Fireside chat with Ben Wishart: ‘Be the best that you can be’

“In food retail, we have to be multi-domestical because people are different all over the world”, Wishart says. “As a global company, we want synergy at a regional or global level, and we want to use common technology. But our local leaders want to feel empowered to think and act local. Finding that balance between synergy and giving people space is very hard.”

Do not unlearn your strengths

When asked about his own leadership, Wishart reflects to the previous keynote by Van Praag about awakening the child in yourself. “I think this journey from child to adult is a journey where we unlearn some of our strengths. People come to work to do the things they do, climb the greased pole and be managers and directors and leaders and all that. And they behave the way they think they ought to behave. They forget to be the human being and become the human doing. And it's a big mistake. That's how you kill the child.”

Wishart got into technology in the early 2000’s and started working in the leadership team of the technology function of a multi-billion organisation. “I was asked to come into the technology function and bring business change. And I did not have a clue what I was doing. And the only way I could figure out the right way up was to listen to people and talk to them. Nowadays there is a much more connected, joined-up way of working. It is all about business people and IT people working closely together.”

“Go out and be the best that you can be”, is Wishart’s closing statement. “Don't behave the way that you think people expect you to behave, but in the way which is authentic to you. For two reasons, one is I think you'd be more successful and second because I think you'd be healthier.”