William Montgomery is a leadership consultant with first class credentials. The former navigating officer of HMS Ark Royal and Head of Strategic Change at Lloyds TSB now heads up TEN LTD where he has earned an enviable reputation as a powerful catalyst for performance, helping release potential to maximise profit through the creation of a success culture for start-up entrepreneurs to FTSE 100 companies.

He is retained by some of the world’s most respected organisations in the areas of business, media and sport, where he uses his 10 actions of effective leaders to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. He has chaired and addressed conferences across the UK in the private and public sectors. William’s messages are practical, and presented with electrifying effect. He shakes up and inspires his audiences, showing them what lies within their grasp.

Who is or was your mentor?
All people I have worked for gave me opportunity, freedom and guidance on the journey. My first commanding officer in the Royal Navy, colleagues along the way in Lloyds TSB and latterly Steve Jobs of Apple.

Which businessman or woman do you most admire?
Those who deliver sustained performance over the long term and for whom the organisation is more important than their won ego. It’s why Lord Browne and Sir Terry Leahy always emerge at the top of British business lists, and I would go along with that.

Do you read books on leadership? If so, which has influenced you most?
I read a great deal of leadership books. That said, if you have been in leadership roles for over twenty years, you don’t really need to know which academics are in fashion. I don’t subscribe to any particular guru’s theory on leadership. But exposing yourself and other people to different ideas over the years is always productive.

Which is more important what you know or who you know, and why?
What you know and how you use it is all that matters. Who you know follows.

What does leadership mean to you?
It is about engaging the organisation. It is about having a sense of purpose commercially and ensuring that the organisation comes with you to deliver it.

What is the most important business event, good or bad to occur in you working life?
The best experiences have been merging new businesses into the company. It is the thrill of putting together a new organisation and getting everything working together. The worst events have been around people when I‘ve allowed people who were not right in their positions to remain for too long. You have the sense of ‘if only I had acted more quickly’. But it’s not easy, you have got to get people to realise that where they are is not necessarily where they should be.

Does money motivate you?
Financial security is a privilege, but it’s not why I work. To have had the opportunities I have and the jobs I have done is also, frankly, a privilege and money is totally secondary.

What gadget can you not do without?
How did we ever manage without the iPhone?

How do you relax? What are your hobbies?
The call of the sea, the theatre and reading about history.