Leading Questions with Chris Collins and Dallas Wiles – JCDecaux UK

Leading Questions

To kick off our new series, JCDecaux’s Grand Prix award-winning leadership team of Chris Collins and Dallas Wiles answer our probing and quick-fire, Leading Questions.

The co-CEOs of JCDecaux have had a successful run of business growth, award wins and have been vocal champions investing in trusted media for the public good. We ask them about their leadership approach, how to handle failure, and how to make tough decisions.

Leadership

What are the principles that guide your leadership approach?

Communication with the teams and each other. We focus on the ‘Why’ – committing to speak to our teams and communicate how and why decisions are made, no matter if they are good or bad.

How do you define success as a leader in today’s media landscape?

Allowing and showing your teams that they should feel comfortable in bringing their authentic self to work. 

What’s the toughest leadership decision you’ve ever had to make?

The toughest decisions are always around people. We work to understand, engage and to develop the people we work with. Therefore, when it does not go to plan, and it does not always, it is a tough call, but our commitment to honesty and communication helps. 

How do you personally stay ahead of industry disruption?

Be committed to our decision-making and stop trying to reinvent the wheel. Our business and industry have great foundations, so it is about evolution.

People and Culture 

How do you build and maintain a strong company culture in times of rapid change?

A true ethos of ‘One Team’, whilst each team member has individual accountabilities, we work together on issues that are changing our business and industry, therefore we and create collective change. 

How do you inspire your team when uncertainty is the norm?

We always remind them that ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it’s the courage to continue that counts’ – Winston Churchill 

What’s your approach to developing future leaders within your organisation?

We are all living in the future; every day, the world is changing. Allow people to learn skills that will not only make them better workwise, but also personally. Invest in them as people. We are very proud of our award-winning ‘Grow’ Development programme. 

How do you handle failure, both personally and within your teams?

We have certainly learnt more from failure than from success, so it is important to use these failures as the best opportunity to learn. It is vital that we meet to assess what we did well and what we can improve. Personally, and in business, continuous development is key to growth. 

AI, Innovation and Skills

How is AI changing the way you lead and make decisions?

We rely solely on brilliant people to make decisions; after all, people created AI and will continue to create and evolve. The speed of some of the hard lifting to make decisions is changing rapidly, and decision-making is more fluid than it has ever been. 

What skills will define successful media leaders in the next decade?

It is clear to us that the core skills of a leader will become even more important in the next decade, how you manage change in a media landscape that is changing faster than ever, how you inspire and motivate through these periods of change, how you develop talent when entry level jobs may be lesser and how you adapt to all of these moving parts.

It goes without saying that leaders must have a strong understanding of how AI will flow through the business, but most importantly, what does this mean to our people’s performance and development? 

What’s your advice for aspiring media leaders?

A computer is only as smart as the people using it. Don’t lose the human touch and stay relentlessly curious about the audience you offer and the people you serve. 

The Quick-fire Round

Which book would you make required reading for all media leaders?

The Barcelona Way (Damian Hughes) or Surrounded by Idiots (Thomas Erikson). You have to and will always have to understand people!

Which leader from TV, film, or literature most inspires you?

Sully and Mike (Monsters Inc)

What’s your go-to source for inspiration when you need it. Work or otherwise?

18 holes of golf!

Media lunch or media breakfast meeting, and why?

Breakfast, less disruption, more focus.

Which media leader would you like to answer Leading Questions?

Adam Turner OMG

If you’d like to answer our Leading Questions, drop me a line at [email protected]