57 min listen
Leading the digital revolution with Professor Sir David Omand
Leading the digital revolution with Professor Sir David Omand
ratings:
Length:
52 minutes
Released:
Jul 23, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
“GCHQ is an example for the rest of the public service… here is a case where civil servants have made technology sing.” In 1996 David Omand faced his first major leadership challenge: he had become the director of GCHQ and was charged with continuing the intelligence agency’s post-Cold War programme of technological transformation and reform. In this episode David discusses his experience of being “the young man sent from London to destroy the organisation”, the overlooked concept of followership and the importance of having a narrative. He also explores his time as permanent secretary of the Home Office, reflecting on why he put so much store by safe spaces, how a life-threatening diagnosis of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma changed his approach to work, and becoming the UK’s first Security and Intelligence Coordinator.
Released:
Jul 23, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (22)
It takes two to tango: in conversation with Ed Balls and Sir David Bell: “On the one hand, the cabinet minister has to understand that nature of the civil service role and the role of the permanent secretary as a leader alongside you… “But I think the permanent secretary also has to respect that the cabinet minister... by Leading Questions