Lighting The Blue Touch Paper
Igniting the Energy, Clarity, and Performance of The Senior Leadership Team
Why only 8% of executives believe their senior leadership teams is truly effective
Source: McKinsey & Company, High-performing teams: A timeless leadership topic, 28 June 2017
Why this book matters
Most senior leadership teams (SLTs) fall short of their potential, with the consequences felt across the entire organisation.
Despite holding the greatest leverage for strategy, culture, and performance, fewer than one in four SLTs are high performing. Research from McKinsey, HBR, and Gartner is stark: only 8% of executives see their team as truly effective, over half report low trust and poor collaboration, and many more lack clarity on value creation.
The results? Misaligned priorities, stalled execution, and wasted potential. Lighting the Blue Touch Paper confronts this reality head-on spotlighting why senior leadership teams underperform and how they can transform.
About The Author
Les Murray is an executive coach, consultant, and leadership team facilitator with 30 years’ experience helping organisations achieve clarity, momentum, and growth. He partners with CEOs, MDs, and Founders to sharpen vision, design effective processes, and build senior teams that work.
His career began in strategy and marketing working with Boots, Sainsbury’s, and Marks & Spencer, before leading restructuring projects for FTSE 100 firms including AstraZeneca, Caterpillar, and Rolls-Royce. A blend of strategic insight, systems thinking, and human focus shapes his work with fast-growing businesses determined to unlock their potential.
Who’s It For?
MDs & CEOs scaling their businesses
Senior Leadership Teams under pressure
Consultants and
coaches
Leaders seeking clarity and execution excellence
About The Book
Lighting the Blue Touch Paper is a hands-on playbook for turning senior leadership teams into high-performing, culture-shaping engines.
Built around the six essentials of shared goals, clear roles, strong norms, actionable plans, disciplined execution, and continuous renewal the frameworks outlined in the book shows leaders how to hire well, align fast, and build trust that accelerates progress.
With proven tools like the Ladder of Leadership™, OKRs, RAPID, and GROW, it turns ambition into execution.
The result? Sharper priorities. Stronger habits. A leadership team that becomes a true force multiplier for the whole organisation.
5 Key Takeaways...
…from Lighting the Blue Touch Paper
The Senior Team is
the First Team
High-performing SLTs act as a force multiplier, aligning the enterprise and modelling culture, not just managing functions.
Foundational Alignment
Drives Results
Shared goals, clear roles, and agreed norms prevent quiet misalignments that stall execution and erode trust.
Happiness and Trust are Performance Strategies
Psychological safety, recognition, and wellbeing fuel productivity, creativity, and resilience. This is not “soft stuff,” but essential to growth.
Empowerment Creates
Leaders at Every Level
Delegation with clarity and tools like the Ladder of Leadership™ builds ownership, initiative, and accountability across the business.
Strategy Must Live
in Execution Rhythms
Blueprints, OKRs, and disciplined meeting cadences bridge the “knowing-doing gap” and turn ambition into measurable outcomes.
Testimonials
“Les is fantastic and impeccably organised. He is a really wise coach who shares his experience, and points of view, in ways which are extremely helpful to how my business and personal life are developing”
Victoria Sylvester - Managing Director
“Les’s pace, listening skills, clarity of communications, and attention to detail are all impressive and come dressed in high quality dry humour. Les demonstrated high integrity, empathetic style, great insights and gravitas. His work with our team to manage a challenging programme was excellent and exceeded expectations”
Todd Navin - General Manager Finance & Administration
“Les has been a source of wisdom for me as we work our way forward building a new team, restructuring operations, and build for the future. He has an assured manner which combines support and challenge as a good critical friend should. In my 1-2-1s with Les I have been struck by his knowledge and insight, sharp and perceptive questioning, as well as his appetite for holding my feet to the fire!”
Stephen Nickson - Owner & Managing Director
“Les worked with us during a very difficult and challenging time for the dentistry profession. He provided an invaluable sounding board as a strategic advisor “thinking ahead” across a number of different projects.
I value his advice on major decisions. An indispensable member of the team.”
Prof Paul Tipton
“Les gave us a fun filled day and it was only obvious he had worked us hard when we stood back and looked at all the output we had achieved as a team. He got the best from every person in the room with his direct and engaging style that blends sharp wit with very serious subject matter. Absolutely brilliant. An exceptional day”
Nick Taylor - Chief Executive
“A 1-2-1 with Les is the equivalent of an excellent non-executive director who, with an understanding of the business, can “stand back” and give informed, impartial, and very practical advice”
Michael Jefferies - Managing Director
“Les works at pace, professionally, and with minimum fuss to quickly deliver results. He exudes a natural authority and earns respect from those he comes into contact with his sharp mind and warm heart”
Mark Papworth - Group CEO
“Les exhibits a willingness to lead teams on a “new adventure” with good humour, clear thinking, and that all important ingredient – humility. Pure magic”
Lyn Rees - Group CEO
“Les runs a fantastic workshop. Engaging, fun, great stories, practical insights and all delivered in a way which drives engagement and gets the creative juices flowing. Les is the go to guy for making the complex simple, the difficult easy, and putting a smile on people’s faces – exceptional”
Kelvin Coyle - Managing Director
“Our engagement with Les was incredibly fruitful. He engaged with the team, exploring and challenging patterns of work to identify improvement opportunities which we are now implementing that will result in a significantly more effective organisation in future”
Gavin Huxtable - Steam Business Development Director
“The 1-2-1s with Les are very open as well as being very detailed. Les always follows through on each point and goes the extra mile to assist and help. His experience in business and life really resonate with me and have helped me in many areas in business as well as personally”
Dale Heathcote - Managing Director
“The growth workshop with senior management was excellent. Les provided thought provoking challenges with good humour in a well structured day. Highly guaranteed to provide the spark for a breakthrough and fresh thinking“
Anthony Attard - Group CEO
Work Experience
