Should leaders be specialists or generalists?

1. Should leaders be specialists or generalists? Amanda Goodall Cass Business School

2. How much core-business knowledge should leaders have?

3. How much core-business knowledge should leaders have? • How important is it that the Managing Director of McKinsey's was an outstanding consultant?

4. How much core-business knowledge should leaders have? • How important is it that the Managing Director of McKinsey's was an outstanding consultant? • Do German automobile companies perform so well because engineers are on the shop floor and in the boardroom?

5. MY KEY IDEA

6. ‘Expert leaders’ Successful leaders are those who have a deep understanding of the core business of their organization.

7. Being a capable general manager alone is not sufficient.

8. There are thousands of books on the topic. And many rely on personal or anecdotal accounts. • Studying leaders can be problematic

9. Studying leaders can be problematic • It can be a difficult topic to research rigorously. • There are problems identifying the relationship between leadership and performance.

10. The challenges of studying leaders Unlike in scientific experiments we cannot randomly assign a leader to an organization.

11. But what if we could?

12. David Cameron

13. David Cameron Silvio Berlusconi BuranovskiyeBabushki

14. David Cameron BuranovskiyeBabushki MervynKing outgoing Governor of the Bank of England Retired Naturalists’ Society

15. David Cameron Manure Management Co. Silvio Berlusconi BuranovskiyeBabushki Victoria Beckam MervynKing outgoing Governor of the Bank of England Retired Naturalists’ Society

16. Our Current paper offers a new test of the influence of ‘expert leaders’:

17. IZA Working Paper: EXPERT LEADERS IN A FAST-MOVING ENVIRONMENT Amanda Goodall & Ganna Pogrebna

18. We focus on an industry With a turnover of billions of dollars Objectively measurable performance Constant technological innovation Highly skilled individuals

20. Formula 1 racing We examine the performance of every team in the six decades of Formula 1 championships between 1950 and 2011.

21. After including a number of controls, we find that the most successful team leaders in F1 motor racing are more likely to have started their careers as drivers. Formula 1 racing

23. How do you win in F1? • F1 compete for championship points. Each constructor enters two cars. • Points are given to the first 10 cars. • Most points awarded for podium position (1-3).

24. How does F1 make its ? • The average annual budget of an F1 constructor team $200 million. • Teams’ profits mostly come from advertising revenue.

25. What do F1 team principals do? Run the team determine strategy control technical matters make financial decisions oversee driver selection have final say on tactical decisions during each race.

26. Our research question Can we identify the most effective kinds of leaders in Formula 1 Grand Prix racing?

27. The performance of every car of each constructor in every F1 race between 1950 and 2011 (61 racing seasons). Total of 19,535 car entries in 858 races. Background information about the leaders of all F1 teams between 1950 and 2011. Our data

28. There are 4 types of team principals

29. Manager-leaders They move to F1 often from business. Little or no experience in mechanics or driving. Involvement in F1 comes later in life.

30. Engineer-leaders Are highly educated with degrees in engineering. Gaining education means they enter competitive racing relatively late.

31. Mechanic-leaders Have practical technical experience in car making and repair. Have not driven competitively nor obtained a degree in engineering. Involvement in car mechanics usually happens quite early in life.

32. Driver-leaders Have competitive racing experience in F1 and other racing. Are often familiar with the technical and mechanical aspects of car. Usually start Go-kart racing as children and move to professional racing early 20s.

33. Jenson Button Lewis Hamilton Michael Schumacher & Sebastian Vettel Michael Schumacher

34. We first separate the data into those who have hands-on expertise (drivers and mechanics) and those who have less direct experience (general managers and engineering graduates).

35. Former drivers and mechanics win twice as often as other kinds of F1 leaders

36. Findings are robust to the inclusion of CIRCUIT controls YEAR controls TEAM controls # CARS included

37. What’s driving the effect?

38. Does the amount of driving experience make a difference?

39. Does the amount of driving experience make a difference? 45 leaders out of 143 (32%) have ever had competitive driving experience. 35 are driver-leaders, 7 mechanic-leaders, 2 engineers and 1 manager.

40. 10 years racing experience by a leader is associated with 16% higher probability that the leader’s team will gain a podium position. - this is after controlling for the circuit, the year, the constructor and number of cars qualified. Results

41. Who matters more, the driver or the leader?

42. Who matters more, the driver or the leader? We look at an interaction between team principal’s - the leader’s - former driving experience, and the F1 driving experience of the current team driver.

44. The background to the idea of ‘expert leaders’

45. Research universities

46. My research question was:

47. Who should lead research universities?

48. Good managers? Good scholars? Who should lead research universities?

49. The best universities in the world are led by top scholars. I found that

50. The best universities in the world are led by top scholars. Top scholars improve the later performance of their university. • And …