Introduction:

My name is Dr Christian Harrison, a Nigerian and the first out of a family of three. I am happily married and blessed with two lovely kids. I lost my Dad at the age of 12 and was raised by my mother. I attended King’s College Lagos and the University of Lagos for my high school and undergraduate education respectively before I moved to the United Kingdom for my postgraduate studies where I still reside.

What do you do/where do you work?

I am a Lecturer in Management, Strategy and Leadership in the School of Business and Enterprise in the University of the West of Scotland, United Kingdom. I am a recognized scholar in the field of Leadership and Entrepreneurship and work across the globe on research projects. I am very active in teaching and I am the Program leader of MSc Leadership and Management. I also lead a range of modules namely; Making it Happen: Leadership and Change, Leading Change, Leadership, Leadership and Professional Development, Entrepreneurial Leadership, Leadership Theory and Research, Business Organisation and Ethics and Strategic Business Project. I deliver these modules to undergraduates and postgraduates including Master of Business Administration MBA and Doctor of Business Administration DBA students.  I am also the author of numerous research papers on Leadership which is my major research interest and serve as the Director of Studies/First Supervisor of several PhD and DBA students. Furthermore, I am an active member of the British Academy of Management (BAM), Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE), International Council for Small Business (ICSB), Centre for African Research on Enterprise and Economic Development (CAREED), Higher Education Academy (HEA), Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), National Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST) and serve on several review panels and committees. Additionally, I am an external examiner to other UK universities such as Manchester Metropolitan University. I work extensively as a consultant, speaker and trainer on leadership skills development within organisations. I am the author of the book entitled ‘Leadership Theory and Research: A Critical Approach to New and Existing Paradigms’, which is published by Palgrave MacMillan.

Brief history of your career/academic choices that have led you up to this point:

All my life, I have always wanted to be a source of change, I wanted to change the lives of others and to be the solution to people’s problems. This drove me to study Pharmacy. I graduated with a first-class degree in Pharmacy and practiced as a pharmacist, assuming managerial positions before moving into the field of Management. I chose to change career course because while practicing as a pharmacist, I felt this void as I wanted to reach a greater number of people.

I knew right from my early years in school that I loved teaching, this is why the aspect of pharmacy practice I enjoyed best was counselling. Teaching has always been second nature for me. I can remember clearly when my Dean told me that I would get into academia at one point. I refused to take it seriously but here I am back to my first love.

I got into this position after obtaining my MBA from the University of Aberdeen Business school where I graduated with a distinction and was the valedictorian. I also possess a PhD in Business from the University of West of Scotland and other postgraduate research and teaching qualifications in my repertoire.

“All my life, I have always wanted to be a source of change, I wanted to change the lives of others and to be the solution to people’s problems.” Dr Christian Harrison

What inspires or drives you, why do you do what you do?

I always tell my students that to succeed in every activity you need to be driven. Life becomes empty when there is nothing to drive you. I am driven by two main things:

Firstly, and most importantly, my drive is to help others, that is the reason why I am in academia and why I studied pharmacy in the first place. I want to add value to the lives of others and my greatest joy comes from knowing this has been achieved. At the recent launch of my new book; Leadership Theory and Research: A Critical Approach to New and Existing Paradigms, the feedback I got from people telling me I have affected their lives positively brought me joy and strengthened my drive. There is no greater joy than knowing that people have achieved great heights by your support and encouragement.

Secondly, I am inspired by arduous tasks. I have gotten to where I am today because of the challenges I have faced. As I said previously, I lost my dad early, but I determined within myself that I would not live a disadvantaged life rather I would seek to achieve even more than what people who had their dads would achieve. I made up my mind to live in a way that if my dad were alive, he would be proud of me and I think I have done that. This mindset makes me see challenges as opportunities. The problem I see with a lot of people is that they become demotivated by the negatives. For me, this is usually the reverse, I derive joy by facing what others believe can’t be done. I can remember when I started my MBA in the University of Aberdeen Business School, I did not have a strong business acumen as my background was in Pharmacy. There were people from various walks of life with better experiences and business degrees, however I graduated with a distinction which the MBA program had not issued in a while. This was because I made up my mind from the start that I would attain this, it was a great feat and I wanted to achieve it. I refused to look at my shortcomings and worked hard. This paid off and I attained that uncommon distinction and was the valedictorian of the MBA class

“The problem I see with a lot of people is that they become demotivated by the negatives. For me, this is usually the reverse, I derive joy by facing what others believe can’t be done.” Dr Christian Harrison

What skills/habits/strategies did you develop along the way that helped you get here?

I believe the habits a person develop early in life are important in shaping who they eventually become. There are so many skills and habits I believe has been useful in getting me to this level. However, I don’t think I will be able to explain all of them within this space, so I would only elaborate on the key ones;

Envisioning for me ranks as one of the top skills. It is important that you have a clear vision, you need to know where you are going to and have a mental picture of what the future will look like. For example, while doing my PhD, I had a clear picture of what I wanted from it. I knew I wanted to be Leadership Scholar. I had a clear timeline for achieving this. The inability to envision is a problem that hinders people while a lot of the people who do envision stop at being day dreamers. It is important that you back up any vision with a plan. It is not enough to have a dream, you must ask yourself, how can I achieve my dreams? You must create a strategy to achieve those dreams. No dream can be achieved by just sitting on a couch, hard work and smart work is necessary to achieve any dream. We all have 24 hours in a day and we all need to make the best use of it. I don’t sleep for more than 6 hours in a day. I don’t prescribe that you follow my sleeping routine as we all have different energy/stress tolerance. However, anyone who spends more time sleeping than is necessary would end up wasting significant time of their life.

Another habit that has helped me is learning from my failures. Many people believe failing is bad however the greatest feats I have achieved was after failing the first time. You need to ask yourself what did I do wrong the first time? How can I ensure that this project/paper would be accepted? I have written multiple papers in highly ranked peer reviewed journals and this did not happen immediately. You get rejections at first, but you need to pick yourself up, learn what you did wrong and move forward. Failing is part of the process but staying in failure is not an option for me; I have to get it right.

Goal setting and commitment to achieving them is important, it feeds back to envisioning that I mentioned earlier. It is important that the goals you set are not mediocre, your goals must challenge you. If the goals you set can easily be achieved, then it is not worth striving for! I set demanding goals for myself, before I started writing my book, I had already decided the time frame to accomplish this goal. Most people ask how I was able to get this done despite my immense workload as well as family commitment. How did you write this book within two years? The answer is set goals and be diligent and disciplined to see them to fruition.

Finally, self-development is paramount. You need to understand yourself, your strengths and weaknesses. No person is perfect and there is always room for improvement. The mindset of self-development makes me aspire to be better every day. I put in conscious effort to develop myself either through formal training or by self-directed study (i.e. reading). I have a busy schedule and this comes at a price. Nevertheless, I am willing to pay the price. I read during the early hours of the morning when other people are sleeping. I also attend formal training on areas I want to learn more. Continuous learning is vital for success and has made me who I am today.

“Failing is part of the process but staying in failure is not an option for me; I have to get it right.” Dr Christian Harrison

Can you give some insight into a task or responsibility you had to handle and how you were able to achieve it?

As an academic, I have handled several tasks but the one that comes to my mind was an event that I organized two years ago in my University. I organized a Teaching Excellence, Scholarship and Impact Symposium. The event was designed to support our community of Business scholars and practitioners by identifying good practice and excellence in teaching. This event involved three keynote speakers that are award winning National Teaching Fellows. They shared on how their innovative practice in the delivery of learning and teaching has enhanced and transformed the student learning experience.

Organizing this event was quite challenging and time consuming. It took up a lot of my time and the initial response was not encouraging. However, I did not give up. I persevered and was determined to make this event a great success. I made use of my interpersonal skills to ensure that the keynote speakers would be available. Most importantly, I had to convince the proposed participants of the benefits they would accrue from the event. This involved intense publicity, formal and informal discussions because I know people would only be involved or buy into a project if they know they would gain from it! I was self-motivated, and this helped me inspire others to be involved. I actively listened to what they wanted from the event and I was able to build a team of individuals that were ready to go the extra mile for me.

At the end, this symposium attracted a lot of scholars and participants. Furthermore, I received excellent feedback from the participants, the Senior Leadership team of the Business School and the British Academy of Management (BAM) executive team.

“It is important that the goals you set are not mediocre, your goals must challenge you. If the goals you set can easily be achieved, then it is not worth striving for” Dr Christian Harrison

What other things/area of your life do you have to juggle with your work and how do you find a balance?

As stated earlier, I have a lovely wife and two kids, so I have family commitments to juggle with work. I need to be a husband and dad at the same time! This is not easy, especially when you live in UK where you do not have the extended family support system available in Nigeria. Nevertheless, I have been able to strike balance. The key to me is time management, I am very organized and have a to-do list of my activities. This goes back to what I said initially about planning. My family is very important, so I create time for them. It only means I have to work harder to strike the balance.

Do you have a spiritual practice? If so, has this influenced or helped you in your work or decisions in anyway?

Yes, God is my source. Regardless of all I have said it is important that you put God first. He has blessed us all with great capabilities and potential and we need to acknowledge his presence in our lives. Our mere existence is not by our might but by his grace.

Have you led, motivated or supported others in anyway, and how have you done so?

As I stated previously, my greatest joy is helping others. The sky is limitless and there is great room for everybody at the top. I started leading and supporting others at an early age. I was the President of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigerian Students (PANS) in the University of Lagos and served as the voice of the students. It was a great experience as I worked with different people and it helped me to understand others better.

Supporting my colleagues is important to me. I mentor and develop new colleagues on contemporary teaching practice in Higher Education because of my expertise in teaching and learning. I am instrumental in assisting these new colleagues in the development of their professional identities. I challenge them to think more broadly about their practice and professional development. My support is not only restricted to my colleagues but also my students.  I am also involved in mentoring, advising and supporting students especially at the doctoral level. I am a regular speaker at the Research Students Induction day where I mentor the students on the effective ways of managing the PhD supervisor and student relationship. This is important in improving the quality of the supervisory experience of students. I am also involved in the Researcher Development Scheme for Doctoral students where I deliver a workshop on Leadership. This short course takes a skill-based perspective and helps the participants reflect on their own leadership skills and consider how these might be enhanced. This is very important in their continuing professional development.

Are you involved in any other extracurricular, social or philanthropic enterprise outside of your work?

I am engaged in a range of extra-curricular activities that goes beyond my work in the University. For example, I am a member of the British Academy of Management (BAM). I am involved in delivering workshops and reviewing applications for grants to be awarded to people. In addition, I was instrumental in developing the BAM Education Practice Award which recognizes inspiring and impactful management education practice. These activities I do for free.

I have also delivered several workshops and training sessions on leadership for several charity organizations without any remuneration. I believe it is important that we all contribute our quota in making the society a better place. You cannot be a great follower if you do not understand leadership. Most of the problems we face in the world today is due to a leadership quagmire. My expertise has provided me the opportunity to offer expert advice and help people in the development of leadership skills/competencies required to succeed. I believe in challenging conventional wisdom by applying the entrepreneurial mind-set within the domain of leadership which is important in the creation of social, environmental and economic value in every society.

One more thing you intend to do or are working towards and some steps/decisions/skills you are making/learning to achieve it?

Of course, it is not surprising, I intend to be a Professor in Leadership so watch this space! This would entail publishing more books and papers in the field. This is not going to be easy but as always, I have my timeline! More importantly, I want to give back to the society. I intend to go back to Nigeria to add value and help the society. Effective leadership is important, and we have to be the catalyst for change. I believe my expertise in leadership will be valuable in making this happen.

Are there any other insights or words of wisdom/encouragement you would like to share with the readers?

It is important that you believe in yourself, there is no dream that cannot be achieved if you work towards it.

Challenges are there to motivate you.

Records are there to be broken.

There is always a light at the end of every tunnel.

Don’t look for reasons why it can’t be done rather look for reasons why it can be done! The greatest achievements ever made was after people had said this cannot be done.

My story is a clear case of this. I have been able to achieve these few things to date by believing in myself and trusting my God given abilities and potential.

If I could do this then you also can!

Thank you

Dr Christian Harrison.