Derek Handley shoulder taps New Zealand for a new right-hand

Derek Handley shoulder taps New Zealand for a new right-hand

Campaign designed to ignite a conversation linking careers to social impact

Last night Derek Handley launched a campaign on Twitter inviting the best and brightest New Zealanders to apply for a new role working with him as a ‘Chief Operator,’ leading a number of initiatives aimed at uniting profit, people and purpose.

Based in New Zealand, the Chief Operator will run a programme of activity which will include everything from assessing entrepreneurial and investment opportunities to helping build a charitable foundation accelerating ideas to make New Zealand a better place. The role will straddle the the worlds of social impact and sustainability with new ventures, investment and innovation.

Because this will be no ordinary job, he is taking a different approach to finding the ideal candidate. Applicants are asked to visit www.theshouldertap.com to apply or nominate somebody for the role. Candidates will be asked a number of questions designed to challenge their traditional definitions of success, and watch a video featuring familiar local faces sharing their ideas on the future of careers and New Zealand.

He is inviting anyone who is a financial and operational genius, with the heart of a crusader, the courage of an entrepreneur, and their eye on the bigger picture of the challenges facing our future to apply. He is also encouraging people to shoulder tap others for the role via the website.

“I would really like to hear from anyone who knows anyone who is exceptionally bright and passionate about making a bigger difference than they already are,” says Derek Handley. “I believe there are very few jobs like this out there today - especially in New Zealand - and that the jobs of the future will be the ones designed to challenge people to grow their careers while having a bigger social impact.”

He says these beliefs were crystallised during his time as Founding CEO of The B Team, the global leadership collective he helped set up with Sir Richard Branson two years ago, where he witnessed a moral awareness spreading around the globe concerning the role business needs to play in solving the world’s biggest problems.

“I am embedding the B Team ethos into everything I do,” says Mr Handley. “And that’s why I’ve launched this campaign, which goes beyond the search for one individual to ignite a wider conversation in New Zealand that prompts people to stop and think about their own career paths - to really question how they can use all of their talents to not only be the best in New Zealand but the best for New Zealand.”

Tim Bentley, who heads AUT’s ‘Future of Work’ program and the business school’s Work Research Institute, says the jobs of the future are changing: “Young people are thinking twice about the companies they work for. They are searching for more meaningful work and questioning careers that involve the relentlessly narrow-minded pursuit of short term profit at the expense of everything else.”

The successful applicant will be rewarded with the ability to design their own package and choose from unique development experiences to gain exposure to global issues and trends during their first year. This could including a Zero Gravity NASA flight, swimming with sharks and attending a Third Metric live event in New York with Arianna Huffington, a leading voice on redefining wellbeing and success.

The 2014 Deloitte Millennial Survey shows the future generation of leaders believe business can do much more to address society's challenges in the areas of most concern like resource scarcity, climate change and income inequality. The report states millennials believe the success of a business should be measured in terms of more than just its financial performance, with a focus on improving society among the most important things it should seek to achieve.

“One purposeful career can inspire and impact a thousand,” says Mr Handley. “If the ‘#theshouldertap’ can help catalyse a thousand purposeful careers, then one day we can mobilise a million Kiwis to get behind ideas that will make New Zealand as great as we know it can be.”

If you’d like to learn more about the role, or to nominate someone you know, please visit www.theshouldtertap.com.

Applications close 16 May.

About Derek Handley
• twitter.com/dgh
• LinkedIn
• derekhandley.org

Derek is an entrepreneur, author and investor who is embedding The B Team vision of people, planet and profit into everything he does: the businesses he works with, the networks he’s involved with, and in New Zealand, the country he calls home. The B Team is a global leadership collective he helped set up with Sir Richard Branson two years ago. As its Entrepreneur in Residence, he is designing a new venture that aims to solve social issues and set new benchmarks in how we treat our people and our planet, at the same time as making money in an innovative and exciting way. He is also an Adjunct Executive Professor at AUT University, Chair and Co-Founder of NZX-listed Snakk Media, a Director at Sky Television, a New Zealand Arts Foundation Trustee, and an Astronaut-in-Waiting at Virgin Galactic.

ENDS

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