University leaders are unlikely to succeed if they adopt the ¡°heroic leadership¡± approach favoured by sports teams, a Formula One boss turned vice-chancellor has argued.

Nigel Carrington, who has been vice-chancellor of the University of the Arts London since 2008, told Advance HE¡¯s leadership summit in London that the model of ¡°heroic leadership¡±, in which a charismatic figurehead inspires the workforce to embrace their values and goals, would not work in ÖйúAƬ.

However, this leadership model was often used at sports teams ¨C including the McLaren Formula One racing team, where Mr Carrington was managing director and deputy chairman of the parent company, McLaren Group, before joining UAL.

¡°It¡¯s something you see at a lot of football clubs, and when it works it is fine; but when it doesn¡¯t, there is only one way to go ¨C get rid of the leader,¡± he explained.

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Instead, university heads should embrace the ¡°consensual¡± model of leadership used by City law firms run by partners, said Mr Carrington, who was also previously managing partner of the multinational law firm Baker McKenzie.

¡°Academics are very like lawyers ¨C individualistic, strong, wilful, obstructive and driven by their own desire to be the best in their field,¡± Mr Carrington explained.

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¡°You get elected managing partner because people believe you will plug into the values of the firm,¡± he said, adding that vice-chancellors also had to ¡°recognise that [their] values are not quite as strong as the values of [their] staff¡±.

Seeking to impose a vision that was out of step with academics¡¯ values would not work, he added.

¡°They will not follow you because of your values but because you tap into their values and interpret them in a way that allows [the university] to become a better institution,¡± Mr Carrington said.

¡°We need to recognise that those value are not ¡®business-like¡¯ but will occur in an environment that is forcing us to become more business-minded.¡±

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University leaders would succeed by ¡°showing we are willing to listen¡± and ¡°empathising with the goals of the sector¡±,?argued Mr Carrington, who said that a dictatorial approach would not work.

¡°If you pull a lever [to instigate change], nothing will happen unless the people at the other end believe in it,¡± he said.

The Advance HE summit also heard from Sue Rigby, vice-chancellor of Bath Spa University, and Mike Thomas, vice-chancellor of the University of Central Lancashire, who said that his time in the military had made him sceptical of heroic leadership.

¡°I served five years on submarines, and one of our training scenarios was about who would you follow out of the foxhole [under fire],¡± said Professor Thomas, who concluded that he would not want to follow anyone who suggested a gung-ho option.

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That also applied to business, added Professor Thomas, claiming that research had shown that many firms led by ¡°heroic¡± leaders had failed following the 2008 financial crash.

¡°It was companies with quite uncharismatic leaders who survived and the others failed,¡± he said.

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jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com