Kings & queens of context

This article is part of the Contemporary leadership series

The most disappointing and perplexing thing about leadership is that it depends. It depends on circumstances. It depends on other people. It depends on timing. It depends on a plethora of elements over which the humble and human leader has very little control.

What it depends on most is the context. The best leaders are kings and queens of context. Either their timing is right (often repeatedly) or they are able to shape the context to fit their own leadership style.

Des Dearlove is co-founder of the Thinkers50. He is an Associate Fellow of Said Business School at Oxford University; an adjunct professor at IE Business School, where he taught the Strategic Communication Module on the International MBA; and the author of a bestselling study of the leadership style of Richard Branson. He has taught on the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme, and the Swarovski Academy in Switzerland, and teaches media skills and crisis management at Cranfield School of Management.

He is a former columnist to The (London) Times, contributing editor to the American magazine Strategy+Business, and co-editor of the bestselling Financial Times Handbook of Management. His books available in more than 20 languages include Gravy Training and Generation Entrepreneur (co-authored with Stuart Crainer).