Review of ‘On Leadership’ by Tony Blair
Any book about leadership written by a former politician – especially a former Prime Minister – will inevitably prompt readers to agree, or disagree, with the views expressed to the extent that they agree or disagree with the politics that sit behind them. ‘On Leadership’ by Sir Tony Blair is no exception.
This is particularly so because the book draws on examples from a variety of scenarios including ones that Blair faced during his premiership. Readers who lived through this period of political history will find a recount, through Blair’s eyes, of various incidents both foreign and domestic that add some additional detail to what has been written about previously in his political memoir of 2010. However, this is not the only – or perhaps even the main – basis of this latest text’s significance.
As Blair outlines in the introduction, the book aims to provide something akin to a philosophy of leadership that is not ‘about’ his time in office per se, but rather draws on broader understandings derived from his political career and what he has done since. Ostensibly the book reads like a playbook for world leaders, meaning that for those of us who don’t happen to be a President or Prime Minister-in-waiting the reader experience can be a little jarring. As the author directs the reader on the type of people to hire as staffers in a government central policy unit, for example, one might find oneself wondering what the point of all this is for the ordinary person. But of course, Blair is relying on the ability of those of us concerned with leadership at other levels – in organisations, and in the wider community – to extrapolate and apply his precepts in a new context.
The consequent vision of leadership that emerges is in the mode of the courageous leader – in Blair’s conception, the leader makes the weather and is the key determinant of success. He is focussed on delivery and pragmatism, not on dogma. He takes tough decisions based on what he believes to be right, and is willing to be unpopular as a consequence. He has a moral backbone, but is flexible enough to move with the times and is responsive to realpolitik when he needs to be. And in the final part of the book (arguably the most insightful), the leader is someone who understands leadership as an introspective endeavour and who sees the limitations of his own knowledge and the importance of managing pride and having respect for doubt.
Some of what Blair has to say about leadership will come across as ‘of its time’, in that it does not afford for much acknowledgement of the systemic conditions surrounding individual leaders’ actions, something which has come to the fore in recent years through critical leadership theory – and also through social phenomena such as the global financial crisis, the erosion of trust in democracy and global institutions, and the emergence of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion agenda. However, in other respects Blair’s argument, even if it comes from a different era, will be a reminder of what has been lost since the era in question – for instance, the assumptions that political leaders will play by the rules of the global order, pay attention to the rule of law, and observe the peaceful transfer of power. Blair reminds us that there was a point in time at which leadership that did not adhere to these assumptions was ubiquitously understood to be no leadership at all.
So why should you read this book? If you love, or hate, his politics, there will be plenty to get passionate about as you encounter Blair’s various vignettes of life in, and after, office. But mostly it is an attempt to address the broader question of what a leader is, or isn’t, and while there is plenty to contest about Blair’s answer it is undoubtedly a useful provocation for the circumstances of 2024.
‘On Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century’ by Tony Blair is published by Crown Publishing.