Press
Everybody needs a shoulder to lean on - even when you're the boss
NZ Herald (Feb 2010)
You'd have to be a hard-hearted soul not to have felt some pity for Marac's chief risk officer, Grant Atkinson, when he went AWOL this month.
Although the company hasn't revealed all the details, it doesn't take much imagination to figure out the executive felt under great pressure and couldn't see a way out.
There are several leadership courses in New Zealand where managers can bare their souls and talk with full confidentiality to their peers. The Leadership Institute's Hillary leadership programme is one.
Better thinking to boost productivity
NBR (April 2009)
If the events of the last six months have a legacy it will be a series of wake up calls - on the way financial markets have been allowed to operate; on productivity; or lack of it; and about thinking, not just about our own but about what we really know about the way other people think.
........Dr Lester Levy and Mark Bentley note in their study on leadership in New Zealand: "Our results suggest a dogmatic disposition in the typical New Zealand leader, an inner need to be 'right' that overwhelms their ability to be 'real'....The New Zealand leader has a tendency to rely on tangible data perhaps to the exclusion of personal and diverse insights of their workforce.
High flyer steps up to Diocesan top job
NZ Herald (14 April 2009)
Heather McRae starts her new role as the head of Diocesan School tomorrow. Moving to the private girls' school from Pakuranga College, Mrs McRae brings with her a wide knowledge of international teaching methods used in the state and private sectors.
Leading In Tough Times - How Things Change
Management (March 2009)
When times get tough, it's more important than ever that leaders step up to the mark and prove their worth. We all know times are hard right now so NZ Management asked some of the country's leadership experts for their views and advice.
The Obama style of leadership
Breakfast, TVNZ (20 January, 2009)
The build-up to president-elect Barack Obama's inauguration is reaching fever-pitch. Professor Brad Jackson studies leadership at Auckland University and talks about Obama's style of leadership.
North Shore CEO Receives National Health Leadership Award
(6 November 2008)
Lorna Murray, Graduate of the Hillary Leadership Programme 06, and CEO of Connect Supporting Recovery (previously AMHS) was awarded the Glenys Baldick Memorial Award at the New Zealand Health Innovations Awards on Tuesday the 4th of November. The panel commended Lorna's success in leading Connect and her passion for Mental Health, community development, and sector developement.
Do 'super' mayors thwart local leadership?
National Business Review (10 October 2008)
Brad Jackson and Lester Levy
There is one aspect of the deliberations regarding the future governance arrangements for Auckland that most obviously connects with leadership - whether the Auckland region should be headed up by an elected executive mayor.
Peter McKinlay of AUT's Local Government Centre notes that "the rationale for concentrating power in a single elected individual is accountability. Voters choose knowing the person who will exercise those powers and know who to blame if they do not like the way those powers are exercised."
We would like to add two more arguments in favour of an executive mayor that take a glass half-full rather than a glass half-empty perspective. First, there is the likelihood that a properly constituted executive mayoralty will attract high calibre individuals to step forward to contest this position, confident in the knowledge that the city might actually be governable, thanks to the royal commission's work. Given the current governance structure, we should be surprised and relieved that so many civicminded individuals are willing to drink from the poisoned chalice that is the role of mayor of Auckland.
The second argument in favour of the executive mayor is that it can act as a powerful focal point around which a city can begin to foster civic pride and confidence in itself.
Leadership is everyone's responsibility
National Business Review (3 October 2008)
Brad Jackson and Lester Levy
In last week's article we argued that while new and more streamlined governance arrangements for the Auckland region would be a progressive step (in promoting superior leadership for the region) that alone would not suffice. In fact, when considering the possibilities of great leadership it is just as important to consider the cultural context as it is the structural context.
Revamped city will depend on leadership
National Business Review (26 September 2008)
Brad Jackson and Lester Levy
The core task of the Royal Commission Inquiry into Auckland Governance is to identify the optimum governance and representation arrangements that will serve Auckland in the longer term.
While we applaud the aims, objectives and work of the commission, we are concerned that an implicit assumption has been made that getting the governance arrangements right will, as a matter of course, lead to better aand possibly even "great" leadership for the Auckland region. The underlying logic being that leadership in the past has been too readily frustrated and dissipated in the more fragmented system.
Taking Science to the Community
Management (September 2008)
Dr Nicholas Edgar, the head of an independent trust that facilitates land management and biodiversity initiatives in rural communities, has won the inaugural Cawthron Science Leader Award. Valued at almost $25,000, the award provides an all-expenses-paid place on the 18-month Hillary Leadership Programme, run by Excelerator: New Zealand Leadership Institute which is part of the Auckland Business School.
Radio New Zealand National Programme (24 August 2008)
Leadership: it always sounds a little like one of those dreadful corporate buzzwords, doesn't it, or something that the All Black captain or a new political leader is supposed to show. If you asked people to identify a leader is, most would point to our politicians, our sporting figures, the late Sir Edmund Hillary, or Sir Robert Muldoon, or maybe someone in a business role. Some might talk about community leaders, the current Democratic Presidential nominee, or even argue that we don't need leaders at all.
But the points of difference between these roles are greater than the comparisons. And when we spread the net further to include the military, churches, feminist organisations and the like, the concept of leadership remains, but the definition becomes even more thinly spread.
So who are these leaders, and how do they attain this exalted position? Are their talents innate, or can they be taught? And if they are leaders, does that make the rest of us followers? How do we feel about that? What is a leader, anyway?
Part One: Professor Brad Jackson says there are about 6000 different definitions of leadership.
Part Two: New Zealand cricket captain Daniel Vettori on how to lead a cricket team.
New Programme Invests in Community Leadership for Northland
(4 August 2008)
Excelerator launches 'Sport Northland Community Leadership Programme' in association with SPARC.
A new partnership between Excelerator, SPARC and Sport Northland has resulted in the launch of a new 8 month programme to foster the personal and collective leadership of 15 sports leaders from across the Northland region.
Charity very much a business, says CEO
New Zealand Herald (28th July 2008)
Leukaemia & Blood Foundation executive director Pru Etcheverry says the differences between the charitable and corporate sectors are not as vast as they seem. Both types of organisations exist for their stakeholders and must make sure their expectations are met, she says.
Etcheverry, who came to the foundation from the corporate world six years ago, will join other charity heads at a Charitable CEO event at the University of Auckland Business School this week, as part of Leadership Week.
A leader with plenty of bottle
Weekend Herald (26th July 2008)
Good leadership, say Brian Blake, should see managers pressured by their staff. "You need people in the organisation lighting fires. In companies these days, whilst the senior team can set the strategic direction, the real momentum in the company comes from people lower in the organisation."
Dalziel gives youngsters a lead
Otago Daily Times (28th June 2008)
The right environment growing up is crucial to allow young people to develop leadership skills, MP Lianne Dalziel told a group of young Central Otago people at a seminar in Cromwell yesterday.
The Listener (April 5 - 11, 2008)
Getting the top job can be about having the X factor. However, experts now say that instead of just scrutinising potential leaders, we should look equally carefully at ourselves and the influence our expectations have on who makes it - and who doesn't.
The truth will out - Why inauthentic leadership doesn't work
Management (November 2007)
New Zealand workplace leaders have a long way to go to gain the wholehearted support of their workforces and be able to call themselves ‘authentic' leaders. The opportunity cost of this sub-par performance is low productivity and a lack of national competitiveness.
Employment Today (September/October 2007)
Mark Bentley summarises the findings from Excelerator's recently released report entitled " More 'Right' than 'Real':The Shape of Authentic Leadership in New Zealand". With the help of BDO Spicers, Excelerator measured the levels of authenticity of leaders, workforce capacities and the consequent leadership outcomes within the workforce by surveying 1,000 New Zealanders.
Only 37.4% of respondents felt their leaders displayed Authentic Leadership behaviours ‘fairly often' or ‘frequently, if not always'. Although they rated highly on their moral and ethical standards, New Zealand leaders were unlikely to encourage differing points of view and were resistant to change.
