Following the news that Loughborough University London and the Institute of Sports Humanities (ISH) have collaborated to launch a new Leadership in Sport MA, we caught up with ISH co-founder and former National Selector of England cricket, Ed Smith, to explore the aims of the course, delve into the curriculum and understand why developing leaders is crucial for any organisation.
The Institute of Sports Humanities (ISH) first launched when I was chief selector for England cricket. I’ve always been interested in how theory and practice come together. When I was captain of Middlesex aged 28, I had looked for somewhere I could study sports leadership but I couldn’t find the right course. That gap stayed at the back of my mind.
Then a decade later, teaching a History MA programme, I felt that sport wasn’t helped by the way universities are divided up into different departments. Because leadership in sport is nearly always an interdisciplinary challenge. You’ve got to understand how lots of different things fit into the whole picture. My co-founder, the entrepreneur Andrew White, brought a sports business perspective, which is also central to ISH.
How did the collaboration with LUL come about?
I was introduced by a mutual friend to Prof. Nick Jennings, who is Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University. Nick is a world-leading scholar on AI, which I’d written about in relation to sports decision-making in my new book Making Decisions, which explores how human and machine intelligence best work together. I’m interested in the most human bits of our intelligence – intuition, analogy, creativity – so Nick and I are approaching the same question, but from opposite perspectives.
How does the delivery of the MA Leadership in Sport tie into ISH and LUL wider ambitions?
We want to help leaders in sport to make better decisions and to make a greater impact on their organizations. Nick introduced me to Prof. Tony Edwards, head of Loughborough University London, based at the 2012 Olympic Park in Stratford.
LUL is founded on the idea of interdisciplinary work – how the most interesting ideas and approaches demand collaboration between departments. So there was a natural connection. We are the Institute of Sports Humanities – and the humanities part is a very deliberate part of our story. Sport needs broad-thinking leaders, not just specialist experts.
What’s the purpose of the course?
Our mission is to nurture and inspire sport’s current and future leaders. We are also conscious that people have busy jobs and busy lives, so we’ve designed the course to suit the needs of sports executives and professionals. We use blended learning, with lectures and seminars online in the early evenings, but also memorable in-person experiences such as visits to Sandhurst or Google. And everything is recorded so students can easily catch up on anything they’ve missed.
Why is the development of leaders in sport so important?
I’ve never experienced or observed a successful team – on or off the field – that wasn’t well led.
It’s incredible what a few good people can achieve, how they can turn-around the fortunes of a wider organisation or a playing group.
Everyone is always searching for the next ‘edge’ in sport. Of all the things to invest in, I’d say that having access to critical thinkers offers the best value. ISH creates a unique learning environment and network for those critical thinkers, and accelerates their development and impact.
What type of person would be ideal for this course, do you think it would be of particular benefit to someone with some specific experience or career goal?
We’ve educated a wide range of leaders from across the sports spectrum. It’s a roughly 50-50 spilt in terms of sports high performance vs sports business. The captain of the England’s Women’s Cricket team, Heather Knight (L), the FA’s Women’s Technical Director, Kay Cossington (M far right), elite coach and former England player Jim Troughton (R), plus a strong list of people from IMG and other sports agencies, they’ve all taken our Masters course.
How has the course developed over time? Who has it been designed in collaboration with?
We started out titled more towards to in-person learning, but we found out during Covid that some things (though not everything!) can be done equally well online. Our students found that Zoom/Teams brought real efficiencies and convenience. Though nothing will ever replace walking around Sandhurst with the head of an institution that is steeped in leadership.
A rule of thumb: if you’re going to organise a gathering of busy adults, make it memorable!
All our partners – such as the FA, London Marathon – have helped us refine the course through their people and their contributions. Because ultimately success for ISH is about making a difference in the real world by positively impacting organizations. None of us is interested in doing purely theoretical work that doesn’t lead to change.
What are some of the highlights of the course?
Every student will have different highlights depending on their interests. It might be listening to Mervyn King talk about how making decisions as a central banker connects with making decisions as a leader in sport. It might be hearing from the head of data analytics at England cricket explain how his methods influences England’s 2019 World Cup campaign and victory. Or being inside Google HQ and seeing how the sports industry landscape is changing rapidly.
Network is also central to ISH. We often learn best from our peers, and ISH has been very lucky with the quality of the students and the roles they’ve held. ISH students join not only their own cohort, but also the wider ISH community built up over several years.
How rewarding is it to be bringing on future leaders in sport?
Both my parents were teachers (Dad – English, Mum – Art), and I now understand why they loved it so much.
Heather Knight published a distilled version of her ISH dissertation in The Sunday Times on the same day that she made her women’s IPL debut. That’s what you want you latest alumni to be doing.
Ed Smith is the Co-Founder of ISH and the former National Selector for England cricket. He is an author (including Making Decisions and What Sport Tells Us About Life), academic and journalist (New Statesman, BBC and Sunday Times). As a professional cricketer, he played for Kent, England and was club captain of Middlesex when they won their first major title for 15 years.
