Leadership in the sunlight

This essay is a response to my experience of leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic.  I found it tough.   So I picked up a book on leadership.  That book talked about Plato.  I wasn’t convinced, so I went back to read Plato for myself.  That started me thinking about leadership more generally.  This essay is a reflection on that thinking.  Where I get to is the deceptively simple claim that true leaders are those of us who are as in touch with reality as it’s possible to be.  Along the way I emphasise just how difficult that is and to be particularly vigilant against those who claim to be but aren’t.  Leadership on this account is more a matter of perception than action.  That might seem counter-intuitive. It might also seem naive. I end by saying something brief about that.