In this ISJ exclusive, Alex Bomberg, Group Chairman, Intelligent (UK Holdings) Limited Group of Companies explores how he became an inspiring leader.
My journey started when I launched my first company in 2001. Since then, I have gone on to own several businesses across the UK, France and the UAE.
Although I have lots of experience, I am not and have never been a natural leader and this tends to surprise people.
Personally, I felt that leadership didn’t come easily to me at all and in fact, for the first decade or so of my 25 years in the industry, I was mostly just reacting, moving from one crisis to the other and convincing myself that chaos was momentum and that survival somehow counted as progress.
When I look back at that point in my career, I often think to myself, I was “leading” in title only.
I began to write this article and I knew that I didn’t want it to be one of those articles where I just pretended that everything worked out because of some hidden genius. For me, it didn’t work out that way.
I decided that in this article, I would be honest about my experiences and hopefully offer a few useful takeaways for people that are starting their own journey, especially to those who don’t see themselves as natural leaders.
Stepping into security
My career in security began not long after I left the military. During my career, I have had the privilege of working with some outstanding people but also some truly reckless individuals.
These individuals were serious risk-takers, the sort who would do almost anything to get results. At the time, I was involved in corporate intelligence and the industry felt like the Wild West.
All of the rules were flexible, ethics were optional and “anything goes” was often taken literally.
In 2006 I was arrested for telephone interception and it was a hard stop for me, one that I really needed. The moment I was arrested was the moment everything changed.
Up to this point in my career, my version of leadership was closer to captaining a ship, charging through fog, chasing the next opportunity to plunder and hoping nobody noticed there wasn’t much of a map.
Although I was leading, I wasn’t directing anyone anywhere meaningful. Though there was motion, noise and adrenaline, there was still no direction.
Once I was arrested, it forced me to reassess not just what I was doing, but also who I really was – this is where my journey in trying to be a good leader began.
Finding leadership through self reflection
Good leadership doesn’t start with authority, confidence or charisma, it starts with self-awareness.
If you want to lead, you have to understand yourself, your strengths, your blind spots and the habits that trip you up under pressure.
You can’t navigate out of the fog if you refuse to look honestly at the compass.
I wanted to be a good leader, I wanted to be respected and I wanted to build something that mattered.
Although I was able to see leadership in other people, I had no idea what leadership looked like in me.
The truth is, just like many others, I’m not especially employable as I don’t fit neatly into boxes and ironically, I don’t follow rules instinctively.
For better or worse, building a company or two became my only real option and this meant learning leadership the hard way, through mistakes, consequences and uncomfortable self-reflection.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: You don’t have to be a “natural leader” to lead well, but you do have to be willing to grow up, slow down and take responsibility, not just for results but for yourself.
You must find good people to be around, you must listen and you must always continue to learn.
That’s where real leadership begins.
