The Freud Memorial Lecture is perhaps not the first event of the year that would I would imagine myself attending.  In fact I think it is fair to say that it is not an event that I was really aware of, certainly not in any great detail.  However, when a colleague sent round an email asking if anyone was interested in attending it needed very little detail to “sell” it to me.  Two vital ingredients struck me, the subject matter and the speaker.  That fact that it was the Freud Memorial Lecture faded into the background, only to return strongly on the day of the lecture itself.

Mike Brearley, ex – England cricket captain and now President of the Pyscho-analysts society, talking about leadership.  The actual title was “Leadership – Theory and Practice” I focused straight away on the prospect of an “almost childhood hero” talking about leading my real childhood heroes into cricketing battle against the Australians in the 1980’s.  Brearley was/is regarded as one of the most intelligent and astute cricket captains of all time,  using what are broadly termed “man management” skills to get the best out of his team of hugely talented but hugely diverse characters and personalities.  Sports like Cricket and Rugby often produce teams made  up of a wide variety of personalities and social background.  (I am sure there are other examples but those two sports stand out for me as the prime examples.)  Cricket captains also have to contend with managing players who have to go out and perform fundamentally on their own but as part of a team.  So pulling them all together is a massive challenge, as well as having to deal with the tactical aspects of the game.

My colleague and I turned up on the night, anticipating Brearley describing how he managed to get the best out of Botham, Boycott, Willis, Dilley et al and win the Ashes in amazing circumstances in 1981.  A lecture containing cricket anecdotes that could be passed on in a superior manner at our local club or even better at Lords, so we could be overheard sounding knowledgeable.  (Maybe I am just speaking for myself).  I think maybe twenty per cent were in our camp.  Obvious cricket fans, waiting for one of the most successful captains to tell us how to do it!

As we found a spare couple of seats, I remembered the whole title of the event – The Freud Memorial Lecture, Michael Brearley, Leadership – Theory and Practice.  Not Mike Brearley talks cricket!  The depth of the occasion struck me.  We were going to be listening to a genuine expert, not just in cricket, but in Psychology.  He is a psycho-analyst, not just an ex cricket captain.  Brearley spoke for about forty five minutes, mentioned cricket about five times, but mentioned Jung and Freud about fifty five times.  It wasn’t what I expected but it was extremely interesting, fascinating and challenging.  I work with managers and leaders almost every week, I consider myself to know about management and leadership, but what came out of the lecture for me was that I know very little beyond the practical issues involved.  What Brearley alerted me to was the depth of the subject and all the issues that lie behind the day to day “stuff” that revolves around management and leadership issues.   He talked widely about narcissistic leaders and the reasons for their decisions, he discussed decision making amongst managers and “self image”.  He explored “sophisticated bullying tactics” and how leaders try to cope.  He also discussed how leaders don’t simply lead, as in the dictionary definition (from the front) but position themselves all around and amongst the team. One element of the discussion focused on “born leaders” and there was some research, from Canada I believe, that examined traits in children and how they related to their future roles.  The trait most associated with children who went on to be the leaders was generosity and not what you might expect, i.e. confidence or positivity.  That would certainly be one conversation that I would bring to the training room to help managers and leaders think about what is really required to be successful.

All of these subjects were hung off the back drop of Jung and Freud’s theories and ideas, which added the depth and interest and the challenge.  I left feeling much more knowledgeable and “expert” not as I had expected being able to recount cricket stories but by being able to link leadership and management theory and practice by understanding and quoting Brearly’s expertise and knowledge.