Like most great ideas, Talking Leadership started with good people, good conversation, and – most importantly - a spot of lunch.
Dr Toby Newstead, an internationally respected leadership academic at the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, started the Talking Leadership program in 2020 to explore the perspectives and experiences of Tasmanian leaders.
“It began organically. I started sitting down monthly with people from my personal and professional networks around Launceston,” she said. “I’d pick a topic and invite people to bring a brown bag lunch and join me in a conversation about leadership.”
“The only rule is that you have to leave your rank and title at the door. No one is here as ‘the expert’ - rather we are all here to share and learn about leadership together.”
What started as a casual conversation between friends and colleagues has now brought together over 300 people from around the state to discuss the many facets of leadership in Tasmania.
For participants, these sessions are an opportunity to present and debate ideas and questions about leadership in an open, collaborative environment facilitated by an academic and professional who provides research insights and expertise as requested or required.
“Having my comments reinterpreted by a leadership expert helped me understand my own thoughts and gave me one or two useful extra things to think about,” one participant said.
“For the two sessions that I attended, the topics of leadership were closely related to the prevalent challenges and issues of leadership,” said another “I found the sessions were practical and insightful.”
As a leadership scholar, Dr Newstead sees these sessions as a chance to hear from both emerging leaders and experienced and accomplished leaders and to see how perceptions of leadership differ and reflect or diverge from current leadership research.
“At each session, I've been inspired by the curiosity, insight, and openness with which participants have engaged.”
“When leaders engage in conversations like these, it adds to our overall leadership capacity throughout our communities and across our beautiful state."
Talking Leadership has also influenced the development of new courses, including the new Graduate Certificate of Leadership and Organisational Capability.
“The new graduate certificate kicks off in early 2024 and will take an in-depth, critical, creative, and proactive approach to understanding the theory and practice of good leadership.”
“We also have a new Executive MBA launching, which is designed for business leaders eager to accelerate their career or for those looking to upgrade their leadership capabilities," Dr Newstead said.
Register your interest for future Talking Leadership events here.