‘Get yourself a mentor. You cannot do this on your own. The people who need a mentor most are CEOs – they are very lonely at the top.’ (Brian's own mentor is Frank Dick, the former British Athletics Federation's Director of Coaching.) Self-assessment
‘Make it regular and honest. If you don't do this, then you're wasting your time. When something goes wrong, ask “How did I behave? What did I do wrong? How was I involved?” And if you find something wrong, you've got a chance to correct it. Remember, one of the greatest skills in life is the ability to say sorry.’ Job interviews
‘When you're in an interview, ask the interviewer what attributes they're scoring you on. What soft skills do they list as important? If the attributes have nothing to do with leadership, working well with others and communication, it should be a red flag, and you need to ask yourself, “Do I really want to work for this company?”’ Staying in a job
‘Leave a job at your prime. It's an error to stay too long in a job. CEOs do this all the time. Sometimes, you're in a comfort zone, so it's easy to stay. But actually, the harder decision is to leave.’ The penultimate Breakfast of the academic year featured David Hampshire, chair of the School's Africa Regional Advisory Board member, on Wednesday 10 May. For more information on the London Breakfast Series please email Claire Rivett, crivett@london.edu.
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