Source: Kobal

Act first, think later: universities ¡®must take risks¡¯ if they are to gain advantages

¡°Ready, aim, fire¡± may seem like a sensible motto for anyone looking to hit the target with a new initiative. But at the University of Northampton, the vice-chancellor is urging staff to adopt a radical twist on this mantra: ¡°Ready, fire, aim.¡±

Universities should ¡°get ready, fire and then think about it afterwards¡± when trying something new instead of spending ¡°too much time aiming, trying to get it just between the cross hairs¡±, Nick Petford told a conference held by student recruitment company Hobsons in London on 26 February.

Those designing new courses, for example, were always after ¡°a bit more data, a bit more research¡±, he said. ¡°The danger with that approach is that you¡¯ve missed your opportunity¡± and another university will have been ¡°sharper, quicker, faster¡±, he added.

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For the past decade, he said, universities had lived in a low-risk environment, confident they would get an increase in funding each year, but the introduction of a market-like system that encourages competition for students meant the landscape was becoming more uncertain.

¡°Just doing nothing is risky in itself,¡± Professor Petford said, urging institutions to be ¡°more accepting of risk, otherwise other universities will do it before you and gain competitive advantage¡±.

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He said that those in senior positions at universities ¡°have virtually never failed at anything because they¡¯ve kept passing stuff¡± and were therefore afraid of taking risks.

He quoted both William Shakespeare and former England football coach Sven-G?ran Eriksson to make the point that the ¡°greatest barrier to success is fear of failure¡±.

Universities ¡°should be the places where fear of making mistakes should be banned¡± and human resources policies should change to reflect this, he said, adding that he meant failure in a ¡°controlled¡± rather than a ¡°catastrophic¡± sense.

He noted that about 600 students at Northampton have been awarded ?2,000 grants to start new enterprises or projects. ¡°Most of these will fail. However, the students will learn something through that failure,¡± he said.

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Professor Petford may have been inspired by the 2008 book Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat by US ¡°self-made millionaire¡± Michael Masterson, who appears to have popularised the phrase.

In the book, Mr Masterson, who describes himself as ¡°not your typical businessman¡±, explains how to ¡°avoid the time- and money-wasting mistakes many entrepreneurs make¡± and promises to put the reader ¡°on the path to $100 million, $300 million and beyond in revenues with your own venture¡±.

david.matthews@tsleducation.com