×

18 September 2018

In the first lecture of the academic year on Friday 7th September, Ian Huntley, a former navy brigadier and Old Birkonian, discussed the differences between management and leadership, with an original outlook on the distinctions.

In portraying leadership as the role of a motivator who imparts emotion and management as more scientific and technical in its application, he allowed the Sixth Form to assess the relative usefulness of each method in current world affairs, such as the tensions between North Korea and America and in the tariff policies of the American president.

The lecture was split into three main parts, ‘How to be a Bad Leader’, ‘Tame and Wicked Problems’ and ‘September of 1983’. He began with an abrupt and thought-provoking question, “what’s the first thing to do when lost in the jungle?” – answer: have a cup of tea! He stressed the importance of being calm when leading and linked this analogy to his time in the jungle that involved taking in a highly venomous snake (Ferdy) as his pet.

Secondly, Mr Huntley discussed the different types of problems that we face, especially wicked problems, those that can never be fully resolved and have no obvious blueprint as an easy fix. He stressed that leaders are needed to deal with wicked problems and that managers, with their technical approach, just aren’t always sufficient. Tying in with this, the speaker compared September 1983 (the height of the Cold War and nuclear tensions) with the current global climate and ended by saying that our world is more wicked than ever and that it is more in need of leaders than ever before.

This opening instalment in the Nicholls Lecture Series was interesting, engaging and informative and, on behalf of the Sixth Form, I thank Mr Ian Huntley for talking to us about ‘How to be a Bad Leader’.

By Seán Carpenter – Deputy Head of School