ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Richard Williams, formerly Principal and CEO of a major further education college in the UK and now CEO of a large charitable organization, draws our attention to what it means to do leadership in today’s education sector. He does this by presenting a narrative account of a short meeting with the Chairman of his Board of Governors. In doing this he makes us aware of the relational nature of leadership and how this immediately constrains what he can do as a leader. He is answerable in many ways to his Chairman, and both of them, as leaders, are constrained by their legal contracts and by the policies of the government regarding education. What he is emphasizing here is how leaders in the public sector, and in any organization for that matter, mediate policies that are not of their own devising and, indeed, may be contrary to their own values in many ways. He says that leaders are constrained to be local advocates of macro policies so that leadership involves a preoccupation with the administration of power and authority to create a framework of discipline within which others in the organization must work. This way of seeing leaders and leadership stands in stark contrast to the conventional way of writing, talking and teaching leadership. This dominant way presents an image of the leader as a lone individual who decides on visions and strategies, inspiring and enthusing others to share these with him or her. The result is a highly idealized view of leadership which Williams describes as a cult of leadership.
