People who have excelled in an organisation in a specialist role before rising to the top make better leaders than professional managers, a new study has claimed.

Such ‘expert leaders’ are the most likely to get results because they have deep knowledge of the jobs their employees are doing, found the research from Cass Business School and the University of Sheffield.

The study used the example of Formula 1 teams, analysing the results of 18,000 races over the last 60 years. It found that the best teams were led by former drivers or mechanics who had previously worked in Formula 1 at a low level. They won twice as many races as teams who were led by professional managers or high-level engineers who did not have this previous hands-on experience.

“Former top drivers, like Jean Todt, consistently turn into successful Formula One bosses, even when accounting for factors such as the resources available to each team,” said co-author of the study, Dr Amanda Goodall of Cass Business School.

The findings back up previous research from Dr Goodall which found that hospitals run by former doctors perform better than those without direct medical experience. She believes the principle of ‘expert leaders’ has a wide application in business and public administration.

“Is it important that the CEO of McKinsey was an outstanding consultant first? Should the BMW boss be an engineer? Are doctors better at running NHS hospitals? We would argue, ‘yes’,” said Dr Goodall.

“Over the last three decades, managerialism has become pervasive. Major blue chip firms have shifted away from hiring CEOs with technical expertise, towards the selection of professional managers and generalists.

“The swing of the pendulum has gone too far - leaders should first be experts in the core business of their organisations, whether they are bankers, hospital administrators, restaurateurs or technology innovators. Being a capable general manager alone is not sufficient,” she concluded.