Be the leader you wish you had – Mead

The Victoria Mutual Group (VM) kicked off 2020 with team members coming together to commit to further growth in the year ahead and beyond.

VM looked to international motivational speaker David Mead, Igniter from the famed Simon Sinek Organisation – Ignite Leadership, to rev up the team at the VM Group’s annual Business Conference held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston last week Saturday.

The VM Group Business Conference was attended by team members from across the island along with team members in New York, Florida and the United Kingdom, who participated live via video link.

Mead urged the team to start with the ‘why’ to feel inspired, safe and fulfilled at work.

Mead shared with VM team members that to be successful, one must “get off the hamster wheel of action and results.” He noted that 87 per cent of people worldwide hate to go to work.

“Start with ‘why’ … strive for a good balance between ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘what’. Be consistent, do the things you say you believe. Start with ‘why’, that is where trust and loyalty are built. Trust is a feeling, not a checklist and not an instruction,” he said. Mead added that trust and loyalty are what bring and keep teams within organisations together and make for a better work environment. “That ‘why’ is not just the ‘why’ of the organisation but the why of the individual,” said Mead. He further added that leading is taking care of the people to the left and to the right of you, and challenged the over 600 team members in attendance to “be the leader you wish you had”.

In speaking about the ‘why’ and overall purpose of the VM Group, Courtney Campbell, president and chief executive officer, shared with his team that, “ we want to increase financial inclusion within Jamaica and have more people benefit from the financial products that we offer, so that they, their families and businesses can be better off and future generations of Jamaicans will have a stronger financial foundation. This means that families can be better off, communities can be stronger, and Jamaica can be a better place.”

Campbell also shared with the VM team that: “Victoria Mutual alone won’t be able to fix (the problem of financial inequality), but if we commit to driving financial inclusion for the millions of Jamaicans at our different touch points, you can feel proud of what you would have done in your working life. So, understand why we are here, understand how your own gifts can contribute to VM’s purpose,” he said.