Despite recognizing intuitively that environments shift, over the past dozen years the British Army has tried to write normative theory, something like doctrine, on what is an abstract noun, leadership. The exercise has so far failed. Management gurus have devised scores, hundreds, and thousands of theories, principles, models, frameworks and templates, trying to find something like the exact truth about leading. Like traditional military plans, many of them do not long survive the first lethal encounter with the enemy, particularly in the reality of the work of the armed forces.

'Something's going to happen' -- Chaos and complexity -- Contemporary military operations -- Questions for leaders -- Howard Gardner's research -- Action-centered leadership : John Adair -- The search for integrity -- Synthesis.