Why are we Brits so bad at shouting about our successes? At the Oscars, the Americans gush and weep, while we look at our feet and mutter our thanks, giving all the credit to the production team. The problem is, of course, that we are a sceptical bunch, and unless we see proof of success – something which touches us directly and makes a difference to our lives — we don't believe it.

At Swindon Council, we, quite rightly, celebrated our success when we went from a zero star in December 2002 to a two-star and ‘improving well' council three years later. We were so delighted that one leading member made stars for everyone and we wore them all day. We had great coverage in the media and assumed that the public understood our achievement. Technically, we'd done everything right to gain those stars. We'd implemented a strong performance-management regime, which made a real difference to service scores.