Expert Leaders in a Fast-Moving Environment

Amanda Goodall () and Ganna Pogrebna ()
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Ganna Pogrebna: University of Warwick

No 6715, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper is an attempt to understand the effects of leaders on organizational performance. We argue for an ‘expert leader’ model of leadership. We differentiate between four kinds of leaders according to their level of inherent knowledge and industry experience. After controlling for confounding variables, teams led by leaders with extensive knowledge of the core business perform better than others. Our study collects and analyses 60 years of data from one of the world’s most competitive high-technology sectors (Formula 1 competition) in which each organization’s performance can be measured objectively. We show that the most successful team leaders in F1 motor racing are more likely to have started their careers as drivers and mechanics compared with leaders who were principally managers or engineers with degrees. There is a notable association between driving and later success as a leader. Within the sub-sample of former drivers, those with the longest driving careers go on to be the most successful leaders.

Keywords: expert leaders; leadership; organizational performance; high-tech; teams (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D22 J24 J33 M5 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 54 pages
Date: 2012-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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