3 Life Lessons From A Great Leader You’ve Never Heard Of
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Hi, I’m Jason. If you believe great leadership starts with being your best self - in role and in life - I've created The Prime Movement for you. I'm here to help you thrive mentally, physically, and emotionally. Because when you're at your best, you lift up everyone around you.
What’s coming up:
Prime Performance: This Week’s Best News, Views & Life-Hacks
The Prime Perspective: 3 Life Lessons From a Great Leader You’ve Never Heard Of
Lessons from the Arena: How To Deal With The ‘Competence Contradiction’
Be a Prime Mover: 1 Quote to Spark Change
Prime Performance: this week’s news, views and life hacks
👀 WATCH 99 Seconds on The 3 Keys To Achieve Any Goal
Entrepreneur and Stanford lecturer Graham Weaver does a brilliant job of breaking down this framework from the philosopher Alan Watts. The 3rd element is the one that often gets overlooked IMO.
📖 READ World Cup Winner On How Pressure Breeds Diamonds
“High-pressure moments are opportunities to define who you are and what you stand for.” Just one of the great insights shared by former England rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward in his new article on the power of internal motivation and marginal gains.
🎧 LISTEN Early Contender For Best Podcast of 2025
So, a confession - I’ve not even finished this monster 3-hour Huberman interview with Josh Waitzkin yet, but I felt compelled to share it now, as it’s packed with wisdom and actionable advice that every leader who is serious about their wellbeing and performance needs to hear. Waitzkin's journey from chess prodigy and martial arts champion to author and elite performance coach makes him a unique voice on leadership and learning - potentially the best investment of 3 hours you’ll make this year, trust me.
The Prime Perspective: Thoughts on Leadership and Growth
What Great Leadership Looks Like - 3 Essential Life Lessons
Last week, I attended the memorial service of one of the greatest leaders you've never heard of. That's not hyperbole - it's a profound truth about how real greatness is measured. Not by media appearances or social media followers, but by the depth of impact you have on those within your sphere of influence.
Regular readers will understand my perspective that being a leader isn't just about what you do in role - it's about how you conduct yourself in life. It's about the values you embody, the examples you set, the lives you touch. Philip d’Abo embodied this concept perfectly. You won't find his name on bestseller lists or podcast rankings. He never did TED talks or viral LinkedIn posts. But his impact? That ripples on through the many lives he touched and shaped.
Philip was the very definition of an English gentleman, who undoubtedly lived life to the full in his 83 years on Earth. When I first met him in Dubai in the early 2000s he was Managing Director of Albwardy Investments, running a huge conglomerate with interests in retail, hotels and real estate. He could have easily dismissed a young, inexperienced entrepreneur like me when I approached him for advice regarding the magazine I was launching. Instead, he made time to offer guidance and support, despite having nothing to gain from the conversation. That single act of generosity spoke volumes about his character and left an imprint I carry to this day - I walked away thinking that this was the kind of leader I aspired to be.
You see, Philip d’Abo proved something crucial about leadership: true influence doesn't require a platform or a title. It's not about:
Bestselling books
Viral social posts
High-profile speaking engagements
Media appearances
Real leadership is about:
The values you embody every day
The way you treat others when no one's watching
Your willingness to serve - family, team, community
The integrity you bring to every interaction
Let me share 3 powerful lessons I believe Philip d'Abo can teach us all about leadership:
1. Life is an Adventure - Take Risks
From running restaurants on the King’s Road in Chelsea through to selling encyclopedias door to door in South Africa and running a sugar plant in Sudan, his entrepreneurial zeal always shone through. He proved how true leadership isn't about playing it safe. It's about embracing uncertainty, taking calculated risks and approaching each day as an opportunity for discovery. Success comes not from avoiding challenges, but from meeting them with courage and curiosity.
2. Treat Everyone with Kindness - It’s a Superpower, Not a Weakness
A constant theme with any speaker at the service was how he engaged with everyone - from CEOs to service staff - with the same genuine warmth and respect. It wasn't a technique or strategy; it was who he was. As a leader, as a friend, as a father, he made everyone feel seen and heard. In an era where we’re starting to hear too much nonsense about ‘masculine energy’, he was proof that kindness was not a barrier to greatness, it was an enabler.
3. Legacy is Created in Every Moment
This is perhaps his most profound lesson, and the one I reflected on the most in the days following the service: legacy isn't something that happens after we're gone - it's being created in real-time, with every action, every interaction, every decision we take.
Think about that for a moment. Every action has a reaction. Every interaction leaves an imprint. When you understand this - really understand it - it has the potential to transform how you approach leadership and life itself.
There was a line that was read out in the church service that really stayed with me: "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
This truth should frame every leadership decision you make - in role and in life. Before each action, ask yourself: "What reaction will this create? What imprint am I leaving? How will this shape the legacy I'm building right now?"
Because that's what true leadership in life means - understanding that our greatest impact often lies not in the visible achievements we accumulate, but in the invisible imprints we leave on others through our daily actions and choices.
RIP Philip d’Abo. A great leader in life.
PS. Philip was the father of Lucy and Camilla d'Abo, who I proudly call my ‘Dubai sisters’, so it wouldn’t feel right signing off without acknowledging them. The most fulfilling part of my long corporate career wasn't the time spent in global behemoths like VICE and Edelman, it was working as MD of DABO, the agency Lucy and Camilla co-founded.
That was because they live and breathe the same values as their father and so built a business founded on the pillars of integrity, respect and empathy. His role as father of these two exceptional women is perhaps the greatest testament of all to what a truly remarkable man he was.
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Lessons from the Arena: Real Life Leadership Challenges
Every week, I'll share real challenges from coaching experiences, offering practical insights you can apply to your own leadership journey.
CHALLENGE:
I'm the CEO of a major events company. We've built an exceptional team over the last couple of years, but I'm struggling with a senior director who consistently misses deadlines. They're brilliant at client relationships and creative direction, but their project management is causing friction. The team is starting to show signs of frustration, and I'm concerned about the impact on our culture. I’ve tried performance managing them, but it hasn't worked - how do I handle this?
MY GUIDANCE:
This scenario illustrates what I call the ‘competence contradiction’ - when an individual’s greatest strengths can mask or even enable their most impactful weaknesses. I've seen this pattern play out numerous times, particularly with creative, relationship-focused executives who struggle with systematic execution.
1. Shift from correction to connection
Instead of focusing on the missed deadlines, schedule a deeper conversation about their workflow and challenges. The goal isn't to reprimand, but to understand the root causes. Often, what appears as a straightforward case of poor time management can actually be task overwhelm or misaligned priorities.
2. Create visibility without micromanagement
Implement a simple project-tracking system that makes deadlines and dependencies visible to everyone. This isn't about control - it's about creating clarity around how individual actions impact the collective.
3. Leverage their relationship skills
Have them spend 1-on-1 time with team members who are directly impacted by the delays as a listening exercise. Their strong interpersonal skills mean they'll likely be more motivated by understanding the human impact of their delays than by formal warnings.
4. Build systematic support
If viable, pair them with a more organized team member for key projects. Position this as combining complementary strengths rather than remedial support.
5. Set progressive milestones
Break larger projects into smaller checkpoints with clear deliverables. This creates natural accountability without feeling oppressive.
Remember: a great leader doesn’t aim to make everyone work the same way, but to create systems that allow different working styles to coexist productively. The goal is to preserve their valuable strengths while protecting team dynamics.
Ready to take your leadership to the next level? Message me at jason@theprimemovement.com.
Be A Prime Mover: 1 Quote to Spark Change
“Your legacy is every life you have touched.”
— Maya Angelou
If you enjoyed this, please consider sharing this with a friend. We are stronger together.
Your thoughts are the fuel that keeps us moving forward, so message me at jason@theprimemovement.com.
