FACULTY FOCUS campusreview. com. au
Leadership’ s new mould
Building modern leaders means re-shaping ideas about what it means to guide and show the way, professor says.
By Amie Larter
The Australian National University’ s inaugural chair of leadership says community leaders are fast becoming the most respected members of society.
Professor Giles Hirst quotes examples such as antiviolence campaigner and 2015 Australian of the Year Rosie Batty, as well as child sexual assault campaigner Damian De Marco when explaining the emerging group of leaders.
“ There’ s a strong groundswell for community leadership being an effective means to change people,” Hirst says.“ This emerging group is made up of people who have a strong commitment to particular visions, values and beliefs – a particular force who are committed to improving the community.”
Hirst describes leaders within this group as driven, energetic and generally invested in a particular cause.“[ Community leaders ] stand firm for [ their ] beliefs and values and do not bend according to particular platforms,” he says.
The rise in the community leaders, he explains, is a shift away from the notion that leaders are the people we elect. He says this shift has been prompted by two main forces.
The first is the“ democratisation of communication”. The internet and social media make it much easier for people to have a voice, Hirst explains. The second is the very nature of Australia’ s political system, which, Hirst says,“ it’ s hard not to agree is in a bit of trouble”. He believes Australia’ s political leaders need to focus less on polls and media, and be given more freedom to lead in their own way.
“ When you look at the quagmire of what’ s happening
Photo: Rosie Batty © APN Australian Regional Media
in politics at the moment, there are many good politicians but they are stuck responding to pressures rather than setting their own course,” he says.“[ Politicians ] are very driven, very capable of taking a lot of negative feedback and bouncing back.
“ It’ s intense, and very understandable. If you want to get in front in the popularity polls, you’ ve got to respond to stories. You can’ t leave them hanging out there.”
Professor Hirst – who has just recently joined ANU’ s College of Business and Economics’ Research School of Management – says he hopes to use his position of leadership chair to develop leaders for the future, and build the capabilities of current ones.
“ Globally there is a huge amount of cynicism towards leadership, which is in part due to a culture of telling people how they should lead rather than allowing them to do so in their own way,” he says.“ There has been a massive change in what people expect from leadership. We used to expect that leaders were an entitled group – a special group of people. There were bankers, CEOs and political leaders.
“ If you look at what’ s happened in the last five to 10 years, with the global financial crisis and the questions about the effectiveness of international political systems in Europe, there has been a huge amount of questioning of those processes.
“ One [ recent global study ] of leadership, CCL, shows 85 per cent of people think what’ s required for leadership now is different from what was required five years ago.”
For those looking to pursue a leadership role in their chosen career, Hirst’ s advice is to choose something you are passionate about and always remember,“ leadership isn’ t an entitlement, it’ s a responsibility”. ■
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