What Does It Mean to Be Here? A Conversation with Azziz Hussain
Azziz Hussain and I met six or seven years ago, when he was working at the Department for Education. Listening to him tell his story, and the stories of leaders like him, is part of what led me to start this podcast: so that more people are encouraged to know their story, and to tell it.
This is the first Leaders in Conversation we have recorded in a studio, at Podcast Room Brighton on 16 September. Azziz, now Head of HR Corporate and Technical Operations at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, talks with me about what it means to be here.
Who is Azziz Hussain?
Azziz, whose full name is Azizul, has been a civil servant for nearly two decades. He is Head of HR Corporate and Technical Operations at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and before that he led teams at the Department for Education, the Education and Skills Funding Agency, the Cabinet Office, HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions.
He is a Chartered Fellow, a qualified OD&D practitioner, and a qualified coach and mentor. He was previously co-Chair of the Civil Service Muslim Network. Outside his day job, he is Director and co-founder of a modest wear clothing line, and he is currently building a school in Bangladesh.
What does it mean to be here?
We start with story, because it is where so much begins. Azziz talks about why knowing your story, and being able to tell it to others, matters, and how our origins and background, our family and friends, shape who we are.
He talks about the people who noticed him early on: teachers who saw potential in a disruptive child, and an eldest sister who kept nudging him towards the guitar, the football pitch and himself. We also talk about his beliefs, his faith, and what turning 40 meant to him, and in the Qur'an.
And we talk about choice: the choices we make, and the choices we are helped to make, to reach our full potential. Azziz is clear that everybody has potential, and that when we cannot unlock it alone, there is courage in reaching out to a mentor or a friend and asking for a chat.
Azziz's three encouragements to leaders
I always ask my guests for three encouragements. Azziz's are:
Leadership needs to be authentic.
Know your story, and tell your story.
Big relationships over transactional ones. He names the teacher, the friend and the key people in his own story, and speaks generously about the simple, open "why" questions that frustrated him at first and then changed how he thought.
What I take from this is how much leadership happens inside relationships. So here is a quiet prompt to carry into your week: who noticed your potential first, and who in your team is waiting for someone to notice theirs?
Listen to the episode
Listen to the full conversation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.
Connect with Azziz on LinkedIn and Instagram (@azzizulhussain).
If this conversation has resonated with you, I would love to tell you more about Collaboration Equation, the leadership framework Lucy Kidd and I created together. Built on Curiosity, Care and Courage, it gives leaders and their teams going through change a practical, relational way forward. Get in touch directly at anni@annitownend.com to find out more.