Hello, I'm Dr Nigel Spencer Professor of Professional Practice at Queen Mary University of London and I'm delighted to be program director on this course. "Leadership out of the Box". So welcome. You're all part of a new global community of leaders scattered all around the world. And what we're going to be helping you with here is your next steps on your journey. Why have we called it "Leadership out the Box"? Well, because it's about giving you practical tips and ideas, things that you can take away and apply. I'll be introducing a couple of colleagues soon, Mike Mister and Arun Singh, and they'll be explaining about all their background and what they're going to bring to the course. But who am I? Well, I've got a background in professional services. So for 20 years I've been helping young leaders and senior leaders develop, to think about their next steps, and I'm also a qualified coach. So what I'll also be doing is bringing some of that coaching angle to the course as well. You probably know with coaching that's often about asking some serious, searching questions. Asking you to do quite a lot of deep reflection and thinking: "What does this all mean for me?", and "How do I apply this back in my leadership practice, in the role I'm in or perhaps the role I'm going into?". So that's our goal. That's how we put the course together. We've been thinking about "leadership out of the box" in the sense of perhaps there are some drawers you need to draw some things out of, or little tools that you'll be able to add to your box as well as you're going along. We tried to keep it really practical and really to highlight, in the limited time we've got with each other, all the things we've seen that are most helpful to leaders over many, many years and in many different contexts as well. We really look forward to working with you. So I'll hand over to Mike now to introduce himself. >> Hello, my name is Mike Mister and I'm delighted to be part of the program team working with you over the forthcoming weeks. My role on the team? Well, I'm sort of like the librarian in the background. I've read an awful lot of stuff about leadership over the years. More importantly, over 30 years, I've worked with a lot of leaders in many organizations around the world. I hope, and it is my intention, to bring some of that experience, the things that I know have worked, have been proven, to you in the hope that they will be in service of you and your organization and your careers as we go forward. We've had a lot of fun putting this program together, we built it so that it brings you a range of theories, ideas, frameworks, concepts, but always with a view to what we have seen work in practice. So practicality, things that work are going to give you good results, has been the hallmark of what we tried to do with this program. For those of you who are new leaders, our intent is that you're going to become good leaders, and then great leaders, as you work your way through the materials with us. For those of you who are in role we will be challenging you to apply some of these ideas and concepts to improve and to further enhance your leadership and your reputation. And for those of you out there who are great leaders, we hope this will add the finishing touches that will make you into world class, truly great leaders, as we go forward. I look forward to seeing you in the coming weeks. >> So my name is Arun Singh and why am I here? Well, I've done many different things related to leadership through my life, through my leadership journey. Originally after I graduated from university, I was an actor for a while. I worked with in different countries, and I became a lawyer and then being an actor and a lawyer are in a way integrated in some ways. Having those acting skills, of communication, of presentation, of impact and presence, helped me to develop as a leader. And I practised as a lawyer for many years out of one of the leading international firms, which meant that I worked in a number of different countries with a number of different cultures. I worked with the Americas, in Europe, in Asia, and in countries in Africa. Perhaps one area. I haven't worked his Antarctica and the Arctic, which is a bit too cold for me quite frankly. So what we're going to work on, what we're going to look at is looking at some of those experiences I want to share with you; some of those experiences, what I did right, but also things that I did wrong and perhaps how I tried to resolve some of that. What I do now is I still do some corporate advising with clients, I do corporate education such as this, and also I sit on a couple of boards, both public and also private as a non-executive director. And so, in a way, I have to work with different organizations, with corporates, in academia, and also in a professional partnership arena. So I want to bring those, some of those stories with you, so some of those skills we're going to develop. Some of those techniques we're going to share with you, you can put in that "box", the "leadership in a box", and when you start becoming a leader, when you stop becoming a follower and a manager, you're becoming a leader, you go into that box, pick up those tips and techniques that we're going to share with you and hopefully you can develop into a leader with purpose. >> So now you've met the team, it just remains for me to say a couple of things. Firstly, Mike, Arun and I hope you'll have a really engaging and stimulating journey with us over the next few weeks. We hope you'll be stimulated, you'll be learning lots and also you feel challenged as well and also learn a lot from each other. It's not just all about us, you're part of a global community of leaders, as I said at the beginning. And lastly, it's all about what you're trying to get out the course as well. Why did you sign up? Why are you actually listening and tuning in? So let's think about that from a personal objectives point of view and that's where we're going to go next. With my coaching hat on, I always think it's great to have goals as you start a program. So, with that in mind, let's move on to think about that topic in a little bit more detail.
