Insights on leadership with Nigel Cushion
By Charlotte Buckman
21/01/25
Nigel Cushion, founder of Nelsonspirit and a lifelong mentor, shares his journey into leadership, shaped by inspiration, discipline, and a passion for helping others thrive. From his early influences to his unique leadership philosophy, Nigel offers practical wisdom and reflections on leading with “fire in the belly” and “warmth in the heart.”
Q: What inspired you to pursue a career focused on leadership and mentoring, and how has your journey in this field evolved over the years?
A: “When I was younger, I wasn't inspired to follow a particular journey. I think, looking back, I found something that I was interested in, something that I enjoyed doing, and something that I was reasonably good at. I think in life, if you can find something that you're interested in, you enjoy, and you’re reasonably good at, and then you find other people that encourage you to do that as well, this sets you on your way. Once you get into a career you then need opportunities to grow, learn, and develop. So that's really my kind of tip for other people: try to find something you enjoy, find something you're interested in, find something you’re reasonably good at, and then look for people who can help and encourage you on the way.”
Q: What core principles guide your leadership philosophy, and how do you incorporate them into your work with leaders and organisations?
A:“Leaderships’ a very, very interesting subject; a fascinating topic, and my view is that leadership really can't be taught, but it can be caught. The way I've formulated my own ideas and philosophy on leadership is by catching it from all the people I've met in the past: people who I respect, people who are good at being leaders, and people I have worked with. Our philosophy here at Nelsonspirit is one of defining leaders within a three-circle model, which is: character, capability, and cause. Leaders have sound character; they are very good at what they do, they have capability, but they also unite people behind a cause.
There are an infinite number of leadership models. If you simply Google 'leadership,' you'll find thousands of definitions. One of the definitions that we like the most, probably because we came up with it here, is: ‘A leader is somebody who has fire in the belly and warmth in the heart.’ To be an effective leader today, you've got to be disciplined, focused, hardworking, know your trade, want to improve, and want to do a good job—that's the ‘fire in the belly.’ But, in order to get others to follow you, it's very important to have warmth from the heart, which is to be kind, to be someone that people want to follow, and somebody that you want to be around.
We've got four particular beliefs in Nelsonspirit, and we have ten values around which the leadership philosophy is built, and I think it's important to have a philosophy, and it's important to be able to stick to it and be able to explain it.”
Q: Who have been your most significant mentors or influences in leadership, and what have you learned from them?
A: “Wow! Well, I think everybody. This is my 50th year having a go at being a leader, having studied leadership, taught leadership, and tried to do some leading myself. I think you are influenced by everyone you come into contact with, and that you can take something from all those people.
Three people in particular would be: my old Cub Scout leader when I took on my first leadership position at the age of 10, a lady called Ivy Richardson. She was an inspirational leader, and she was the first person who encouraged me to lead, gave me the confidence that I could, and gave me the sense that I was good at it. So, she certainly would be on the list. Hal Belknap would be on the list, who was the inspiration behind me setting up Nelsonspirit. And then Nelson himself, Horatio Nelson, would be another inspirational leader.”
Q: Are there any books, podcasts, or resources you recommend for aspiring leaders?
A: “No. Most books, podcasts, and resources are pretty poor in the area of leadership. There are thousands, literally thousands, of books you can read on leadership, and many of them are made by what I call ‘snake oil salesmen’. They are trying to sell you the big idea of 'just do this and you could be a great leader.' Many of the podcasts are the same, and they’re monetized, so they're trying to get people to buy up, become subscribers, or buy into a certain package. I wouldn't say don't engage with them, but don't think that we can simply listen to one podcast or read one book and have the answer, but it can be part of the picture.
What I have found useful is actually engaging with people, and that's much more powerful than podcasts and reading. Having said that, I would encourage people to read widely and read anything where there are people involved, trying to get performance out of other people. Yes, it's good to read, but I wouldn't direct you to any particular book. There isn't the greatest book on leadership, but I believe that people are much more important: find yourself a mentor, find yourself somebody you can learn from, and commit to improve.”
Q: What do you see as the biggest challenges facing local businesses today, and how can they position themselves to thrive in an evolving marketplace?
A: “This is an easy one: leadership is the biggest issue. We are lacking, as a country, quality leaders, and we're also lacking quality followers. So, for a businessperson in Norfolk, finding good quality people that you can bring into your business who have character and capability is crucial.
Every small business in Norfolk really wants to hire people of good character, and they want to hire people who are good at what they're doing. So, finding good people and actually them having good leaders to follow. Everything else falls into place if you can get those two right."
Q: What skills do you think will be most valuable for the future workforce, and how can businesses support their employees in developing these?
A: “OK, well, this is the old skills gap thing. For about 40 years, we've been saying that people are short of skills, although no one's ever been able to explain to me what skills we are short of, so it could be a bit of a red herring. I think other things are equally as important as skills, like attitude, knowledge, and kindness. There are certain attributes that people have, so we mustn't get too hung up on particular skills, I think it's much broader than skills.
I think that intelligence is also important, and I mean real intelligence, not artificial intelligence, and emotional intelligence as well. It's good to have people who are bright working for you and who are sensitive to others. I look for those things much more than I do a particular skill. You can teach good people skills, but attitude, and emotional intelligence, are harder to teach.
If you push me, I would say building your personal brand and building the brand of the company is going to become a skill for future employees. We are particularly good at it in Norfolk, so that's some good news. At a personal level, then time management, tech management, and self-management will be the top three skills in order to be successful in the future. In business, you will need to manage yourself. Working from home is going to emphasise this, hybrid working, AI, the use of technology to solve problems, etc. It’s all going to actually throw a bigger spotlight on your ability as an individual to manage time and manage yourself.
So, I think my top tip for skills development would be for everybody to try and manage yourself better.”
Q: What is one piece of advice you would give your younger self or something you wish you knew earlier in life?
A: “My first piece of advice would be to be yourself. I think when I was much younger, I probably tried to please other people and be something that I wasn't, and as I've grown older, particularly as a leader, I've tried to be more me—and I think that's good. Only you can be a good version of you, so be yourself.
The second thing I’d say is you almost certainly will lose more than you win—but that's okay; that's what life is. Things are always better after a night’s sleep, better after a cup of tea, and better after a cuddle. That’s what I’ve learnt over the years. I think, you know, rest and relaxation are very important: looking after yourself, nutrition, health, and also surrounding yourself with supportive and encouraging people. I think that's what I’ve learned.
The final thing is that success is not the same as happiness, and actually, the golden ticket is to try and get both. Success comes from hard work, but happiness comes from helping and loving others.”
Q: What habits or routines do you follow in your life that you believe contribute to your success and high performance?
A: “I would say discipline: disciplined thinking, disciplined action, and disciplined routine. High performance is linked to discipline. Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, talks about discipline being at the core of overall high performance. If you're in sport, business, the military, or show business, whatever you are, if you are a disciplined person and you can build in good routines to your weekly work, then you get high performance. If you're a sloppy person, you don't build good routines, and you're easily distracted, then you don't get high performance.
The other thing is physical exercise. I exercise five times a week, and I have done for 50 years. That gets your concentration up, it gets your energy levels up, it's a great relaxant, and it breaks the mind from thinking about work. So yeah, I'm doing exercise most days, even if it’s 20 minutes or half an hour, everyday walking, cycling, running, going to the gym, swimming, or whatever. Playing sport or whatever it is, giving yourself some physical exercise most days would be my top thing.
The other thing is that I have been fortunate enough to be married to my wife for 33 years. I mean, that's part of my routine. So having somebody who loves you and somebody who you can love is important, I think, in life. It provides you with support and encouragement, somebody to be on the journey with, give you encouragement when you're perhaps not feeling as good, or celebrate the wins with you.
So yes, I would say discipline, exercise, and having a sound relationship are the three things I would recommend or, from my personal experience, say have underpinned what you can do. If you’ve got those three things in place, I think you can then go on and perform consistently well.”
A closing note from Nigel:
“Ernest Shackleton, who was the great Edwardian explorer who went to the Antarctic in the early part of the 20th century, got stuck in 1916 on the ice and inspired one of the greatest rescue missions of all time. This is slightly paraphrased by me, it’s kind of Shackleton plus Nigel a bit, but it’s mainly Shackleton. And here is Shackleton's view of difficulty: Shackleton said that things are never as bad as most people think; they are usually far worse. But your capacity to deal with that is far greater than you ever dreamed.”