He was also involved in developing the army’s first joint manual for military mortuary affairs operations, which is still in use.
He left the army in 1998 for Service Corporation International (SCI), a leading US funeral services provider. At the time SCI owned the UK business and Jensen became Kenyon’s CEO in 2003.
What separates a good leader from a weak one?
Leadership, he believes, isn’t necessarily hard. “The tricky part is the responsibility and burden that comes with it.”
He frowns slightly when describing how weak leadership looks in action. “There’s a lot of writing and teaching on leadership but you also need the context. Many don’t seem to know how to learn, to analyse, to come up with their own hypotheses.
“You see people in senior positions in business behaving like they are in a school debating club – their logic and arguments aren’t valid and they’re just repeating stuff without any context.”
In crisis management, there are usually two main problems to solve: the initial response to an event and dealing with its longer-term consequences. “CEOs often want to talk about the first, but not the second,” he observed.
From Bracknell and around the world
The company’s small team of 25 full-time staff is based in Bracknell, Houston, Beirut and the Dominican Republic. The geographical spread of locations means Kenyon can respond rapidly to incidents around the world. Some 2,000 associates and specialists are on call, if required, to support customers in aviation, maritime, rail, universities and technology companies. Their expertise includes emergency planning, response training, crisis communications and family assistance services.
When he arrived in the UK, Jensen moved the business from Wembley to Bracknell as it needed extra office space and a large warehouse, where personal possessions are stored during the process of identifying who they belonged to.
“Bracknell is an affordable area to live, with easy access to the M4, M3 and Heathrow,” said Jensen who, pre- pandemic, spent about 250 days a year travelling.
Being resilient in the Covid-19 crisis
Jensen is using his crisis management experience to steer Kenyon through the coronavirus pandemic. In particular, he encourages his staff to be resilient.
“Otherwise, you’d never leave your house. In a disaster, the worst that can happen is if you stop trying because
66 I don’t want my life to be defined just by my job
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