Leading with Impact and Compassion: Insights from Annabel Berry | Episode 136

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Episode 136 • 14th September 2023 • The Ben Morton Leadership Podcast • Ben Morton

00:00:00 00:40:07

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In this episode we are joined by Annabel Berry, founder of ‘The Lamplight’, a business established to enable leaders and organisations to quickly identify and change behaviours that result in better business outcomes.

Annabel has 25 years of experience founding and leading businesses in the cybersecurity industry yet remains as curious as ever to know more, be more effective, and be challenged on how best to implement new information, initiatives, and strategies. For Annabel, people are always at the heart of this. 

She continues to focus her energy on encouraging more diversity and inclusivity in the cybersecurity industry through her work as chairperson of Cyber North, as a director of the non-profit Ladies Hacking Society and a Leadership Fellow at St. George’s House Windsor Castle.

When we recorded this episode, Annabel had just stepped down as Sapphire's CEO. She had held this position for eight years, which is double the average tenure of Chief Executives in the UK.

In preparing for this interview, I found a farewell post she had written on LinkedIn and was struck by the huge number of overwhelmingly positive comments it generated. They ranged from ‘natural leader’ to ‘best CEO ever’ and much more.

That being the case, in this episode, we delve into the experiences that shaped her as a leader, how she approached the job and why she decided to step down.

I also took the opportunity to ask her what advice she would give to a leader who is about to take over a team or entire business that’s in great shape and has a huge amount of admiration for the previous leader. And as regular listeners will know and expect, we also go off on several interesting and related tangents.