Learning English

Images: Getty / BBC

Introduction

We might expect our leaders to be confident and sure of what they are talking about. But should we believe that they have all the answers?

Djamila Boothman helps to dispel the myth of the all-knowing crowd-pleasing leader. 

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TRANSCRIPT

Djamila Boothman

Leadership is having a vision of how things should work and ensuring that the entire community around are working towards that vision. It should be shared and it should be something that allows everybody to play a part.

That it's really hard, but actually it's not just about telling other people what to do, but it's about walking the walk and it's about not doing anything that you wouldn't expect others to do, and it's about doing the things that you're asking others to do.

You've got to be willing to listen, you've got to be willing to be wrong, you've got to be willing to learn something and you've got to be willing to put in the hard work. 

Leaders should not be arrogant, they should not believe that they have all the answers, they should trust the people who they pay and recruit to specialise in the things that they specialise in, and they should not ask for advice if they're not willing to consider it and take it on.

Pleasing everybody. You're never going to please everybody: it's about maintaining that equilibrium in order to ensure that it all works and every piece of the machine is running smoothly.