The Post Office scandal has led to much talk about the wider implications for business: how we can learn from it and ensure that it never happens again.
On the surface, it could be seen as a failure of technology, but if it was simply down to that, it would never have become such a catastrophe. I believe it was a failure of leadership.
While we now know that the technology was flawed from the very start, the real issue is that both Fujitsu (the maker of the Horizon computer system) and the Post Office did nothing and said nothing.
This was the root of it. Nobody took responsibility. Nobody questioned why it wasn't being investigated or challenged the process.
There was too much confidence placed in systems and an inability to accept that technology could go wrong. That systems can be fallible is something that should never be forgotten, especially at a time when artificial intelligence is extending its influence over our lives.
Then there was the cover-up – the denial that anything was wrong and the complete lack of empathy towards the most precious asset the Post Office has: its people.
People make a business. If they aren't valued, aren't listened to and, worse, are blamed for a problem for which they aren't responsible, it's hard to think of a more toxic or dysfunctional environment in which to operate.
Great leadership is about trusting people and earning trust in return.
Sadly, though, trust is a commodity that seems to be in short supply in some workplaces across the country.
New research by HR software company Personio has found that more than a quarter of employees in the UK don’t trust their CEO to be open and honest, while just under a quarter feel the same way about the rest of their senior leaders.
In my day job, I get to meet a lot of senior executives and to experience the leadership culture in a whole range of business within the automotive and mobility sector.
The perfect boss doesn't exist, but those who lead by example by being honest, open and trusting are best placed to create a working culture that motivates and energises its people and attracts the best talent.
On the flipside, if you can’t trust the person at the top, that culture of mistrust can percolate down through a business and infect it at all levels.
None of us is perfect. If we make a mistake, we need to hold our hands up and apologise if necessary, take the learning from it and move on.
If only the leaders of the Post Office and Fujitsu could have done the same.
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