On taking up a chief executive role earlier in my career, one of my predecessors – a long ago retired gentleman in his 80s – wrote to me offering to meet to share his experience of holding the same role.

Our subsequent meeting was instructive as he recollected long past furies and controversies in the tranquility of the decades that had passed. As our meeting concluded, I asked him how he would sum up the role he occupied with distinction for many years. He paused, and said: ‘I always felt I had three constituencies to serve – the residents, my councillors and the staff. And my job was to keep the interests of all three in balance.'