The Anthropocene Transition Project at the University of Technology, Sydney is holding an event on Tuesday 25 October: “Deep history, deep time and the age of humans“.

This event is part of its transdiscplinary inquiry forums.

There are two keynote speakers: Professor David Christian (Macquarie University) and Dr Anne Poelina (Managing Director of Madjulla Inc ).

Time: 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm     Venue: UTS Business School, Chau Auditorium (Building 08, Level 02 (street level) 14-28 Ultimo Rd, Haymarket NSW)

Free, but registration is required.

Link for more information and to register

Organised by Ken McLeod. Advertised here on SLaM website as part of our collaboration with the Anthropocene Transition Project.

We have started a new section on the website, for articles and working papers relevant to spirituality in leadership and management.

Check out the article by Glenn Martin called “What is spirituality in the context of leadership and management? And of nature?” on our Articles and Working Papers page.

Perhaps you would like to give air to an article you have written, and get feedback. Please write to us and let us know. Contact Susan Goff at inquiries@slam.org.au

Recently, we came across a wonderful article titled <the Making of Corporate Athlete> written by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.

We think it is worthy of sharing with you all,  as it not only provide practical tools assisting executives to better manage their energy to achieve sustained perk performance, but also encourage executives tap into their deepest values and connect with their highest purpose that provide them powerful resources of motivation, focus, determination and resilience.  Enjoy!

We are running a survey to find out the interests of the people who connect with us – you!

We want to know what interests you about spirituality, leadership and management and what activities you would like us to be initiating. Thank you to those who have responded already. We invite everyone to take a little time to respond.

Follow the link. 

On Saturday 19 October at The Hub, Robbie McPherson shared his experiences of running leadership development workshops. He has worked with senior executives in banks, the police service and other contexts where spirituality might not seem to have much chance of air. What he talked about was how he sought to bring the focus to meaning and purpose, moving beyond concerns of efficiency and effectiveness. Some of the development experiences included taking senior leaders into central Australia and spending time (precious time!) in the desert. For some of that time, the leaders are alone in the desert, in silence.

So one of the themes of Robbie’s talk was about the importance of slowing down and just being. Robbie was asked, “What is it that the leaders get from this experience? What do they bring back?” Robbie said there was no haste to reduce the experience to “outcomes”. The experience precipitated personal change. It was an organic process. It enabled people to take off masks. It enabled them to be authentic, to be unafraid to be authentic, and to trust in where it might lead.

This is a taste of the conversation with Robbie, facilitated by Claire Jankelson over a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon with around 30 people, many new, and some whose first encounter with Spirituality, Leadership and Management went right back to the first conference held at the University of Western Sydney in 1998. We invite you to add your comments to this post – those who were there, and others who would like to comment on this topic.

Cheers, Glenn Martin

We had a wonderful day at the symposium, with over 70 people attending. Thanks to all the presenters, facilitators and attendees, and to the staff of Zest at the Point Piper Royal Motor Yacht Club for their excellent service and lovely food. This page offers some reflections on the event – feedback from attendees, and photos (see below).

We also have a video report on the event. Click on the link to go to the Video report. (Thanks to Nathaniel Fay for filming. You can contact him at 0419694011 or www.oneskidigital.com )

Feedback from attendees

Here is some of the feedback we received from attendees at the end of the day. It gives you an idea of what a rich and rewarding day it was….

What were the main highlights that will stay with you?

• Unspoken words which need to be spoken

• Lively dialogue

• Lots of data & case histories to add to my thinking on collaboration

• Being in the company of inspirational leaders

• Inspiring examples of collaboration in practice

What are the 2 or 3 significant learnings for you from the day?

• Emotional connection clears energy and creates change

• Search for common ground that we can all agree on

• Understand each other deeply

• Open communication is critical for collaboration

• creating a space for opposite voices

• Never give up – phoenix rising from the ashes

• Awareness that vulnerability is at the core of connection and that this is recognised by more people than originally thought

• Importance of trust and communication

What action will you take in your life or work as a result of today?

• Keep doing what I’m doing

• Seek wider collaboration opportunities

• Think about where I could use more collaborative processes in my work

• Consider the multiple voices where I see conflict in meetings

Any other comments?

• Wonderful day, well organised, interesting presentations

• Great venue

• Very inspired by standard and value of event – beautiful, heartfelt, and quality people

• An excellent workshop with learnings for work and family life

• Lovely time out to dialogue with like-minded people of diverse life experiences

• Great! Let’s do it again

• Rich to the last drop.

Thanks to Kim Rudner for taking the photos at the symposium. You can contact Kim on 0435 622 042 or at rudner.kim@gmail.com

You can join or renew your membership of Spirituality, Leadership and Management Inc now. The membership will be valid until the end of June 2014. You can apply for membership or renew your membership on the website, and use your credit card to pay. Membership is inexpensive, but it helps us to keep going.

If you are coming to the Symposium on 24 May, you can obtain the Member rate if you pay for 2013-2014 membership, and the membership will have already paid  for itself.

See the Membership page.

Regards, Glenn Martin, Treasurer

You will notice we have a new website address – www.slam.org.au We have migrated from our previous site (slam.net.au). There is a redirection in place, so people who type in the old address will be redirected here.

We wanted a new look and we wanted people to be able to talk to us more easily. Hence we now have a “News & Forum” page where you can respond to articles with your comments. In time we will add to this site so that it becomes a rich resource. Please bear with us while we populate the website with existing content, such as articles from the earlier issues of the Journal of Spirituality, Leadership and Management.

We have  a new logo to go with our new look website. We hope you like the new incarnation.

Glenn Martin, Management Committee