Tony Blair

The art of leadership is saying no, not saying

yes. Its very easy Tony Blair
Tony Blair the twice elected British prime minister led
the conservative party into government after 18
years of consistent loss in elections.
If we study his approach on how he approached the
path to success following would be the key attributes
that he employed that led to his party winning the
elections thrice in a row.
Having on the losing side of his first parliamentary
elections Blair was not upset rather happy at the loss
as he knew it was not the right time for his party to
come to power, as mentioned in his memoir the first
hurdle for a true leader is to understand the
situation, analyze the daft question for a moment
and you would know its not that difficult. The key to
getting around any critical situation is the successful
analysis of the current situation before committing to
any way forward. This gave clarity to his purpose and
let him at the top of his game. He kept a wise
analysis of all the potential circumstances around
him. I got a tip off that how leaders stay vigilant of all
the things in their purlieu.
Tony Blair throughout his political career stayed
grounded to his roots and made it his strength, and
knew that he and his party could only win if they
would be able to draw support from the middle class.
Another key decision was choosing the position of
shadow home minister, to people that position meant
little cloud in terms of political gains but Blair knew
that labor partys supporters needed someone to
have a strong voice to raise their concerns. He took
this position and strongly rallied the concerns of his
partys supporters and it got him a lot of popularity in
the ranks of labor party in the presence of many
experienced politicians.
Blair also credits his success in passing his rivals
while working with consistency to get the leadership
of labor party and ultimately becoming the second
youngest prime minister of United Kingdom due to

the deep political experience he went through in the

decades of 70s and 80s. To him success is only by
developing yourself through strong-minded and
concerted efforts in your profession. It reinforced in
me the importance of professional expertise before
planning to develop a career in it.
Blairs self attitude was to have an open minded
approach, as per him the debate is the most
important source of new ideas. This practice was very
rare in the labor party when he became its leader
and all along he tried to change it. For him labor
party was continuously loosing because it had
become a very closely knit party. There was no
flexibility within the party on different issues and it
resulted in non generation of debate to new
solutions. His approach softened this and as a result
new blood and ideas started coming into the party as
a lot of young and brilliant minds joined and later ran
for Member of Parliament position in elections. These
news voices from within the ranks of labor party led
to partys popularity in masses as it now it was voice
of a common man. I found his audacious attribute
very commendable.
All along his tenure he replicated his vision to people;
he knew in order to bring about the major reforms
needed in social sector people presently working in
those services needed to agree first so that social
reforms could be rushed through without the
opposition of unions. Here he showed traits of a true
transformational leader. He articulated his vision well
to the masses during his time in the opposition as a
leader and in continuation of same symbolically he
changed his party name from Labor to New Labor
party in order to give a new perception to the party
in the masses.

Working with adversaries and building relationship in

order to avoid any opposition is another trait he has
all along mentioned in his memoir, stating that one
should be very careful in making enemies because
when you are on the way of becoming a leader,
unknowingly on your way you would end up having
rivalries you would be unaware of.
Following on Blair proved him to be a great
communicator and united the nation in a time of
crisis; the Death of Peoples princess is one of the
saddest things in the history of modern England. The
monarchy had differences, Diana was still Peoples
Princess but she was no more a royal. Flag couldnt
be lowered, people were getting angry at the
treatment given to her, and camps were forming.
Anger needed to be vented out else whole monarchy
and British tradition would be changed. Blair
conveyed his analysis to the queen in a dutiful way
and asked her to come forward and address the
nation. He for his compassionate public address that
he delivered on 31st August 1997 i.e. the day of
Dianas death have also been remembered in British
history as a leader who grieved with the nation, and
relived the pain it was in. He choose wisely the right
way to preserve the integrity of the British royal
family in a time of great emotional upheaval. His
compassion and professionalism really stimulated my
emotional strength.
Another important approach he has characterized is
the humility to learn from others. Knowing no one
really is sure at times of what to decide or how to
approach certain issues in cabinet. It is a leaders job
to get hold of all the things setting his biases aside
and taking the final leap that yes thats what should
be done. It inspired me to adopt a professional
attitude in life at work place.
When it comes to delegating powers for Blair
leadership without delegation is a mess. A person
who is known as a transformational leader,
delegation of power is only natural and same he did
after coming into power; however, in crisis the leader

Tony Blair

should be there and as written by him in his memoir

right way would be to comprehend and solve it.
As greatly emphasized by one of key lessons from
Kosovo conflict, standing still in todays world is not
an option. The world dynamics change quickly and
indecision has a heavy price that each one of us has
to pay. We should all be willing to adopt and change
ourselves to the ever changing situation around us.
His political acumen really enthused me.
Leadership is all about the decisions that
change. If you cant handle that, dont become
a leader. Tony Blair.

If we analyze the above words they look arrogant but

they also speak of a person who is extremely high on
self confidence. All along his political journey Tony
Blair has repeatedly shown self confidence in a
manner that has not been witnessed in the
contemporary leaders. It made me conclude that
confidence is foremost step on the route that leads to
success.
He preserved all along his political journey. He did not
leave things in the middle once he started. Before
committing to any path he always made a cost
benefit analysis weighing all the pitfalls.

As far as his personal life is concerned his family life

added a lot of allure to his personal appeal as a
politician and inspired many working class families.
I plan to stay stoic in the arise of any future
complications and tackle with them as confidently,
shrewdly and boldly as Tony Blair did. I plan to take
the right decisions at the right time as I have learned
that it was one of the major factor that gave him his
present stature.