Let’s play follow my leader. But who shall we follow? Alexander the Great? Gandhi? Nelson Mandela? Maybe even Margaret Thatcher? And why? For centuries, people have been trying to define what makes a good leader - and to create more of them.

The business world has done much of the thinking recently. Types of leadership have been defined and labelled. There are “transactional” and “transformational” approaches, not to mention “fission” and “fusion”. And don’t forget “action-centred”, “invitational”, “situational”, “creative” and “technical”.

But are these anything new? Paul Taffinder, psychologist and partner with management consultancy Accenture, says not. “Leadership hasn’t really changed for millennia. It’s a phenomenon people have always tried to grasp and understand.”

For Mr Taffinder, leadership “is about taking risks, setting direction, breaking new ground and showing deep conviction. It is about inspiring people to contribute more than they would otherwise. It’s also about experience, about failing, and knowing yourself.”

Most leaders, he says, share certain qualities. They are good storytellers. They can be unpredictable. Richard Branson, for example, is a great prankster. They have usually been given responsibility early, and they have often bounced back after failure - a trauma that has helped them become self-aware, an essential quality in a leader. Many have fatal flaws or “big issues” in their lives. “People with big talent often have big problems,” says Mr Taffinder. “Look at Margaret Thatcher. She stopped taking a reality test; she couldn’t see what was happening right under her nose.”

Most businesses, he says, are overmanaged but underled. Industry knows it needs to identify and encourage good leaders. Education is trying to do the same.

In 1977, the Department for Education and Science declared that the headteacher was the single most important factor in the making of a good school. Twenty years later, the point was made again in Success Against the Odds, the 1996 report of the National Commission on Education. And in 2000, the Government launched the National College for School Leadership to nurture these miracle workers.

But how should they be nurtured? Educationists have been drawn to the concept of “transformational” leadership, first described in 1978 by James McGregor Burns, an American academic who studied politicians, army officers and business executives. His leaders empowered rather than controlled, and flourished in “type z” organisations (based on a co-operative, consensual approach) rather than “type a” (a more feudal kind of model).

A transformational leader focuses on relationships rather than systems, on inspiring people rather than completing tasks. But the term is vague, and educationists are in search of something more precise. Tim Brighouse, chief education officer for Birmingham, talks of “passionate” leadership, of an “infectious enthusiasm for what is being taught”.

Professor David Hopkins, head of the Government’s standards unit, is a supporter of “instructional” leaders, those who promote and enhance “the importance of teaching and learning and staff development”.

The latest addition to the list comes from Alma Harris, professor of leadership at Warwick University, who says “democratic” or “distributed” leadership is the key. She resists the notion of the heroic head riding in to transform a school. “You cannot have a situation where one individual is the solution. Everyone has to be part of the solution and a head’s job is to make that happen,” she says.

She and her research colleague, Christopher Chapman of Nottingham University, studied 10 secondary schools that are succeeding, or starting to succeed, in difficult circumstances. Their heads have certain crucial traits in common.

Where Paul Taffinder mentions “deep conviction”, Alma Harris talks of “vision” and “moral purpose” - her 10 headteachers have chosen to work in challenging schools.

They are also all “people people” - hands-on, visible presences. Like transformational leaders, they focus on relationships between staff and staff, between staff and pupils, and between staff and the community, including, vitally, parents. Seen as open and honest, they “empower through caring”. They invest in their staff, who feel trusted and free to innovate by being released from the fear of dire consequences if they make mistakes.

Yet democratic leadership, says Ms Harris, goes beyond relationships. Giving teachers a sense of power and autonomy creates an environment that can survive change at the top. Her 10 heads motivate their staff by “distributing” leadership throughout the school, to pupils and parents as well as teachers. “Distributing leadership doesn’t mean giving it all away,” says Ms Harris. “There is a balance between recognising what leadership they can offer and what leadership resides in the school as a whole, including the community.

“They can all relinquish leadership and power, and devolve it carefully. There is a real difference between devolving power and delegating headship; the latter can just be a case of giving someone else the jobs you don’t want.”

By empowering others, says Ms Harris, the heads give teachers responsibility, and with that comes self-esteem and involvement - “all the things that make a difference to a school”.

She believes “democratic” heads can be nurtured. “It is about recognising the importance of teachers as leaders. Leadership is a shared commodity; at different times in a school, leaders will emerge for different purposes.”

According to Paul Taffinder, whose latest book is The Leadership Crash Course, plenty of potential leaders are being overlooked. Perhaps this is because society expects them to ride in on a white horse with charisma oozing through their armour. Yet, Mr Taffinder says, someone who is quiet can lead if their ideas are strong enough.

Alma Harris agrees. After all, she says, what happens if Mr or Ms Charisma leaves? The one thing such people are notoriously bad at is picking a successor.

The Leadership Crash Course by Paul Taffinder is published by Kogan (pound;14.99). Democratic Leadership for School Improvement by Professor Alma Harris and Christopher Chapman, will be available on the National College for School Leadership’s website (www.ncsl.org.uk) later this month. See next week’s Friday for a brief history of leadership from Jesus to Sven-Goran Eriksson