LET’ S DO BUSINESS
To those, he adds respect and self-discipline.
“ Any employer would want you,” he says.“ It doesn’ t matter if you’ re in the SAS if you’ ve got all these characteristics.”
Classlessness, to Downes, means being able to work with people from different backgrounds and treating them with respect.
Humility means leaving the ego behind. Integrity may be even more important.
“ We all make mistakes,” he says.“ But once somebody lies to you- a big lie- they’ ve lost trust. Once you’ ve lost trust, whether it’ s in a relationship or on a job, you’ ve really messed up.
“ Put your hand up and just say,‘ Right, I’ ve messed up.’”
He offers a military example.
If somebody discovered before a mission that they had forgotten an important piece of equipment, perhaps a spare battery for the radio, attempting to hide the mistake could make the situation dramatically worse.
“ You’ ve got to own up,” he says.“ You can’ t just hide it thinking,‘ Hopefully, we can get through this mission. We won’ t need that extra spare battery for the radio.’ You’ ll need it.
“ Once you know something’ s wrong or you’ ve messed up, put your hand up and let people know.”
Then there is the pursuit of excellence.
Downes remembers returning from missions that had gone well and immediately examining what could have been done better. Success did not remove the need for scrutiny.
“ We wouldn’ t just give each other a pat on the back and say,‘ Yeah, we’ ve all done good there,’” he says.“ It was:‘ Right, that’ s been finished. How could we improve? How can we get this even better? How could we make this mission better?’
“ Even if hardly anything did go wrong, we can still improve.”
For businesses, his comparison is straightforward.“ You finish this project. We’ ve done everything really well. We’ ve made money on this business. Okay, well next time let’ s do it better.”
And then comes the final characteristic … humour.
Downes laughs frequently. For someone whose CV contains war zones, SAS operations and some of the darkest things human beings are capable of doing to one another, he is strikingly upbeat.
A sense of humour, he believes, matters. So does basic human connection.
He talks about addressing people by name, smiling at strangers and saying good morning. If somebody fails to respond, he does not immediately assume the worst. Perhaps they are having a bad day. Perhaps something is happening in their life that he knows nothing about.
The next person still gets a smile.
It is a remarkably uncomplicated philosophy.
“ Negativity breeds negativity, and positivity breeds positivity,” he says.
“ We all go through difficult times. Shit things happen. Everything can get you down.”
The choice comes in how long you allow it to keep you there.
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