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My reason for reviewing this book was to see if it might contain any useful lessons for SLTs, but unfortunately much of its advice could be deduced from common sense – albeit alongside some useful nuggets, such as ‘Kindness rather than ferocity is likely to get the best out of your team’, and ‘Imagination and curiosity are as important as experience and knowledge’.

Tellingly, McDonald writes of learning more from observing good and bad leadership practices than from formal training.

Of greater interest are the book’s insights into politics with a small ‘p’, which cover the mechanics of how jobs are secured, and the behind-the-scenes events of some world-shaping events, including the war in Afghanistan and Brexit. Those studying politics and modern history courses then, will at least find this book fascinating for the perspectives on living history it presents.

This review was first published in Teach Secondary magazine.

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