Product reviews for The Art of Being a Brilliant Middle Leader

Gary Toward, Chris Henley and Andy Cope provide practical ideas on how to develop the leadership skills of middle leaders in order to make change happen in schools, but also to help individual leaders become more efficient in their work. Anecdotes, and the chatty style of writing, make reading The Art of Being a Brilliant Middle Leader particularly easy. The -˜thinking inside the box' and -˜top tips' boxes offer information, food for thought and relevant quotations about a wide range of issues pertaining to leadership. These little snippets of information make dipping in and out of chapters easy, too.

Throughout the book the authors focus on the special role middle leaders play and demonstrate that leadership is all about relationships with others. By leading by example changes will eventually take place. There are clear practical examples of how relationships need to be fostered by thanking colleagues and helping out others when they need support in difficult times. The authors suggest middle leaders need to promote a clear culture of collaboration, where failures and successes are valued as learning opportunities and where positivity prevails.



If you would like to become a brilliant leader, then this book is definitely for you. The style of writing makes this a fantastic and easy-to-read resource for anyone who would like to learn more about introducing changes to the existing culture within their educational settings. It is evident that the examples presented in the book are drawn from years of experience and the authors' honesty about all aspects of leadership is refreshing. I particularly enjoyed the -˜thinking inside the box' and -˜top tips' boxes, which I will be quoting from and referring to in my own work as teacher educator.