The referendum campaign and its aftermath have seen some very poor examples of leadership from senior politicians on both sides of the argument and in both the major political parties. Ranging from the toxic to the disengaged, our political leaders have consistently let us down with rhetoric based on fear, outright lies, a lack of inspiration or positivity, a lack of respect for people from other countries, a lack of judgement on so many levels and, above all, a lack of principled leadership.

Seeing the leadership of both Leave and Remain in action over the last few months has given me much food for thought, not least in the context of having read recently The Myth of the Strong Leader: political leadership in the modern age by Professor Archie Brown (Vintage Books, 2015).

Drawing on the remarkable breadth of his knowledge of modern politics and politicians across the world, gained during a 50-year career as a political analyst, he challenges the view that political leaders have to be strong to be successful.

Overrating charisma

He defines conventionally strong leaders as those who dominate their colleagues and concentrate decision-making in their own hands. Whether the leader is democratic, authoritarian, totalitarian or revolutionary, Professor Brown concludes that it is a myth that leaders need to dominate to be successful, and that more collegial styles of leadership tend to be more successful and enduring.

Yet political leaders often want to be seen as strong and see advantage in criticising their opponents as weak, with plenty of recent examples of this in the UK. Charismatic leadership, he says, is often dangerous and frequently overrated. Instead, he prefers the terms “redefining” and “transformational” leadership, using Franklin D Roosevelt and his New Deal, and Lyndon B Johnson’s Great Society and civil-rights legislation, as examples of redefining leaders in the USA. In the UK, there was Clement Atlee and Margaret Thatcher.

The transformational leaders - those who make an even bigger difference - are the ones who, according to Professor Brown, change the economic or political system of their countries, or internationally. Charles de Gaulle, Adolfo Suárez, Mikhail Gorbachev, Deng Xiaoping, Abraham Lincoln and Nelson Mandela are his examples. All introduced systemic change to their countries and beyond, and achieved sustainable change by persuasion and principle rather than by exercising greater power than their predecessors.

People of principle

On political leadership, Mandela wrote: “The leader’s first task is to create a vision. His second is to create a following to help him implement the vision and to manage the process through effective teams.” According to the American political scientist, Joseph Nye, a leader is someone “who helps a group create and achieve shared goals”.

The great school leaders, who have created sustainable success in their schools, have, in my experience, been people of principle, strong on values with a teamwork approach and a consultative style. They have not been strong leaders in the conventional sense of the word, but their strength has been in their ability to translate their values into action and get buy-in from the whole school community. They have been self-confident, but not arrogant, and have recognised their limitations and the need to build a team with complementary skills. I have written before about the four Hs of successful leadership - humanity, humility, hope and humour; like the great political leaders, successful school leaders have these qualities in abundance.

So, when governing bodies are appointing a new head and think they are looking for a strong leader, they should take care to recruit someone with the right kind of strength, if their school is to be put on the path of sustainable success.

John Dunford is chair of Whole Education, a former secondary head, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders and national pupil premium champion. He tweets as @johndunford

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