British culture sees leadership as an obligation to the team, not a reward for the leader. Effective leaders protect their people — taking the blame when things go wrong, sharing the credit when things go right, fighting for resources, pushing back against unreasonable demands from above. The team’s welfare comes before the leader’s comfort.
This is not an aspirational ideal in British culture; it is a baseline expectation. A leader who takes credit for others’ work, who blames the team for failures, or who prioritises their own career over the team’s wellbeing loses something that is almost impossible to recover: moral authority. People may still follow your instructions because the structure requires it, but they will not go the extra mile. The most powerful source of loyalty in British leadership is the team’s knowledge that their leader puts them first.
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