When Whitehall leadership dictats don’t work: in conversation with Professor Ciaran Martin CB

<p>“The worst piece of leadership advice I got was: ‘be an authentic leader.’”</p> <p>Of course be true to yourself and your values, says Ciaran Martin CB, professor of practice in the management of public organisations at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government.</p> <p>“The bit I interpreted wrongly, which made it the worst piece of advice, was to just act yourself at work,” he adds.</p> <p>In this episode, Ciaran reflects on his long civil service career including stints at the Cabinet Office, GCHQ and latterly as the founding chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre.</p> <p>He considers the switch from central government into the intelligence agency; why “monolithic” leadership dictats from Whitehall were useless when working with technical specialists; the experience of publicly fronting the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack; and whether Northcote-Trevelyan still holds.</p>