Leadership Memo 2025-10
Over the past five years, the Leadership Memo has been my way of sharing lessons and insights from decades of leading and learning alongside leaders around the world. If you’ve been reading for a while, thank you. Your comments, replies, and quiet encouragement have meant more than you know.
This will be my final edition of the Leadership Memo. Let me share why, and where I’m headed next.
Some of you may not know this, but I’m a Christian and have been since I was about eight years old. My faith has always shaped how I lead and make decisions, even long before I talked about it publicly.
Before 2019, I spent over twenty years in corporate life (nearly half of that in senior management) across startups, global enterprises, and different industries and countries. When I became a consultant in 2019, it was one of those unmistakably God-led turns in life. I didn’t fully understand where it was leading at the time.
In those five years, that calling has become clear: to help Christian business leaders integrate their faith with their leadership, align their business and career with God’s purpose, and thrive in an ever-changing world. Today, I host and facilitate groups of Christian CEOs, executives, and entrepreneurs who meet regularly to discuss real challenges, support one another, and grow in faith-led leadership.
That mission is now shaping what comes next. I’m launching a new newsletter called the Stewardship Brief. It is a monthly publication exploring leadership through the lens of stewardship, integrity, and purpose.
To give you a sense of what’s ahead, I’d like to share the very first edition of the Stewardship Brief: Part 1 of an eight-part series on the UK Post Office Scandal, one of the most striking modern stories about leadership and accountability, a sobering reminder of what happens when stewardship gives way to self-protection and when systems fail the people they’re meant to serve.
Stewardship Brief | Issue #1
What Happens When Loyalty to the System Replaces Loyalty to Truth
Every leader says they value truth… until truth threatens what they’ve built. Then comes the test. Do we face reality, or protect the story that keeps us comfortable?
Few modern crises expose that tension more painfully than the ongoing UK Post Office scandal. For over two decades, more than 900 sub-postmasters (small business owners running local branches) were falsely accused of theft and fraud based on a faulty computer system. Hundreds were bankrupted and imprisoned. Some took their own lives. Twenty-five years later, many are still waiting for justice. This isn’t history. It’s an unresolved crisis that mirrors the choices leaders face every day.
For those outside of the UK, the Post Office isn’t just about mail. It’s where people bank, pay bills, get passports, and collect pensions and benefits. In many rural areas, it is the only option. Sub-postmasters are trusted pillars of their communities. When the system failed, they weren’t just accused of stealing from an employer; they were accused of stealing from their own neighbors’ pensions and benefits.
Between 1999 and 2001, Fujitsu rolled out the Horizon IT system across all Post Office branches, calling it “robust”. Post Office executives called it “bulletproof”. The government didn’t question it.
Almost immediately, sub-postmasters saw unexplained shortfalls, sometimes thousands of pounds overnight. They called helplines and demanded answers. The response? “The system is flawless. You must be at fault.”
Sub-postmasters were legally responsible for shortfalls. When Horizon flagged phantom deficits, many paid from their own savings. When they couldn’t, they were prosecuted.
But no software is flawless. Every technologist knows complex systems contain bugs. Yet Fujitsu and Post Office leadership clung to that illusion. Inside Fujitsu, engineers flagged bugs that could corrupt data. All were brushed aside. One former employee I know raised over 80 issues as late as 2020. Still ignored.
In June 2012, under pressure from Members of Parliament, the Post Office hired Second Sight, an independent forensic accounting firm. Their July 2013 interim report confirmed what sub-postmasters had insisted: Horizon had errors. The Post Office had mishandled complaints. Yet the Post Office ended their work in March 2015, before the final report could be published.
As Lord Arbuthnot later said, this “stopped being a computer problem and became a human problem”: a moral failure at every level.
- Fujitsu shielded its contracts and reputation.
- Post Office executives prized comfort over justice.
- Government officials looked away to avoid scandal.
- Sub-postmasters paid the price.
Scripture shows us two paths. Solomon sought “a discerning heart to distinguish between right and wrong” (1 Kings 3:9). Eli, a priest, saw his sons corrupt the worship of God but took no meaningful action (1 Samuel 2). His failure to confront what he knew cost him everything: his sons, his legacy, and his life.
Truth-seeking is stewardship in action. It takes courage to face what might undermine our plans and humility to admit when we’re wrong. The question isn’t whether we’ll face such moments; we will. The question is: what will we choose?
A place to start:
- Ask: Where in your organization might truth be inconvenient or unwelcome? What systems are treated as beyond question?
- Act: Build safe channels for dissent and protect those who use them.
- Model: Admit your mistakes publicly.
If this resonated with you, I’d love to have you join me.
The article you just read is the first issue of the Stewardship Brief. Part 2 will arrive in November, continuing to explore the leadership lessons and moral failures that unfolded in one of the most significant scandals in recent history.
Each month, the Stewardship Brief will bring you stories and reflections on leading with purpose, staying grounded in our values, and navigating complexity with wisdom. These principles apply universally, but they take on deeper meaning when rooted in faith.
If this direction resonates with you, I warmly invite you to subscribe here.
👉 Subscribe to the Stewardship Brief.
If this new direction isn’t for you, I completely understand. Thank you for being part of the Leadership Memo, for reading, sharing, and journeying with me all these years. I’m deeply grateful for your support.
For those joining me at the Stewardship Brief, I’m excited to walk into this next chapter together.
With gratitude,
MW
