I’ve been listening to this year’s Reith Lectures by Dr Atul Gawandi. He’s a very engaging speaker and his fourth lecture, The Idea of Wellbeing, struck me as containing messages for leaders, and particularly leaders in schools.
Gawandi’s grandfather inherited the family farm and all its debt when the monsoon rains didn’t come and the harvest failed. Bread and salt were all his grandparents had to live on. They were starving to death.
‘But he prayed, he stayed at the plough, and his prayers were answered’
Whether you are a person of prayer or not, having faith and staying at the plough, are essential in leadership. You need faith in others: that they will fulfil the potential you have seen in them, and you need the determination to ‘stay at the plough’ even when the ground is uneven.