Creating Future Leaders Series
The Creating Future Leaders Series is an initiative by the Graduate School of Business and Economics to engage students with the experiences, thoughts and recommendations of successful key business men and women from Australia and overseas, through seminars and presentations.
The Graduate School of Business and Economics encourages students to attend these guest lectures, given by corporate role models, to inspire your leadership initiatives and to develop insight into future career prospects and opportunities.
Upcoming Seminars 2010
- Tuesday 16 March - Naomi Simson, CEO, Red Balloon Days - Building the Iconic Brand
- Tuesday 20 April - Dean Ireland, Consultant, Egon Zhender International
- Tuesday 11 May - Mark David-Tooze, Co-owner, Envirosax
- Seminars 2009
Building the iconic brand - Red Balloon Days Experiences
Tuesday 16 March
Speaker: Naomi Simson, CEO, Red Balloon Days (Bachelor of Commerce graduate 1984)
Seminar Summary
Hear how Naomi Simson has built the iconic brand, Red Balloon Days, which offers gifts of experience. Naomi will share with you all the mistakes she's made along the way. You will be left thinking, "I want what she is on."
The seminar will focus on the difference between leadership and management - and why both are important, how to define what business you are really in, and its purpose, how to share your vision and keep an organisation aligned, why are values so important to a business and what difference do they make and you'll be introduced to the three foundations for fast growth - Critical Number, Rhythm and Touch Points.
"Making Great People Decisions"
Tuesday 20 April
Speaker: Dean Ireland, Consultant, Egon Zhender International (Bachelor of Commerce graduate 1987 / MBS graduate 1997)
Seminar Summary
Great organisations are made up of great people. And for leaders at all levels within those organisations, the ability to find. Hire, integrate, and retain great people is an absolutely critical skill – critical to their organisation’s success, and critical to their own success. Egon Zhender International
Envirosax
Tuesday 11 May
Speaker: Mark David-Tooze, Co-owner, Envirosax
Seminar Summary
Mark David-Tooze the co-owner of Envirosax, the reusable shopping bags, will talk about the sustainable lifestyle that he leads living off the grid, the rise and rise of Envirosax and the trials and tribulations of doing business in China, including business infrastructure and marketing.
Recent Seminars 2009
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Ben and Jerry's: Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Founders, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream - The Scoop on Doing Well by Doing Good
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In the Spotlight - a week of engaging and inspirational seminars
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World Vision: Tim Costello, CEO, World Vision Australia, Rudo Kwaramba, National Director, World Vision Uganda and Dr. David Lansley, Senior Economist, World Vision Australia - Community Development: Testing the Entrepreneurial Approcah
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Ernst & Young: Helen Adair, Senior Manager Advisory Services - Advising on Sustainability and Climate Change
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Leaderhip in the Spotlight: Professor Margaret Abernethy, Dean, Faculty of Business and Economics and 2008 Telstra IBM Business Woman of the Year - Where you go tomorrow is up to you today: Leadership as a Journey
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World Vision: Paul Newnham, Youth Segment Manager - The Global Food Crisis: People, Climate, Fuels, Production, Greed. Making ethical choices to bring change
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SEEK: Paul Bassat, CEO - The SEEK Story - the history & background of SEEK, views on the current economic climate & how SEEK is responding to the downturn
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Diversity Council of Australia: Sonja Terpstra, Senior Consultant - Business and Diversity
The Scoop on Doing Well by Doing Good
Wednesday 25 November
Speakers: Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Founders, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream
Seminar Summary
On Wednesday 25 November, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, founders of the famous Ben and Jerry’s ice cream visited the Melbourne Graduate School of Management to present a seminar as part of the Creating Future Leaders Series. As soon as Ben and Jerry arrived at The Spot, they cheerfully greeted everyone and started scooping ice cream for the eager students.
More than 160 staff and students from within the University and visitors from the broader community, had shown up to hear from these famous, down to earth ice cream kings. The room was abuzz with excitement as the duo took to the floor. Ben and Jerry humorously shared their inspirational story of how the their “Doing Well by Doing Good” philosophy was the essence of one of the world’s most loved ice cream brands.
Ben and Jerry spoke about the importance of sustainable and community friendly business practices. When the pair opened their first ice cream parlour in Vermont in 1978, they promised themselves to never allow their values, ethics and morals to become impeded by business. Giving back to the community was their number one priority even in times when it wasn’t all choc chips and marshmallows.
From the very beginning, Ben and Jerry used values-led sourcing to build meaningful relationships with suppliers whose values and goals they believe in. These include partnering with local fair-trade co-operatives in the developing world for their coffee, vanilla and nut supplies as well as supporting many local industries in their home state of Vermont. Jerry gave a particular example of a bakery in New York city, which trains people who face barriers to employment with self sufficiency and job skills, and which since the mid ‘80s has provided all the brownie chunks for their Choc Fudge Brownie ice cream.
With a strong interest in the environment, Ben and Jerry’s have introduced a number of strategies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions associated with making ice cream, such as changing their source of paper and packaging. Quick to recognise that importing ice cream into Australia from the US was far from ideal, the audience learnt that Ben & Jerry’s are off-setting their carbon emissions and also donating money from sales of their new Australian flavour – Peanut Cookie-burra Dough to Mission Australia.
Ben and Jerry’s visit to the University allowed the founders of this multi million dollar empire to inspire and motivate the audience to consider corporate social responsibility as a key business practice.
Left to right: Jerry scooping ice cream at The Spot, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfireld
In the Spotlight - a week of engaging and inspirational seminars
Monday 14 - Friday 18 September
From Monday 14th to Friday 18th September, the Melbourne Graduate School of Management brought to the University “In the Spotlight - a week of engaging and inspirational seminars” as part of the Melbourne Graduate School of Management’ Creating Future Leaders Series.
The week saw more than 300 students and staff from across the University, as well as members of the wider community, attend seminars focussing on a variety of topics including; World Vision’s approach to community development, Ernst and Young’s advice on sustainability and climate change and Professor Margaret Abernethy’s personal journey into leadership.
The In the Spotlight week succeeded in highlighting a range of different people, organisations and global issues. Spanning relevant and interesting topics, the week was engaging and inspirational for all who attended.
Please find below a summary of the week's events.
"Community Development - Testing the Entrepreneurial Approach"
Tuesday 15 September
Speakers: Ms. Rudo Kwaramba, National Director, World Vision Uganda, Rev. Tim Costello, CEO, World Vision Australia and Dr. David Lansley, Senior Economist, World Vision Australia
Seminar Summary
The first seminar of the week was Tuesday’s World Vision presentation entitled, “Community Development – Testing the Entrepreneurial Approach” (podcast 6.9MB). It was a delight to hear from Reverend Tim Costello, CEO of World Vision Australia, together with Ms. Rudo Kwaramba, National Director of World Vision Uganda, who spoke on the importance of developing genuine partnerships between aid agencies, local communities and entrepreneurial business organisations.
The speakers focused on how these partnerships deliver real and sustainable community benefits, often more successfully than government efforts. Following the seminar, the World Vision guests attended a lunch hosted by Professor Margaret Abernethy, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Commerce. Both graduate and undergraduate students, who are actively involved in global causes such as sustainability, poverty and social entrepreneurship, were invited to join the lunch also attended by senior University and Faculty staff.
The lunch was a perfect platform to discuss the partnership between World Vision and the University’s Knowledge Transfer and Partnerships Office. A collaboration which focuses on economics, aid policy and global health is currently being developed.
Ms. Rudo Kwaramba presenting at the seminar (L-R) Rev. Tim Costello, Professor Margaret Abernethy, Ms. Rudo Kwaramba and Dr. David Lansley
'Advising on Sustainability and Climate Change'
Thursday 17 September
Speaker: Ms. Helen Adair, Senior Manager Advisory Services, Ernst and Young
Sponsored by the Graduate Careers Centre, Thursday’s seminar welcomed guest speakers from Ernst and Young. Ms Helen Adair, Senior Manager Advisory Services and Ms. Allie Wnuk, Graduate Consultant, presented on the topic ‘Advising on Sustainability and Climate Change’ (podcast 5.3MB) .
Ms. Adair, who is a chartered chemical engineer and specialises in climate change and sustainability services, gave an insightful overview of the factors and considerations involved in advising industry and businesses on how to address their carbon footprint.
Ms. Helen Adair presenting at the seminar
'Where you go tomorrow is up to you today - Leadership as a Journey'
Friday 18 September
Speaker: Professor Margaret Abernethy, Dean, Faculty of Economics and Commerce and 2008 Telstra IBM Business Woman of the Year
On Friday, the In the Spotlight week concluded with a presentation by Professor Margaret Abernethy, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Commerce and Telstra IBM Business Woman of the Year, discussing "Where you go tomorrow is up to you today: Leadership as a Journey".
Professor Abernethy, shared her inspiring leadership journey, and said ‘nothing can be more rewarding than working with the young, and nothing can be more important than education’. Professor Abernethy spoke of how all of us should choose to work in a field that we enjoy, the importance of having a mentor, and how we can all make a difference.
Students and colleagues heard about Professor Abernethy’s background and experiences commencing when she was a part-time student and worked for a Dean of Law in Canada, followed by her work as a volunteer teacher in a secondary school in Jamaica — where she witnessed true poverty, and racial tension. Professor Abernethy mentioned her fulfillment in having 3 loving daughters and how, as a mother, she successfully obtained further academic qualifications. Her PHD topic was to assess how to improve health care in public sector hospitals, and she later won a grant to work for 2 years in the Monash University Medical Centre, where she continued her interest in accounting.
Professor Abernethy became the first female professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Melbourne, and later was invited to be the first female Dean in the faculty. She spoke of her leadership role in many aspects of her work as Dean and her focus to implement strategies that achieve the vision of becoming a world class business and economics faculty. Her achievements have included the raising of resources for student scholarships, attracting large competitive research grants, sponsorships for new chair appointments, and orchestrating the new faculty building at Berkeley Street. Professor Abernethy acknowledged the importance of people as the critical ingredient in providing the very best teaching programs and ensuring research undertaken is of international significance. Her own academic work has been published in leading international academic journals and has led to numerous consultancy engagements.
She has honorary academic appointments in Italy and the Netherlands. Professor Abernethy’s presentation was sponsored by AWCUM (The Association of Women on Campus of the University of Melbourne); 85Broads (a global network of over 18,000 women across 81 countries); Melbourne Graduate School of Management and the Commerce Student Centre.
Professor Margaret Abernethy presenting at the seminar
"The Global Food Crisis: People, Climate, Fuels, Production and Greed. Making Ethical Choices to bring change"
Tuesday 19 May
Speaker: Paul Newnham, Youth Segment Manager, World Vision
Seminar Summary
On Tuesday 19 May, the Melbourne Graduate School of Management was delighted to welcome Mr Paul Newnham, the Youth Segment Manager from World Vision who spoke to students and staff about the Global Food Crisis and how making ethical choices can bring about change.
Mr. Newnham highlighted the work of World Vision and the Global Food Crisis through a number of thought provoking and engaging videos. Mr Newnham explained that the Global Food Crisis stemmed from the lack of food available for over 900 million people world wide due to factors such as People, Climate, Fuels, Production and Greed. Mr. Newnham went on to state that people can make a difference to effectively aid the crisis through, amongst other things, Ethical Consumerism - making a conscious choice to buy products that are for example, Fair Trade or organic.
The seminar stimulated thought and raised awareness of the complex factors contributing to the crisis. Mr. Newnham encouraged people to help make a change by following three easy steps:
• LEARN about the situation by reading newspapers and experience yourself what it’s like to live on $1 a day.
• ACT to make a difference by buying Far Trade, eating organically and growing your own vegies.
• SHARE your findings and knowledge with friends and family to educate those around you to make a difference.
Thank you to everyone who attended this truly educational, insightful and pro-active seminar.
For more information on The Global Food Crisis and Ethical Consumerism, listen to Mr. Newnham’s seminar (14.6mb with screen capture).
Paul Newnham, Youth Segment Manager, World Vision & semianr audience
"The SEEK Story - the history & background of SEEK, views on the current economic climate & how SEEK is responding to the downturn"
Tuesday 21 April
Speaker: Paul Bassat, CEO, SEEK Limited
Seminar Summary
On Tuesday 21 April, the Melbourne Graduate School of Management was thrilled to welcome the CEO of SEEK Mr Paul Bassat who visited the Faculty as part of the Creating Future Leaders Series.
Mr. Bassat presented an exciting and interesting seminar to students and Faculty staff on the SEEK Story including SEEK’s background and their response to the current economic climate.
Mr. Bassat touched on some very interesting points including how he values the importance of human resources in his organisation and the policies and processes SEEK has in place to support employees values and productivity.
Additionally, Mr. Bassat candidly spoke about the challenges of starting SEEK from scratch in 1997 and the competition at the time of its conception from print-media, which was the primary source of communication between job seekers and advertisers.
Following the seminar, Mr. Bassat attended lunch with student representatives from various student groups including the Melbourne Graduate School of Management Student Association, FMAA, AIESEC and the Entrepreneurs Club. Here, students had the chance to further pick Mr. Bassat’s brain and engage with his experiences and recommendations for the up-and-coming, budding entrepreneur.
Thank you to all who attended. For more information, listen to Mr. Paul Bassat's seminar.
Left: Seminar with Mr. Paul Bassat, CEO, SEEK Limited.
Right: Lunch with various student representatives.
Business and Diversity Seminar
Thursday 19 March 2009
Speaker: Ms. Sonja Terpstra, Senior Consultant, Diversity Council of Austraila
Seminar Summary
As part of the University’s Diversity Week celebration on Thursday 19 March, the Melbourne Graduate School of Management was delighted to welcome Sonja Terpstra, a Senior Consultant from the Diversity Council of Australia (DCA) to present on the topic Business and Diversity as part of the Creating Future Leaders Series.
The Diversity Council of Australia is Australia’s workplace diversity peak body and provides leadership and guidance to Australian businesses.
Ms Terpstra’s presentation provided an interesting and insightful look at leading edge diversity practices that organisations have in place. Key elements of the seminar included strategies for putting people first by focusing on the employees’ individual needs and how investing in human resources leads to tangible results.
Additionally, Ms Terpstra touched on some very interesting views of mediation practices in the workplace and how this style of conflict resolution is becoming more popular. Please see more of Ms. Terpstra's presentation (148kb).
Thank you to all who attended the event and we look forward to seeing you at the next Creating Future Leaders Series seminar.
2008 Seminars