Ian Blatchford has been Director of the Science Museum since 2010 and also of the Science Museum Group, the largest alliance of science museums in the world. He was also Chairman of the National Museum Directors’ Council, which is the ‘Russell Group’ of the UK Museum Sector, for four years until March 2021. The past decade has seen the intense debate about the joys and perils of social media, the brutal realities of fiscal austerity since 2010, the fact of Brexit, the rising Culture Wars, and the harsh realities of Covid-19. It is a tough time to be a public leader, as the intense and churlish scrutiny of museum directors, university leaders and others can well attest. How is it possible to navigate such choppy waters and where is ‘public service’ in all of this?