Episode 59 - Compass for Life with Floyd Woodrow MBE DCM

Speaker A: Welcome to the Centre for Army Leadership podcast. I'm your host, Lieutenant Colonel David Faulkner, the head of the Centre of Army Leadership. Drawing on over 300 years of British army leadership experience, the Centre for Army Leadership podcast looks to establish what is required of our leaders and our leadership to meet the challenges of both today and tomorrow. For the British army, leadership underpins everything that we do. It not only ensures we do right by our people, it underpins our operational success. This podcast series seeks to harness diversity of thought and experience from military leaders as well as leaders from the worlds of sport, academia and business, stimulating debate, awareness and critical thinking. Today, we are privileged to be joined by Floyd Woodrow, a military leader, award winning speaker and founder of Chrysalis Worldwide, a global values based leadership organization. He also leads the Quantum Group recognised for the FinTech Innovation Awards in 2018. Floyd's military career began as a soldier in the Parachute Regiment before joining the Special Air Service at, uh, just 22. He earned the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions in Iraq and an MBE for his work in Afghanistan. Alongside operational service, he studied law and psychology. Since leaving the military, Floyd has built an international reputation for developing elite teams and delivering leadership and performance training across sport, business, education and the not for profit sector. Floyd is the author of Elite and the Warrior, the Strategist and you'd and the creator of the Compass for Life Leadership model. As we step into a new year, a uh, natural moment for fresh starts and renewed purpose. This episode focuses on how leaders reset, refocus and rebuild momentum after challenge or change. It's a perfect time to examine the habits, mindset and clarity required to begin again with intent. And there are few better guides than Floyd Woodrow. So whether you're a soldier at the beginning of your leadership journey, a seasoned leader preparing for the year ahead, or simply someone looking to develop your personal leadership, this conversation will hopefully provide you insights to help you start 2026 in a meaningful way. Floyd, thank you so much for joining us at the Centre for Army M Leadership and it's a great pleasure to have you for the first podcast of 2026.

Speaker B: Thank you. Honestly, I'm so pleased that uh, I'm able to start the new year with you.

Speaker A: No, great. Uh, before we dive into, uh, the main conversation, I always like to begin at the same place with uh, every guest. So leadership isn't something any of us suddenly arrive at. It's shaped by experiences, people, a moments, uh, that leave a mark. So to start us off, what's a leadership lesson you learned early in life that has stayed with you throughout your career.

Speaker B: The most important leadership lesson that I have ever learned is to do basic things exceptionally well. I was really fortunate. I met an outstanding soldier when I was 17 years of age called Al Slater. And he was so exceptional that all he wanted to do was just simple things. Make sure you understand the principles, make sure you put them into practice. And then advanced training, which I think is another great thing. Advanced training is just simply the basics done exceptionally well.

Speaker A: That's great, great. And I'm sure lots of people could sort of relate to that, uh, listening. So it's January 26th and the start of a new year. Uh, many of our listeners will be focused on reflection, goal setting, resolutions and a fresh start. And the saying if you don't know where you're going, you might end up somewhere else comes to mind. So, um, Floyd, from your perspective, what does a fresh start mean to you personally, both as a leader, uh, and as a human being?

Speaker B: I think a fresh start's a really interesting way to describe some of the things we do potentially in New Year. What I would probably be saying is my fresh starts for a Super North Star are sometimes when I've achieved something and I'm now looking at doing something different. But I think reflection should take place not just at, uh, the beginning of a new year, but, but consistently so that you are really doing a feedback loop on what that Super North Star is. And just to uh, be clear, a Super North Star for me is where you want to be in the next three, five, ten years. It's something that just takes you forward on a journey. And I'll always use this term a journey of adventure and experience because that's what I think Super North Stars are. I think there are about finding things that motivate you, that drive you, that you're passionate about. Because the most important thing to do, I think on reflection is to start to look at your inner journey. This is about understanding where you are mentally, physically. I use the term spiritually, but I do not mean from a religious perspective. I mean from a perspective of what is your purpose, what's the drive at this moment in time? Because the environment that you're in is just a training environment. And I've done five, six different jobs already, I expect to do two more. Those are just training grounds for me to become a better person. So I think this is a great time just, just to sit and think. I'm going on journey. It's a new journey this year. What are the things that I want to achieve? Because that will make me a better person?

Speaker A: No. Great. And you mentioned powerful, uh, reflection. Do you think leaders sort of underestimate how powerful reflection can be?

Speaker B: I think we fall into the trap of day to day, week to week, month to month stuff. I think we've got to step back. Although the military in terms of strategy will always have that, uh, as one of the key principles. Again, far too often we forget to look at the milestones, we forget to sit back and think, and more importantly, celebrate success. Realize that that actually was a great moment so that we get our endorphins and our dopamine hits. But what we're also doing is reflecting on some of the things that we should adjust to in order to redirect. That's again, simple things with compasses. We just don't go on a straight line. We reflect. We're directive, but we're also emergent. We can jump over steps and take different directions to be successful. So I don't think do it as well as we should do.

Speaker A: Right. Okay. And then you, uh, we've talked about is, you know, new intentions. So when you coach leaders in various walks of life, how do you help them move from like a vague resolution to sort of purposeful direction?

Speaker B: Uh, the word is exactly. That's purpose. I want to know what does this actually mean? So what is that Super North Star? Can you articulate it? And the key thing is the minute somebody can articulate the right Super North Star, they come alive. There's like a motivation, an energy, a focus that just comes across. Anybody you ask when you say, what do you want to do in the next year if they don't come alive? I automatically assume this is a difficult journey. But the other key thing for me on purpose, is that I'll never get there by myself. So am I able to make sure the people around me are all pointing in the same direction? I think once you have that in place, then you are most certainly difficult to beat.

Speaker A: And do my research. Ahead of, uh, our chat today, I've listened to various sort of talks you've done on YouTube and podcasts. And you often address audiences by talking about who you are determines how you lead. So from that basis, how has your identity and upbringing shaped the way that you've developed as a leader?

Speaker B: Oh, ah, really important. I think if I go to my upbringing, um, I came from a, ah, family that were all about communication. They were about commitment and they were also about challenge. And, um, we were challenged as children to think about politics. We went to work when we were quite young. So we understood that if you wanted to do anything, you had to go out and work for it. The discipline of getting up early. And for myself, I worked in a wholesale fruit and veg, uh, market with my father, which was challenging. Cold in winter, warm in summer, but was one of the best environments because that upbringing meant the worth of self determination. I got to work with really older people. So you had to grow up quite quickly. And the challenges were always there. From my mother, who was very egalitarian but very disciplined, very, uh, very competitive, but also had her own Super North Star. So I could see that she was working unbelievably hard for us as a family. But she had her own aspirations to run a pub, which she took on when she was 60, um, years of age, which I thought was phenomenal. To leave what was safe, secure environment and take on something that was highly risky, especially at the time of life that she was in when she wasn't, um, 100% medically fit, that was exceptional. So I think that was massively important because then you start to understand about your own personality. And I wish I'd done this a lot earlier, but as I went through a number of different things, um, roles and responsibilities, jobs and experiences and training, understanding my own personality was invaluable. And some of the biases that I had and some of the blind spots, what that enabled me to do was adjust so that one style of communicating does not fit all. It allowed me to really understand myself and become more competent as, certainly as a leader.

Speaker A: Um, and, um, we've mentioned your book already, the Warrior, the Stratus, and you. And we've talked about the North Star, which, you know, I look back on, having read it, a powerful model for people to maximize their potential. So for listeners that sort of may not be familiar with it, can you explain how it would help our listeners wanting to reset at the beginning of the year?

Speaker B: So the Compass for Life program. And the compass is about having the North Pointer. The North Pointer on a compass always points north. That's the Super North Star. Uh, it's about where you want to be in three, five or 10 years. It can be as big as changing the world to as small as playing the piano. The key is that it's taking you forward, forward on this journey. So you get the experiences, the skill sets, the things that allow you to grow as an individual. That's about having great curiosity and making sure that you are stepping out of your comfort zone so that you can really grow. South Cardinal is about strategy, I.e. facts figures, detail, no emotion. If I want to do the Super North Star, how do I break that journey down? The most important element here, though, is wisdom, common sense and judgment to apply the information that you're getting correctly. We're inundated with, with information and data. Most of it's not going to help us, so it's refining that data. Down East Cardinal is your values. That's your character, what you stand for, and probably most importantly, what you do not stand for. That's not how I'm going to behave. It's also about the team code of conduct, how you bring a team together, how you create trust, passionate debate, commitment, accountability. Because you're aligned behind the Super North Star and Team Focus is aligned. And then the West Cardinal is about resilience, mental, physical, social and emotional. Making sure you combine all those great aspects. That is about strength of character. That's not about being big and tough. But you're willing to fight to get to each of the milestones that you set yourself. You sit at the center of that compass. You're in the center so that you can just align, make sure you can articulate it. And my belief is with that alignment, you are difficult to beat, even on your worst day. If you're not. If any cardinal is out of sync, it's just a more difficult journey. I'm not going to say you're not going to get there, but it will take far longer. The map that I talk about is a visual representation of the journey. That's so you can really see what that Super North Star looks like from a personal, professional perspective. The most important thing for me is that you can combine what you want to do. As I said, as a profession but also in life, I think the master in the art of living just balances them up. They leave others to decide whether they are at work or play. I think that's the highest level. And again, the map allows me to have a strategy in place, know my resilience and my physical strategies. I need to get there. My values, the team. And it just keeps me on point because I can keep reflecting, whereabouts am I on this journey?

Speaker A: That's great. Uh, and you've talked about alignment and it is January 2026. So for, uh, any of our listeners out there that feel it's January, unfocused or overwhelmed, what would you say the first question they should ask themselves to start realigning, um, and getting back on track, to focus, to not feel overwhelmed.

Speaker B: Honestly, I just say that engagement's the most important thing that can Only come from that Super North Star. I think you have to reflect. Is the profession I'm in the one that I want to be in the next three, five, or ten years? What does it actually look like? What motivates me? What am I drawn towards? What helps me financially? What do I want to give back to society? From a personal perspective, am, um, I being creative, innovative? Um, am I pushing myself physically? I just think those reflections allow you to come back and think that this is your journey through life. If you're not coming alive, if you're not focused and determined, then I would definitely reflect. Are you doing the right things for you? If you are, sometimes it's just realigning and thinking, yeah, this is actually the journey that I want to go on. There'll always be obstacles out there, and most of the obstacles usually are ourselves. So do we want to fight for it? Are, uh, we motivated? Will we put the time and effort in the second obstacle? Usually the second magnet, as I would term it, is the people you surround yourself with. Sometimes we can be in environments that are just negative, that can hold us back or people don't want us to leave this particular environment. I just suggest that that reflection is important. And then trust yourself, trust your intuition, and then look for opportunities. There's a lot of research out there about the people that sometimes we say are lucky. It's not that they're lucky. It's just that they seize an opportunity when it arises. That's quite important. What they do is they seize it. They step forward. They don't mind making mistakes, because sometimes we make mistakes on this. But at least I've learned something from it. That generally is how I would review any transition.

Speaker A: That's great. And you've mentioned the concept of a North Star, and I, uh, look at that and sort of closely align that with me mission, uh, command's emphasis on clear intent. Uh, how can leaders ensure their personal purpose complements rather than competes with organizational purpose?

Speaker B: I think that's where you look at the role that you're in. If they compete. This is a difficult situation because the minute that competition comes in, you will go personal. You will. It's hard to. To change what you desire yourself, which is why that's important. So when we're engaged, I'll, uh, just talk about why engagement's important, and I'll probably talk about my engagement with the military, which is probably an easiest way to do this, is that when you're engaged, nothing will stop you. Your mind, your body are aligned, and that draw is so powerful. That's where the Super North Star comes alive. When I joined the military, I knew it was the right job for me. The minute I stepped into the environment. I can honestly say, even though I'd wanted to do it since I was a child, this was definitely my environment. From a physical perspective, a mental perspective, I felt there was loads of support and challenge. It was where I wanted to be. And that was the true. For 27 years, four years with the parachute regiment, 23 years in the Special Air Service. Nothing would have changed my mind on that until I got to a stage in the military where I'd been very fortunate to do all the really great jobs and have some phenomenal experiences. But then I did realize I wasn't growing anymore. And then I started to look elsewhere from a personal perspective. I started to study law, psychology. I'm gaining other skill sets. And then I got to a moment in time where now there is a conflict. There's a conflict between me being in an organization where I'm probably just getting to a point where I needed to take a break. I was probably just about to become a bit more cynical in some of the things I'd seen go round and round the houses yet again, uh, and going on a new journey. And I knew I had to make a decision. And then I made the decision to go into business, which was, again, the right decision for me. Seizing an opportunity, trusting myself, and then I stepped. So that was the right thing. And I think that's where the balance comes. Nothing would have taken me out of the military, even if I'd won the lottery up until that point. But the minute your heart and your mind are pointing in a different direction, it's difficult to not follow that direction.

Speaker A: Yeah. Okay, great. Uh, is there anything that surprises you about how people see themselves when you first start working with them? I'm sort of conscious that we in the Army. Army doctrine, uh, sorry, army leadership doctrine stresses that leadership is about character, knowledge, and action. But when you are, uh, in your role, working with people, is there a common theme that surprises you, um, about people? The first sort of, uh, couple of sessions, you start working with them? Yeah.

Speaker B: The most important thing is how little people fully understand. What are, uh, my key drivers? What's my personality? What are the things that make me tick? Understanding yourself. And when it comes into how. What is leadership about? It's about understanding the individual, without a doubt. And I would suggest that we don't always go to the depth that we need to to understand that individual. And then the teamwork will come from that, really understanding what drives this person. What are the personality traits which I can see. So even in the room that we were in today, I could look at you as a team and I can see who's the extrovert, who's the introvert. I can see who's about detail, who's intuitive. I can literally see those things happen. When you know that it means you unjust. When somebody can tell you what they want in life, they're giving you quite a lot about themselves. And that to me is one of the key elements. Once you understand that, you can have a great relationship and then you can understand them and adapt. But they also then know that you are sensitive and you have empathy towards who they are. So self esteem, number four in Maslow's hierarchy of needs, is fundamental to all of us because that means we're worth something, that you can include me, that I feel significant, you give me control, so I'm competent and there's a warmth, there's a relationship here. I think that's the most important thing. And I would say every individual I've ever come across requires that do you see me?

Speaker A: And that's also based on your ability to gain their trust and that foundation which is critical to that relationship. I just want to move us now to, um, the Lieder Compasse framework, um, which has a key section under Leaders knowing themselves and particularly self awareness. So how does the Compass for Life model help leaders understand their strengths, blind spots and biases?

Speaker B: Because it comes right the way into understanding who you are today. So what is driving you? What's important about it is the depth that you then go into that. So when you're looking at who am I? Then that would be under ethos, which is about what are your values? But where have I seen them? You used a great word, actually, the word trust. Um, but people think it means like, in some cases it does not mean like, that's probably really important. What it means is you're doing what you say you're going to do. And far too often when we start to really drill down, is the person actually doing what they say from an authentic perspective is correct. So what you say, feel, think and do are the same things. I would say this is where you can start to question where you are. So what does that mean? What it means is if you look at all the values of the military and you say that's what we adhere to. Well, I would say I can tell you what I've seen go wrong in the military and it will be to do with one of those values not being held up, but more importantly that it's not. It's where we walk past it. So has an individual seen it and not held it up as the real true value? And that's the best teams I've ever worked. The best teams I've ever worked in. You would never even let them down. That peer group pressure would be there simply because we're holding to what we know is the right character skill sets. So that awareness for me is important. Compass means you're putting all of those things in place so that now you've got a framework which will hold you to account. Is that the right strategy? Did you hit the right milestones? If this is our values are, uh, they lived values when they're under pressure, do we hold to resilience because we want to win as a team? And setting that Super North Star means if you hold to it, then you've got to go down the map and you will know if you come off track.

Speaker A: No, that's great. I'm really taken by the sort of values piece from what you've just spoken there, but also in your book, and aligning, uh, values, behaviors and purpose, particularly if you apply that, then to an organization like the army. What does a truly aligned culture look like? Um, uh, and what practical steps can leaders at every level take to strengthen that culture? Data today.

Speaker B: So we talk about values and we talk about culture. And you and I had a quick chat beforehand. I want to, I want to come in here because this is quite important, because you'll hear we need to talk about culture. We need a cultural change program or something of that format. That's the wrong thing to do. You cannot have culture in isolation. It has to form part of, in, in my opinion, the compass, because I need all these aspects. You've got to have alignment to have the right values. If you're not all aligned behind a purpose, it means that whatever my values are, they're not aligned to what we're trying to do as an organization. So the Super North Star, again, is it clear? And then resilience and then strategy, because you've got to have a strategy to apply the culture correctly that holds up under pressure because we know where we want to go to win. And that's why the compass framework just fits over any leadership model to give you consistency. Now, how does that come back? I can go into any organization. The first question I ask, the first question I ask any organization, if I isolate every single person here and ask them what The Super North Star is. Will they say the same thing? Because if you don't say the same thing, it just means that all these talented people are moving off, uh, on a different leg in a different direction. Now they may come together or they may misalign, but will you have the collective and the prioritization and the clarity, which means we don't even have to think, we're just doing things. I doubt it. And, um, that's across any organization I've ever been in. The ones that seem to do really well are, ah, super clear on what that vision looks like and where we're going to be. They have a great strategy. The values are clear and lived. And then when they're under pressure, because you will be always under pressure, when all of a sudden you might need to think about compromising a value, then you have to make a big decision. Are we holding up to what we say we're going to do, or am I allowing something to drop here? And all I suggest is that that's the critical decisions that we have to make as leaders. But are you aligned? That will always come back to engagement. Head and heart means you get discretionary effort. And it's amazing how often we just get effort that's not necessarily discretionary. It's just because I get told to do something. In which case you won't get the best out of anybody.

Speaker A: Great. Can I bring you back to the. You mentioned the values and standards and lived. Um, I think that's one of the things that the army, if it's been reflective, would say it struggles with. How can you genuinely live the values and not just have something that you remember and written down in a book? What have you seen works that gets people to live those values? And importantly, the thing that's often overlooked in the army is the standards. But I really want to try and unpack that if I can.

Speaker B: You can. There's the three behaviors that will define a culture. It's going to be what the leader role models. So fundamentally, if I do not see leaders doing what they're telling me to do. So an easy example sometimes is if I'm in sport and I see a coach that is five stone overweight telling me that I should be looking at physical fitness, I'm probably going to question it because whilst I totally agree that's the right thing to do, I might just question why you're not doing and living those values, if that's what we're saying we all have to be. Now, I don't expect you to be as physically fit as me in that role. But I'm going to say I think there's got to be some collective responsibility when we're asking anybody to do anything. Are, uh, the leaders of this organization doing it? Because if they're not doing it, it's not fair. And actually, fairness is one of those great rules that run through children. How can it be fair if we're allowing people to get away with some of these things we say are important? So it's role modeling. What the leader attends to, measures and rewards is really important. So do I make sure? Do I reward bad behavior? Do I reward those that are cutting corners? Or do I not even just challenge them? Am I allowing them to get away with it? Because it's more difficult to challenge them? Because the person could be quite influential, disruptive, um, aggressive. There's lots of different reasons. So what you look at is really important as a leader. And then how a leader reacts under pressure, because again, those are the things that I'm going to monitor. And the research suggests 80 to 90% of behavior is defined by those three elements. And what followers need is some really great research. The number one thing is genuine concern for others. That stands out as number one. And I was really surprised by that research because I would have put it's the vision, but it's not. It's that the leader has genuine concern for the people under their care. And that's probably a great start point, isn't it? Again, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, fundamentally, am I safe?

Speaker A: Yeah. So I can sort of see how that ties in with the values of, uh, respect for others. But also, uh, uh, leaders know their profession, know their job. And if you can't be that role model, um, then people aren't going to really look at it, look up to you. Which really ties in with what you said before.

Speaker B: Can I just come in here a second? Remember, what's really important there is that they know their profession. They don't have to be the best. This is really important because what I expect you to be able to do is do, again, those basic things. Well, I don't expect you to be the fastest in this group. I don't expect you to have more knowledge than anybody else. But I do expect you to, uh, have some fundamental understanding. Which is why I would also hit home, um, on basic soldiering skills and things like juniors and seniors and things of that nature for me were fundamental. I would never allow any leaders to go through any of these processes and get to any position without having done those things so that I know they've got the experience tangibly on the ground. We do the best training in the world. The military do the best training in the world. As long as you get chance to do that training to give the competencies, that means we stand out and above everybody else. I can honestly say when it's done well, military training is exceptional. But if we don't get that training, if we now start to cut standards and corners on what's happening, then it's not long before we'll have an implosion in our ability, uh, to war fight.

Speaker A: Yeah, and General Kalu would echo that, uh, in terms of one of his key mantras is let's do the basics well in soldiering because that sets the foundation. And we had that conversation before we came in here. I'm also conscious that you work with a number of high performing teams. So from your experience of working with those teams, what are the small but consistent behaviors that create that positive cultural shift and how can army leaders embed those behaviors across their units?

Speaker B: Honestly, it's the same thing we've just gone through. This is what I love about this discussion is that sometimes we keep thinking, oh, sports must have a silver bullet. It's got nothing to do with that. It's exactly the same principles come into play. Is it super clear? Do we have the right strategy, right values, and are we going to be resilient and then underpinning that? Maybe the nuances of the particular skill sets and some of the, the environments that different groups operate in, but the principles do not change. It is that clear and that simple. And again, I'd come back to you. Most of the things that we're going to discuss or we're going to talk about, they're not complicated. People try to complicate this. It's the same thing. When I see strategy and I see five pages or 500 pages of strategy, it will never work. It is a single piece of paper. All you need to do is clarify and communicate these things really well and live them and do it every single day. You will have no issues. The minute things start to become tough and people go off track is because it is tough to do some of these things. It's tough to be disciplined all the time. It's tough to stay, uh, in top physical condition. It's tough to do strategy and to stay on point on the milestones. It's tough to have a purpose that means you are out of your comfort zone in order to be the best because of the competition around You. But if you want to be at the height of your profession, then you need to be in that bracket. You need to be thinking, you know, I may not be 100% all the time, but at least 90% of me is going to be good enough to win. That's how I would look at it. Um, I'm not asking you to be 100%. What I'm just saying is you do need to be in that, let's say 80% plus the majority of the time, and you'll be fine.

Speaker A: It's good to hear that you talk about strategy on a page, because I think, you know, most people will read a page as opposed to, you know, anything beyond that. People will start to lose the interest. If you can't articulate it in a page, then you've probably lost people. So, uh, what we're not saying necessarily is rip up all those army, uh, strategy documents. But, uh, where possible, try and articulate on a page. I just want to bring it back to.

Speaker B: Sorry, can I just come on there?

Speaker A: Do you mind me just coming there?

Speaker B: The key is storytelling. So let's come right the way back to the foremost element here. It's telling the story about why we do those things. There are some elements that I would say to you, and I'll give you a great example of this is what I love about the military is our ability to get a message across. If you take, and I'll take, ambush orders, because I think it's just one of those. When I see ambush orders delivered properly, it's just a joy to listen to and to watch what somebody's doing. Complex two hours of discussion. But you break it down into these small sections, you're able to create a visualization of what we're doing on the ground, what happens with our contingencies. We talk about what each individual is supposed to do at a given moment in time. That is magical, isn't it? I mean, when you finish that, if it's done well, and then you walk it through, and I've now done that in day and night time. Nothing goes wrong because I've done it. I've seen it. You've seen it. You've integrated it. You've also now felt it as well. It's movement as well as the visualization. The story's told. I've been questioned. You're under pressure. So, you know, you need to know what's happening. Um, and then that's where the magic happens. I remember running a program and where the downside of it is when that's not done. I'll just tell you a quick story. Um, I was once working on a particular task where I brought in two senior leaders to do ambush orders. And I said, look, I just want you to make it nice and simple. Follow the doctrine. Just don't try and do anything magical. Just do what you need to do. And I picked two people who I thought had the experience and knowledge to do it. And they went and they gave a set of ambush orders in about 25 minutes, which we all know will never be. You can't be good. It's an impossibility. And I asked them, I said, why? Why did you do that? Tell me, explain. Did I, Was I not clear? Did I not give you the picture and explain to you? And it's because they'd just not practiced it, they'd not gone through it, and they'd forgotten to do again, those basic things really well. Yet, of course, within a very short space of time, they just gave two exceptional two hour long set of orders. Again, it comes back to, we must keep practicing those basic drill sets. That's what is magical about the clarity of the picture you're creating. And that to me is the beauty of a good leader. You can create this, you can create the strategy, the values, but then you have to live it because it's the people beneath you that deliver it. That's probably the key thing on strategy. You don't deliver strategy. Soldiers deliver strategy. Leaders guide, A soldier delivers strategy. Which is why the other great strength of, um, the military and what we've done as a profession, we know you can give that to a lance corporal, a private soldier, to make the most phenomenal decisions that we know most other armies, that would be up to a colonel level. And you trust them to make that decision.

Speaker A: And that's the beauty of mission command and empowering them and that trust. I want to move it back to sort of the goal setting, uh, strategy and looking, uh, particularly through your strategist lens in the book. Um, and I just wanted sort of from a personal level, Floyd, can you share with the listeners a practical routine or an exercise that you've picked up from your military, uh, career or your career in business that helps people build that clarity and purpose?

Speaker B: I can, and I can give you a reason why I do it in this way. Um, sometimes when we talk about being scared, I've been more scared in business than I have been on a battlefield. And the reason I say is I probably was well trained. I'd done through all the principles, and I Thought we were probably pretty good. So I was never in a place where I was completely out of my comfort zone in business. That's been different. Having a strategy's business been utterly invaluable. Uh, and one time when, um, I nearly lost a business because of a very aggressive group, I had to just be strategic. There's no good having a Super North Star in the sense of I kind of know what we want to do, but that's too far away. Now I'm down into the next three months. Can my business survive three months? I know what my values are. That's really important underpinning because I'm going to need them and I need to be resilient. So again I, I use the compass as a quick metric. Where am I? Which of these cardinals needs to be at the forefront of the compass strategy today? And the word that comes in, the words that come into my mind, and I do this nearly all the time now anyway, is facts, figures, detail. Floyd. So I write that down. I just want the facts, the figures and the detail. No assumptions. I don't want anything that's maybe or ifs. Let me list everything. And I spend my time listening to people. I don't allow people to be emotional, creative, innovative, whatever. I just want. Just give me the facts. Is that a fact? Is it, uh, is that what the contract says? Is that what the barrister said? Is that what somebody else has said? And we just list everything down because what that's doing is just all of a sudden you're getting clarity. Emotion's going to take you in a multitude of different directions. So I don't, I minimize it completely. Even though I might be just minimize the emotion. Once I've got all the facts that I need and I know what I'm trying to do so really clear, what is the aim of this exercise? I then think, right, what's positive about this situation? And I'll just look and go, right, what is positive about this? It's allowed us to do this. Right, great. Even though when you think it's dark, there's positives. I need to be innovative and creative. What, what can I look for? What do I need to be? Where do I need to be creative here? And then what I look at, what are the dangers and risks of this? And then right at the end I go, now how do I feel? And what I've done is I've just segmented my brain to think in the right way. It's not trying to do everything. And all I'm doing is trying to get to uh, a more conscious awareness where my subconscious is coming to the fore. So I allow that to do all the magic behind the scenes and then I trust my intuition. What's the right answer? I follow that procedure so many times during the week. Right. And just doing allows me to calm myself down. And then I'm looking at in one page, how can I articulate what we need to do? And I mean that in one page, how can I articulate what this needs to be? Because I need all these people to now go and do things. And then ultimately it came, that particular situation came down to a values call where we ended up, um, fighting in court and winning.

Speaker A: And I suppose practicing it makes it become more familiar when you go through it. So, you know, you may not get it right the first time around if someone, one of our listeners, is going to use that technique. But actually over time it becomes ingrained in your memory and mind.

Speaker B: The most important thing about everything we're covering here is mentally you practice these things. So there's not one thing I'm telling you that I don't practice once a week. I mean as a very minimum, whether that's my resilience strategies, my strategic thinking values, or the Super North Star, I'm always going through that cycle because that's important. Your brain is a supercomputer. The great thing about it is when it's focused on what you want to achieve, that's where the magic comes in. That's where you don't have to think. And that's where we get into flow. So what I'd say for most people that are listening is they've been in flow because you've been on battlefields or you've been in training where you don't have to think anymore. You've done all the training, you know to go left, you know to go right, you know, to make the right call. That's the beauty of a mind using these techniques is that um, you won't have to think anymore. You're beyond thinking, you're doing. That's the magic of all the things at ah, the highest levels of leadership is don't have to think anymore. I know what to do.

Speaker A: And M. Is mindfulness part of your daily routine

Speaker B: every day. So mindfulness and let's say meditation and let's not get hung, um, up by these two words either. This is not sitting on a hillside in robes. This is about great breathing techniques. This is about clearing the mind. This is about showing you what the power of the mind is. When it's clear. And you're not just thinking about a thousand and one things that are not relevant or important. All your thoughts will just start to, uh, I think, become more cohesive. You'll have things you can make better decisions on and you will be more effective. And that decluttering again helps your physical body relax and combine. And then again you'll see the power of the mind and body aligning, uh, and breathing techniques is a great gateway. I'd buy a book on breathing techniques and I would practice them because different breathing techniques can be used for different, different parts of your day or indeed your performance. And the bottom line is they work great.

Speaker A: That's great. I, I'm interested in the, the, the, the warrior, um, aspect. The, the action, the energy and the discipline. And I wonder if you sort of explain to our listeners about how leaders can build the courage, um, to make difficult resets. So whether that's leaving behind, um, habits, people or environment. And I suppose we live in an army that is constantly evolving and constantly changing. And sometimes it really takes leadership to make that decision. And that difficult reset. How. What have you found in the past that's really helped you when it's come to those difficult decisions?

Speaker B: I think what's again really, really powerful in this, and I can give you some examples if I may as well. And I've just been working with a number of leaders of late that have been in that particular situation where they have to do a major reset. This has been some multinational business leaders and this has been some sports leaders. And as a, when I speak to anybody in this situation, because it's the same thing that I apply to myself, what I say to them is that you will be judged, you are going to be judged now on the decisions that you make because you're the number one. This is the great thing about leaders is we need to realize that when you're a proper leader, you're a number one. That means you make the final decision. You can't rely on consensus or democracy. I don't think you should ever. I think you want cognitive diversity to make a better decision. But let's come back to it. This is now your job, your role on both those occasions, what I'd said to them, the decision you make now you will be judged on. And if you make the wrong one, you will not be in this job for very long. So it's big, big call time. So you now need to make sure when you make the call, you absolutely believe it's the right thing. Because then if it doesn't work. You've got nobody else to blame but yourself. You've made the right decision. I think that's a better place to be. There's nothing worse than saying, I knew this was a mistake. I should not have listened to A, B, C, D and E because they're not responsible for this and it fails. So I said, this is just that wonderful moment where the warrior comes in and be judged on your merits as a leader. So it's big call time. So come back to what is your purpose? What are you trying to do? This is why Super North Stars are so powerful. When you align behind and think. What I want to do is I want to leave this legacy. I want to be known for doing this. I want to have this philosophy. All decisions are easy. Uh, they actually fade away. It's when you're in doubt over those things. If you come in and go, I want to be a high performing team with the metrics that mean especially when somebody says I want to be number one in the world because that's, I love that for me it's one of the best things to say because I can look at who's there now and what are they doing that you're not doing. And if you're number six, you have to change multiples of things to get there and whether that is physical fitness standards, mental standards, tactical techniques. So therefore it's super clear are you willing to do it? And that's the beauty of this moment. Time to come back to you, what is your purpose? And, and now if you're going to be successful, make sure it's your decisions that made that, but don't go down because you were just listening to other people's advice which generally will be incorrect because they're not taking responsibility for the final call. So number twos and number threes, good to have around. They're not making the final call.

Speaker A: Uh, I mean that's clear. And I'm interested in the people that head for that North Star. You need new routes to that North Star will be easy. We've talked about the hard work, the preparation. So there's always going to be a setback, there's always going to be obstacles. Um, and when we talk about January, fresh starts rarely go smoothly. Do people last in their New Year's resolution to the end of January? Whatever. I suppose. What have you found is the most common earlier obstacles leaders face? Um, and how can they help them? Is there techniques they can help them? Is there a common theme? Themes, um, of obstacles which they Face as they, as they, as they start.

Speaker B: Yeah, there is. So the thing that I'd always look to is a need. You need a need to do this. I want to have a. There's an urgency to do something. I've got Cottered as a great one, um, who looked at a number of things any organization needs, but any human being needs. Is that, do you want to do something different? Is, uh, there a burning desire to do this? Because if there isn't, it's never going to happen. It's just not going to happen. So I want to do this. That's great. I get a guiding coalition. So I try and bring people into this as well. So I'm going to put it up and say, I am going to write a book. I am going to do this. I flag it really early on because people will come back to me. Floyd, you've said you've had a leadership academy for the last five years. What does that look like? What are you doing about it? You said you're going to write a book. So I've got a. Let's flag it. And then I've got people that I go to to help me clear Super North Star and strategy. And then what I'm looking for is quick wins. I want momentum, endorphins, dopamine hits, a reason to do it. So I'm going to make sure the next, the first three steps, I cannot fail. I'm going to get there, then I'm going to celebrate success and then I'm just going to push out those milestones a little bit further. But then I'm not going to listen to people or myself going, oh, that's a bit difficult today. Do we really need to go out in the cold, wet weather? Do you really need to be studying? Do you need to be writing for two or three hours? Yes, that's what I've set myself. And then I'll know by the end of January. February, is this what I want to do? And the minute. Because I've trusted myself generally, I know I want to do it. So I'm working on about three or four projects at the moment. I know I will get through because I'm putting time and allocating things to do them. I was doing that last night because I want this. And again, it's coming back to knowing yourself, setting yourself up with the right habits and then being really clear when you will get. There's nothing I've ever done where sometimes it's a difficult morning to get out of bed. That's when you'll see the difference. Do you want it? And that's all. That's the thing that separates everybody. So let's be super clear here. Um, this is the thing that separates any high performer or any performer, to be honest. Are you willing to put the time, the discipline, energy and focus into it? And if you're not, then whatever you decide will be fine for you. I wouldn't get hung up over it. That's what you've decided to do. You just might regret it further down

Speaker A: the line, noting your positivity. And I'm sure most Floyd plans go through, uh, without any hiccup. But on the odd occasion where it hasn't gone to plan Floyd, can you tell us, uh, or if you're happy to share what a particular plan that hasn't gone well, uh, and, uh, what you've done about it? Because I think we can really learn from your experiences.

Speaker B: There's a number of. To be honest, I wish that. I wish that had been the case. I think all big super north stars are going to be challenging. And it's an interesting one because sometimes you're in a trough. You still need to know where north is. Are you still willing to put the time and effort in? What I found on most of the things that I've done is how many people tell me I should stop doing it because it doesn't look like it's going to be successful or indeed you have put so much time and energy, or money, as the case may be, into something. But what I would say is you need to trust yourself that you're going to fight right to the last moment. There's no massive innovator, uh, scientist athlete that has not had the same trials and tribulations. You just know. You need to know when to step. So I'm going to give you some examples of both of those situations. When I was in the military and I was making the transition, I studied law. I absolutely loved law. But halfway through I came across the love of psychology. And I knew instantly I did psychology, I was not going to become a barrister, uh, but I finished off the law degree and that was really invaluable and that's helped me all the way through. So I kind of think that you benefit from any activity that you do anyway. But I had to realize that's not for me. I'm going to do something different. And that was a lot of time and effort that went into that, but the benefits were significant. But I would also say in the business side of things, there's been Many times to step away. There's been some failures. The market has changed. We've had two economic crises. We've had Covid. I can assure you there has been some very, very difficult and dark days. But of course, having the right alignment around you, having the right partners, having people that can support you, um, and challenge you is important. But this is where you just have to trust in yourself that, uh, I still haven't finished this yet. And that's the first thing I would say in all the areas I could easily say, hopefully some of them will be very, very successful. But no matter what's happened, I've known this was the right thing to do. And one of the programs called Enlightened, which is part of my leadership Academy, has been a dream of mine for a decade. I could visualize it. I can also tell you how many times I've not managed to get there. Um, but by perseverance and again, surrounding myself with the right people, I've now got something where it's a minimum viable product. I'm m enormously proud about it. What I would also say to you is if it wasn't successful commercially, I can honestly say to you that's not the point. The point was I've got what I knew it should look like. I look at it now and think that's, that's what I saw. I saw that. And I think that's important to yourself, is don't get hung up by the commercial success or things like that. It's more about that inner journey. I've learned a lot. And even where there has been some big failures and some scary moments, um, I've still learned tons from it. And that makes you a better individual. And I would say that again, all the people I've ever come across that have really benefited, they look back at the journey, not the success, the title, um, the commercial success or anything like that. You just go, no. What I've learned is this. I learned to be tougher here, more empathetic here, more resilient there, or more physically fit here, whatever that may be. I think that's the key.

Speaker A: Um, and bringing in. So post obstacle haven't succeeded in that particular route with a sort of wider sort of team lens on there, following a sort of setback. How can leaders sort of help teams regain that energy, focus, connection to get back up and recover from that setback?

Speaker B: Because they've got to be part of it. So they have to have been bought into the Super North Star because this is meeting their needs on the journey. So that, that's, that's probably vital. I would say that. And the strategy, if somebody just tells you, this is my Super North Star, this is my strategy, this is where we're going, you'll never buy into it. So I would say that every single time I've ever done anything, anybody that's around me, I've asked them to buy into it and that they benefit from the success whilst they're here. They may go on to different directions in other areas, but whilst they're here, they need to have benefited from this. They need to know that their voice has been heard, that they've played a part in the success. They get the spoils as well. When the success is. That's absolutely invaluable. Um, in fact, I'd say that's probably the most important thing is that they've been part of every stage of this journey. They've helped build the values, they've helped you be resilient, you've helped them. When they've been, um, in the doldrums, then I think you're in a good space. If they're not part of it, don't expect to get 100% from them.

Speaker A: Agree. I think the importance of collaborating, communicating with your team is vital. We talked about trust before, but if you're not bringing that team in and you do it as an individual, I think your plan would quickly unravel. I'm interested, uh, again, and probably shouldn't be asking this question in terms of which is most important, but I'm going to do it anyway. We have a number of, uh, leader companies, uh, that matter a number of values and standards. Which leader compsy, uh, do you think matters most for setting the tone in a team and particularly with a focus on Fresh Start With January 2026 in mind,

Speaker B: your values, your character, it's absolutely down to you, that self awareness of who you are, what, what you want yourself to be proud of. And I think that's quite important. That, uh, inner compass for me is the most important aspect of anything.

Speaker A: Great, thank you. Now you'll be aware of the quote, uh, we live life forwards, but understand it backwards by Sren Kieragaard, uh, the Danish philosopher. So if you could sit down with a young private Woodrow at the start of his career, what single piece of leadership advice would you give him?

Speaker B: Understand your personality. On the first opportunity you can understand you, your DNA, understand those elements that are probably, um, there with you now and then your ability to adapt them later will be essential.

Speaker A: And I really want this podcast to be something that people, you know, go away from and say, I really took that advice or that book or experience. So, Floyd, which book, experience or person most changed how you lead?

Speaker B: Actually a person and a book. So I'm gonna go back to being probably 8 years of age and I came across Alexander the Great, a Ladybird book. I've actually got the book. In fact, the book's in my car, um, because it was so powerful. I can't even explain it, to be honest. But there was something about a 21 year old going halfway around the world, conquering the known world as it stood, wanting to bring communities together. That was a, uh, great strategist, a great warrior, had enormous empathy, super clear, super north star. And that was totally focused for 10 years. But also that he was at the forefront of battles. There was just something magical about it, how he cut the knot of cordon and things like that. I just thought, God, that's just a phenomenal, phenomenal individual. I mean, we can probably debate whether or not he lost track right at the end. Um, but I think that probably was quite inspirational to a very young boy who thought he wanted to be a soldier.

Speaker A: And finally, when you reflect on your career in years to come, Floyd, what does success look like to you from a personal and professional perspective?

Speaker B: The most important thing for me will always be family. That I can look at my children and think they have gone on and done something phenomenal. And that is not me being twin coming up with a, uh, thought because I didn't know you were going to ask me that question. But I think it's also for myself is that I never left a stone unturned. And I followed my dreams and aspirations and all the way through it, I made sure I was curious. And, uh, I can definitely say it was a life of adventure and experience.

Speaker A: Thank you, Floyd for a thought provoking conversation. Great note to finish on. I think we could have continued the conversations, uh, for hours. Uh, to the listeners, start strong, stay curious, stay reflective and lead with purpose. And we'll catch up next time. Thank you very much.

Speaker B: Thank you.

Speaker A: Brilliant. Thanks. In this Centre for Army Leadership podcast, Floyd Woodray, a former member of the Special Forces, leadership expert and founder of Compass for Life, explores what truly underpins exceptional leadership. He emphasizes that elite performance is rooted not in complexity, but in doing the basics extremely well, consistently and under pressure. And this aligns to go AITC's challenge to deliver the bedrock of battlefield excellence, to ensure soldiers and officers master fundamental soldiering skills. Shoot, move, communicate and medicate to ensure that they are ready to contribute to the combined arms battle. Floyd discusses the importance of reflection and self awareness highlighting how our understanding your upbringing and blind spots is essential to becoming an effective leader. Many people, he argues, do not know themselves as well as they should and this limits their ability to lead others. Central to Floyd's approach is the idea of a super north star a long term purpose that provides energy, motivation and direction. He explains how this sits within the compass for life model which guides individuals to build clarity of purpose, strategy, structure, knowledge and team. Surrounding yourself with the right people and having the courage to seize opportunities is in Floyd's view a ah decisive leadership behavior. Floyd argues that culture cannot exist in isolation. Effective culture requires alignment m with strategy, a clear vision and values that are genuinely lived. Culture is shaped by three role models the behaviours leaders demonstrate under pressure and um, what leaders choose to reward and challenge. Floyd also underscores the value of genuine concern for others, disciplined use of facts and detail and the need for constant practice training the brain like a supercomputer. Understanding your own personality and how it influences your decisions and behavior is central to leading with authenticity and clarity. This conversation offers soldiers and officers and leaders at every level a uh powerful reminder that leadership is a journey of continual reflection, disciplined practice, purposeful direction and unwavering commitment to the basis 16.