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Professor Dave Petley – Leading with ambition, kindness… and a little self-doubt
What can studying landslides and earthquakes teach you about running a university?
Quite a lot, according to Professor Dave Petley.
The Vice-Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University is an international expert on natural disasters, whose research has taken him around the world investigating their devastating impact on communities.
That experience has shaped his approach to leadership – helping him make difficult decisions under pressure and bring people together.
Almost a year after arriving at NTU, he tells Episode 87 of the Nottingham Business School's Business Leaders’ Podcast about his ambitions to strengthen research, deepen local connections and raise the university's profile.
But the man leading a university community of more than 40,000 students and staff also admits to something unexpected – he still suffers from imposter syndrome.
“I so admire people who can walk into a room full of people they don't know and be completely relaxed,” he says.
“That's something I always have to work at.”
Professor Petley talks to NBS Honorary Visiting Professor Mike Sassi about leadership under pressure – and why even successful leaders sometimes doubt themselves.