Stephen, 37, is a successful director of an engineering group. He is an assertive, driven individual, always making things happen. The Do he received on his Leadership programme told him to hold back in meetings. This arrived on a day when he had a board meeting with a sister company. He said it felt really unnatural to take a backseat, and he could sense unease in the others.

But he learnt a really important thing. The person who he thought was pushing the business forward seemed to have little to offer without Stephen’s opinions. Someone who rarely made much of a contribution made key strategic points. By behaving differently – in fact the opposite of how he usually would – Stephen learnt about the people he worked with and about his own management style. He now makes a point of occasionally holding back so that he can enjoy new perspectives and benefit from other people’s input.