Radiators vs Drains: The Leadership Speech Every High-Performance Team Needs (With a Smile)

It was 2004 and I had just joined the newly formed management team at Grey Worldwide (London), prior to WPP 's acquisition of this multi-national advertising agency network. Gary Lacey had initiated seismic changes in his early weeks as CEO, and so it was that on the first day when the last new member of the Executive Team joined the business, a snap ‘all hands’ meeting was called in the beautifully re-furbished ground floor space.

(Gary knew that physical place and space impacts behaviour - the ground floor was transformed from a GREY by name, grey by nature environment, into a light filled space with large artworks curated by young talent visible to passers-by, and a stunning coffee bar that became an actual bar after hours. Boy, there were some legendary nights enjoyed there - those were the days)!

And for the next 10 minutes, Gary gave one of the best speeches I’ve ever heard my +35 years in business.

He started by celebrating the unique individualism of all 200+ employees who stood in front of him. That his commitment as CEO was to create an environment in which every single person could be their authentic self, to feel like they belonged to something purposeful and exciting, to want to be at work every single day in the pursuit of creating world class creative solutions to our clients’ problems / opportunities.

But then he paused.

“Yes, you are all unique individuals, and we must celebrate this. But experience tells me that people also fit into one of two camps, and I’d like you to (privately) self-identify which of these two camps you belong to. On the one hand we have the radiators.  And on the other, we have the drains. Let me explain”.

And so, he went on to describe what he meant.

Sounds simple, right? That’s because it is. But don’t be fooled - behind the simplicity lies one of the most powerful culture-setting ideas you’ll ever come across. It’s a leadership litmus test. A team culture de-coder. And a pretty handy way to figure out who’s making the team better, and who’s quietly sucking the life out of it.

Radiators are the unsung heroes of high performance - the ones who bring the good stuff. Energy. Optimism. A sense of humour. They don’t need a spotlight, a title, or a round of applause. They show up, get stuck in, and make things warmer - not in a sweaty, uncomfortable way - but in the kind of way where people breathe easier, feel lighter, and get more done.

They’re the ones who say, ‘We’ve got this’, when the wheels are wobbling. The ones who high-five effort, not just outcomes. They ask how you're doing and actually care about and listen to the answer. They send the quick thank-you email. They make the terrible coffee, but they make the coffee.

In short, radiators are the glue - and the spark. They hold things together and they keep things moving.

And in high-performance environments, that’s golden. Because no team has time for mood management or silent standoffs when performance is on the line.

Drains do the opposite. They’re the subtle saboteurs. They take energy.

You feel it when they walk in - the collective sigh of ‘Oh boy, here we go…’. They don’t say much, but when they do, it’s usually along the lines of ‘This’ll never work’ or ‘We tried that in 2012’.

They are allergic to enthusiasm. They have an Olympic-level ability to find the downside in any idea. They bring the mood down faster than a WiFi outage in a Zoom meeting.

And often, it’s not what they say, it’s what they don’t. The silence when someone shares a win. The eye-roll in a team huddle. The slow exhale of disbelief. These tiny moments add up, draining energy drop by drop.

The truth is, leadership is really just energy management in disguise.

Let’s be honest - modern leadership is 10% strategy, 90% emotional weather forecasting.

Your job isn’t just to manage results. It’s to manage vibe. Great leaders know this. They can feel when the team’s energy is up, when it’s flat, or when it’s heading south and dragging morale with it.

Radiators lift teams. Drains leak energy. One fuels progress. The other feeds disengagement.

So, leaders must ask ‘What am I bringing into the room today? Am I igniting momentum or quietly killing it’? And more importantly ‘What am I allowing from others’?

This is where things get awkward - and super useful. Brace yourself for the mirror test! Just because we all like to think we’re radiators, the uncomfortable truth is we all have ‘drain’ moments. Maybe it was that meeting we didn’t want to be in. Or that idea we dismissed because it wasn’t ours. Or the quiet day when we coasted, hoping no one noticed.

The radiator versus drain test isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being aware.

It’s asking yourself ‘Do I leave people more energised than I found them’? ‘Do I build momentum or block it’? ‘Do people feel lighter after time with me, or heavier’?

If the honest answer makes you wince - congratulations. That’s leadership. Self-awareness is a superpower. And it’s far rarer than we think.

High-performance teams need radiators. When you fill a team with them, incredible things happen. Performance lifts. Communication sharpens. People start solving problems instead of circling them. You laugh more. You move faster. You do better work and have more fun doing it.

It’s not magic, it’s mindset. Radiators show up with care, clarity and conviction. They know culture isn’t something you write in a handbook. It’s something you live every day. In the small moments. The side chats. The way you show up when things are hard, or annoying, or frankly, boring.

Radiators own their energy. They know they set the tone, whether they’re leading the meeting or just showing up on time with a good attitude and a half-decent playlist.

Every team, every culture, every project, every office kitchen is shaped by its people. And people either give energy or take it. When you walk into the office, be the person people are glad to see coming and ask yourself one simple question - am I a radiator or a drain today?

Back to Grey Worldwide.

At the end of his speech, Gary told us that if he had 200+ radiators standing in front of him, we had the potential to be truly world-class. But that if there were any drains, it probably wouldn’t happen. He invited anyone to come and speak with him about the belief he’d just shared.

When Gary had finished, you could hear a pin drop. Why? Well, I think it was because he nailed it, and everyone in the room knew it too. On reflection, I wish I’d done out loud, what I was thinking inside …cheering and clapping loudly in agreement!

What happened next?

Some of the drains self-identified. We coached them, and those that turned into radiators stayed, while those that didn’t, moved on. We also identified those drains who were not self-aware. They either rejected this and chose to leave of their own accord, or they said they wanted to come on the journey. Those who responded well stayed; those that didn’t left.

And for the next 3+ years that I was at GREY, I became fortunate to be a cog in the wheel of the most extraordinary change management experiment I’ve ever participated in or observed. I will always remember those days with a smile on my face. Not least because we radiated as a business.

Mike.