Investigating Leadership for the Common Good
19 February 2013 at 8:53 am
The extent to which leaders in the 21st century believe they have a responsibility to contribute to the common good through social change will be explored in a new Australian study.
The Synergistiq Leadership Survey: Leading for the Common Good has been launched nationally and the results are expected by mid 2013.
Dr Stephen Duns, a partner at Synergistiq, a social justice and human rights consulting firm, says leaders in all industries across all sectors have the opportunity to be a social leader.
“This involves leading in a way that contributes to the common good,” Dr Duns said.
“Leaders play a very important and powerful role in our society and it is important that we understand the challenges they face.
“This survey intends to promote the idea of social leadership and determine how leaders can be supported to contribute to the common good.
“We need strong and supported leadership to tackle some of today’s complex problems – climate change, the economy, asylum seekers, education reform.”
“As we get further and further into the 21st century, as problems become more complex and entrenched, those in leadership positions within government, corporate and community sectors must find new, creative and collaborative solutions.”
Dr Duns pointed to Michael Porter who wrote in his article, Creating Shared Value, in the Harvard Business Review that ‘The purpose of the corporation must be redefined as creating shared value, not just profit per se.’
Dr Duns says data will be collected from diverse leaders across a range of industries through online surveys and face-to-face interviews.
“We expect to receive at least 500 responses to the survey. We will also interview at least 40 leaders," he said.
“As we are seeking to understand whether and how respondents’ leadership contributes to the common good, we also expect that the findings will highlight the diverse ways and motivations of leaders in making the decision to influence and/or create positive social change."
The leaders survey is open from Monday February 18 2013 and will close on Friday March 22, 2013
Leaders are invited to take part in the survey at: http://www.synergistiq.com/synergistiq-leadership-survey/
Social Leadership Australia defines leadership as necessarily contributing to the common good. Anything less is not leadership.
We’re delighted to see this emphasis on leadership as being about finding ‘creative’ and ‘collaborative’ solutions to our complex problems in the 21st century and look forward to the results of this survey.
Please participate!