Last week I flew 5000 miles to speak to an empty room, and here is what I learnt about leadership.

When you walk into an empty room, you’re not leading the people in front of you – you’re leading the people watching how you handle it. As a leader, how you show up when the room is empty speaks (read: times of failure) volumes to your team when the room is full (read: times of success). Moments like this are when your team watches closely - not for your success, but for your resolve.

The counter-intuitive truth is that you don’t show up for the numbers; you show up to model consistency, humility, and belief in the mission, regardless of the outcome. Your team doesn’t need you to lead when it’s easy; they need to see you lead when it’s hard. That’s when they develop an unbending trust in your leadership, and will go to war for the mission you point them to.

When I arrived back to London, I shared the news with my team, and sent them this message on morning Slack.

Remember: conviction is contagious. Take away here is that your team learns not from how you lead the many, but how you lead when no one’s watching. Build that integrity. That’s how movements start.