About The Institute

Vision - 2020

For ISL to be recognised as the premium Strategic Leadership development provider in Europe & Australasia

Mission

The mission of the Institute for Strategic Leadership is to advance the understanding, practice and development of strategic leadership to enhance shareholder value and for the benefit of society worldwide.

Philosophy

The philosophy and raison d'etre is to provide open and tailored strategic leadership development solutions aligned to the strategic agenda of client organisations.

Genesis

Arising from his experience, the Institute's Director Geoff Lorigan has identified seven important phenomena:

At least 50 per cent of all strategic initiatives fail on implementation and 80 per cent of the failures are the consequence of people-related issues.
Most middle and senior managers have very low levels of intrapersonal and interpersonal awareness and skills. The majority of them have never had the opportunity to see themselves through the eyes of their colleagues. Very few understand that other people are often wired-up very differently.
Teams of modest achievers often well outperform groups of highly talented individuals on complex strategy problem- solving and strategic implementation planning exercises. Unfortunately, not many managers have effective teamwork skills.
Most top managers in New Zealand consider that the culture of their organisation requires radical change.
The majority of managers have had some form of management education but very few have been provided with leadership development training and coaching.
Many strategy development and implementation exercises are ineffective due to the lack of strategy process skills, leadership skills and strategic communication skills.
The low level of leadership development training that is undertaken by organisations in New Zealand is often ad-hoc and not aligned with their strategic agenda. These phenomena are the pillars of the Institute for Strategic Leadership.

Objective

Our objective is to support our clients build their organisation's leadership capabilities, encourage development and innovation, and assist with change initiatives that are in line with the organisation's strategy.

Purpose & Accreditation

The Institute for Strategic Leadership is positioned as an executive development provider for top level executives based on experiential learning processes with a focus on commercial relevance. Its educational processes are considered to be best practice and the content of its programmes underpinned by integrated research-informed business theory. The Institute does not however position itself as an academic research organisation, nor a training provider. It sits comfortably in a space of its own as an Institute that focuses on providing first class executive development.

The Institute has not sought accreditation from any domestic or international accreditation bodies. Its growing reputation sits proudly on the shoulders of its 1,200 + alumni, which include:

A large number of chief executives and top executives from the commercial sector in New Zealand, Australia and further abroad
The Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand (Rt. Hon Bill English)
The Former Chief of New Zealand Defence (Sir Bruce Ferguson)
The current Chief of New Zealand Defence
The current Assistant Chief of New Zealand Defence and Chiefs of Navy, Army and Air Force
The Chief of NZ Civil Defence
Several Defence Generals in Australia including the former Chief of Royal Australian Navy (Vice Admiral Shalders)
Senior Singapore Armed Force Generals
The Vice Chancellor, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia
The Chief Executive of Manukau Institute of Technology (and former Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Auckland)
The former Vice President of ESSO/Mobil Oil, Japan
The Director of World Vision, West Africa
The Managing Director, BUPA UK
The Dean of the Faculty of Environment, Society & Design, Lincoln University
The former Director of University Administration, University of Auckland
The Dean of the Economics & Commerce Faculty, Sarajevo University
An Emeritus Professor of Business and former Dean of the University of Otago Commerce Faculty, and senior faculty member of Queensland University of Technology
The Director of MBA at Ashridge Management College
Senior scientists from CSIRO and New Zealand Crown Research Institutes (including the former CE of Crop & Food Research and the former CE of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research)
Senior information specialists at the Government Security Bureau (GCSB)
The Commissioner of New Zealand IRD
The Director General of the New Zealand Department of Conservation
The CE of Maritime New Zealand
Senior executives of New Zealand Treasury, Department of Education, Commerce Commission, NZ trade and Enterprise, Serious Fraud Office, and Police
The Chief Executive of the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation
Chief Executive of Brisbane International Airport
The CE of the Justice Department, Canberra
Senior executives at DEEDI in Queensland, Australia
Three leaders from Nepal (including two Sherpas from Katmandu)
A large number of high potential team leaders who represent the future leadership of New Zealand, Australia, and international business

Core Values

Fun
Honesty
Integrity
Openness
Professionalism
Quality focus
Respect
Stretch
Supportive
Team
Trust

Code of Ethics

Click here to view a pdf of our code of ethics.

Relevant Research that Underpins Teaching and Practice

ISL undertakes extensive literature research from reputable sources and distils and applies the knowledge obtained so that it can be used for effective teaching and model building.

The emphasis is on relevance and value creation; not research for the sake of references and publications.

Given the ever-increasing number of programmes being run by ISL and the growing number of participants and client organisations, ISL is building a valuable source of data and observations that will soon be used for the writing of peer reviewed research outputs.

In the meantime, ISL uses each classroom as a learning lab and the faculty reflect, discuss, debate and upgrade concepts, knowledge and processes after each programme.