Birmingham must learn from Peter Rabbit or the fox and the hedgehog rather than search for a hero if it wants future prosperity.

That was the message from Sir Michael Lyons, the former chief executive of Birmingham City Council, as he delivered the first annual Roger Dickens lecture.

In his speech at the International Convention Centre, Sir Michael said it was time for Birmingham to redefine itself and that it was not enough to be known only as a city of business, tourism and professional business services.

Drawing inspiration from Beatrix Potter's fictional character, Sir Michael said it was time to find a focal point for the city. He said: "We have made great strides but it's simply not enough. Let me suggest that Peter Rabbit might possibly offer a lesson.

"I learned earlier this year that package tour operators in Japan simply cannot sell a popular tour of the UK if it does not include a visit to the Beatrix Potter Museum in the Lake District.

"I am not suggesting we open an offensive to steal Shakespeare from Stratford or restake our claim to Tolkien but I simply ask the question, what will be the Beatrix Potter equivalent for the millions of Chinese tourists that will certainly be on the move over the coming 20 years?"

Sir Michael also spoke of a concept developed by the American academic Jim Collins about leadership, which he said was relevant for Birmingham's current city leadership debate.

"Collins is fond of colourful metaphors to explain his concepts," he said. "The first is the hedgehog concept.

"It is based on an earlier essay by Isaiah Berlin who divided the world into hedgehogs and foxes based upon an ancient Greek parable that says the fox knows many things but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

"The hedgehog just gets on with life and when the fox approaches, he rolls himself into a ball. Collins identifies the importance of acting like the hedgehog in building the success of any organisation to produce the best long term results and then exercising the relentless discipline to say no thank you to opportunities that fail the hedgehog test.

"Birmingham should spend less time trying to find its hero - it knows too well that heroes sometimes have feet of clay.

"Our task is to make this a city of many strong and visionary leaders working together, focused on a new, distinctive hedgehog concept appropriate to our needs and traditions."