Leadership conference unites values and reason
When values and rational thought align, businesses succeed.
All too often, however, soul is missing from the business world, says Tor Eneroth, network director for Barrett Values Centre and culture advisor for Volvo. Decisions are based on personal gain behaviours, where the common good takes a side seat to instant gains. The world is changing at a rapid rate however and it is clear this approach is not working any longer, he said.
"It's quite simple - if we all just think about ourselves, we will not survive. We need to go from 'I' to 'we' in our thinking," he said. "We need to face our fears and understand what kind of impact it has on our behavior. It would be a world much more based on love than fear."
It's a cultural shift - one that sees businesses throughout the world redefined as people embrace leadership based on values that serve the common good," Three organizations are collaborating to provide the latest insights, tools and resources to foster this thinking and help turn it into action.
In a half day forum called Leadership for a New Economy and an Uncertain World on Feb. 7 in Vancouver, the Institute for Values-Based Leadership at Royal Roads University, together with the Barrett Values Centre and the Vancouver Board of Trade with the Rix Center for Corporate Citizenship & Engaged Leadership, will host a program that shares insights into the building of healthy, resilient business cultures to protect and strengthen social fabric in a new economy and uncertain world.
"We are very excited to collaborate on an important event that highlights the opportunities business and other leaders have to create cultures of resilience, not only in their own organizations, but in nations where the capacity to adapt is essential to sustainable prosperity," said Marilyn M. Taylor, director of the Institute of Values-based Leadership at Royal Roads University. "Our longer-term aim is to catalyze, strengthen, and support a network of leaders who are dedicated to taking organizational and community life to a new level of creativity, flexibility, and prosperity."
Keynote speaker James Orbinski, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), will share his vision on how people in the private, public and civil sectors can work together to build an immunity to emerging global threats. "Leadership, in my mind, is about seeing possibility. It's also about inspiring by doing, not simply by talking - but inspiring others by what you do," Orbinski said. "It's about enabling others, supporting others, creating an environment where they also can do and where they can become their best selves."
The event also features a panel discussion on enhancing the strength and resiliency of organizations and community. Panelists include: Bob Elton, corporate director and past CEO of BC Hydro; Emanual Furtado Arruda, founding partner and co-chair, League Assets Corp.; Ashley Munday, leader, collaborative strategies for the Barrett Values Centre, and Taylor, director, Institute of Values-Based Leadership.
At the same venue in the afternoon, Eneroth will lead a separate yet related workshop on organization culture change, drawing on his experience as culture advisor for Volvo. These kinds of changes don't come over night, he said, as they require leaders to understand their own values and goals. That means we have to be conscious of what values drive us and make our decisions based on creating a society or culture that benefits the common good.
"When you see the potential in the people who are working, you also gain business and gain a more sustainable society," he said.
Event tickets are $129 for Vancouver Board of Trade members and $180 for future members. For more information, and to register for Leadership for a New Economy and an Uncertain World visit here at www.boardoftrade.com. A special discount for Royal Roads alumni is available first come first serve. Please contact alumni relations at RRU-Alumni-Relations@royalroads.ca for details.
The afternoon workshop is $30 US with separate registration. For more information and to register visit here at www.valuescentre.com.
Written by Amy Dove (amy.dove@royalroads.ca)
Posted Jan. 17, 2012
Learn how two Royal Roads alumni are living their values, and making it work for their business and their community here.
