From brand leadership to leadership brand: transformational leadership in higher education

This critical engagement with the products of my knowledge and experiences as a Chief Marketing Officer in a leadership role in higher education is timely for me and the development of my own professional practice. It is also important in a climate of rapidly changing influences on the higher education sector and the need for clarity on the kinds of leadership that can meet the future successfully. I have found that critically reflecting on outcomes which have considerable impact on others within the work cultures for which higher education (HE) leadership is accountable, a responsible thing for anyone to do in such a position. Due to changes in the political, social, demographic and regulatory climates, the style and purpose of governance of higher education has been changing in recent years from ‘managers of higher education’ to ‘leaders of higher education enterprises.’ These public works emerged in the context of significant changes in the availability of information and research technologies, such as the use of big data, management information, competitor information, consumer insight, market segmentation, along with the changing positioning of higher education for a ‘public good’ to that of a ‘consumer purchase’. The student fees increasing significantly to £9,000 in 2012, and the reduced governmental subsidies for the university sector were catalysts. Under changes to regulations and university governance through the newly created Office for Students, transparency in student value and the student experience as well as institutional risk have become crucial issues, along with the need for a framework to guide the role of governance and governorship. These changes have led to a practical and theoretical shift in the way higher education is being led. The perspective taken in this work is that of a marketing leader in higher education in the role of a transformer of an organisation and what that shift required of me. I explore the rationale for delivering on a vision based on leadership values and principles and suggest that leadership can come from anyone at any level, while critiquing the stereo-typical top-down traditional leadership structure of higher education institutions. I propose that by understanding the values of the people within the organisation, and by engaging with them in dialogue and frequent communications, change is more readily embraced, collaboration occurs more naturally, innovative solutions are created, people focus on the positive and what can be done, and the vision is shared. Effective leadership can result from the ability to translate a vision into action. This critical engagement engages with ‘transformation’ of myself in my role, and of leadership in the higher education institution through four themes around leadership: the power of vision; the role of translation; listening to voices and alignment. I have also chosen to review this engagement through the lens of critical theory which I found useful including ideas on emancipation (Frankfurt school) and depth analysis (Freud, Klein). However, I found ’looking awry’ (Žižek/Lacan) a critical theory to consider in more depth when looking at the challenge for many universities relating to branding and rebranding.

I conclude with a distillation of my reflections and a summary which I hope will offer insight into the changing requirements experienced by professionals in marketing and commercial leadership roles in higher education. One of those insights for myself is that what I am aiming to achieve is not for me to be a leader of an enterprise so much as an enterprising leader.