Rob Kendall...

I’m delighted to be a non-exec director of Jellyfish Pictures, a BAFTA-winning visual effects company in Soho, London. This year they are nominated for a BAFTA for ‘Inside the Human Body’ and they have already collected a coveted VES award in Los Angeles for it.

For me, Phil Dobree and the Jellyfish team epitomise the challenge for any visionary leader. They fiercely hold on to their heart and soul – in Jellyfish’s case this is cutting-edge creativity and the pursuit of excellence – in the face of deep recessionary forces that are bludgeoning the budgets of broadcasters and film-makers.

The story of Jellyfish (and indeed any entrepreneur) is a modern take on the age-old narrative of the hero’s journey, in which you have to lose sight of your own shore to have any hope of finding new land. You need to hold your course when the voice in your head whispers to you on a daily basis that you can trade your aspirations for an easier life. Like a play you’ve seen before, you know the right answer is to stay true to your values, but in reality this involves years of navigating the thin line of uncertainty. Great leaders, it seems to me, learn to live with a constant feeling of discomfort. In fact – more than living with it – they find an inexplicable sense of fulfilment in the up’s and down’s of the journey while still pushing for the next destination.

The poet David Whyte told of a woman who worked at AT&T who said, ‘I turned my head for an instant and it became my life’. This struck a deep chord and yet chilled me in equal measure. It serves to remind me that settling for the easy option would initially feel more comfortable but that selling out on my values would feel worse in the long run. Just as with Jellyfish, the real prize may have little to do with comfort or discomfort and more to do with staying true to ourselves.

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