DRAWING on more than 26 years’ experience in the Royal Navy, Rear Admiral Jude Terry captivated her capacity audience at the Pomme d’Or on Thursday 9 November as she applied leadership principles learned at sea and on dry land to the business environment.
In Leadership Jersey’s latest event, the former Jersey College for Girls student – who was the Navy’s first female Rear Admiral and whose seniority in the service is trumped locally only by the Lieutenant-Governor – shared lessons from postings as diverse as the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Gulf, the Caribbean, and the Far East in a career that has seen her undertake 18 different jobs in those 26 years.
While providing logistics, planning, and operational support for a service of some 40,000 personnel might sound far removed from the concerns of business leaders in her native Island, the Rear Admiral’s message was that effective leadership translates with ease from ship to shore.
“What is your why? Start with the why and people will follow you. They will follow you, even if they don’t really like you, if they believe in what it is you are trying to get them to do. Lead by example. It’s about knowing where you got it wrong and then admitting that you got it wrong,” she said.
She argued that the military environment – for all its unfamiliarity to most of those present – shared characteristics which from a leadership perspective were common to all.
“We live in an uncertain, complex, volatile and ambiguous world. The events of the last few weeks – never mind the invasion of Ukraine, never mind the storms here, never mind the Middle East which was relatively quiet – all demonstrate that volatility in a military context is really obvious. But it’s really obvious for you too – inflation, unemployment, Covid, for example. Volatility exists everywhere.
“Yes, the military has to be prepared for China, for Russia, for the Middle East – for whatever comes next – but so do all of you because you are either responsible for people and their families, or you are responsible for yourself and your family and therefore you need to think about volatility,” she said.
Faced with uncertainty, she drew a distinction between simple problems and complex issues that required a variety of lenses provided by diverse people, all contributing their own views. At war, things were often more straightforward because there was an immediate imperative to act to protect life but in the civilian world, it was often far less clear, she said.
She continued: “If you are in a business trying to work out your 12-month or 18-month plan, how do you think about that and what the right moment is to go? How do you decide when the right moment is just to stand back and take a breath. Complex problems require lots of people and a different mindset.”
The Rear Admiral cautioned against indecision, employing a metaphor that drew laughter from the audience.
“My favourite saying on that is: ‘Don’t be a flat squirrel’. Squirrels dither, they can’t decide when to cross. There is only one guaranteed thing – they are going to be squashed.
“You are better to back yourself with the evidence you’ve got, with your gut instinct, and then worry about it afterwards. A decision is better than no decision,” she said.
