ABSTRACT
In this chapter, David, Fran, and Carlton outline their own career progressions and reflect on both their learnings from becoming and being leaders and then from the idea of leaving leadership. Leadership departures can offer an opportunity to free up space within the organisation for the development and advancement of others. However, there is a need to manage expectations internally as to who will take on the various roles held by the departing leader. Having described four distinct careers as a mountain guide, a leader in education, a government policymaker in education, and as an academic, David describes himself as seeking to work at the confluence of policy, practice, and research, then to unify them in the pursuit of educational excellence and the realisation of human potential. In conclusion, David notes that the most important thing that leaders do is to shape and manage culture.
