Leadership and Management: Learning from Experience

Spanning a stellar career as the leader of large organisations across government, industry and education, Sir Alan Wilson has developed a deep insight into what 'actually' works in practice through the lens of systems analysis.

Leaders and managers face daily challenges but need to articulate and communicate their objectives and plans for the longer term in a complex and rapidly changing environment. In the first part, five key elements of the framework are demonstrated in successive chapters: systems and the ‘big picture’; strategy; finance; structures; and integrating through ‘making things work’. The second part reveals the urgent challenges that translate from the global and international through to national and local scales: climate change and sustainability, security, pandemics, and social inclusion. The evolution of technology, artificial intelligence, and data science demand stronger strategies, leadership, and management across all organisations at all scales. This book responds to this need by providing international case studies, a unique framework, and references to out-of-the-box thinking that can be applied to a variety of circumstances.

Leading and Management is a valuable resource for leaders and managers at all levels in any kind of organisation, particularly in universities, local authorities, government departments, industry, and those responsible for managing research.

Alan Wilson has had leadership and management responsibilities in universities as a Vice-Chancellor, in the civil service as Director-General for Higher Education, as CEO of The Alan Turing Institute, and in industry as a director in spin-out companies.