- |
- About Ashridge
- About Ashridge Business School
- Request an Ashridge Brochure
- Ashridge Open Days & Events
- Experience Ashridge Business School
- Directions to Ashridge Business School
- Contact Ashridge Business School
- Press Centre
- International Ashridge
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Ashridge Experiential Learning
- Facilities
- Conference Centre
- Alumni
- |
- Open Programmes
- |
- MBA, MSc & Doctorate
- Qualification Programmes
- Full Time MBA Degree
- Part Time Executive MBA Degree
- Postgraduate Certificate, Diploma and
Masters in Management - Masters in Organisation Consulting
- Masters in Executive Coaching
- Postgraduate Certificate in Advanced Coaching and
OD Supervision - Masters in Sustainability and Responsibility
- Doctorate in Organisation Consulting
- E-sharing Login
- |
- Tailored Programmes
- |
- Ashridge Consulting
- |
- Research & Faculty
- Research and Faculty
- Research Centres:
- Ashridge Centre for Business and Sustainability
- Ashridge Centre for Coaching
- Ashridge Leadership Centre
- Ashridge Public Leadership Centre
- Ashridge Strategic Management Centre
- Centre for Research in Executive Development
- Publications
- Current Research
- Faculty
- Library
- Research Office
- |
- Blended Learning Solutions
Ashridge International Leadership Conference 2007
Leading from the edge: exploring and experiencing new horizons in leadership
Conference Review
In August, Ashridge was pleased to host Charles Handy as the keynote speaker for the Ashridge International Leadership Conference. Over two days, a variety of presenters considered the roles of leaders ranging from the contexts in which they lead, through to their characteristics, traits and abilities to create something from nothing, as Charles Handy notes, right through to the people they interact with and the followers who allow them to lead.
The conference also focused on leadership from a variety of distinct perspectives which are perhaps less usual. Music, physics, medicine, storytelling and empathic resonance, in sessions delivered by Ashridge faculty and by a range of guest academics and practitioners, all contributed to an eventful and talked about conference.
An additional major track of the conference involved experiential learning. We all intuitively know that we learn the most by doing but often find ourselves trying to process knowledge only intellectually. We've included details of all the sessions, including key learning points, powerpoint presentations used, handouts and bionotes for the different speakers in the summaries below.
Kai Peters,
CEO, Ashridge
Keynote speaker - Charles Handy
Management guru, Charles Handy, delivered the keynote address where he shared his insights on compassionate and responsible leadership. Charles Handy is recognised as one of the world’s pre-eminent and influential management thinkers.
Experiential Learning
It’s not easy to know yourself because, as Charles Handy pointed out, each of us is more than one person. An important idea emerging from this conference concerns the insights we can gain through the material world, which is a rich and revelatory source of allusion. The sessions in which we painted, drummed and used our moving bodies to communicate, were highly enjoyable as well as a source of insights.
You can find more information on the sessions on experiential learning below:
Megan Reitz and Melissa Carr - Developing Future Leaders
Adam Barley and Leigh Tolson - The Landscapes of Leadership
Odiri Ighamre-Aiken - Telling your leadership story
Peter Blackett - Umbanda - Drumming Workshop
Jacqui Dankworth - Finding your Leadership Voice
Learning from Science and Nature
By studying the natural world we can also find out about ourselves - the way we behave collectively and when we're observed. The two sessions below showed how we can learn from natural phenomena and harness those features in our own leadership strategies.
Kurt April - Leading Responsibly Through Compassion
Through a moving and inspirational account of his own journey as a mixed race South African during the days of apartheid and after its abolition, Kurt explained how his experiences have shaped his thinking on what it means to lead, act, make decisions and run organisations responsibly.
Other sessions
Is there such a thing as European leadership? And if there is, how well is it described? That was the basic research question as Ashridge Associate Phil Hodgson set off at the beginning of last year to find out what can be said about European leadership overall.
Phil Hodgson - European Leadership
The aim of this session was for Darius Giahi, the CEO of Commitis, to share his experiences in setting up a global Leadership Curriculum in an organisation where the field of training and development was devastated before. What he found interesting was the relationship part that, in this case, allowed him to implement the curriculum in a truly accepted and carried way.
Mindfulness and Meditation
The majority of us have, at one time or another, had the experience of knowing the phone is going to ring and who the caller is before or as it happens. Is this intuition, telepathy, spiritual, religious or could it be that we are so in tune with ourselves and the other person that there is a connection? Empathic resonance explores this ability to connect, feel and sense the moment and experience things on a much deeper level.
Megan Reitz and Albert Zandvoort - Leading in the present
Leaders inevitably face many personal demands and may thus experience ‘power stress’. They will often feel isolated from others, be required to solve crises, and experience many emotional demands. Leadership also requires making sacrifices – of time with family, friends, other interests or hobbies. The aim of this session was to show how mindfulness training based on Buddhist techniques helps to make your attention whole, enhancing effectiveness and creativity.
Michael Chaskalson - Renewal – Mindfulness for Leaders
The aim of this session was to become aware of, gain new language and experience of the main dimensions of spirituality. The workshop supported a large group sharing of experience of spirituality for around 35-40 participants. Marjo’s presence was both knowledgeable and extremely pragmatic, self-assured and sensitive to others’ language and perspective.
Leadership in Action
Nokia wanted customer care to be a key differentiation factor from 2008 with a strong customer service culture. Maximilian Kammerer from Nokia explained how they went about building a community that actually cared about the customer.
Keynote - Maximilian Kammerer - NOKIA Customer Care Learning Journey
Simon, the former Chairman of Adnams Brewery (numerous awards for social and environmental engagement) and now non-executive director of a building society, an arts organisation and an urban regeneration company, shared his experiences on making CSR real. The starting point is to never use that acronym.
Simon Loftus - Corporate Responsibility
Michael Wilks, Chairman of the Representative Body of the British Medical Association, shared some of his experiences of the challenges of leadership, ethics and diversity in the medical world. In the fast moving landscape of the NHS, Michael has faced the challenge of leading in uncertainty: its impossible to have a plan for the unexpected!
Michael Wilks - Leadership and Medicine
What happens in organisations when their environment moves from relative stabiltiy and predictability to one of turbulence, uncertainty and continuous change? Andrew Day from Ashridge Consulting described his experiences of five such organisations and how people reacted to greater uncertainty and change and outlined how leaders can support people to adapt to such environments.
