OPERATIONS
Leadership is a collaborative, empathetic and empowermentfocused endeavour that prioritises both the journey and the outcome
Duncan Angove Global CEO Blue Yonder
NAME: DUNCAN ANGOVE JOB TITLE: GLOBAL CEO COMPANY: BLUE YONDER INDUSTRY: TECHNOLOGY
As CEO of Blue Yonder, Duncan leads the global pioneer in AI-driven digital supply chains. A respected strategic leader of enterprise growth, he previously served as President of Infor, scaling it into the world’ s first industry cloud leader, and held senior executive roles at Oracle. Duncan also contributes global technology governance as a board member for Honeywell. that prioritises both the journey and the outcome. Empathy lies at the heart of my leadership philosophy, guiding my approach to decision-making, communication and relationship-building. Effective leadership is about genuinely connecting with and understanding the needs and aspirations of those we lead. To do that, leaders must also be humble and always open to feedback, new perspectives and ways of looking at the world.
You’ ve advocated for a framework where work is decentralised and a shift away from command-andcontrol leadership. Why, and how do you strike the right balance between empowerment and leading? For me, a single CEO who can orchestrate every aspect of a company is unrealistic, particularly in this environment where work is more distributed. You have to build a framework and a culture where work is decentralised. Then you can drive empowerment without sacrificing accountability and efficiency, and all the good things that come from centralisation. I also learnt early in my career that you must surround yourself with people who can complement you by doing things that you don’ t naturally gravitate to. You can’ t be the smartest person in the room. That doesn’ t mean you don’ t need to be in the details and action-oriented, but it just makes your life so much better when you work with people who are better than you in certain areas. businesschief. com
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