Professor Peter Sheldrake

Peter Sheldrake joined the staff of RMIT University as Professor of Management in 1997, and is Head of the School of Management, and Executive Director of the Graduate School of Business. He has held a number of positions in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.  Immediately prior to joining RMIT, Peter worked for a short period at The Cranlana Programme, an activity of the Myer Foundation, which conducts seminars for senior executives and leaders from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors, concerned with enhancing leadership practice. Before that time, for just over nine years he worked for the Australian Institute of Management, the last two of these as its National CEO.  He was Executive Director of the Institute’s Victorian Division for nine years.

He commenced his working life as an academic.  He worked in universities for ten years, as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Cambridge, then Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, and finally an Associate Professor at the Flinders University of South Australia.  He then joined the Shell Company of Australia as Senior Development Adviser, before joining the Commonwealth Government's Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs.  He worked there for 6 years, eventually as Director, and then ran his own consultancy company before joining the Australian Institute of Management in 1988.

Peter Sheldrake has a BA, MA and MSc, all from the University of Cambridge.  He has written over 100 articles, and co-authored four books: Looking at Innovation, Medical Education in Australia, Design for Adversity, and Accountability in Higher Education. He is a Director of Radio 3MBS, Chairman of the Rupert Bunny Foundation, a member of Board of the RK Greenleaf Centre for Australia and New Zealand, and a member of the Council of Australian Business Support for the Arts.  In addition, he is a member of the Opera Australia National Council, the Program Advisory Committee of the Williamson Community Leadership Program, and the Victorian Arts Leadership Reference Group.  He is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He was born in the UK in 1944, and lives with his wife and youngest child in Elsternwick.  He has four other adult children.  

Interview with Professor Sheldrake:

How do you define leadership?

Leadership is concerned with working together to achieve shared goals

Do you see yourself as a leader?

I don't see myself as a leader - it is not a term I like. I believe we all practice (or could practice) leadership skills: whether this is in the home, at work, with friends, with a voluntary organisation, etc.. Leadership refers to a set of competencies that we can all develop and use.

What are three significant issues you feel strongly about in relation to the Australian world of business?

The first, and greatest, challenge is to overcome and reverse the current inexorable progress towards a greater and greater gulf between the rich and the poor (in every sense of the word). The second is to replace the current capitalist driven 'free market' economy with something that respects people, the environment, and future generations - a stakeholder approach. The third is to create workplaces that are conducive to human aspirations and needs.

How do you regard the practice of ethics by Australian businesses and what improvements would you like to see in this area?

As in most countries in the world, our intentions are (generally) good, but practice is not so good. We want to try and do the right thing, but habits, informal practices and carelessness lead to unethical behaviour. A commitment to integrity and transparency would be a great step forward.

How can businesses have a high standard of integrity and maintain their drive to maximise their profit?

The question implies the two are inevitably opposed, and they are not. Recent research on the stakeholder approach to business, and studies like 'Built to last' demonstrate that values and attention to all stakeholders also contribute to long-term success in a narrow financial sense for companies. What is causing a great deal of trouble at present is an excessive focus on short term results, rather than the longer term.

In your article, 'Knowing what we Know', (published in the Centre's Leading Issues Newsletter) you argue that amongst the various types of knowledge, there are three important groups: tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge and knowledge about knowledge; and that organisations fail to see the value of 'tacit knowledge' as that which is borne in the minds of their people. You add that when experienced staff with significant experiential knowledge leave, those staffs' knowledge walk out the door with them. Do you feel that convincing managers to adopt this viewpoint is a hopeless cause in a climate where downsizing and a reliance on cyberspace expertise have become a common global occurrence?

No, I don't think it is a hopeless cause - but I am an optimist! Rather, I would suggest that as companies place more and more emphasis on the importance of knowledge - and as they recognise the impossibility of 'capturing' a lot of tacit knowledge, so they will come to respect people and their knowledge more.

What changes would you like to see in the area of management and leadership education in Australia?

Less emphasis on the acquisition of technical skills, and more on learning about two things:

• people, and how to work together, and
• ideas and concepts, and how to think and learn.

I also consider the areas of emotional and spiritual understanding (EQ and SQ) very important - but I don't think we are yet well equipped to address these areas. We need to think and explore more.

From your experience, do you think that our managers are getting enough support from within their organization to implement creative leadership strategies and nurture the leadership potential of their staff?

There is little doubt that the need to create environments which permit and encourage innovation, creativity, risk taking and entrepreneurialism are critical. As companies are beginning to realise this (without such a culture, they are increasingly vulnerable to competition), so I think we will see changes in organisational cultures. It's starting!

What improvements would you suggest with respect to opportunities for women in the private sector, and in particular their involvement in organizations at an executive level?

So many things need to be done - but I will focus on two. First, women need to be supported in gaining self-esteem: their ways of doing things (which are as diverse as men's) are valuable and worthwhile - and they should not be encouraged to measure up against men's ways (or even each others, for that matter). Be confident about your skills and approach - not constantly seek to copy others.

Second, men need to be constantly reminded when they are playing 'men's games' that there are other ways of doing things. A lot of what men do is exclusive and even inappropriate. Be prepared to challenge, and demonstrate that alternative approaches work - and for the men that read this, recognise you can be wrong (frequently!).