Reflections from an intimate forum at Bonhams, London – 24 February
Yesterday, in the refined surroundings of Bonhams, New Bond Street, Ennis & Co Group convened a room of senior automotive leaders for Torque & Truth. A forum designed as a thinking space for those carrying the real weight of leadership in the sector.
Chairs, CEOs, Non-Executive Directors and executive leaders joined us to discuss and explore the reality of leading high performing organisations now and preparing them for the future.
Leadership as a personal practice
Our opening session, led by Stevie Fine Managing Director Inspire and Dr Stewart Desson CEO Lumina Learning focused on the psychology of senior leadership. Cognitive load, resilience, judgement and self-awareness. Leaders spoke candidly about the operational and personal demands of leadership and reflected on the behavioural patterns that build their teams.
What emerged was a shared recognition that the internal work of leadership, perspective, regulation, clarity under pressure, is now as critical as organisational design.
Judgement, execution and capability
A central conversation of the afternoon took the form of an interview between Lynda Ennis, CEO and Founder of Ennis & Co Group and Kana Inagaki, Industry Editor covering Global Autos at Financial Times. Their exchange moved beyond strategy to the practical realities of execution. Examining what happens when organisational direction is aligned, but the capability to deliver is not.
Drawing on her experience working with global leadership teams and her own executive career, Lynda emphasised the need for leaders to assess bench strength, identify capability gaps and align leadership profiles with the demands of delivery.
AI, digitalisation and leadership pipelines
Adopting a format inspired by the BBC’s Question Time, the panel, moderated by Al Clarke and featuring Ian Plummer Autotrader, Sarah Noble Deloitte, Andrew Burn, Eurig Druce Stellantis and Jennifer Babington Bonhams, extended this theme into AI and digitalisation. The discussion examined leadership readiness, beyond the technology: governance, capability building and the risk of adopting digital narratives faster than organisations can implement them.
This led to a substantive dialogue on talent pipelines and succession. If operating models are evolving, how are leadership pathways evolving alongside them? Audience contributions were practical, reflecting organisations actively grappling with these questions.
Investing in future leadership
Rachel Clifft, CEO of Ben brought the focus to wellbeing and the practical approach and resources available to improve the health for many in the sector, raising awareness of the role leaders play in supporting the lives of the automotive workforce.
The presentation of the 2026 Bunny Ennis Fund, awarded to Phil Moody, Head of UK Customer Care at Volvo Cars, provided a tangible link to the development of future leaders. A theme that echoed throughout the day’s dialogue on succession and capability.
From dialogue to data
Torque & Truth was thoughtful, reflective and, at times, disarmingly humorous.
This is another element of Ennis & Co Group’s ongoing leadership research programme, providing a forum for senior leaders to explore and share insights that will inform our forthcoming white paper on automotive leadership.
This will include data-led analysis of automotive leadership through 52 senior leader interviews and 150 psychometric assessments from Inspire.
Yesterday demonstrated that the industry remains passionate, with clear direction, energy and purpose. The greatest opportunity, and its most significant constraint, lies in leadership: how it is understood, developed and sustained.
The conversation continues.
