Our publications

Root Cause: Diagnosing Systemic Leadership Failures in UK Public Institutions is an independent think tank report from the Centre for Leadership Insight (CLI). It examines six high-profile public sector failures — including the Post Office Horizon scandal, Grenfell Tower fire, HS2, NHS Scotland governance, child safeguarding breakdowns, and the Harry Dunn case — to identify recurring systemic leadership weaknesses.

The report highlights themes such as governance ambiguity, blurred accountability, defensive leadership cultures, weak oversight, and failure to learn from experience. It proposes practical reforms including the creation of a Public Leadership Accountability Commission and a National Learning from Experience Database.

This report provides timely analysis at a moment when major leadership failures continue to dominate headlines across the UK public sector.

Yusuf Nazir’s death was avoidable. This report from the Centre for Leadership Insight (CLI) examines how systemic leadership failures—not clinical incompetence—allowed a child to die despite repeated warnings and escalating risk.

Using CLI’s Root Cause Leadership Diagnostic (RCLD) model, the report identifies six leadership failure modes observed not only in Yusuf’s case, but in other national scandals such as Grenfell and Horizon. The findings expose a public leadership architecture that fragments responsibility, stifles ethical judgement, and resists reform.

This independent analysis, grounded in the official Independent Patient Safety Investigation (IPSI) report, offers strategic policy recommendations focused on structural accountability, moral agency, and systems learning.