John Potter - Business success though leadership
It might seem a strange career progression to go from session musician to army psychologist to hostage negotiator to leadership and business guru – but John Potter doesn’t think so:
“I’ve followed my interests,” he tells me in his light and airy sitting room overlooking the South Devon coast. “The key thing is doing a good job wherever you go.”
“I first wanted to be a drummer,” he says. “But my father insisted that I become an engineer. So I studied that at University. I graduated but had spent a lot of my time playing in bands, so became a professional musician for much of the 1960s – I played with the Matt Monro, Cliff Richard and Gerry and the Pacemakers at different times.”
After a while he went back to study and became interested “in people’s internal state and their perception of the world”.
He then started working at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. By the time he left eight years later he was well up the military hierarchy helping to train Special Forces including the SAS.
He also obtained a PhD in leadership and stress – he worked with the best of the best in the Army, Navy and Air Force to ensure that personnel were always battle ready and able to cope with the inevitable stress and trauma that combat brings.
It was this experience that allows him to fulfil the role of hostage negotiator. He talks calmly of dealing with hostage takers and finding ways to take the tension and stress out of a life and death situation. What is key, he says, is being able to think clearly and have a way of detaching yourself from the stress and emotion of the events.
He also trained hostage negotiators and has spent time in many Middle Eastern and African countries after the end of the second Gulf War.
“I think every so often about writing a book about my experiences,” he says, “but there are too many things to consider that would make it too difficult. I was part way through writing a book on kidnapping when my Iraqi co-author was assassinated!”
What are these? I ask, who did you meet? Have you made enemies?
The smile comes again – “It’s just best I don’t talk about that,” is all he will say.
He came to Dartmouth when he was to take up a post at the Britannia Royal Naval College in 1986. In preparation for that he visited Strete village and fell in love with the place – he bought a house there and still lives in it to this day. In the end he did not take up the post at the BRNC but set about creating his own management and leadership development business working with major companies in the South West such as Wrigley’s and English China Clay .
His experience working on the psychology of stress and its impact on leadership ability has meant John is much in demand – he has worked in the highest echelons of the military and security industry and his rapid rise and top level success left him still hungry for new challenges.
“The thing about combat is it puts the human mind through very extreme pressures and I looked at how this changed people’s behaviour,” he said. “If you can unlock the key to the process the mind goes through under stress and use that knowledge to ensure people still perform their best under pressure, it is a very useful tool. Of course this can be applied in any situation where people are under stress and this has many applications.”
He went freelance in 1995, creating ‘John Potter International’ - and has worked all over the world, including Melbourne, New Guinea, the Middle East and beyond. He was appointed visiting Professor to Exeter University in 1998 - working in its Centre for Leadership Studies.
He has applied his knowledge to the world of business and found a great need for new ways of looking at management, empowering staff and creating employee engagement.
“The key for leaders in business is to find the human and intellectual value in their company and make the most of it,” he said. “This requires leadership and the ability to engage with your people so that they feel connected to the company and inspired to work hard for you. You have to bring the best out in them.
“If we can unlock the potential present in virtually every company in the UK then we can build this country into an economic powerhouse, based on small to medium-sized businesses.”
He has strong views about the state of education, saying that obsession with qualifications takes away the focus on the key role of schools, colleges and universities: building their students’ skills and their mindset to be successful in whatever they undertake. He is going to provide a guide to this development in his new book shortly to be published called, “Punch above your weight in whatever you want to do”.
“We need to look to higher education to give our young people real business skills,” he said. “If we give people the skills to be entrepreneurs and then reward them for showing that aptitude and enjoyment in taking ownership of what they do – whether it be within a larger company or on their own – then we will find more businesses succeeding and the economy growing in a faster and more sustainable way.”
His views and expertise have been recognised by his invitation to join the Advisory Board for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Entrepreneurship in the House of Lords – which aims to boost the role taken by new businesses formed by entrepreneurs.
“The future of our economy depends on two things: ownership and leadership. We need companies whose owners and employers are engaged and take ownership of what they are doing – whatever their role, whatever their business. The way to find this engagement is through good leadership.”
First published By The Dart March 2014
