What separates truly exceptional business leaders from the rest?
Having interviewed many senior executives through our Inspiring Leaders series, one recurring theme continues to emerge. Whilst every leader has a different career journey, the most successful consistently place people, culture and continuous improvement at the heart of their organisations.
These qualities were evident throughout our recent conversation with Darren Leigh, Group Chief Executive Officer of Unipart.
Darren’s own career demonstrates that leadership is rarely defined by where someone begins. Leaving school at 16 to join a Youth Training Scheme, he has progressed through finance and operational leadership roles before becoming CEO of one of the UK’s most respected manufacturing, logistics and supply chain organisations.
Reflecting on his journey, Darren credits much of his success to remaining curious, embracing learning opportunities and developing resilience throughout periods of significant economic change and business transformation.
One of the strongest messages from our discussion centred on organisational culture.
For Darren, culture and business performance are inseparable.
“If we consider The Unipart Way, I would describe that as our greatest asset. It’s an intangible asset, but it’s still our greatest asset.”
Rather than viewing culture as an HR initiative, he believes it provides the framework that empowers employees to solve problems, innovate and continually improve both customer outcomes and business performance. That philosophy also shapes Unipart’s approach to attracting and retaining talent.
Employee engagement, career development, apprenticeships, graduate programmes and internal progression all play an important role in creating an environment where people choose to stay and build long-term careers.
Perhaps one of the most remarkable statistics Darren shared is that Unipart has more than 900 active members of its 25-Year Club, recognising colleagues with over 25 years’ continuous service—a powerful reflection of sustained employee engagement.
Throughout the interview Darren repeatedly returned to the importance of investing in people.
As executive recruiters, we often speak with organisations looking to strengthen their leadership teams, improve succession planning or attract high-performing executives. Increasingly, candidates are looking beyond salary and benefits. They want to understand an organisation’s culture, values, leadership style and commitment to developing its people. The organisations that succeed in attracting exceptional talent are those that can genuinely demonstrate these qualities.
Darren also spoke passionately about social mobility and ensuring opportunity is based on potential rather than background. Coming from a working-class family himself, he believes business has an important role to play in creating opportunities for apprentices, graduates and those entering the workplace for the first time.
His own career stands as a compelling example that talent can emerge from many different starting points when organisations are prepared to invest in people.
Technical capability and strategic thinking remain critical, but they are rarely enough on their own. The leaders who consistently inspire confidence are those who develop others, encourage continuous improvement and create environments where individuals and businesses can thrive together.
Our sincere thanks to Darren Leigh for sharing his leadership journey and insights as part of our Inspiring Leaders series.
By Linda Walmsley, Director, Walmsley Wilkinson Executive & Management Recruitment
The full interview is available on the Walmsley Wilkinson website and LinkedIn.
