Interview: Bruce Carnegie Brown: the Question I’m Asked Most by Millennial Leaders – and What I’ve Learned From Them Wednesday 27 June 2018 Share Share to LinkedIn Share to Facebook Share via email Young professionals ask the CMI president for advice on this key issue As president of CMI, and chairman of both Moneysupermarket.com and Lloyd’s insurance market, Bruce Carnegie-Brown is regularly asked to give advice to young professionals with management ambitions. And there are key issues that surface regularly among millennial leaders (those aged under 30). “The questions are about organisational issues,” he reveals. “Sometimes they are about finance – ‘how do I get access to capital to support my business?’ – but more commonly as their businesses grow, millennial leaders want to understand how to put structure into how they organise things.” How Do I Organise My New Business? One of his mentee’s businesses has grown from three employees to 25. “To get 25 people in a room becomes a less efficient way of managing,” says Carnegie-Brown. “As businesses grow they get access to better talent and so you end up having to be tougher on the people who you first employed that were there at the start. So I’m asked how to put in place the right processes to evaluate people.” His response? “I like the expression ‘be hard on the issues but soft on the people’. If you explore the issues then the people, decisions become easier to make because it becomes more about who can help with the core problems.” At the MacLaren Memorial Lecture, Carnegie-Brown refuted the suggestion that millennials are the ‘snowflake generation’ that fail to commit to career paths. He described aspiring business leaders as committed. “In terms of their time, they give 24-hours a day to it. They’re in it to make it happen. They’re relentless and they get less knocked down by rejection.” Millennials Are Resilient Therefore, he admires the resilience of young professionals. He says: “I think the successful (founders) have real resilience at an early age in terms of their belief that they can change the world. And that’s powerful.” He continues: “The big lesson I’ve learned – probably too late in life – is the value of resilience. Seeing things through is often harder than giving up, but perseverance aligned with a good idea and good organisation will win through and the rewards will be worth the struggle. Like this article? Why not share it. Share to LinkedIn Share to Facebook Share via email Topic: Consultancy Why getting ahead of the game pays dividends as a management consultant Zarina Naqvi CMC ChMC FIC has spent her career transforming businesses, and always manages to stay ahead of the curve Read article Article Topic: CMI President’s Dinner: toasting trailblazers and transformation This year’s CMI President’s Dinner was another celebration of “the very best of modern, inclusive and effective leadership” Read article Article Topic: Menopause How to create (and sustain) a menopause-friendly workplace How can managers offer better support to menopausal employees? It starts with a culture change… Read article Article Topic: “Everybody has a degree of leadership in them”: the Chartered Fellow tasked with keeping our MPs safe Head of the Members of Parliament Security Service, Jo Oakley CMgr FCMI leads a team whose job is to ensure the safety of MPs Read article Article Interview At CMI, we’re hugely privileged to have contributed to many people’s management and leadership journeys. Take a look back at some of the people we’ve interviewed for some top tips and exclusive insight. Members See More CMI Members have access to thousands of online learning and CPD resources. Learn more about our membership benefits Join The Community CMI offers a variety of flexible membership solutions, tailored to your needs. Find out more and get involved in the CMI community today.