How one CEO cut out the noise and became a better leader

As the head of one of the United Kingdom's top investment platforms, Richard Wilson splits his time managing a variety of different and often unpredictable individuals and other entities.

"Leadership is surrounded by uncertainty, by contradictions, by trade-offs, by lots of noise," the Interactive Investor CEO told CNBC. "It's so important as you navigate through that to find and stick to what really matters so that then you can deliver."

Wilson calls this focus his "north star."

"At the end of the day, you are what you do, and strategy is nine-tenths execution," he said. "So that north star keeps you focused on what matters, and you stay at it day in, day out."

This is just one of the five lessons Richard Wilson shared with CNBC. Watch the video above to learn the others.