Corporate mythology holds that great leaders should deliver Churchill-style speeches, treat staff with the humility of Nelson Mandela and execute strategy with the sharpness of Jack Welch.

The problem with this is that it isn’t the slightest bit helpful for those trying to learn how to lead in the real world. Tim Morris, a professor of management studies at Saïd Business School, at the University of Oxford, says: “I would say there are three or four great myths of leadership. [These are that] leadership is: all about the individual hero; all about inspiring others; is an act by an individual; and is something of an event.

“There is a place for the Churchillian speech but for most people it is once in a blue moon. It’s about understanding the situation and what motivates and inspires in that situation.” For example, a group of management consultants is more likely to appreciate quiet competence than the sock-it-to-’em speech that might go down well with a sales team, he says.

It is important to remember two things, Professor Morris adds. First, that leadership is “a continuous day-by-day process . . . it is just getting things done in an unflashy, unglamorous way”. Secondly, that it is about more than one person. “Leaders have to work with and through other people; it is a collective activity.

“Good leaders are not necessarily those who are the most visible. They are more likely to be found just working away in an organisation without much glamour, it is not [usually] the big glamorous Jack Welch type of person,” he says.

All of which makes leadership all that more attainable to mere mortals. What is more, says Dr David Pendleton, an associate fellow at Saïd and a psychologist with the Edgecumbe Group, leaders are seldom “complete and rounded people”. Leaders need to operate on three levels: strategic; operational; and interpersonal. “Nearly always there is a blind spot though and, to be honest, people who try to be good at all three tend to turn out pretty mediocre . . . you need to compromise because you’re never going to be good at everything.

The real key is to discover just how incomplete you are,” he says. This is done through assessment, feedback and humility. “It is easy to fool yourself and believe your own publicity.”

Once you are honest about your strengths and, more importantly, your weaknesses, then you can surround yourself with people who complement rather than replicate your skills. Pendleton says: “A strong leader is one who is open-minded and can take it when people tell them what they think of them.”

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