Less but Better

This week my 'Lessons in Leadership' focuses on a discussion I had with Oliver Johnston ?

I’ve known Oliver for many years. We worked together at Penna when he was Director of Leadership in the Talent Consulting division. He has spent many years running leadership and talent programmes, then ran his own coaching business for four years. In 2020, while withdrawing from full-time coaching, he started Stepping Out from the Top Team , a practice designed to help senior executives move into the next phase of their lives and careers.

Oliver provides some fascinating insights into the mindset of many executives approaching retirement. Having explained the purpose behind Stepping Out, he also expands on his personal maxim, ‘Less but Better’. This philosophy has enriched his life and helped him better manage his transition from business leader to business owner, working two days a week.

The idea behind Stepping Out from the Top Team

Oliver started a business aged 68, when many may have put their feet up. ‘I retired from being a coach, but I didn’t retire. I felt I had unfinished business.’

He found the idea of stepping back from a hectic career, doing less but doing it better, highly attractive. So, he focused on helping others do the same, recruited fifteen coaches and set up his new enterprise.

Oliver continues to coach, but far less than previously. ‘I love coaching so much, but it stopped me from doing other things I love.’ The business aims to help others do the same. Oliver helped over 150 senior executives take that next step and saw how tricky it was for many. A new business was born.

Letting go of labels

Oliver found that executives often become attached to the labels applied to them. Status is applied to terms like Chief Commercial Officer. The word ‘chief’ has a cachet that people aspire to. Letting go of that can be problematic. As Oliver asked, ‘What do you call Postman Pat when he is no longer a postman?’

Making such a significant adjustment in life is often challenging. ‘Many are not conscious of how important these things are to them. They feel it only when they let go of these titles and their status.

The exit door

Another recurring theme surrounds transitioning from a highly responsible, busy executive role to the exit door. Johnston says, ‘People say, “I must think about that, but maybe tomorrow.” They realise five years later that they should have been planning for the last five years.’

He uses Goldilocks to illustrate his point about choosing the right time to leave: ‘You can leave too early. You don’t complete what you set out to do. You can leave too late and find people want you to leave. Then there is the perfect option - where you get the job done, leave a lasting legacy, and have the clarity to know what you want to do afterwards.’

Johnston finds that most organisations only focus on one half of the equation of leadership team progression: how they get people ready to succeed. ‘What they miss is how to create the space in the executive suite for those people to move into,’ he observes. Stepping Out becomes a positive and liberating force, assisting that change.

Dealing with denial

There will always be those who don’t want to face the inevitable progress of time.

How does Oliver deal with this? ‘We must be sensitive because we cannot be considered guilty of age discrimination. And if it doesn’t happen through choice, it becomes enforced.’

However, he finds businesses working to find an empathic and open way of navigating the process. He says, ‘I know one Chief People Officer who told me, “Stepping out at the right time is not a request, it is a requirement.’ That does not mean they force executives out the door. They hold supportive discussions significantly in advance of their exit and prepare them for the change. As Oliver says, ‘It is pointless forcing coaching on people who aren’t ready or who don’t want it.’

He works with one organisation where an executive reaches 54 and is expected to discuss the remainder of their career. They don’t focus on when it will end, but simply how to manage the process. This has become a part of the organisation’s culture and ensures executives understand their responsibilities.

To remove some of the fear from the process, Oliver asks a fundamental question to each person he works with: ‘What do you want to be free from?’

Ultimately, the process aims to give executives more autonomy and freedom. It does not preclude the ability to work or follow pursuits that provide fulfilment or purpose.

Oliver went through this process himself. ‘I went to a four-day-week when working in a PLC. I worked three days a week in my coaching business and have now reduced my time to two days. The process helps you gradually adjust to the life you want.’

Turning point

I asked Oliver about his personal philosophy. Twenty-five years ago, Oliver found a term that stuck with him: ‘Less but Better ‘. It came from the German designer Dieter Rams, who created many of Braun’s coolest products in the 1970s. This maxim meant disposing of unnecessary elements and focusing on what made something really good.

A similar philosophy existed across other design disciplines. The architect Mies van der Rohe famously said, ‘Less is more’. Picasso called art ‘The elimination of the unnecessary’.

Coco Chanel said, ‘Never add, always subtract’. That led to the ‘little black dress’, removing the frills and creating pure elegance.

Having discovered this idea, Oliver applied it to his own life. ‘Our lives are like over-stuffed drawers. Drawers well stocked are easily opened and closed, and you can find anything you need.’ But Oliver thinks that our modern lives are different. ‘Today, we cram the drawer with so much, you can’t close it, you can’t find anything. If you do that for too long, the drawer will break.’

We carry too much ‘stuff’ in our homes and offices; we deal with too many priorities, an ever-increasing to-do list, and social media coming at us throughout our waking hours. ‘Look at the massive growth of personal storage units, where people store their access stuff’, says Johnston. ‘It makes you think if we had less, could we make life better?’

Oliver brings things down to the essential element, focusing on what is needed. ‘I had an extensive library of 1500 books on leadership when I finished coaching. I gave them all away, which wasn’t easy, but I felt much better when I did and loved the space it created.’

Overcoming attachment

Those books meant a lot to Oliver, but as he says, they no longer served him. How does he manage that sense of emotional attachment?

‘You must disassociate from emotional attachment. I was clearing a sock drawer a few years ago and came across a scruffy old pair I wore on a trip to Iceland with my daughter Kate. At first, I couldn’t throw them away.? Then, after a while, I thought, they are just socks!’ He enlists the minimalist Marie Kondo, who advises, “Thank your possessions for serving you, and then let them go.” ‘And I still have the photos we took to remind me.’ he added.

Applying ‘Less but Better’ to leadership

Oliver’s personal philosophy is one he brings to leadership. ‘Leaders must ask, “Am I in the weeds?” If you are, you cannot lead your team effectively.’

He argues the very best leaders are brilliant at asking, “What can only I do?” That becomes their main focus. Then, they ensure everyone else does their jobs properly. ‘Most leaders are doing the job one level below them instead of the job they should be doing. If they say, “I’ve had such a busy week, but I feel I didn’t get anything done.”, you can be sure they’re doing other people’s jobs.’

General Stanley McChrystal says, “Eyes on, hands off.” It’s another quote Oliver carries with him. Once again, it means less to do but doing it better.

How do you want to feel when you wake up?

Often, people make plans; they set goals. The list becomes too long and unachievable.

A couple of years ago, Oliver asked himself: ‘How do I want to feel when I wake up?’ From there, he broke that down into the fewest things he needed to do to get that feeling. ‘I asked myself what I needed to do more of. What do I need to remove?’

This is such profound advice. Rather than creating lists, focus on what makes you truly happy and allows you to do things better.

Oliver left a deep impression on me. He reduces life to the things that truly matter. We all complain about how busy we are; we carry too many material things and don’t focus on the essentials. Oliver Johnston shows us how we can.