This is my first blog-post so if you’re reading this – thanks! Hopefully you’ll find my posts interesting and thought provoking enough to continue reading them. Context is important – I will explain more of that later on. So, I think that the first thing to do is to introduce myself and explain why I have started blogging.
My name is Roderic Yapp and I am a former Commissioned Officer in the Royal Marines. I left the Corps in 2012 having enjoyed a fantastic career in what truly is ‘the most exclusive boys club in the world’. My career in the Royal Marines was everything that I hoped it would be – and more. I am enormously proud of my service and the people I served with.
The Royal Marines are an example of an extremely high performing organisation. In fact, one of the reasons that I joined was this reputation for excellence. Being an Officer in the Royal Marines wasn’t something that I wanted to do – it was something I wanted to be. There is a subtle difference that I don’t think many really understand until they join – including me. It was not a job, it was a lifestyle, and for someone in their early 20’s, a fantastic one.
I left in 2012, not because I was sick of it or had had enough – often these are the reasons people assume. I left because I had done everything that I wanted to do and felt that it was time for a change. When I joined aged 23, I had no responsibilities other than to myself. I left in 2012 having served on war fighting operations in Afghanistan, counter-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean and was even fortunate enough to extract civilians from Benghazi when the Gadaffi regime collapsed in 2011. These were fantastic experiences and I had the honour and privilege of commanding some truly exceptional people throughout these tours of duty.
However, these experiences and this lifestyle came with a cost – time away. Once I was fortunate enough to find the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, the strain of leaving each time became increasingly difficult. My wife has a successful career so we couldn’t just relocate and go wherever I was posted. I decided that I didn’t want to continue the weekly commute and spend so much time away from my family. I think that if you’re going to leave the military, leave early before you are in the ‘pension zone’ or commit yourself to it, stay for as long as possible and take it as far as you can – that’s just my point of view and I am sure there are plenty who would disagree with me!
When I left the Corps, I knew that all I wanted to do was take my leadership experience and ‘help to make things better for people’. I also wanted to be able to provide for my family.
When I left, I was told that ’80-90pc of job offers come through networking’. So I spent 80-90pc of my time focusing on that activity. I attended the Advancement Management Achievement Programme at Manchester Business School, a sort of mini-MBA, which ran for three weeks and introduced us to some of the key concepts for how businesses work.
One evening, they brought in some external speakers to talk to us after dinner. It was at this point that I first met Simon Bowen. Simon explained that he left the Royal Navy aged 30 with a view to doing something more commercial.’ After a number of years with BP, Simon was appointed as the MD of Urenco UK. Urenco are a hugely profitable uranium enrichment company with sites in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA.
I knew immediately that I had to speak with him so arranged to meet him face to face over breakfast the following week. I explained what it was I wanted to do and he offered to bring me up to the site in Chester and meet some of his leadership team. The UK site was undergoing a major business transformation. The aim was to re-focus the business on providing enrichment services, in effect, ‘do less with less’. I went to Urenco with the view of doing some more networking and meeting some more people – after a day of answering questions, I realised that I was being interviewed for something. Surely enough, a few days later an offer was tabled which I accepted.
I started my two year fixed contract at Urenco in August 2012 keen to get stuck in and help where I could. The following two years were exceptionally challenging but I couldn’t have been placed in a better organisation in which to learn.
I left the Corps, an exceptionally high performing organisational culture and joined an organisation that was on the journey to World Class – this transition proved to be far more challenging than I had anticipated!
This started my fascination with ‘high performing cultures’ and leadership. I am interested in the development of both although I am convinced that a high performing culture is a reflection of the values and the behaviours’ of the leadership. I have been fortunate enough to work with some exceptional leaders, both in the military and in the civilian world. I have watched them, been inspired by them and learnt from them. I don’t believe that leadership is an innate quality that you are born with – I think that those ‘natural leaders’ are largely the product of their environments and a reflection of their values. I believe that leadership can be taught – or perhaps more accurately, leadership potential can be developed.
I have set up Leadership Forces with a view to developing the leadership capability of others. The reason for this is that I believe that I can have the greatest positive impact on a wider audience by improving individual leadership capability. I also want to ‘build a company’. I admire people that have taken this risk, set out on their own cause and contribute to the wider economy.
These blog posts are designed to help me clarify my ideas, build my business brand and record my journey. I hope that you find them interesting. Please feel free to leave constructive feedback – I am quite happy to be challenged on my views!
If you’re interested in developing your own leadership skills or you’re interested in developing the leadership skills of your people, please feel free to get in touch – [email protected]
Equally – if you’ve found this article useful, please feel free to like and share it – thank you!