Andrew Wolstenholme (CEO Crossrail, that is a quite a big project)
It’s a great start when someone says ‘I’m going to tell you a story’. The story of the Crossrail project so far was captivating and enjoyable.
Observation – HR is about business, having a CEO talk about business is a really useful thing. We are in business, you learn from people who do business exceptionally – regardless of ‘discipline’. The world is out there, invite it in.
The best quotes from the session
Here are my favourite awesome quotes from that interesting story.If you think the word awesome is inappropriate, well, you probably weren’t here.
‘there’s lot’s of responsibility out there, go and find it’
‘my job is to get the right team around me and to create an environment where they can excel’
‘my the end of today we’ll have created another 4m of tunnel under London’
‘the challenge is to move frontiers forward faster than we are currently able to’
‘some of the inspiration for now, is understanding how inspirational leaders were in the past’
‘aligned objectives keep everyone together’
‘we believe it is in our power to make things better for people’
‘skate to where the puck will be’
‘if you get safety right, only then do you have permission to talk about time and costs’
‘what would we have to do to be seen as an organisation where innovation is a definitive output?’
‘we want to be in a place where we are wealthy in giving ideas up to other people’
‘pigs do fly’
‘it’s fine to be different and to be yourself’
‘give people ‘I was there’ moments’
‘make people part of your story to make them part of an industry’
‘what do I want of HR? Understand my business. Provide expert counsel. Have the courage to challenge.Be a troubleshooter. Envision the future’
‘give people work where they can go and tell their children and grandchildren’
PS – safety messages on the back of gloves – genius. Internal innovation at its simplest and most effective.
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