On November 11 Deakin Business School hosted academics and industry leaders to exchange knowledge and insight on contemporary leadership challenges and impact creation.
The Leadership in Our DNA: A Showcase Event was organised by DBS’s Leadership Futures Hub, which works to help leaders and organisations make a positive impact on society and address future challenges.
The event featured a panel discussion with industry leaders, including Jennifer Conley, CEO of Geelong Manufacturing Council; Lubna Alam, President of Alo Enlightened Women Inc., and Steven Asnicar, Executive Director of Diversity Australia.
Panellists spoke about the challenges they faced in creating impact and issues that demand more attention from leaders and society.
Jennifer Conley highlighted the challenges for small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises to attract talent and a more diverse workforce, despite manufacturing being a highly creative sector with ample career opportunities. She said while leaders were making headway in championing gender equality, the primary priority for smaller enterprises would always be running their businesses successfully, whatever it takes.
Lubna Alam reflected on her lived experiences in interacting with underrepresented communities. She emphasised the importance for leaders to recognise the needs of the broader community, not just those of one’s “own tribe”, as a way to gain respect and support from the community.
Steven Asnicar pinpointed that employees nowadays look for different needs at work, such as more work-life balance. The changing trends increase the importance of inspirational leadership. Leaders should also actively listen to people.
The event also brought together expert scholars from three business schools to share recent, evidence-based research insights.
Dr Claudia Escobar Vega, Dr Huw Flatau Harrison, and Dr Jennifer Ann Lajom from Deakin Business School presented insights about the importance of cultivating unbiased leadership perceptions among children, safety practices in organisations, and employee passion.
Associate Professor Job Billsberry from La Trobe Business School emphasised the need to focus on observers rather than simply leaders in understanding leadership.
Professor Herman Tse from Monash Business School presented intriguing insights about how organisations can leverage on human-robot collaboration to facilitate leadership.
The industry-university dialogue continued to explore the major challenges confronted by leaders and practices that could be recommended to better understand leadership.
Dr Fannie Wu, co-director of LFH, says, ‘It is essential that academics understand leadership challenges from practitioners’ perspectives. That puts them in a better position to translate their research outputs and knowledge into actual impact.’
‘This event was an excellent opportunity to gain that understanding and create common ground between researchers and practitioners on leadership knowledge and practice.’
The Leadership Futures Hub
The Leadership Futures Hub was established by Deakin University to enhance capacities and skills of current and emerging leaders to make stronger impact on organisations and society. Its work is guided by five pillars, including leadership and sustainability, leadership in complexity, leadership and well-being, leadership and DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion), and leadership for digital transformation. Visit its public website and podcast series to learn more about the team and resources.