Imperfect Leadership in Action

Steve Munby has spent his whole career in education, first as a teacher and then as an adviser and inspector before moving into leadership. Between 2005 and 2017 he was chief executive first of the National College for School Leadership in England and then of Education Development Trust, an international education charity. He is now a self-employed consultant and speaker on leadership and on system reform. Steve is also a visiting professor at University College London Institute of Education and is the facilitator for the Atlantic Rim Collaboratory (ARC) summits, which bring together education systems from across the world. He was awarded a CBE in the New Year honours list in 2010. Marie-Claire Bretherton trained as a teacher before becoming a head teacher in Lincolnshire, where she led three very different schools to secure improved outcomes for pupils, including in the most challenging of circumstances. She is now Director of School Improvement for Anthem Schools Trust in England, as well as the Education Director for KYRA - a community for teaching, leadership, research and school improvement partnerships. Andy Hargreaves is a world-renowned British-Canadian educator who has dedicated his life to working with teachers and schools to make learning and teaching more engaging, fulfilling and collaborative for everyone. An author or editor of almost 40 books, Andy is a gifted writer who has become one of the most cited education scholars alive and has received 8 outstanding writing awards to date. He is an education adviser to the First Minister of Scotland, and for the Minister of Education for New Brunswick in Canada. He holds Honorary Doctorates from Sweden, Hong Kong and the University of Greater Manchester, has been honoured in the UK, Canada, the US and Australia for services to public education and educational research, and was awarded his university's Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award in 2015 at Boston College in the US. You can learn more at www.andyhargreaves.com and can join his 40,000+ followers on X (formerly Twitter) @hargreavesbc or Bluesky @ahargreaves.bsky.social.

Recognising one's imperfections is a hallmark of great leadership, and openness to learning from other people's experience is a condition for any leader's growth. Professor Steve Munby's mantra that 'being an imperfect leader is not a skill set, it is a mindset' is powerfully illustrated in his latest book, co-authored by Marie-Claire Bretherton.Drawing on the thoughts of a wide range of successful (but self-defined 'imperfect') head teachers and CEOs, they illustrate the dispositions and behaviours that help leaders to be less negatively self-critical in striving to learn from mistakes and become better versions of themselves as they shape organisational culture and foster the self-belief of others. Readers will be refreshed by the candour, humour and pragmatism of this book, which serves as both a mirror and a route map.Sir Hamid Patel