CSI Update Issue 3
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 Message from the CEO
It may seem odd for a new Australian institution, just formally launched by the Governor-General, and yet to announce its first directors, already to be looking overseas. After all, Australia has a large and vibrant third sector, with effective not-for-profit advocacy and strong interest in social innovation. Yet it is apparent that if the Centre is fully to meet its local potential it needs to think global in designing its teaching and research. We need to see ourselves as a growing international network committed to socially responsible business management. To that end, CSI is already a member of the UN Global Compact's Principles for Responsible Management Education. That is why, in our pilot Executive Program, I am so pleased that we have been able to attract John Casey, an Australian now lecturing at the City University in New York, to put the Australian interest in a government-community compact into international perspective. It’s why I’m delighted that Andrew and Nada Kakabadse, based in the UK but with deep understanding of Australia, can share with us their unparalleled evidence-based knowledge based upon confidential interviews with business leaders around the world. Within the graduate business programs at Swinburne, Melbourne Business School and the University of New South Wales the students, many of whom came to study in Australia from overseas, naturally feel part of a global community. Already students at Melbourne Business School and (in the near future) those who have joined the Corporate Social Responsibility Club at the Australian Graduate School of Management, are or will become members of Net Impact. This is an important world-wide non-profit body whose mission is to make a positive impact on society by growing and strengthening a community of new leaders who use business to improve the world. The capacity to improve social impact in Australia will be raised by our ability not only to learn from each other but to widen our horizons. The Centre was honoured to support the UNSW business students who participated successfully as the only Australian team in international competition in China recently. They exhibited on a world stage that Australian business schools are starting to think social innovation. More importantly, those students who represented us learned enormously from the experience - as Anne Measday, Danielle Begg and I found out when we had the chance to listen to their de-briefing. The Centre must start as it intends to develop, as an Australian institution with an international perspective. So we are pleased to join with Margaret Bell at the Chain Reaction Foundation, to offer a CSI Scholarship in Community Engagement for a young Australian to spend eight weeks at a major International Internship Program in Delhi. The Program is run by Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA). For those of you who may not know, PRIA is an international centre for the learning and promotion of community participation and democratic governance. Visit our website to read the full details of the CSI scholarship, which needs to be acted upon urgently. A final plea before next month. Could you please draw the attention of your friends and colleagues to the CSI website and encourage them to join our electronic network. Many thanks. Peter Shergold,
Executive programs Australian company boards perform best on financial and governance measures among 1200 companies in nine countries surveyed by Andrew and Nada Kakabadse, yet on corporate social responsibility, their showing is dismal. “Basically they could not care less about communities”, says Andrew Kakabadse. In seminars in Sydney and Melbourne in August, the couple will draw on their intimate knowledge of the inner workings of company boards to show why most Australian companies don’t yet treat CSR as integral to management performance, and what not-for-profits might do to change that. The BBC’s Yes, Minister or ABC’s The Hollowmen are good for laughs, but to understand how government really works, take a one-day seminar with Paul ‘t Hart in Melbourne in October or Sydney in November. The need for endless lobbying and tedious form-filling can provoke cynicism and resentment from those dealing with governments from the outside, yet it’s little understood that even the most senior bureaucrat is both a leader and a servant, squeezed between political demands and the needs of stakeholders. Patience, precision timing and careful framing of proposals to suit the political climate are keys to success, as ANU political scientist Professor ‘t Hart will explain in these day-and-a-half long seminars entitled 'Exercising leadership in a shared power world'. CSI goes cyber CSI’s website is up and running. We will continue to add news and content so please keep visiting to learn further news and events surrounding the Centre, its purpose, its people and its courses. We welcome your feedback, so let us know what you think. CSI scholarship to India CSI official launch The Governor General Sir Michael Jeffrey officially launched the Centre for Social Impact with tea and scones, champagne and canapés on 15 July. Innovate China competition Members of Boards and Advisory Councils |
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The Centre for Social Impact |
