From the Chancellery
Leadership
is an inevitable function of the way all our businesses, societies and
international bodies are structured. We cannot avoid having leaders, so
what matters is that leadership is exercised well. Without positive
leadership, it is unlikely that our aspirations, both personally and for
future generations, will be realised.
Leadership is a risky business. Real leaders ask us to change, to abandon attitudes and behaviours with which we are comfortable. Leaders who don’t accept the need for people to behave differently and do not recognise the necessity to confront values and ideas – the commitments of heart and mind – will fail to embed sustainable change. Of course, when that happens, it doesn’t resolve the challenge, it just delays the inevitable change and leaves us open to the dangers of catastrophic alternatives.
The 21st century poses major adaptive changes for individuals, for nation states and for the planet on which we all live. What are some of the most serious? I believe they are climate change, balancing economic and social development, and living with our neighbours.
These are all complex issues which require us, whether as individuals, communities or nations, to change and – in changing – to experience loss if these issues are to be effectively addressed. By loss, I mean giving up some of what we value or feel comfortable with, to meet a more important need. All of them, too, require us to work with many other people to identify workable solutions. They require cooperative action across local and national boundaries if we are to see real change.
We have always found such behaviours hard. We find it easier to blame others, to identify a scapegoat or to close ourselves to other views. And yet, in this century, the stakes are higher than ever before. If we don’t control greenhouse gas emissions, or intervene in economic arrangements which leave some groups within communities or some nations obscenely wealthy and others desperately poor, or find a way to express our common humanity rather than our different belief systems, then we face terrible consequences.
The challenges of leadership in the 21st century are derived from our position as nations in a global community, where interdependence requires leadership that seeks to achieve more than national self-interest. Ultimately, they include the challenges of showing leadership as a citizen. I ask everyone in the University community to consider the challenge of leadership and trust that you will all contribute to improving the common good of our nations, our business and professions, and of our communities in the future.
Adapted from the speech, 21st Century Leadership – Challenges and Opportunities by Professor Denise Bradley on the occasion of receiving an honorary doctorate Award from Pukyong University, South Korea on September 21, 2006.
VC visit to China
Vice Chancellor Professor Denise Bradley met for more than an hour with the Chinese Vice Minister for Education, Madame Wu Qidi, as part of a recent visit to Beijing. The meeting provided an opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues related to the direction of higher education in China and brought the Vice Minister up to date with the activities of both UniSA and the Australian Techology Network of Universities in China.
The Vice Chancellor, along with Pro Vice Chancellor Robin King and Associate Professor Bo Jin, recently visited two arms of the highly reputed Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) – the Graduate University of CAS and the Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Studies.
These visits built on existing links and identified new areas for research collaboration.