With decades of international business experience in the US, Latin America and the Caribbean, Warner has been in the fortunate position of witnessing numerous leadership styles in action, enabling him to perfect his own individual approach.
One point that I was particularly keen to get his take on was the piece of research that had been unveiled at the start of the event by Scott Hilton-Clarke, before Warner’s appearance on stage. Hilton-Clarke, CEO of Inspiration Labs, has spent a considerable amount of time assessing the state of leadership in the Caribbean and was on hand to share his findings.
Leadership in the Caribbean
"I found a lot of cynicism, sarcasm and negativity towards the very notion of Caribbean leadership," explained Hilton-Clarke. "As you can imagine, this made the project even more intriguing. The fact is, there's a need for stronger leaders in the Caribbean."
You can read more about Hilton-Clarke's Caribbean leadership project here. While not all of the findings were negative, it’s a fair assessment to say that there’s a lot of room for improvement. Is this a picture that Warner recognises?
"Some of what the research tells us doesn’t come as a shock to me, although it was a little bit sad to hear it," reflects Warner. "I think part of it is that we in the Caribbean, with our history and heritage, don’t look within for leadership - we look outside. I worked in the states and now I’m in Trinidad, I can see that here we’re still stuck in the old, very hierarchical model of what leadership looks like – that doesn’t feel good to people. We’re not as far down the path to enlightened leadership as other places."
Upon returning to the Caribbean to join Massy Holdings Ltd, Warner was himself faced with a leadership dilemma, one which would come to shape the whole organisation’s approach.