Party conference season has finally finished.

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What was most depressing was the absence of a coherent view of how Britain could become a stronger country in five, ten, fifteen or twenty years.

Instead, we heard attacks on opponents, internal manoeuvring and promises aimed at whichever voters seemed most important that day. Parties spoke to their right, their left, environmentalists or defenders of traditional energy.

Political parties must persuade people to vote for them. But governing cannot be a continuous exercise in discovering what will be popular next week. Stewardship asks what will leave the country genuinely stronger long after the applause has stopped.

Once I had got through the depression the conferences caused me, I realised that I have been wrestling with the same issue in my businesses. How do we stop managing for the next set of numbers and start building for the future?

It took me back to Goldman Sachs, where I once asked a senior partner what he looked for when deciding who should be made a partner. I expected him to talk about intelligence, judgement, commercial instinct or the ability to make money. He did not. He said he wanted someone he would trust to look after his teenage children if he died. It was a startling answer from an institution not known for sentimentality. He was asking whether someone could be trusted with something more precious than money when he was gone. Later I realised he was not describing leadership. He was describing stewardship.

We talk about leaders. We celebrate their arrival, analyse their style and measure what happens while they are in charge.........

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