What kind of leader does the UK need now?

As the UK faces further uncertainty, we need to rethink political leadership. What attributes does the next prime minister need?

Theresa May has officially handed in her notice and candidates are lining up for the role of Conservative Party leader and UK prime minister. May famously promised ‘“strong and stable leadership” but ultimately expressed deep regret that she had not been able to deliver Brexit.

May will probably be remembered for her resilience and stoicism, continuing to push through her Brexit deal with dogged determination. However, her failure to inspire others with her Brexit vision resulted in low levels of support. Her efforts at collaboration across parliament came too little, too late.  Rather, she relied on a small group of advisors to negotiate a detailed deal with the EU which the majority of parliamentary colleagues – and UK voters – simply didn’t buy into.

While Brexit remains the biggest issue in this leadership election, it is part of a general climate of uncertainty. Recent political upheaval demonstrates that we need to rethink the kind of leadership the UK needs.

Of the candidates who have put themselves forward so far, Boris Johnson is the current favourite. However, his success is by no means guaranteed. With so many candidates to choose from, what are the leadership attributes that the new prime minister most needs to demonstrate?

Vision

In these uncertain times, the prime minister needs to provide clarity of vision and direction for the UK going forward as a nation, with a sense of purpose in the world about our contribution and the type of society we want to be.

Values

With trust in political leaders at an all-time low, the UK needs an authentic leader who will tell the truth and hold others to account for honesty, respect all people as equal before the law, and uphold the universal declaration of human rights.

Empowerment

Rather than adopting a command-and-control stance, the UK needs an empowering leader to build confidence in others to make decisions and support people to assume responsibility as leaders in their communities. To drive the UK forward, an empowering approach can also support our endemic entrepreneurship and drive innovation.

Collaboration

The UK needs a collaborative leader to unite diverse groups of people across society, especially given the deep schisms following the Brexit vote. We need someone who can rebuild shared ways of working across communities, encouraging people to focus on mutual benefit rather than difference. In the face of multiple geopolitical challenges, the UK also needs a prime minister who can work with other nations to help build a more peaceful and sustainable world.

Agility

The new prime minister needs to be agile, keen to listen, to learn (if only May had learned from her initial mistake of not engaging with parliament), and to recognise the value of others’ views. The UK needs a leader who is driven by a desire to serve rather than by an ego - humble, adaptable, and in tune with the needs of others.

What politics can learn from business

In the fast-moving world of modern business, many of the most successful leaders have worked hard to develop the attributes above. Although the world of politics is experiencing seismic change, the style of political leadership in the UK is still firmly rooted in old-fashioned combat rather than modern collaboration. A new prime minister presents us with a new opportunity. Is it an opportunity any of the candidates can seize?

What is the UK’s future vision?

A lack of leadership is resulting in a lack of purpose

MPs are gathering in the UK parliament today to debate and vote on Brexit Plan B. As we watch the lack of leadership in the UK parliament play out in practice, it’s difficult to see the sense of vision or purpose in this ongoing debate.

Where is the sense of why we are a great country, what we are most proud of, how we can play our part in the world in the most effective and responsible way? Where is the vision for a nation that contributes to the 21^st century world by being a hotbed for innovation, improving life for people across the globe?

Reporting from Davos in The Times, Callum Jones wrote that, ‘Angela Merkel has urged world leaders to defy populism and save the established order, calling in nations to “hold together” and halt the fragmentation of the multilateral system’. Merkel added: “A global architecture will only be successful if we’re open to compromise.”

If our political leaders spent time working to understand and articulate the side of the British spirit of which we can be most proud, we could perhaps unite around a vision which others would respect and want to be associated with. Our sense of why we exist as a nation could be based on a new purpose in the world, as we move on from our history of empire, domination and cruelty. We could reinvent ourselves as a nation that other nations want to work with, a nation of collaboration and mutual respect – one that focuses energy and resources on creating better solutions to problems like energy, food, water, and peace.

We need visionary political leadership right now. Leadership that can recreate our sense of purpose in the world. Leadership that builds connections, not partitions.