Leadership News & Events

Featured Social Cause April 2010

Ralph Kerle — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 08:54:13 +0000

Commencing April 2010, the Creative Leadership Forum has decided to support social causes that we percieve show creative leadership. What does that mean? We are seeking to support causes that are leading us to unknown and innovative emerging futures that have the potential to change the notion of community, whether global or local, and the way we live in it and think about it.

Our first social cause is Generation One - an Australian national cause launched by Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, Founder and CEO of Fortescue Mining Group.

Forrest writes

"Why would some random, successful executive start a movement to help Indigenous Australians? It's the question everyone has been asking me since our historic launch.

For me, this is very personal. I grew up with Aboriginal kids, and at age nine attended a hostel with my Aboriginal mates in Carnarvon, WA. I was blessed with education and opportunity but as I hit adulthood, my mates were left behind, lost eventually to welfare and addiction. I went to the last fella’s funeral last year. His name was Ian Black, one of the nicest, most talented youngsters I'd ever met, with a wide and easy smile. His premature death was too much and now the future of his kids keeps me awake at night.

I decided this isn't my time for mourning; it's our moment for action.

There's nothing more important that we can do as a country than to come together as one generation -- GenerationOne -- and provide the opportunity that all our first Australians, my friends and now their kids lack. Thanks for taking the first step by joining us.

Now help us take action –

seek out mentoring opportunities
sign-up to one of our roadshow events across Australia
give us your ideas on closing the gap

ask your your employer to pledge an Indigenous job"

Take action right now

Featured Event for July 2010

Ralph Kerle — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 06:43:58 +0000

LEADERSHIP FOR THIS TIME: NATURE-BASED RETREAT WITH MARGARET WHEATLEY

WHAT, WHERE AND WHEN?
A one-off opportunity to spend 3 days in the Queensland rainforest with Margaret Wheatley, reconnecting with our purpose, with like-minded colleagues and with the living world.

3rd - 6th July 2010
at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, Lamington National Park, Australia.

Reserve your place now by downloading the booking form and email it back to us.

WHAT QUESTIONS WILL WE EXPLORE?

What role can I play in creating the changes that are so crucial in
these extraordinary times?
How can I use my talents and experience to be of greater service for the world?
How do I hold true to inspiration, persevere, and not lose my way?

WHO IS THIS RETREAT FOR?
We expect a spirited mix of business leaders, community and non-profit leaders, change agents, organisational development consultants, campaigners and coaches.Whatever your official current role, you are concerned by the trajectory humanity is on and would like to use your talents and experience to make a difference.

You may be finding your path of influence or be a seasoned change agent who needs fresh focus in order to persevere.You know the importance of nature as a place to reground, rejuvenate and gain clarity.

“I define a leader as anyone who sees an issue in their community their family, their organization,
and is willing to step forward and do something about it.“ Margaret Wheatley

HOW DOES THIS RETREAT WORK?
Stimulated by day, yet comfortable by night, you’ll tackle your big questions through 3 types of experience:

Campfire time - facilitated creative explorations, whole group exercises and uncommon conversation.
Bush time - guided immersion in nature. Reconnecting with pristine ecosystems. Fostering intuition and creative insight.
Hammock time - private reflection, with some one-on-one coaching to promote breakthroughs in purpose and direction

You’ll be hosted, supported and stimulated throughout by three leading thinkers in the field of leadership, sustainability and self: Margaret Wheatley, Samantha Graham of Stormlight Consulting and Rosie Walford of The Big Stretch.

ABOUT MARGARET WHEATLEY
Meg Wheatley is an author, international speaker, change agent, grandmother and mentor to leaders across the planet. With her groundbreaking book Leadership and the New Science back in 1992, Meg was one of the first to show how discoveries in quantum physics, chaos theory and biology should challenge our understandings of innovation, leadership and organizational change.

Her new book, Perseverance, is published this April. A practising Buddhist, Meg is returning to Australia this June to continue her longstanding relationships with government, change consultants, indigenous and corporate leaders alike.

Meg is hard to describe in small paragraphs but you can read her extended bio and listen to her radio broadcasts on her website.

Featured Events for June 2010

Ralph Kerle — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 06:33:33 +0000

Strong Manager: Building High Performance Teams in Your Organisation

24 June 2010 | Sydney Convention Centre

Marcus Buckingham is returning to Australia to deliver his highly-anticipated Strong Manager seminar this June.

This exclusive half-day seminar will enable you to:

Become a frontline manager who gets top results from everyone – every day
Boost employee satisfaction and slash costly re-hiring
Develop and retain top talent
Provide the inspirational leadership great companies value – and reward
Understand and leverage the critical role you play in your organisation’s success
Enjoy your job more – and experience less stress managing others

People work for organisations but only give their best effort for other people – Marcus Buckingham knows what it takes to develop strong, successful frontline managers. His revolutionary concepts and methods have been sourced from a more-than-twenty-five-year effort to identify core characteristics of great managers and great workplaces.

“I really rate this thought provoking speaker – he is one of the best commercially savvy public speakers on building awesome teams that I have seen!”

Simone Allan, Director, Mondo Search

Be a manager who drives productivity, not one who drives talent away.

Special $100 discount for Creative Leadership Forum members with promo code: CLF

If you register before 14 May 2010:

Standard Rate: $650
CLF Member Rate: $550
Group Rate (6 or more): $495

If you register after 14 May 2010:

Standard Rate: $750
CLF Member Rate: $650
Group Rate (6 or more): $595

For more information or to register, download the brochure http://www.businessconnect.com.au/Documents/Events/MarcusBuckingham_StrongManager_CLF.pdf

visit www.businessconnect.com.au or

call 1300 721 778

Seth Godin Talks to Richard Branson about Innovation

Ralph Kerle — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:33:13 +0000

Survey reveals investors mindset is optimistic. Now is the time to raise capital!

Grant Crossley — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:07:49 +0000

The latest Wholesale Investor National survey, published in August 09, reveals that private investors in Australia are more optimistic, have more money and have invested over the last three months. The quarterly survey, conducted by Wholesale Investor magazine on its database of 4,286 high net worth, wholesale, professional and international investors, revealed the following points: Investors remain optimistic A staggering 81% surveyed said that now is a very good, or exceptional time to invest. The more the market recovers from the financial downturn, the more this statistic will drop. Smart investors invest when values are right down, and become less enthusiastic as the market moves towards its peak.

Identifying skill gaps in an organisation...

Grant Crossley — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:04:19 +0000

Upgrading the workforce

Efforts to improve the skills and capabilities of the workforce often fail because companies don’t really know where the gaps are. McKinsey’s client work shows that one tool to reveal them is a comprehensive survey that allows employees themselves to identify the areas most in need of improvement. A targeted, less costly program—something that’s particularly valuable in the present downturn—can then be rolled out to the organization.

“Identifying employee skill gaps” (May 2009) presents the case of a manufacturing company implementing a major performance transformation program that included significant capability-building efforts. To identify specific areas for improvement, the company surveyed site leaders, middle managers, and frontline supervisors in two regions. As the exhibit shows, their needs were quite different.

Performance transformation programs may also make it necessary to challenge the way people work. “The psychology of change management” shows how companies can successfully modify their employees’ mind-sets (June 2003).

Source: McKinsey

Where should we invest for the future of energy?

Grant Crossley — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:36:07 +0000

Jeroen van der Veer, former CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, retired on June 30 of this year, bringing to a close his 38 years with the company. In this video, the latest in our interview series McKinsey conversations with global leaders, van der Veer shares his thoughts on the future of oil and alternative energies, the industry’s challenges in addressing climate change, and management lessons learned over a long career.

A video and transcript are available for the interview, which was conducted in The Hague in June 2009.

View the various thoughts from van der Veer here

What to look for in a successful company - PWC Survey recommendations re innovation

Grant Crossley — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:26:57 +0000

Surely in our lives we have a responsibility to improve through change and build futures that people want to be part of? If we do not, sooner or later, we will be engulfed by the advances and be carried with the tide into an uncertain future. Much of business literature, and management education, training and development, is focused on a model that effectively leaves future to fate. Detailed analysis of the past, control and stewardship of the status quo feature prominently. Actions are filtered by past experiences. Even the more recent focus on disciplines such as ‘strategic thinking’, ‘learning’ and ‘leadership’ have not yet delivered against their promise, as they are not embedded in the day-to-day running of many businesses.

Can the MBA resurrect itself?

Grant Crossley — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:16:26 +0000

Harvard have taken a lng look at the MBA and have made significant recommendations on how universities need to change to catch up to the 21st Century requirementsof leadership and management education...

Overview:

On the whole, MBA programs are in decline. Their value is being questioned, and they are seen as overly emphasizing analytics rather than skill development and experiences. Deans, executives, and recruiters identified four main areas where current MBA programs are falling short: leadership; globalization; communication/presentation skills; and problem identification in ambiguous environments.

In response, MBA programs are innovating and experimenting to change the MBA experience, and to help business education regain its relevance and value. They are changing their curricula and are attempting to make the learning experience more interactive, engaging, global, and experiential.

View the full report here

Zen and the Art of Corporate Productivity

Grant Crossley — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:35:32 +0000

More companies are battling employee stress with meditation... Increasingly, the overstretched and overburdened have a new answer to work lives of gunning harder for what seems like less and less: Don't just do something -- sit there. Companies increasingly are falling for the allure of meditation, too, offering free, on-site classes. They're being won over, in part, by findings at the National Institutes of Health, the University of Massachusetts, and the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Harvard University that meditation enhances the qualities companies need most from their knowledge workers: increased brain-wave activity, enhanced intuition, better concentration, and the alleviation of the kinds of aches and pains that plague employees most.