In ongoing pursuit of knowledge

We talk frequently with our students, colleagues and industry partners about the importance of maintaining, refreshing and upgrading our knowledge and skills. After all, as humans, we have a natural drive to explore, learn and grow. Of course, we also need the ambition to practice what we preach. The importance of lifelong learning applies to all of us.

In this spirit, I am pleased to share that I have successfully completed two rigorous leadership courses, delivered by one of the world’s leading research universities: Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA. *

These courses delve deeply into powerful psychological insights, with the interlinkage between leadership, communication and individual behaviour a firm focus throughout. Specifically:

‘Leadership Communication for Maximum Impact: Storytelling’. This course was taught, across multiple modules, by Professors Tom Collinger, Ernest Duplessis, Hud Englehart, and Candy Lee. The course helps leaders find their own story through personal branding; develop storytelling success with all constituencies; initiate an effective voice for crisis; interact well through social and third-party media; and communicate a vision for innovation.

‘Leadership Through Social Influence’. This course was taught, through rigorous study segments and across several modules, by Professor Daniel J. O’Keefe, a multi-award-winning persuasion and argumentation theory scholar. Specifically, the course addressed four broad topics: strategies for influencing people’s personal attitudes; strategies for affecting social factors influencing behavior; strategies for affecting people’s perceived ability to undertake the desired behavior; and strategies for inducing people to act on their existing intentions.

I extend my gratitude to Northwestern University for this most enjoyable learning experience.

* Northwestern University is ranked by both, Times Higher Education and ARWU among the top 30 universities in the world. ?No fewer than five scholars (four economists and one chemist) who worked as faculty at Northwestern went on to become Nobel laureates. At world rank 13, Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024 by subject (business and economics) position Northwestern among the top 15 universities globally, outperforming such institutions as e.g. National University of Singapore (#15), Cornell University (#20), University of Warwick (#26), and Australian National University (#55).