Reflections on Her Majesty The Queen

With time to pause and reflect, I have been struck over the past few days by just what a great leader Her Majesty The Queen actually was. She showed so many qualities of good leadership, that I wonder what questions she would have been asked, if she had spoken on one of our programmes.

I am sure many of the questions would have focussed on resilience. Her Majesty survived and thrived in good times and bad. But what did she learn, and what would she have regarded as failure? She survived constant press scrutiny without the ability to respond, calls to abolish the organisation, to change protocol, and to intervene in policy and politics, as well as not to. After seventy long years, interspersed with challenge, crisis, and success, she emerged as one of the most respected leaders in the world, and is clearly a shining example of resilience.   

I am sure Her Majesty could have spoken a lot about mentoring. I was very interested in the value that all our Prime Ministers placed on their 1:1 sessions with her. Boris Johnson in particular emphasised the value of being able to speak so openly and more importantly, safely, within those meetings. Her Majesty’s range of experiences with her own leaders as well as the hundreds that she met and interacted with around the world, must have made her invaluable in terms of wisdom and insight.

Relevance might also have been a topic for discussion. At Windsor Leadership, we often talk about when a CEO or Chair should step down. Often the answer is around effective relevance. If the organisation still positively benefits from the skill sets and experience of the individual, then they continue to have relevance to the subsequent success of that organisation. In the case of Her Majesty The Queen, she seemed to not only stay relevant, but kept growing in the role, becoming the glue that kept the organisation, and sometimes the Country, together.

Her work life balance would have been a great topic to discuss too. Her sense of duty was sometimes put before family, but we also saw examples of where family came first. As she became the doting Grandmother and Great-grandmother, perhaps a softer side became more visible. This certainly endeared her yet further with the public, strengthening the relevance of the organisation. Her own family were often the subject of her greatest challenges played out in a public forum. She was not a leader able to manage private affairs in private, and that required great strength and an inner resilience.

There are so many analogies with great leadership, that I feel I have only just touched the surface. She became a more accessible leader than her predecessors, through televised broadcasts and royal walkabouts. She was a pioneer, breaking many barriers as a woman in a very male dominated environment and ensured that women were as entitled as men, to inherit the crown. She hosted and charmed leaders of all backgrounds and characters, making her a consummate networker. She showed courage, strength, vulnerability and wisdom. She influenced within her powers (a skill in itself) to make things happen. She showed compassion for society, and of course, she had a great sense of humour.

She is often referred to on our programmes as an exemplar of great leadership. As a nation, we shall miss her in so many ways, but we also look forward to a new era. She has left an amazing legacy and I now wish His Majesty The King the very best in bringing his own style and vision to the role.

May Her Majesty The Queen rest in peace.

Jonathan Story, Chief Executive, Windsor Leadership, September 2022