Adaptability and Optimism
Adapted from Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century, by Tony Blair
Government is, and politics is, probably the one profession of any sort anywhere in the world in which it’s possible to rise to a position of enormous importance and power with literally no qualifications.
When I began as Prime Minister, it was the first job I had in government. There was no apprenticeship; there was no working your way up. In that sense, it’s a profession unlike any other— but it is like others, in that there are lessons that you can distil.
I tell the leaders, prime ministers, and presidents I work with: You will think your system is unique, but it isn’t. The challenges of governing are the same everywhere.
Of course, in the end, what matters is what you achieve. In the opposition party, it’s all about what you say. In government, it’s about the doing, and the doing is much harder. The important thing is to realize you will have to prioritize and use your time well.
The passage that you just heard comes from Tony Blair’s book Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century. As many of you will know, Tony Blair was the UKs Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007 following, a landslide victory by the Labour Party which came at the end of 18 years of Conservative government. However, in his book, Tony Blair gives advice for current political leaders around the world- based on his experiences both as the Prime Minister here and also on what he has learnt through his work with leaders internationally.
A number of things struck me about what Tony Blair was saying.
• Firstly, there is no training to be Prime Minister but by learning from others, listening to them, having a clear sense of direction but also a sense of humility, a great deal can be achieved.
• Secondly, as we heard in what was read, there is a big difference between persuading voters that you are the right candidate, the one to do the job, and doing the job itself. A political leader may one day be putting all their energy into persuading the country that they are the one to vote for, and the following day they become responsible for doing what they said they would do.
• And thirdly, in his book Tony Blair talks about making the best use of time. When there is so much to do, how does a Prime Minister, or indeed any of us, squeeze the most out of the limited hours we have each day?
Last week, we thought about New Year resolutions and things we might be able to do ever so slightly better in 2025. I wonder how many of us made New Year resolutions and, as we go into the third week of 2025, I wonder how many of us are still sticking to them…but how well we use our time really is crucial for two reasons:
Day to day, we all have the same amount of time. If we could carve out just ten minutes extra to do some recap of the day’s work every day, or to practise our instrument, or whatever we individually need, over a week that’s equivalent to an extra period, over a half term, it’s the same as an extra day of lessons. I wonder what difference that would make to us, and our performance. But also, when we are working on homework, revising and so on, let’s try to work without distractions so that we use the time we have as effectively as possible – so we really do gain the maximum output for the time we invest in the activity, whatever that is.
Secondly, none us know what is around the corner and how things might change. Prime Ministers don’t know how long they have in office and whether they be re-elected so they need to achieve what they set out to do while they can. For us, we have opportunities galore here. When we leave, those same opportunities might not be so available so take them now; extra help is easily accessible here – let’s make sure we do access it while we can. Don’t put off until tomorrow what we can do today
And finally, in the pages of Tony Blair’s book – which will be in the library shortly, one of the recurring themes is adaptability and optimism. Prime Ministers, and indeed all of us, have the ability to change and respond to different circumstances. New subjects, new people, the ever-changing world are all likely to mean that we have to be flexible in our approach but fortunately we are all able to do so. We are not machines that do the same things day after day without thought, we are able to change so that we act in the right way for the environment and the circumstances we find ourselves in.
And optimism…however hard it is, we all need to remain positive. There is always some sort of solution to the problem we have; there are always folk who can help and all that, combined with the talents and energy we ourselves have, mean that if we give things a good try, we are very likely to be successful.