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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
31 October 2019
Updated: 07 December 2020
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Leaders Now with Ray Lock CBE, chaired by Anna Wright, Naval Families Federation CEO and Clore Social Leadership Fellow
What an honour to hear from such well-respected leaders from the armed forces and service charities sector.
A retired Royal Air Force pilot and commander, Ray Lock imparted key learnings from leading pivotal operations throughout his extensive military career. It however did not stop there. On his retirement from the Royal Air Force as an air vice-marshal in 2012, he joined the Forces in Mind Trust as Chief Executive.
This blend of experience from two quite distinct sectors was eye-opening to say the least. Most of us are all too aware of their associated stereotypes of leadership; the military sector steeped in authority with formal debriefings, versus a charity sector enveloped in collaboration with an informal open-door policy.
Remember, I said, “stereotype”. There is a tendency for military charities to mirror the military sector, and we know that collaboration isn’t always rife in the charity sector.
Discussions were lively and diverse but the emerging theme was hard to miss. Whichever sector, whether dealing with heroic or compassionate leaders, there still remains an uncertainty and sometimes fear of contradicting them.
Prompted by Anna and the audience, questions were discussed around:
- “How can a leader create a culture of listening?”
- “If your leader is not listening, what have you done to overcome that, in the face of a potential crisis?”
- “How do you deal with your leader’s mindset of ‘don’t tell me what I don’t want to hear’ to bring about greater change?”
As Leaders Now offers a safe space for the speaker, chair and audience, I am not at liberty to divulge the valuable insights and stories shared. You’ll have to come to the next event for that gold.
We would like to thank Ray and Anna for offering a rare glimpse into their leadership journeys. Their generous leadership encouraged an atmosphere of vulnerability and openness.
Forces in Mind Trust partner with Clore Social Leadership on the Experienced Leader programme. For more information, please visit this page.
Blog by Nadia Alomar, Clore Social Leadership's Director of Marketing and External Relations.

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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
09 February 2017
Updated: 22 October 2020
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At Clore Social’s Leaders Now breakfast meeting at the House of St Barnabas this week, we were lucky enough to hear from Julia Unwin, former CEO of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the chair of the upcoming Inquiry into the future of Civil Society, a privately funded piece of research.
She started by reflecting on her work and her views on leadership which were refreshingly down to earth and simple. She used wording from a primary school classroom she had found herself in the previous evening to pull together some ideas.
The five leadership skills that stood out for me were:
- Listening, really listening. Giving people ‘exquisite attention’ with a genuine desire to understand what is being said, and be willing to take on board different views to your own, as good leaders have to be great listeners first.
- Playing on the well-known saying she shared of the greater lessons she’s learnt is ‘don’t do something, just sit there’. In other words take time to consider and reflect, don’t confuse action with leadership.
- Make lots of friends and allies, particularly with people who don’t hold the same views as you. Build bridges for people to cross.
- Read broadly and take the pulse of opinions you don’t understand. Take the time to work out why people feel differently to you (then see point 1 above and listen).
- Be yourself, your whole self. However there is a caveat to this. To paraphrase she said, ‘this is not talking about all of your domestic troubles or showing every emotion that you have, but ensuring you don’t waste energy hiding who you are.’
I’ve heard the phrase ‘civil society’ many times but never really thought about what it means. For me it conjures up images of Jane Austen characters and a time when you could take it for granted that everyone is tuning into The Archer omnibus.
Since Brexit here in the UK we’ve become a rather ‘uncivil’ society, people are polarised in their views and, speaking personally, I’m not really able to listen to and understand the case for Brexit. I will try harder. In the US President Trump seems oblivious to societal norms let alone capable of basic ‘civility’. I am not sure he will be encouraged to follow my lead.
At the talk, Julia was asked where she was ‘coming from’ in relation to the Inquiry, and she explained that everyone had been asked to ‘list their priors’, and state their biases. What stood out most was her view that society had become too big and is not local enough. That we had become too logical about operational efficiency about hospitals, schools and services, and that people don’t live like this. I was fascinated about the discussion in the room about housing and the elderly care crisis. Where we are now in relation to both is not in any way ‘civil’, but then neither issues are easy to solve unless we start to talk truthfully about them.

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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
08 November 2016
Updated: 22 October 2020
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Rushanara Ali MP was the latest speaker at our latest Leaders Now breakfast event last week, hosted at the House of St. Barnabas. Speaking to a group of social sector leaders, she opened up about her moments of vulnerability and the pressing need in post-Brexit Britain to create a culture that cultivates a diverse range of leaders.
Rushanara, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, traced her leadership journey back to the experiences of her youth, beginning at the age of seven when she first moved to London from Bangladesh and the inspiration she drew from the diversity she grew up amongst in East London.
Underpinning her talk were two moments of vulnerability that she described in frank detail: when she first went to Oxford to begin her degree, and when she started as an MP in 2010. In both instances, she pinpointed the sense of ‘otherness’ that she experienced.
She highlighted how, after finishing university, she felt she did not have the networks or connections that many of her peers used to advance their own career after university. This formative experience then motivated her to co-found UpRising, a leadership development programme for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
In describing ’s vision of providing young people with the development, networks and mentoring that they would struggle to find elsewhere, Rushanara spoke of the importance of cultivating a diverse range of leaders throughout all levels of civic society. This is needed even more now following Brexit and the societal divisions it had exposed.
Rushanara remarked: ‘If we hadn’t come to recognise the value of leadership before [Brexit], the message is clear now that we have to’. She expanded on this by addressing the need to ‘address social problems directly through working with a variety of agencies including government’.
Despite the significance of the challenge and the urgency of her message, Rushanara was optimistic about the potential for positive change and concluded by outlining her vision to train one million mentors across the UK. She spoke of the crucial role that mentor figures played in her life, and how even though ‘the pathways to leadership are rich and varied’ connecting a young person with a mentor could help put them on the right track and achieve leadership empowerment at scale.
Leaders Now is Clore Social Leadership’s event series for social sector leaders held at the House of St Barnabas. Each month we invite speakers from inside and beyond the sector to share their leadership journeys and provoke discussion about leadership and social change. Sign up to our newsletter and look out on our website for news about upcoming events.

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Posted By Clore Social Leadership,
27 July 2016
Updated: 14 October 2020
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With the closing date for applications fast approaching (midday on Monday 5 September 2016), everyone at Clore Social Leadership is hugely excited to receive applications to our 2017 programme. However, we understand that the process can be a little daunting, so in addition to our FAQs and selection criteria, we have devised a few key points to help guide you through it.
1. Have the support of your employer/nominator
The support of your employer during the Fellowship process is paramount. Your employer needs to understand that the programme is not just an investment in your own leadership development, but an investment in the whole social sector.
Your employer will need to understand their own commitment, as well as the benefits that their organisation will gain from your Fellowship. The support of your employer will become a key element of your development as a leader over the 12 months. From providing you space to share your learnings with your organisation to assisting you with progress and impact surveys, we expect them to stay engaged throughout the Fellowship.
We expect your employer to be your nominator; they will normally be either your Chief Executive or your Chair. In exceptional cases it might be a senior leader in the social sector who knows you well. Make sure they are briefed thoroughly before applying.
More detailed information on the commitment and benefits to employers can be found in the Information for Employers section of our Prospectus.
2. Demonstrate how and why the Fellowship is right for you at this particular time
We want to see what your reasons are for applying to the 2017 Fellowship at this particular point in your life. Where are you on your leadership journey, and why would the Fellowship be right for you now? What do you hope the Fellowship help you achieve?
This will show us whether you have the vision and self-awareness, as well as readiness and head-space necessary to make the most of the opportunity that our 12-month programme will provide you with.
3. Clearly illustrate how you will give back to your organisation and the sector
Although we are strong believers that leadership development encompasses your individual journey, we also strongly hold that it is in fact much bigger than that. We see leadership development as an investment in the whole sector, a way of strengthening the social sector for the future. This is why giveback is one of the key aspects of the Fellowship.
We are therefore looking for applicants who have an appetite to bring back what they learn on the Fellowship to their organisations to achieve better outcomes for their beneficiaries and the community.
4. Show us your flaws
When completing application forms it can be easy to fall into the trap of only showing the best parts of yourself. However, we want to see what you can gain from the Fellowship, how it might help you, and whether you have the self-awareness to do it. Various elements of the programme will allow you to gain further insights into where your strengths lie, and what you could work on.
5. Come to a recruitment event
We are running a number of information events this summer to support you and your application. One of the best ways to get your questions answered, and get a feel for what the Fellowship entails in practice, is to come and talk to the Clore Social Leadership team and our Fellows at one of our events. See our Fellowship Events page for more information and registration details.
If you can’t attend any of our events and still have questions, please call us on 020 7812 3770.
Good luck with your applications!

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