Leora Cruddas is founding CEO of the Confederation of School Trusts. She has been a teacher, a director of education in two local authorities, was director of policy and public relations at ASCL and has sat on multiple government advisory boards and panels. She writes:

My trajectory and experience of leadership would almost certainly have been different had I been male. Have I had to work harder in meetings to make my voice heard as every other voice is male, for example? Every single day. But it does not keep me up at night, it hasn’t held me back and I have strategies to deal with it. And some of the most inspirational leaders I have had have been men - they have fully been able to empathise with my situation and they have adjusted their approach to deal with the behaviours that do impact women negatively.

Lots of people talk about impostor syndrome. I don’t think that phrase is helpful and it is problematic that it is mostly used in the context of women. What we are actually saying is that we sometimes doubt ourselves as leaders, and that is entirely normal and healthy. I don’t ever want to lose that humility. 

I was that child and young adult who sought out positions of responsibility. I was the head girl, the one who wanted to change things. That feeling of change making is the same at any scale and I enjoy that feeling.

I am interested in voice: who has one, who speaks for whom, who is denied a voice. They are important questions for leaders. 

I grew up in apartheid South Africa, a deeply painful period. And then, on the cusp of civil war, Nelson Mandela radically changed the trajectory by prioritising trust and reconciliation, by calling for solidarity and reflection over autonomy and by showing a new kind of leadership. It is a cliché almost to cite him in leadership terms but as a young adult in that country, he had an enormous impact on me. 

Many of the things I continue to believe as a leader - and a leader in education specifically - were forged in the fire of that period. Speaking to other leaders, it’s clear their own context had a similar impact, so we must be honest about how our leadership approach is formed from our experience. As part of that, we need to have our sedimentary histories challenged - and by that, I mean the values and beliefs that we were intimately exposed to through family, peers and relationships and that can become deeply embedded. That’s why education is so important: it opens those deeply held beliefs to critique in a safe and respectful environment. 

Expertise is important. If you are going to lead, you need domain-specific knowledge of the area you are leading. Credible: the power of expert leaders, by Amanda Goodall, has really influenced me on this. I was once not as sure on this point as I am now; I was more sympathetic to the notion of generic leadership skills. But I am certain now that you need a depth of expertise, learned or otherwise, in the area you are leading. 

I have always trusted my instinct as a leader, but what we really mean by “instinct” is embedded experience and knowledge. It’s important that we recognise it is not some form of innate sense detached from knowledge.

There is a place for sternness and a place for kindness. And combining those elements is really important to creating the right culture. 

There is nothing in what we know about effective leadership that cannot be taught. I fundamentally disagree that certain people are born to it. What good leadership requires, though, is a curiosity about leadership: the passion about leadership as a subject that motivates you to watch others lead, break down what they do and learn from what is successful. 

Slowing decisions down is important and, as part of that, so is seeking the right advice. Sometimes that is not possible because of the speed things are moving, but where you have opportunity, slowing down the decision and sense checking it is key. 

You can’t control what people say about you as a leader - and if you worry about that too much then it can have a negative impact. I care deeply what people think about me and engage with it proportionally, but you have to make decisions based on the best evidence and not worry too much about how that decision might be perceived. 

I beat myself up about the things I believe I have done badly, things I have usually done when in a heightened emotional state, and it lives with me for days, weeks or even years afterwards. But the process of self-reflection is important. And what I have learned is that you can’t be perfect as a leader; you shouldn’t believe it is possible to be. This is why we have governance and why governance is so important - because you need collective reflection of decision making. 

We need to be kinder to ourselves and talk up the positive parts of being a leader more. I love leading, I love the subject of leadership and I think being excited about that is so important if we are to encourage the next generation of leaders to step up.