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New Zealand needs to foster and celebrate its own leaders
Media release
Sunday 24 June 2012
New Zealand needs to foster and celebrate its own leaders to create a great future
New Zealand needs to foster and champion its own leaders as much as it does its sports stars, says strategic design consultancy ThinkPlace New Zealand.
Jim Scully, the Principal of ThinkPlace, a firm which works to help create innovation across the public sector, says great leadership will lead to fresh business ideas that make it off the back of the serviette into reality here and across the world.
Commenting in the midst of Leadership Week (June 22-29), Jim Scully says New Zealand’s tall poppy syndrome has an effect on some aspiring leaders and innovation.
“We tend to recognise our business leaders only after they’ve proved to the rest of the world that they’re successful and they have made a difference. We need to appreciate we’ve got great leaders here as they emerge before it’s trumpeted from afar,” Jim says.
“We export some great leaders and we
import a few as well. We need to ask ourselves, how might
we create more leaders that can grow into the top leadership
roles, especially in the public sector.”
Jim Scully
says for our size we produce a whole lot of great sport
people who inspire us by punching above their weight. We
excel in rugby because we have a system, through schools,
clubs and regional and national levels where talented young
players are identified and supported to emerge.
“As a small country, we could learn from our sports system and develop a more cohesive system that excels at producing a pipeline of great leaders. We can start young, start inspiring kids at primary school, intermediate school, high school and give them the tools to emerge as leaders in their field.”
Jim says the best leaders take us to a new place we often couldn’t even comprehend. They bring people with them and develop future leaders. “We should listen to those who have big dreams and ideas and say – yeah, why not? We can achieve that. We can be their great followers or cheer them on from the sidelines.”
As part
of Sir Peter Blake Leadership week, a number of great
leadership events are happening across New Zealand. To check
them out go to http://www.sirpeterblaketrust.org/event-calendar/leadership-week/
Ends
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