Edward Dahlberg was an interesting
man. I use the term ‘interesting’ in the loosest sense of the word. He was an
author and critic, writing many books between 1920 and the 1970s. During this time
he met and knew, Joyce, Hemmingway, Scott Fitzgerald, Yeats and D H Lawrence. Sadly he and his literary work are largely forgotten today. Dahlberg had a very colourful life – once as a reporter in Germany, he got into a
fight with a Nazi Storm Trooper in a café – he won the
fight. Its alleged that he even received an apology from Hitler for the challenge that had
been made against free press. Some have described him as being a
deeply flawed man, a man with mercurial moods, often ungrateful, and prone to
rhetoric of the highest order. His autobiography, Because I was Flesh is still
available. If so inclined, you could always read it and make up your own mind. He
appears to have been married 7 times, something that perhaps illustrates one of
his best known quotes: ‘every decision you make is a mistake’.
I am not sure I totally agree
with Dahlberg, but I do know some of the decisions I have taken, have with the
benefit of hindsight, turned out to be mistakes. When I was making them however,
I am pretty sure I thought I was making the right decision. This was the case when I was asked to take on
a new role at the University, which after some initial reluctance I agreed to do.
I am not sure why. I had less than 3 years to go before retiring, and was in a
role I loved (well for most of the time anyway). I was the Dean of one of the largest Schools for
health and social care in the UK. However, the new role on offer was a University wide one, and came with a
promotion and some extra money. Above all else, it looked to be a huge challenge.
Our Vice Chancellor had, after
much consultation, taken the decision to re-position the University and bring
us closer to the businesses and industries we provide a future workforce for, undertake research with, and for whom we developed new products and services. Her vision
was to create 4 Industry Collaboration Zones (ICZs). These were to be virtual and physical
spaces within the University that could focus the entire resources of the
University on 4 areas of expertise: Health & Wellbeing; Sport; Engineering
& Environments; and Digital & Creative. It was a bold strategy that
drew on our past heritage as a university and looked forward to positioning us as a leader in an
emerging and very different world.
The VC wanted an ICZ Programme
Director, and wanted me to take on the role. I had choices. I could stay in the
School and wait for retirement to come around, or I could take on the new role.
Much too many of my colleagues surprise I chose to take on the role. For me
personally, and with the benefit of the aforementioned hindsight, it was
probably the wrong decision and in ‘Dahlberging’ terms, a ‘mistake’. From the
University point of view it was a success. Taking the decision to develop strong and
very different forms of partnership with industry, and making this the University’s
single strategic priority, meant our collective efforts were focused in a coherent, purposeful and powerful way.
Not everyone agreed with this new direction of travel. At times the rhetoric of support I experienced was undermined by some
obstructive and challenging behaviours. Despite these problems great progress was made. Such was
the pace of change in establishing the 4 ICZs that after just 2 years into the role, I was able to retire 6
months earlier than planned (which made me happy). And mirroring the ambitions we had for our ICZs, last week the UK
government published its much anticipated Industrial Strategy. Unlike previous
strategies, this one has 4 ‘Grand Challenges’ and 5 foundations of productivity
against which considerable investment funding will be targeted.
The ‘Grand Challenges’: becoming world leading in the use of artificial intelligence and big data; sustainable clean growth for industry; the future of mobility; and
meeting the needs of an ageing society and the 5 foundations of productivity:
innovation; people; infrastructure; places; and the business environment are
detailed in the 255 pages of the strategy, which can be found here. Thus the
University’s decision to create our ICZs proved to be very farsighted – the Industrial
Strategy commits £250 million a year to support university engagement with
business and industry. I am proud to say as a university we are ahead of the sector in this approach and
I’m pleased to have been involved in leading these developments.
Whilst I believe our University
is well placed to contribute effectively to each of the ‘Grand Challenges’ I
was particularly pleased to see one of these being focused on meeting the needs
of an ageing population. Many parts of the NHS are already beginning to
experience the scale of this challenge. Services are really starting to be
stretched beyond breaking point and Winter has only just begun. I don’t know
who took the decision last week to release the NHS England Board paper on the
implications of the 2018/19 Budget, but its content pulls no punches. If you want to get a glimpse of the emergent problems facing the NHS have a look at this paper. There are some tough decisions that will need to be taken in the not too distant future over what a 'comprehensive NHS' might look like. As my fellow blogger Roy Lilley said last
week, ‘if you don’t read anything else about the NHS read this paper’. In my
opinion it would be a mistake not too do so!
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