Leadership Learning - Keeping it Real

?Professor Henry Mintzberg - a thought leader extraordinaire of our times wrote his book ‘Managers Not MBAs’ in 2004 and chapter two is essential reading for anyone wanting to influence the education and development of leaders, leadership and organisations.??

Of course there are many great MBA programmes on the market now but Mintzberg convincingly deconstructs the precepts and assumptions of the dominant business school case study methodology based on the Wharton, Dartmouth and Harvard history of applying the scientific method and criticism of ‘learning by doing’. I attempt to precis some key points:

• Curriculum is created by academics with little business experience.??
• Case method became a self-serving mass production-line for academics who are judged by their creation of such case studies and ability as faculty to chair them. The phrase ‘self-licking lollipop’ comes to mind.
• Misconception that scientific method based management research would lead to generalisable truths that could be applied to business. (The Management Charter Initiative in the UK in the 1980s failed to demonstrate this in their attempt to define generically applicable management competencies).
• Prioritisation of analysis has been at the expense of focus on learning what we now should recognise as essential ‘soft’ or people skills.?
• Management by analysis alone only partly meets the requirement of leaders to use analysis as an input to synthesis, creating coherent and integrated organisations.?
• Creating clever and knowledgeable graduates does not necessarily create the wisdom required to tackle real organisational challenges; this echoes the distinction Reg Revans made between wisdom acquired through questioning and ‘cleverness’.
• A push approach to theories of management should be replaced with a pull approach (which is where I position ‘Knowledge Mapping’ in the Action Learning Question approach.
• Parachuting top MBA graduates into corporate leadership roles is no guarantee of corporate success.??Examination of case study performance provides more a reliable predictor of future case study performance than of leadership contribution when facing real, current and future business challenges.??

In developing a strategy for leadership development in UK Research and Innovation for the scientific and research sector we realise we have more than enough live challenges or Action Learning Questions that can form case studies for action based learning in the form of meta or societal challenges, opportunities, missions and strategies to work on; this approach enables strong leadership to emerge and weak leadership to be exposed – there is nowhere to hide when having to demonstrate how leadership learning has been actioned. ?

Prof Henry Mintzberg asked me which universities were recognising the ALQ approach; several have over the last 25 years and I am delighted to share that our latest partnership is with York St John University London Campus, voted 2025 university of the year for social inclusion (Sunday Times Good University Guide). In 2025 participants in the ALQ based leadership programmes and Action Learning Facilitator Accreditation programme (ALFA) will gain postgraduate qualifications in recognition of their organisation based research and professional development.

Shell Richards FRSA Louise Donaghy PFHEA Ade McCormack Savita Holt Deborah Wynter-Blaney Nikolay Ogryzko Siobhan Peters Gail Hackston Matt Oswin Lucy Martin Joe Raelin Dave Ulrich Mike Bird Stian Westlake Steve Yemm MP Eric Sandelands Bob Dick Dr. Jennifer Bowerman Dr Ronke Akerele Richard Wade Lindsey Brown Godwin Lewanika - Chartered Marketer Dr Sharon Varney