This is Issue 3 of The Monthly Edge, my monthly newsletter. One email a month, the stuff I actually use. If you’d rather get it straight to your inbox, you can subscribe here. You can also read and share this issue on Substack.

This has been a strange old month for anyone who watches how people lead.

We got a new Prime Minister. We lost a football legend. And England went out of a World Cup semi-final in the last minute, in a way that told you everything about pressure. Three completely different stories. But when I sat with them, they were all circling the same thing.

Heart, and the nerve to go with it. Let me explain.

A Prime Minister I once stood next to

I’ll keep this bit short because I wrote a whole blog on it, but here’s the gist.

Andy Burnham, our new PM, was once my local MP in Leigh. Years back he turned up in person to help launch our tiny little business in a school hall, no cameras, no reason to bother, and he was humble and generous with his time. I even played a game with him on the pitch once, him at left wing, me dropping in behind. Grit and heart, up close, long before the country was deciding what it thinks of him.

He’s a kind man. A people person. And that’s exactly what makes me a little worried for him, because kind leaders at the top get tested in ways that eat nice people alive.

Here’s the line I keep coming back to, and it’s the theme of this whole issue. Kindness and toughness are not opposites. The best leaders are both at once. You can be warm to people and hard on the standard. Softness that can’t say no isn’t kindness, it’s avoidance wearing a friendly face.

One more thing on him, for the business owners reading. We’ve had seven Prime Ministers in a decade. Imagine a company that churned through seven chief executives in ten years. It’d be on its knees. Nothing gets seen through when the person who started it is gone before it lands. Whatever you make of his politics, Burnham wanting to actually stay and hold the wheel is the right instinct. Stability isn’t glamorous. It’s the ground everything gets built on.

The man who led with his heart hanging out

Kevin Keegan died last month, at 75, after a battle with cancer. Two Ballon d’Ors, a European Cup, captain of England. But it’s not the medals I’ll remember.

It’s the passion. If you know one thing about Keegan, it’s that moment as Newcastle manager, live on telly, half-breaking as he jabbed his finger and said “I would love it if we beat them.” No mask. No corporate line. What he felt was what you saw, and players ran through walls for him because of it.

That open heart was his magic. It’s also, if we’re honest, what left him exposed. That famous moment wasn’t triumph, it was a good man cracking under pressure with the cameras rolling, and his brilliant Newcastle side didn’t win the league.

Which is the whole point, isn’t it. Heart is a superpower and a risk in the same breath. Lead with it, always. Just don’t let the moment run the show. Rest easy, Kevin, and thank you.

When you’re winning, don’t start hiding

And then England. One up in a World Cup semi-final, the better side, a final there for the taking. Then Thomas Tuchel pulled the shape back to protect the lead instead of going and killing the game off. You could feel it. They stopped playing to win and started playing not to lose. Argentina punished it in the last minute. Out.

I’m not here to kick a manager while he’s down. But I’ve done the exact same thing in business, and so have you. You build something up, and quietly your head flips from “how do we grow this” to “how do we not lose this”. You protect the client instead of chasing the better one. You make the safe hire instead of the brave one.

It feels grown-up. It feels like stewardship. But standing still in a moving game is going backwards. The hard part of leadership isn’t finding courage when you’re behind. Anyone can do that. It’s keeping your nerve when you’re ahead and every instinct is screaming at you to sit on it.

So here’s your question for the month. Where are you currently playing not to lose?

And a small confession of my own

Which brings me to me, because I try not to preach what I’m not living.

I’m about to take my own bit of that courage. There’s something new I’ve been building quietly, a new venture I’m genuinely excited about, and it’s very nearly ready to see the light of day. I can’t say much yet. But I’m not sitting on the lead. I’m going for the second goal.

More very soon. Keep an eye on your inbox.

If you want a hand with any of this

If you read the England bit and felt a twinge of recognition, that your business has gone from building to defending without you really deciding to, that’s exactly the conversation I love having. Grab a free half hour with me here. No pitch. Just a straight look at where you’re playing safe when you should be playing to win.

Lead with your heart. Keep your nerve. And when you catch yourself protecting instead of building, that’s the moment to go again.

Feet on the floor. You are here. You are here.

Andy