In this episode of Learning from the Edge, Jeremy and Jaime are joined by Paul Taylor — 26 years in the British Army across Northern Ireland, the Balkans, the Middle East and Afghanistan, later an expedition guide, and now International Operations Manager at REACT Disaster Response. Paul's turning point came in Nepal after the 2015 earthquake, working alongside a small international team of climbers, medics and local Sherpas to reach people cut off by landslides. It confirmed something he'd suspected for years: the best teams don't rely on individual brilliance. They rely on collective competence — small bands of determined people, doing more together than any one of them could alone.

This conversation is about what that actually looks like in practice — not as a slogan, but as a set of hard-won disciplines for leading when the ground, sometimes literally, keeps shifting.

What we cover:

• Why Paul selects for character over skills, every time — and how pressure reveals who someone really is
• Cognitive diversity versus tick-box diversity: why the goal is different perspectives, not just different faces
• Situational leadership — knowing when to be directive (the "leadership moment") and when to open things up democratically
• Building psychological safety deliberately: where you stand, how you sit, how you slow down to listen
• "Absence of the normal, presence of the abnormal" — reading unfamiliar environments fast
• Selfless commitment, and the discipline required to sustain it without burning your team out
• Daily reflection in the field: task, team, and the deceptively simple question "how are we feeling?"
• Removing friction and ego so honest feedback actually flows
• Paul's four essentials for any senior leader: emotional intelligence, a unifying goal, attitude and effort, and a sense of humour

On the horizon:
Paul heads to Sweden this week for a 300km sea-kayak crossing of the Baltic with friends. We're hoping to get him back to go deeper into REACT's training and selection methods.

One thing to take away:
Leave your ego at the door. If it's about you rather than the team or the goal, it isn't helping.

Paul closes with a request rather than a lesson: spare a thought for humanitarians right now — deployed in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan and elsewhere, compelled by nothing more than an imperative to address human suffering wherever they find it. If you're moved to, REACT welcomes support.

Links:

• REACT Disaster Response: react.org.uk
• Learning from the Edge: learningfromtheedge.com
• In partnership with Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team