‘You must be the change you wish to see in the world’. This memorable phrase is often attributed to Ghandi. In fact there is no evidence he actually said this, although he did say something similar: ‘If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.’ The importance of leading by example is recognised in many leadership theories.

Of course changing ourselves is not the whole story, and wider social change requires a combination of factors.

Traditional assumptions that the best leadership requires ‘born leaders’ with exceptional charismatic and heroic qualities still persist, but much modern evidence places a greater emphasis on context and suggests that distributed leadership models, where far more people participate in leadership roles, are most effective.

The voluntary sector could be leading the way, but first it needs to change itself.