Expert Insight: Building the Next Generation of Leaders in Environmental Consulting
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Jon Gibbard, Director at Empowered2, shares his insights on why leadership development should start long before someone has a team to manage. Drawing on years of experience working as, and with, senior leaders across the environmental consulting sector, Jon explains how equipping early career professionals with leadership thinking builds self-awareness, drives learning, and delivers measurable value far earlier in their careers.
In this interview, Jon discusses the ten principles that consistently set apart successful MDs, Directors and senior leaders and explains why introducing these ideas early, rather than waiting until someone steps into a leadership role, pays dividends for both individuals and the organisations they work for.
At the Sustainability Delivery Summit London 2026, Jon will lead the Early Careers Workshop: Building Future Leaders, a practical, peer-driven session where attendees bring their own real challenges and dilemmas into the room, working through them collectively using frameworks drawn from his leadership guide.
EA: Why does introducing leadership thinking early in someone's career make such a difference, rather than waiting until they're stepping into a management role?
JG: It is so important to frame peoples thinking early on, if we do this they become much more self reflective on their own and other peoples impacts and this drives learning. They are also more likely to deliver more value and have a bigger impact when equipped with leadership tools and approaches.
EA: Your workshop is built around ten principles drawn from working as and with senior leaders across the sector. Can you share an example of a principle in action that leads to leadership success?
JG: The self reflection one above for sure, another would be the leadership styles we have access to and can use on a day-to-day basis. What’s the difference between directive and visionary etc and why does it matter. Understanding these behaviours and using them in the right ways is essential.
EA: Managing your own mindset under pressure is one of the themes you'll cover. What does that actually look like for an early-career professional, before they've had the experience to turn to?
JG: One way is being conscious of how you are responding. I love the work of Steve Peter’s (the chimp paradox) and so I use the simple chimp model to help people start to see how they can adapt their approach and form positive habits to help them get the best out of themselves and others.
EA: You also focus on building teams that don't require management to be involved in every decision. Why is that such a hard shift for people to make, and why is it worth teaching before someone even has a team to manage?
JG: The more we can push accountability and responsibility down into businesses the more people at the client interface can be empowered to make great decisions which help us to speed up. It also means the right people are looking at the right things. If the organisation is more command and control leaders can get flooded with very tactical decision making. Whilst this can make them feel busy and important it takes accountability away and can lead to leaders being overwhelmed. Leaders need to be working on the system not in the system and if accountability isn’t delegated there isn’t time for this.
EA: This session is deliberately practical and peer-driven, built around real dilemmas attendees bring into the room. What tends to surprise people most when they realise how many of their "unique" challenges are actually shared experience?
JG: There is often a great feeling in the room of the fact that people are not alone, these situations aren’t unique and they can be managed and actions can be taken. It’s very empowering to hear a peer who faces a similar problem solving it live in the rooms and it gives others the confidence to take action on their own challenges.