Observations on leadership - part 1

A friend asked me today to talk about what I think makes a good leader. It’s not an easy question. Sure, there’s tons of stuff that Dr Google could tell you – but I kind of felt (with G B Shaw) that “those who can, do; and those who can’t, teach”. What I mean is that if I really knew what leadership was about I would be out there practising it and I wouldn’t have time to talk about it!

I rather lamely came up with the idea that the first attribute of a good leader is that she listens. I do think this is so but it’s not particularly helpful. But as I talked to my friend I realised that a piece I had been meaning to write for a long time would be a good way of thinking about leaders. That piece is a piece about the people in my life who have influenced me – the people who have made a difference to the way I am or the way I think and who I am.

Leadership is something that we all experience not only because we do it but also because we benefit from it – or not, of course, as the case may be. Leadership isn’t about being in charge but it is about making a difference. So this piece is about some of the people who have influenced me and why – and how I learnt about leadership – or what leadership means to me. Because leadership is personal: every leader leads in a different way – there is no magic formula. It’s about observation and practice.

Leadership is about other people – not about the leader

My first father-in-law (I have had several not all of whom I have met!!) was man called Jack Evans. He had taken a first in chemistry in the 1930s and had then decided that he would devote his life to teaching kids physics. Jack was a good sportsman in his younger days playing both rugby (union of course) and cricket for the University. When the captaincy of the cricket team was up for grabs there was a vote and Jack stood. He decided that the right thing to do was to vote for the other fellow and he lost by a vote!! Eccentricity was definitely a character trait!! When advised to wear orthotic socks that were available only in white he insisted on still wearing his customary black sock on the other foot.

He was in a reserved occupation in the war working in a munitions factory. When he was there, there was an explosion and a fire. Jack rescued some people and was recommended for the George Medal: he refused it.

When I knew Jack he would always leave the house at 6pm to go to the pub. His ambition was to drink as many pints of bitter as he could by 8pm. I never saw him drunk. I never saw him in a pub outside those hours. That’s an odd sort of discipline I know, but it’s a discipline nonetheless! Mind you, when he got home he would drink sherry with angostura bitters: as I say, eccentric. Jack got me into English literature. He would always say that he would die happy when he had read every book in world or when someone had told him where the first electron had come from. I guess he died unhappy.

Maybe Jack wasn’t a leader but he was a teacher and he helped make others leaders: he was basically selfless. I don’t think good leadership is always about the leader – it’s about the people that she leads. It’s about bringing out the best in people – and that’s what Jack did for me. I would never have been the reader (and I mean reader here – and perhaps also leader) that I am had it not been for Jack. And I wouldn’t have realised the importance of a pint of bitter in the great scheme of life! A leader understands balance – not everyone has the same view of what’s important as everyone else.