A Leadership Journey by Adrian Wimmers Director, KPMG Corporate Finance Alumnus 2009
M
y personal journey on the 2009 Leadership New Zealand programme turned out to be one of those life events that resets your compass. It has made me expect more of myself as a member of the team at KPMG, as a member of my community and as a citizen of our fortunate little country. Finding the words to describe the level of engagement participants have with the process, speakers and each other is no easy task. Nonetheless, I set out here to convey an insider’s perspective on the course and the benefits it offered me. I’ll also describe some of the information, questions and insights provided by the programme that led me to feel that a lack of long-term, aspirational, strategic thinking is a key shortcoming in New Zealand. One we must address to realise our future potential. There are, in my view, four key benefits that attendees on the programme receive. The first, and I suspect most enduring, is coming to grips with the true essence of leadership, of understanding the responsibilities and personal risks that leadership entails, and accepting that I have something to contribute as a leader. Leadership New Zealand espouses “servant-leadership” – a definition of which is “a lifelong journey that includes discovery of oneself, a desire to serve others, and a commitment to lead. Servant-leaders continually strive to be trustworthy, self-aware, humble, caring, visionary, empowering, relational, competent, good stewards, and community builders.” The focus of the programme is on experiential learning – learning through hearing the experiences of New Zealand’s leaders from all sectors. This is a very powerful way of learning, with facts, advice, emotion and the raw reality of people’s lives often intertwined. During the programme I made a transition from seeing myself as a KPMG employee to seeing myself as one of the emerging leaders of the firm. I had been subconsciously waiting for permission to step up, whereas the only person holding me back was me. The programme has benefited my ability to solve complex problems and lead teams. I am able to delegate, am more comfortable with letting a process resolve itself and I listen more to others’ views. The second benefit is the network I developed. The programme creates a strong bond between participants. My Leadership New Zealand network is now connecting into other networks with shared interest areas. Having returned from 22
a lengthy stint overseas a few years ago, the programme and network make me feel as though I truly belong home in New Zealand. Thirdly, I had time to reflect on my place in the world. The feedback process encourages participants to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses, on what motivates and interests them, on what values they hold and what they are here to achieve. In my case, this time strengthened my resolve to commit to pursuing a leadership role with KPMG and what I want to achieve for and through KPMG. The fourth benefit was the acquisition of a broad and diverse set of information, views, and insights. The programme is like being on part-time study all year. The acquisition of knowledge through course readings is enhanced by the speakers and interacting with other attendees. My perspectives were informed and altered by a diversity of other perspectives. This challenge to personal perspective is one of the programme’s most appealing features. Leadership New Zealand makes you realise how little you actually know about any particular issue. It highlighted the value of diversity in developing enduring solutions to New Zealand’s difficult problems. My eyes were opened to problems and opportunities of which I wasn’t aware. I kept thinking of the need to develop a long-term aspirational strategy for New Zealand. The majority of us came to a view that while New Zealand is blessed with arable land, abundant water and a wealth of mineral resources, as a society we may be too short-termist in our thinking about how to make the most of them. Our inability to have a national discussion on what we really want for future generations of New Zealanders could leave us under-prepared to cope with the unprecedented level of change we will face in coming decades. The following is a list of some of the facts, challenges and views that drew us towards this shared view: • The world’s projected growth (exponentially rising towards 9.1 billion by 2050). A doubling of food production from current levels will be required to feed that number of people. • Arable land available to feed the world is static or in many areas shrinking. • Despite the fundamental demand equation, food prices remain below the long run input costs. • Understanding of the Malthusian Trap (population growth is www.leadershipnz.co.nz