Disruption has stopped being the exception and become the job. Three former chief executives on how to lead through it.

John Newton, Tarek Anwar and Robin are the ExExecs - three former executives from banking and education who talk honestly about what leadership actually demands. No guest this episode, just the three of them on the topic every exec is living right now.

It's Monday morning. Tariffs, conflict in the Middle East and AI are all landing at once, and you're the one people look to. This episode is a practical answer to "what do I do?" - how to gather your team and run a fast, honest crisis session, why trust decides whether anyone tells you the truth, and how to treat AI as a chance to remodel your team rather than a threat to survive. It is full of real stories, including a few that did not go to plan.

Key takeaways:

• Run the reverse-brainstorm: give the team five minutes to say how they would destroy the business, then flip every answer into a fix.
• Disruption is the new business as usual - practise for it with ten provocative minutes at the end of an ordinary meeting.
• Anticipate risk early and act on it, the way a good school leader prepared for the VAT change years before it arrived.
• Lead from the front: take the pay cut, fly economy, walk the floor, be present.
• Do AI with your people, not to them - automate the humdrum, hire for critical thinking, become ambidextrous.

Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:26) The disruption leaders face now
(01:08) Cost of living and firefighting
(03:02) Comfortable being uncomfortable
(04:23) Monday morning: gather the team
(05:37) Destroy your own business
(09:14) The school VAT risk lesson
(11:43) The shark in the marina
(13:37) Trust and psychological safety
(14:31) Ownership, notes and brunch
(16:30) Missing the obvious
(17:53) A fleet-footed culture
(19:15) The fishmonger who pivoted
(20:31) Protecting your staff
(23:56) A COVID pay cut
(25:40) Lead from the front
(28:52) The AI challenge
(30:06) Remodel the team
(33:17) The ambidextrous company
(34:24) Words matter: the CEO megaphone
(36:06) Wrap-up

Mentioned: the previous ExExecs episode, Crisis Management with Hania, who led HSBC in Cairo through the Arab Spring. Search "ExExecs" on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to hear it.

If this was useful, follow ExExecs and send us a question or a topic you would like us to take on. We read everything: 3exExecs@gmail.com

Hosts: John Newton, Tarek Anwar and Robin.

On 28 January 2011, Hania was COO of HSBC Egypt. She woke up to find her country had no internet and no mobile phones. Every number on her crisis-team list was unreachable. So she picked up an old phone book.

For Episode 5, John, Tarek and Robin are joined by Hania for the inside story of running a bank through the Arab Spring and what came after. Robin knew the story from the regional COO seat in Dubai. This conversation has been twenty years in the making.

What you'll hear:

• The morning of 28 January 2011 - and the paper phonebook that saved the response
• "Emotional stability" - what one senior member of staff said that changed how Hania led
• Why the right person in a crisis is rarely the most senior person in the room
• How to keep the CEO and the regulator informed without crushing the team doing the work
• The queue outside head office that became the proudest moment of her career
• The CEO who came back from abroad and didn't believe his team had handled it
• "Don't waste a good crisis" - the post-event discipline that compounds across a career

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome and the three-host introduction

01:11 Robin introduces Hania

01:34 Hania on ten years as COO of HSBC Egypt

02:25 Tarek's first question

03:08 28 January 2011: no internet, no mobiles

04:40 Stay calm. Systems fail.

05:58 How do you stay calm when you're panicking?

06:55 "Emotional stability"

07:37 Choosing who is in the room

08:00 Why Hania went to the number two

09:33 The IT outage tension

11:05 Visibility and being seen

13:08 Priority communications

13:50 Cash, queues, and the ATM withdrawal limit

14:27 The queue she looked at with real pride

14:59 The HSBC brand

16:04 Call trees and earthquake-readiness

17:24 Did creativity play a part?

18:37 What you can prepare for

20:44 Drills are too easy

21:43 The Christmas Eve thought experiment

23:34 Bromley + Croydon: the Bank of America story

25:30 Working with the regulator

27:28 Managing up: the CEO came back suspicious

29:53 Seeing seismic risk early

30:43 The cost of having no one in-region

31:47 Recognising vs dispelling a crisis

33:30 Don't waste a good crisis

34:34 Crises that prolong, and team fatigue

34:55 John's recap

If you lead anything that has to keep running when the lights go out, this is the one.

Get in touch: 3exExecs@gmail.com

Most leaders say they delegate. Most leaders are lying to themselves.

Three ex-executives - John, Tarek, and Robin - break down why delegation fails, what trust actually looks like in practice, and why the best leaders employ people brighter than themselves.

Tarek shares the moment he told his chief of staff "No, send it" and watched her confidence transform. John confesses to the mistake every new leader makes: still doing your old job. Robin challenges whether delegation is something you are born with or something you learn.

• 0:00 - Introduction and meet the ExExecs
• 3:00 - The Art of Delegation
• 4:00 - No, send it. I have got your back
• 6:30 - Why you must delegate
• 8:00 - The neuroscience of trust: 50% higher productivity
• 10:30 - Cautionary tale: still doing your old job
• 13:30 - Team ownership over food
• 15:45 - Delegating outside the comfort zone
• 19:30 - Is delegation natural or learned?
• 23:00 - When your boss will not delegate
• 28:30 - The repeat-back technique
• 35:00 - The buddy system
• 38:30 - Next: Crisis Management with Haniya Sadiq

Next Episode: Crisis Management with Haniya Sadiq - former COO of HSBC Egypt, Forbes 100 Most Influential Muslim Women.

Contact: 3exExecs@gmail.com