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Acknowledgements

We want to thank those who have helped us reflect both as leaders and in our work with leaders. Alan is particularly grateful for the encouragement from the teams he worked with in the Dioceses of Lichfield and St Albans. Peter is very appreciative of the wisdom and encouragement of his colleagues at Praesta Partners.

We first met in 2005 and have enjoyed rewarding and stimulating conversations over the last few years. We bring together varied experiences and approaches having worked in different spheres. Together in this book we focus on the importance of leadership and the need to grow and nurture leaders in demanding times.

We believe that the art of reflection is a crucial aspect of leadership. We both come from a Christian heritage. Our intent is to draw on the tradition of spiritual wisdom and the best of good practice from those leaders who have been able to combine activity and reflection successfully.

We are grateful to those who have read the book in draft and provided valuable comments. In particular, we would like to acknowledge the contribution of Ian Jones, Hilary Fairfield, Andy Piggott, Alan Harvey, Zoe Stear and David Brockman.

Christine Smith has been an admirable editor. She has supported us as we developed the ideas for the book and has made some helpful suggestions. We are grateful to Helen Burtenshaw and Mary Handford who have managed our diaries so we have been able to meet and reflect on the themes in the book. We thank Jackie Tookey for her practical help with some of the typing. Helen Burtenshaw has shown great patience in linking together some of our disparate contributions into one complete text.

Peter’s wife, Frances, has been a source of both teasing and encouragement. She regards both of us as activists rather than reflectors and finds it amusing that we should be writing a book on the reflective leader. Our justification is that because we are activists by nature, we are still learning how to reflect. We are not exemplars of reflection: we are learning.

We are delighted that John Sentamu has written the Foreword. John is an inspiration as someone who has given a strong lead in a variety of contexts: as a young lawyer when he opposed Idi Amin in Uganda and was arrested; later, when he was Bishop of Stepney and chaired the Damiola Taylor review; and now as Archbishop of York.

All our royalties for the book are going to the Bishop of St Albans Community Development Fund.

We hope that the book will stimulate thought and encourage some practical reflection as you develop different approaches in your journey as a leader.