Some are born to lead, others acquire leadership roles, and some have leadership thrust upon them (to absurdly paraphrase Shakespeare's notion of greatness).
No doubt: Stuart Drummond experienced the latter.
Over a decade before celebrities were elevated to the highest political seats in the land, a 7ft monkey mascot usurped a Labour election to begin 11 years of office as the first independent elected mayor in the country.
Stuart hung up the H'Angus the Monkey suit, gave up his work in customer service and became Executive Mayor of Hartlepool overnight.
Strap in for some lessons in leadership with a sprinkle of political intrigue as Stuart answers questions about:
- most important leadership qualities
- best advice for people new to leadership
- leading and managing people
- making mistakes
- accountability, responsibility and influence
- inspiration and growth and values
- collaboration and the charity sector
Stuart is now Manager of The Hartlepool NDC Trust, a small community led housing charity that trains people while they build, renovate and maintain properties to help unemployed people, people recovering from addictions or mental health issues to train and find work. They help young people leaving care (and veterans soon too) build their own home and provide accommodation support and are about to embark on developing a 100-unit residential health village.
Stuart is a Social Value advocate and works at a strategic level across the voluntary and community sector in his beloved home town.
Warning: small amount of explicit content – I'm afraid we asked what he thought of political leadership today 
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