INTERVIEW
Our students will need agility and resilience to deal with shocks that occur to the economy and to respond to these effectively
other subjects in the degrees pick up on critical themes such as resilience, diversity, inclusion, and meaningful work. The publication of Industry and Higher Education – Case Studies for Sustainable Futures positions Macquarie Business School as a thought leader in sustainable business education. The book investigates how industry and higher education can work together to create sustainability in business, and analyses international cases of industry and university interaction as a mutually beneficial symbiosis, promoting innovative and sustainable business practices. Given the 2020 fires in Australia, do you think Business Schools have a role a play in helping communities to respond to natural disasters? Business Schools have an essential role in equipping our student community with the skills and knowledge necessary to deal with such disasters, and to face the challenges of our world. Macquarie Business School works hard to give students the skills to solve real- world problems. Our students will need agility and resilience to deal with shocks that occur to the economy and to respond to these effectively.
this and nurture it. Sustaining the self means being clear about one’s values and managing time carefully to maintain one’s health and mental energies. As a leader in the field of design-led strategy, could you tell us about your work and research in this area? Design-led strategy represents a fundamentally new way of thinking about strategy, which brings customer perspective into the boardroom. It’s the opposite of traditional strategy, which starts with the hypotheses (and sometimes the biases) of top management. This way of formulating strategy is more relevant to our modern age where there is need for enhanced data from customers, and increased ways of collecting it. We need new approaches to strategy, informed by speed, agility, and the ability to work at the intersection of business, science, and engineering. Design-strategy, and my course on Coursera covering this, offers a way to respond. Given ongoing VUCA disruption, do you think the concept of ‘strategy’ we adopt in businesses around the world needs to be reconsidered and replaced? One of the most dynamic and exciting fields is that of strategy. Strategy, by definition, is about the future. Modern strategy now calls for something more: the ability to think and feel, to analyse and intuit, and to act and react. We are beginning to realise that strategy is more than what you intend to do. It is just as much about how you respond to the
What do you think sustainable leadership looks like?
I think of sustainability of others, and sustainability of self. Sustaining others means linking into the central, enduring, and distinctive aspects of people’s motivation to be part of the organisation. Sustainable leaders need to tap into
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Ambition | BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
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