It is 9am and the Right Rev Peter Hullah, Church of England bishop and principal of Northampton Academy, has just come from the school gates, where he has been welcoming pupils at the start of the day. The academy, which opened in January 2006, replaced and merged the population of two failing schools in the east Midlands town.
"We have had to tackle lateness. But today we actually saw people running to get to school," says Mr Hullah. "I thought: 'Crikey!' But that didn't happen just with a pronouncement - we had to work with families, demonstrate rewards and punishments."
He is explaining how, to lead an institution going through great change, you need to work relentlessly and at a rapid pace. This definition of leadership was, he says, honed by a recent week-long visit to Harvard Business School, where he was sent by the Academy's sponsors, the United Learning Trust. He took part in the intensive five-day high- potential leadership programme, which was dominated by participants from the commercial world.