Light My Fire – summary of the voluntary matters 3 TV programme

Leading an organisation carries a great responsibility, and people in this position are often seen as special. Are some people born leaders? Do leaders possess an inspiration that others can only dream of, or can leadership skills be learnt?

Light My Fire features three people leading successful organisations. Anjum Mouj has helped to build the Newham Asian Women's Project (NAWP) into an award-winning organisation. Despite opposition from some parts of the Asian community, NAWP enables Asian women to get out of violent domestic situations, and keep them safe. For Anjum, being the director means that she has a responsibility to take people's ideas forward, as well as to delegate tasks. She also says that becoming a leader involved dealing with her own fear of failure.

John Bird has spent years building up the successful street magazine The Big Issue, and its accompanying Foundation, which campaign on behalf of homeless people. John talks about the importance of having a clear message and a good team. Clearly, his personality has influenced the way he leads the organisation, but he's also inspired by the homeless people that they're working to help.

The Jamyang Buddhist Centre is run by Alison Murdoch. She stresses that she's only as good as the people she works with, and her Buddhist beliefs inform her laid-back and nurturing leadership style. Although the centre is comparatively small, leadership is still important and she puts particular emphasis on the value of volunteers to the organisation. To her, it's important to inspire and motivate volunteers, and to divide up the centre's vision by giving people clearly defined things to achieve.

All these leaders talk about the importance of the team, of delegation and communication, and of knowing your weaknesses. They also stress the hard work and the importance of being positive. They've all learnt to lead by actually doing it, so maybe there is no mystery about leadership, after all.

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