2026 Covie Weekly T3 - Covenant Christian School

What is Leadership?

Dear Parents and Carers,

At a time when we are engaged in process to appoint our new School Captains and Vice Captains to assume office at the beginning of Term 4, it is timely to reflect on the nature of leadership, particularly in a Christian context. Our culture still holds onto the afterglow of older concepts of leadership as authoritarian, where a charismatic man (yes, usually a man) bent people to his will by sheer force of personality. Such figures were Olympian and even messianic. In former times, school principals were expected to conform to these attributes.

Earlier this century, Jim Collins researched the leadership characteristics of a broad swathe of the most successful companies of the United States. He published his findings in a highly regarded book, Good to Great, which actually describes the journey on which CEOs took their companies. Much to his surprise, he found them to be shy introverts who recoiled from the limelight and exercised a deep personal humility. They were the very opposite of brash braggards. What was very distinctive was that despite their self-effacing nature, they had a fierce drive for the good of the company itself and the people with whom they worked. They were in fact servant-leaders.

Robert K. Greenleaf, an American Quaker, popularised the concept of servant-leadership in the leadership literature in the late 1960’s. It is a very Christian concept. Jesus came “not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45).

The leadership literature is full of different leadership models and styles. One of the more recent is the notion of transformational leadership, where leaders literally transform an organisation for the better. A recent entry into the array of leadership styles is Quiet Leadership, where the leader is not boisterous but effective. One of my staff from my time as an education academic, Dr Brian Harris, has documented this style in his recent book The Tortoise Usually Wins. The metaphor is that in a race between the tortoise and the hare, the hare literally hares around to the point of exhaustion and often without clear direction while the tortoise stays the course in quieter manner.

The takeaway from this in our current context is that we look for a blend of personalities and styles in and amongst senior student leadership. There is strength in such diversity; different people can animate different stakeholder groups amongst students. There is no single style which is effective; many styles can produce good results.

While it might be rather helpful to consult the index in the back of the Bible under the heading of student leadership, this is not directly a concern of the Scriptures! Accordingly, we look to what Jesus and the Apostle Paul said about leadership amongst Christians, particularly for service in the church. From this we can deduce important transferable principles. It is not too much of reduction to say leadership is essentially about character. Integrity matters. It is not about being drunk with power in order to push others around (we see too much of that in the international geopolitical situation!). 1 Peter 5:3 says, “not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock”. The Apostle Paul, in talking about overseers, says they must be “blameless – not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness (Saturday night parties?), not violent” but rather “one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined” (Titus 1:7-8). Designated school leaders cannot ‘clock off’ in their private time. One of the burdens of office is to conduct themselves well in all situations. Any less desirable behaviour is inevitably taken as a reflection on the school which commissioned them.

My experience is that students and their parents place far too much emotional investment in being selected as student leaders. I am fond of telling Year 11 aspirants that I was unsuccessful in being selected as any of School Captain, Vice Captain or School Prefect. However, this has not ruined my life nor prevented me from exercising leadership elsewhere. In fact, it is not actually necessary to have a badge of office in order to lead. I can bring to mind three situations across two schools I have led over the last 20 years, when senior students who were, with only one exception, not student office holders, responded immediately and brilliantly in a crisis. One, and perhaps two of these, involved saving lives. The third may in fact have also conformed to this situation.

Covenant Christian School actually needs all of its Year 11 and 12 students to exercise leadership. This will include how they present to other students, what they say and what they do. While sometimes they might express this leadership in action, they will most commonly demonstrate it through modelling. They have the opportunity to demonstrate how one might function for the common good when on the cusp of becoming adults.

Leadership is celebrated. Followership needs more attention. It is an Armed Forces principle that in order to be able to lead, one must learn first how to follow. We are all under authority, and managing these relationships, up and down as it were, is part of the glue which holds organisations and society together.

I look forward to observing significant leadership from our Year 11 students in particular, as they officially become Year 12 next term. This leadership can and should be exercised whether or not one has a badge of office.

Kind regards,

Dr John Collier

Interim Principal