In this episode of Leadership Bites, Guy Bloom sits down with Dr Steven Farmer DBA MPhil MBA, Chief Executive Officer of Alconex Infrastructure and Solutions Ltd, author of Soft Skills, Hard Numbers. Steve leads a multi utilities business delivering gas, water and electric connections to homes, while expanding into energy transition work across data centres, battery energy storage and solar. 

Steve shares a straight talking leadership philosophy that blends soft skills with hard numbers. He talks about rising from an apprenticeship and life on the tools, to senior leadership and board level accountability, then pushing himself through an MBA and a doctorate while working full time. The conversation moves into what servant leadership really means when performance dips, why poor behaviour is a fast route to the exit, and how leaders can build psychological safety without lowering standards. 

They explore the human reality leaders are dealing with right now, a workforce arriving already anxious, the importance of being excellent at receiving bad news, and the practical power of one simple principle: do not make life worse for people at work. Steve also unpacks his doctorate research into values based recruitment in construction, and why the industry needs a new story if it wants young talent to choose trade and craft over debt and drift. 

Expect clear thinking, grounded experience, and leadership that respects people while still hitting the numbers. 

Key moments and ideas
 • The route to CEO, and why effort beats talent when talent coasts
 • Doctorate level work while leading a business, what it really takes
 • Values based recruitment and making construction a cause people want to join
 • Servant leadership without softness, command without control
 • Psychological safety and performance, do not shoot the messenger
 • Bad news is like fresh bread, better when it is new
 • High performance, low tolerance, high nurture, the leadership balance
 • Creating workplaces where people do not get the Sunday scaries
 • One leadership book Steve would still recommend: Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People 

Guest
Dr Steven Farmer DBA MPhil MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Alconex Infrastructure and Solutions Ltd
Author, Soft Skills Delivering Hard Numbers 

Host
Guy Bloom
Leadership Development, Executive Coaching and Team Effectiveness
Living Brave Leadership
Leadership Bites podcast 

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