Developing strong and diverse political leaders

In 1882 Robert Louis Stevenson

commented that ‘Politics is perhaps

the only profession for which no

preparation is deemed necessary’,

and today it seems that his

comments still hold. Despite a

wealth of understanding in work

psychology about how to train and

support people in work roles, very

few efforts have been made to

apply this knowledge to political

work.

Can we explain this lack of

support and development for new

and existing politicians? And could

such provision be potentially

problematic precisely because it

challenges many of our taken-forgranted

assumptions about the

nature of work and learning?