Authentic, audacious and passionate leadership is key to success
This was the central message of a recent Invest NI Leadership Experience event on the theme of ‘Leadership – it is about you’, which was attended by over 200 local business people. The Invest Northern Ireland initiative was aimed at encouraging business people to embrace the importance of effective and authentic leadership as they focus on growing their business.
The event signposted people to the support that is available to help them improve their leadership skills while international and local leaders shared their experiences and insights.
Keynote speaker Sir Tim Smit KBE, Executive Chairman, Eden Regeneration Ltd and Co-founder of the Eden Project, spoke about how leaders needed to be audacious but at the same time ensure their team understands the direction of travel and the ultimate objectives of the business.
Local businessman Padraig Canavan, formerly of Kofax and Singularity, outlined the challenges he faced in developing his company and how he met them. He stated that a leader and their business need to be creative and dynamic to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Mary Spillane, a consultant in business and leadership development, talked about how leaders should effectively present themselves to others – internally and externally – to brand themselves.
Speaking at the event, Alastair Hamilton Invest NI’s Chief Executive, said: “Leadership that is passionate and energetic creates a positive presence in the business that has a direct impact on the workforce. It is these qualities that can lead a business to increased success. Today’s event underlined Invest NI’s commitment to raising awareness of the key role that leaders play and of the need to develop our local business leaders to achieve economic growth.
“Invest NI has a range of support available to help people develop leadership and management capability and I would encourage business people to begin by exploring our Leadership and Management Skills Assessment tool that helps individuals assess their strengths in these areas, available from our business information website, nibusinessinfo.co.uk.”
The Leadership and Management Skills Assessment tool can be accessed at http://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/lmsa.
Pictured L-R are event speakers, Sir Tim Smit KBE, Eden Regeneration Ltd and Co-founder of the Eden Project, Alastair Hamilton, Invest NI, with Mary Spillane, a consultant in business and leadership development, and Padraig Canavan, formerly of Kofax and Singularity.
