UPFRONT Leaders at the Summit

From business classic Good to Great author Jim Collins, to Enron whistleblower Lynne Brewer, the line-up of top shelf international and local leadership speakers at the October NZIM International Leadership Summit in Auckland, will tell organisational leaders how to deal with rapidly moving markets, flattening organisational structures, skills shortages and continually changing technologies.
Leaders simply have to be responsive to this ever-widening range of internal and external challenges, said conference organiser and NZIM national chief executive David Chapman. “That’s why we have gone to the best in the world to help us deliver the message,” he says.
The summit, organised to coincide with New Zealand’s chairmanship of the annual conference of AAMO, the Asian Association of Management Organisations, has been structured to include thought-provoking mix of keynote addresses, panel discussion and workshops, that examine leadership issues under four key themes – the leadership challenge; its implications for CEO development; knowledge and learning organisations; and emerging international trends.
Frances Hesselbein, founding president and CEO of the Peter F Drucker Foundation, and hailed by top management thinkers like Warren Bennis, Peter Senge and Jim Collins as one of today’s most inspired and innovative leaders, will look at “leadership imperatives in an age of change and discontinuity”.
Hesselbein describes her own leadership style as “inclusive and circular” and calls inclusion “powerful value”. When organisations are opened up and leadership dispersed across the enterprise, it generates new energy and new synergy, she says.
American author Margaret Wheatley, named one of five living legends by the American Society of Training and Development, is the first keynote speaker for the leadership challenge theme. Her focus is the ingredients of organisational success, including the need for clear and compelling common vision plus strong and effective chair, board and CEO.
Best selling author and internationally acknowledged expert on best practice leadership, Jim Collins, will be beamed in live from the United States. Collins, co-author of the classic Built to Last and author of Good to Great, will take the summit through his latest work on ‘Level 5 Leadership’ and answer questions during 90-minute interactive session.
Former Enron executive and whistleblower Lynne Brewer will bring unique perspective to addressing couple of the most important issues facing leadership today – risk management and integrity.
The theme will include workshops on “passion and performance” led by University of Canterbury management lecturer and author of The Dance of Leadership, Peter Cammock, and “implications of the leadership challenge”, facilitated by Jeff Kennedy of Nanyang Business School in Singapore.
New Zealand-born Neville Bain, whose international leadership experience has made him sought-after business consultant in the United Kingdom, will look at how leaders need to work on their own development to get the most from their organisations.
Leadership is inextricably bound up with the effective dissemination of knowledge and information and these issues will be covered by Nick van der Welt, chair of corporate governance and leadership at Massey University, and applied in workshops driven by strategist and author Alastair Rylatt, and knowledge researchers and authors of the book Knowledge Management, Carl Davidson and Philip Voss.
American futurist Ed Barlow, whose insights into emerging business trends are widely sought by governments and business around the world, will provide Summit attendees with insights into what leaders can expect to encounter in future. Air New Zealand CEO Ralph Norris will address the “world-class imperative” and an expert panel discussion will include input from Barlow, top Indian business leader JJ Irani, Francis Hesselbein and the head of NZ Trade and Enterprise, Tim Gibson.
Business journalist and commentator, Rod Oram, will provide conference wrap up commentary .
The Summit is being held at The Hyatt, Auckland from October 7-9. More information can be found at www.leadershipsummit.co.nz.