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Q&A
Dr. Kennedy Graham, Director,
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1.
Which qualities of leadership are universal to all cultures and
society? There has not yet been any consensus explicitly agreed on this question. Historically and to this day, there has been, still is, a tendency on the part of different societies to assume, almost subliminally, their own cultural values, and by extension their leadership qualities, to be prescriptively if not factually universal. One or two actually proselytise theirs. No study has yet been done on this question on a truly global basis – there has only been one global study on leadership qualities and styles and that was on mid-level management. The Academy is undertaking a survey on global leadership as a first step towards some empirical knowledge on this question, among others. My
personal view is that integrity and sincerity are the two most important
prescriptive qualities for leadership.
Even ‘transparency’ as a quality is culturally-loaded. And
others – vision, strategizing and negotiating skill, communication and
inspirational abilities – are definitely culturally loaded. 2.
Why is
leadership important? How is
good leadership reflected in a country’s culture, business and politics? Leadership sets the tone for a society. It may be style and inspiration to make one’s people feel good – such as Kennedy and Gorbachev – or it may be revolutionary zeal to rectify a society’s past shortcomings – Mandela, Mao, Castro, Khomenei come to mind. Poor leadership, whether in the form of repression or corruption, can bring a society to its knees and into disaster – Hitler and Abacha are examples. A good leader, in politics or business, knows that he or she cannot do everything oneself, but can facilitate, set the tone and context, inspire the group. Then the people accomplish great things and believe, with some justification, that they have done it themselves. The ultimate leader will then conclude that his or her work is done and look to relinquish office – it is rare but it has been done. Some
leadership distinguishes itself through the leader personifying the
culture of the people. De Gaulle did that for the French, Kennedy for the Americans,
Bob Hawke for the Australians, Prem Tinsulanonda for the Thais. Their
personal character and style gave them a charismatic dimension to their
leadership and with it, a political advantage that they translated into
political capital. In a sense that is personal leadership basking in a
nation’s culture, translating into political leadership.
It can be, and usually is, channelled into the good of a country. 3. How does the Academy work? The Academy works on capacity-building, research and public awareness. It convenes leadership courses for outstanding mid-career people nominated by reliable national authorities. The courses, running for two to three weeks, focus on leadership character and skills and the application of those skills to the global problems of today. They combine theory and practice, and introduce experiential learning through direct exposure to recognized world leaders and personal interaction with one another. And also through field studies of selected countries that face particular global problems so that course participants can see at first hand the scale and magnitude of the issues. They learn what is required in terms of global leadership and concerted action among themselves after the course. As the Academy grows, it plans to introduce a special experiment in leadership tuition. This is a global field study in which groups of participants will each visit up to ten countries in five continents, meeting with the leaders of those countries over a three-month period, and return to Amman for an exchange of their experience and ideas. 4.
What are your goals for the Academy, short and long-term? The short-term goals are in the process of realization – to build a competent team, both academically and administratively, that can work together to generate momentum for the early work in research and leadership tuition. After several years we believe that we are on the cusp of realization of that aim. The long-term is in some ways more challenging. The Academy is unique in being given the mandate to marry leadership skill development with a global awareness and concern. This is uncharted territory and it is my hope that, with due caution and circumspection, the Academy can offer some original knowledge and insight into this critically important area. It will take time and considerable effort. 5.
What are the major constraints facing the Academy? Any organization can move as far and as fast as its budget permits. The Academy is generously supported by the government of Jordan whose $1 million each year exceeds the vision and commitment of many developed countries of similar size. But this and any amount of additional voluntary funding is modest in the context of the mandate to undertake research and leadership tuition on global issues. Whatever the financial scale might be, however, the challenge is always to attain optimal gearing between the human resources you have as a team, the programme size of your work and the nature of the work you do. We’re moving towards that well enough, I think. 6. How did the Academy come about? What are the advantages of having it in Jordan? The Academy owes its existence to three persons in Jordan – the initial vision of then Prime Minister, Dr. Majali, and the strong support of the late King Hussein and Queen Noor who is to this day the Chairperson of the Advisory Committee. The UN University saw the merit of the idea and established the Academy as one of its research and training institutions. Jordan is a good country for the Academy – with its rich history of tolerant and far-sighted leadership, its role as a bridge between cultures, and the abiding fascination of its history and archeology. No-one can second-guess its motives in supporting the United Nations and the critical importance of promoting enlightened leadership to tackle the compelling global problems we face today. 7. When the Academy moves into its new building on the campus of the University of Jordan, how will that change the opportunities of the program that UNU can offer? The new building will make a critical difference to our ability to run leadership courses, with a modern conference hall, theatre, audio-visual and seminar rooms, and especially a global video-conferencing facility. When that happens the Academy will have reached a special stage of maturity. But the challenge then will be to ensure that the pedagogical quality of what we offer does justice to this new-found capacity. 8. Describe the alumni – how many there are and what is their on-going connection to the Academy? The alumni are those who have taken a leadership course through the Academy. There are some 300 of them now and many are involved in one way or another with the Academy. Some are already entering senior positions of leadership with all the responsibility that that brings. I just hope that they have gained some benefit from the leadership courses we offered to them in their day. 9. What are the major events upcoming for the Academy? We are offering two global leadership courses each year – leadership for poverty reduction this September, and courses on sustainability and environment, on weapons of mass destruction, on bio-ethics, and on global corporate responsibility. We have initiated a survey on global leadership to be undertaken in 65 countries. And we are interviewing UN leaders – Secretary-General Kofi Annan and others – on their global visions, their fears and apprehensions about the world if we don’t get our act together, and the leadership qualities they need to make a positive contribution in the service of humanity. These are some of the activities we shall be doing over the next year or two. 10.
What have been the highlights of your time at the Academy so far? Addressing the intellectual challenge of developing sound leadership courses on global issues with my colleagues. Recognizing leadership talent among mid-career people who come through our courses. Seeing the wisdom and statesmanship of senior leaders who support and promote the Academy. Above all, wondering whether humanity -- as represented in our best leaders who come here -- can get its act together sufficiently and in time to overcome the challenge of sustainability and environmental integrity at the global level.
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