Common Purpose - Leadership News

Common Purpose Ventures connect future leaders, across the world, to tackle challenges which are common and compelling, big (enough to be worth the effort) and small (enough to be grasped). Ventures encourage participants to work in new directions to develop innovative approaches to new (and old) problems - this is why the names of all our Ventures mean "direction".

Dao Xiang

In the first week of July London played host to the inaugural Dao Xiang Venture, bringing together a diverse group of leaders from Shanghai and London to tackle the challenge of making our cities more sustainable and resilient for future generations. The week has proven to be a huge success and the collaboration demonstrated throughout was of the highest calibre. The enthusiasm and willingness of the group to delve deeper into the challenge they had been set was clear to see, and we are delighted with the results that they have been able to produce over the 4 days. The challenge was:

With rapidly rising urbanisation (more than 50% of people now live in cities, expected to rise to 70% by 2050), we need to find new ways of making cities sustainable and resilient. What practical mechanisms for collaboration could be established that would allow ground breaking action on the social challenges facing London and Shanghai?

Participants had the opportunity to learn from a series of speakers, visits, panel discussions and innovation processes, and also from the individual experiences of the group. The group also met with key individuals in the field of sustainability such as Ian Short, Chief Executive of the Institute for Sustainability, David Wardle from the Environment Agency, Helen Woolston from TFL, Paul Grover of WYG Group, Mark Bradbury of Think Vertical and Peter Head CBE of the Ecological Sequestration Trust, all of whom gave key insights into the social challenges our group would have to bear in mind as they broke the challenge down into its various elements, as well as the growing need for new ways of collaboration.

On the visits we looked at challenges facing infrastructure, social housing, the movement of people and business, regeneration and collaboration between organisations at the highest level with visits to the Institute for Sustainability, Good Homes Alliance, Liverpool in London, The Useful Simple Trust and the London Legacy Development Corporation.

Throughout the Venture the group explored the role of leadership as an instrument of change. The process of innovation was at the core of the week with the group exploring the barriers evident across both London and Shanghai which hinder people from innovating at the highest level.

The Venture allowed the group to really immerse themselves into the challenge, giving them a deep understanding of the key issues they would have to examine in order to effectively develop a new practical mechanism for collaboration that would allow for ground breaking action on sustainability across both cities.

The group has now created initial prototypes for four key projects, two applicable to Shanghai and two for London, which they feel will help achieve the goal of more resilient and sustainable cities.

• Commuter Communities - looking at commuter routes and bringing together a large group that have a common journey but are disconnected
• The Big Green Smile (Game) - looking to change behaviours and perceptions to sustainability in society
• Schools for the Future - linking community centres on sustainability with existing schools to develop stronger sustainable communities
• Suburbanisation - developing an eco way of living a city life outside of the city landscape.

The groups will develop these prototypes further over the coming months in order to develop a report which they will then present to key stakeholders. We have had excellent support from the Mayor's office in both London and Shanghai, with London Mayor Boris Johnson also sitting on our Advisory Group. City Hall also kindly hosted a reception for the group on Wednesday 4 July where Sue Riddlestone, Director of Bioregional, spoke to the group on the importance of One Planet Living as we aim to create a more sustainable community within our cities.

Here are some of the comments from our participant group after taking part in the week:

"I am coming out of the Venture energised with new friends and potential collaborators and new tools to turn ideas into creative action"
Alastair Mackenzie, Director, Limina & Leadership and Management Adviser, Exemplas Ltd

"Dao Xiang enabled me to reflect, to think differently and dive deeper when I am confronted with problems"
Qilan Shen, Chief Editor of Arts and director of International Projects of Shanghai Insight Media, Shanghai Insight Media

"The strength of Common Purpose is the bringing together of diverse people from different organisations countries and cultures.  We all have so much to learn from each other"
Robin Smith, Chief Superintendant, ACPO

"Dao Xiang was a fantastic opportunity both to meet exceptionally talented and high achieving others and to rethink my own situation and gain new perspectives on the challenges I face!"
Daniel Stanley, CEO, Small Axe Communications

"Dao Xiang has been a great venture allowing me to connect with interesting and amazing future leaders from different industries and backgrounds and work together to create a dream future. My leadership abilities have been further developed and I feel more confident about making some real changes."
Emilie Wang, International Arts Co-ordinator, Southbank Centre

Dishaa

Our next Dishaa Venture will take place in Mysore, India, from 1 - 5 October 2012. This will be the third Dishaa Venture we have undertaken, following the initial launch of the project by British Prime Minister David Cameron back in July 2010.

The challenge has now been set and we are delighted that the next Dishaa group will be working on the following over the 4 days:

"As economies are driven by technology and knowledge in a rapidly changing environment, how do we ensure appropriate skills development to bridge the gap between education and employment?"

This challenge is highly relevant to all organisations looking to develop the key competencies required to successfully create a more skilled workforce in today's environment.

We are looking for exceptional leaders in the mid-stages of their careers to take part in Dishaa who can really demonstrate:

• A growing record of leadership achievement and experience
• Ability to work with a multidisciplinary group to solve complex problems
• Commitment to engage with wider society/public life
• Interest in the UK/India dimension of the network.

They do not need to have experience in the field in which the challenge is set as the Venture will take them through a process of innovation and change with a diverse group from organisations throughout the UK and India.

The closing date for applications is Tuesday 31 July.

Kompas

In December 2012 the inagural Kompas Venture will take place in Budapest, brigning together leaders from major cities in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to learn and work on a common issue.

The region is dispersed however and countries often see each other as competitors rather than potential partners. CEE needs leaders who can think and act locally, regionally and internationally and who are capable of leading across boundaries both new and old - be they geographical, professional or sectoral. The Kompas Venture will bring together and develop these leaders, building links at a very practical level and helping them to work more effectively together to identify new approaches to complex problems.

We are now looking for further members of the Advisory Group, which will provide strategic direction on the challenge for Venture participants and who will work together with our newly appointed members of the Advisory Group, Erhard Busek, Vice Chancellor A. D and Eszter Szabó, Public Affairs Leader in GE.

We also seek to find committed applicants and initiating sponsors for Kompas, like GE, our first sponsor.

Dou Heung

The inagural Dou Heung Venture between Scotland and Hong Kong will take place in 2013. Sir John Elvidge, former Permanent Secretary to Scottish Government, now Chair of Edinburgh Airport and Sir Andrew Cubie, consultant, Fyfe Ireland LLP, just been confirmed as the first two members of the Dou Heung Advisory Group. More information about Dou Heung will be available soon, keep an eye out on the website.

For more information on all Common Purpose Ventures, please visit our Ventures section.

LONDON, 27 June 2012 - Thirty experienced and successful leaders from London and Shanghai will meet in London next week to tackle social challenges common to both cities.

The inaugural Dao Xiang Venture, run by international leadership development organisation Common Purpose, will take place at Devonport House and City Hall from 2-5 July 2012.

During the four day Venture, participants will be set the challenge of developing collaborative practical methods to tackle social challenges caused by ever increasing urbanisation in the two cities.

The group will also meet Mayor of London Boris Johnson at City Hall where he will host a reception for the participants.

"Dao Xiang is a great project. Bringing together the brightest and best young leaders from Shanghai and London is a fantastic way to learn from each other and strengthen the developing bonds between our two great cities" said Mr Johnson, who is also a member of the Dao Xiang Advisory Group. "I know previous Common Purpose Ventures have delivered some creative, innovative solutions to different problems and I can't wait to see the ideas that are produced this time."

"Both London and Shanghai have long history, dynamic entrepreneurs, young and growing populations and huge challenges in common" said Julia Middleton, Chief Executive and Founder, Common Purpose. "Getting the next generation of their leaders together to tackle common problems seems only right. The outcome will strengthen relationships which defy the cultural differences. Our Ventures reveal just how small the world is."

Participants are from organisations including: UBM Sinoexpo International Exhibition Co. Ltd, Constructing Futures, UBM China, UBM London, British Council Shanghai, Small Axe, Shanghai Cultural Square, PwC, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Southbank Centre, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group and CBN weekly.

International sponsors supporting the Venture include Cisco, PwC, UBM and GlaxoSmithKline.

"For UBM, supporting the development of leaders of our businesses in China and in the UK is an important enabler of our strategy for growth" says Jennifer Duvalier, Group People and Culture Director at UBM. "We also believe that experience is the best classroom, and that bringing leaders from different cultures and backgrounds to learn together is very powerful in creating positive outcomes. Dao Xiang is a great vehicle for this kind of development experience, and UBM is proud to be involved."

CSCLeaders is a new partnership between HRH The Duke of Edinburgh Commonwealth Study Conference (UK Fund) and Common Purpose.

CSCLeaders will assemble exceptional leaders from across the Commonwealth to tackle challenges that government, businesses and society face today and build the relationships needed by the leaders of tomorrow. In doing so, it will create smarter, more inspired, enlightened and globally connected leaders.

To find out more, apply for or sponsor CSCLeaders visit www.cscleaders.org.

The inaugural Itijah Venture, the latest in our Ventures series, was run in Abu Dhabi in April in partnership with the Emirates Foundation. An intense and stimulating event, it drew together 40 participants from 7 cities - Abu Dhabi, Alexandria, Amman, Benghazi, Budapest, Istanbul and Manchester - to explore the challenge: "What would it take to multiply the number of young people who create new businesses using ICT and social media?"

Throughout the four days the participants heard from speakers who ranged from young entrepreneurs starting out in business to established entrepreneurs sharing their learning on social media, enterprise and scale. We also had three 15-year old students joining us to give the group a youth perspective. Visits out in Abu Dhabi were to a range of organisations working in diverse areas of youth engagement, youth unemployment, entrepreneurship, ICT and social media.

The group came up with six fascinating models for solving the challenge. The next steps will be for the participants to refine, develop and then present their ideas to policy makers and leaders in the different cities.

Common Purpose Ventures connect future leaders, across the world, to tackle challenges which are common and compelling, and big (enough to be worth the effort) and small (enough to be grasped).

Some of the comments from participants:

"Itijah has not just met my expectations, it has gone way beyond them".

"An eye opener, a life changing experience, a push to start my own life journey, a chance to break your stereotypes".

"Itijah is an exceptional experience towards better future and youth in both Europe and the Arab World"

"You must attend this event"

If you'd like to know more about the Itijah Venture or are interested in getting involved please contact Itijah@commonpurpose.org or visit the website.

LONDON, 23 April 2012 - Forty emerging leaders from Arab and European cities will meet in Abu Dhabi this week to explore ways of creating and promoting entrepreneurship among unemployed youth in the two regions.

The inaugural Itijah Venture, a four-day leadership development course run by international organisation, Common Purpose in partnership with the Emirates Foundation, will take place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Company from 23 to 26 April 2012.

Emerging leaders from seven cities which are Abu Dhabi, Budapest, Istanbul, Alexandria, Benghazi, Manchester and Amman are expected to attend to confront the challenge.

Unemployment has been a perennial problem for authorities in the Arab world and is a pressing challenge in Europe with over 5.5million young people unemployed in Europe and 24million in the Arab World.

During the four day Venture, participants will be set the challenge of boosting the number of young people who create new businesses using ICT (Information Communication Technology) and social media, a compelling task, common to both European and Arab regions.

Participants will explore the context of the before working up ideas (whether big or small) to feedback to the Itijah Advisory Group, which consists of experienced leaders from the participating cities.

"The Arab world has witnessed tremendous change over the past year and Common Purpose is excited to be expanding in the region during these important times" said Julia Middleton, Chief Executive and Founder, Common Purpose. "We are launching our latest Venture to bring together emerging leaders from Europe and the Arab world to work on a common challenge - youth unemployment - by looking at ways to promote entrepreneurship amongst young people. We are proud to hold the inaugural Itijah Venture in Abu Dhabi in partnership with the Emirates Foundation and believe that the will be a significant step forward for Common Purpose in the Arab world."

International sponsors supporting the leadership initiative include Cisco, Shell, Oracle, Newman's Own Foundation, PwC and DLA Piper. The local sponsor for the first Itijah Venture is Etihad Airways.

Commenting on the initiative, Maytha Al Habsi, Chief Programs Officer at Emirates Foundation, said: "This initiative highlights the Emirates Foundation's increased focus and commitment to the youth sector. We are pleased that Abu Dhabi will be the first Arab city to host Itijah. The event aspires to enhance cross cultural awareness, build new networks between young people and enable them to share and discuss ideas and visions to change the world around them."

Itijah, meaning 'direction' in Arabic, is part of a series of Ventures run by Common Purpose that will expand, enrich and energise relations between two or more locations.

Other Ventures Common Purpose is currently developing include Dishaa (India, UK), Dao Xiang (London, Shanghai), Pambili (South Africa, UK), Yon (Turkey, UK) Dou Heung (Hong Kong, Scotland) Kompas (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania).

If no action is taken to reduce emissions, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could reach double its pre-industrial level as early as 2035 [1]. Addressing this issue requires both developed and newly industrialised countries to work innovatively together.

Unique carbon cutting measures are happening locally in both India and the UK, but can those actions be accelerated and multiplied to reduce carbon emissions by 50% in the next five years?

This is the challenge that participants on the Dishaa Venture, run by leadership development organisation Common Purpose, will be tackling this week. Dishaa aims to expand, enrich and energise relations between India and the UK by investing in the development of the next generation of leaders from the two countries.

Many of the participants are from member organisations of the India UK CEO Forum [2], their presence showing how crucial tackling this challenge will be for stimulating global economic growth. Member organisations participating in Dishaa include:

• ITC Limited
• Hindustan Unilever
• Bharti Enterprises
• Standard Chartered
• 3i
• BAE Systems
• JCB
• Vodafone Group Plc

These business sector participants will be working with those from the public sector and NGOs to foster discussion and build shared approaches to this challenge. The diverse group of participants, 20 from the UK and 20 from India, are skilled and respected practitioners in their fields and looking to effect change both in their organisations and wider society.

During the Venture, held in London from 29 November to 3 December, they will meet with carbon experts including:

• Lord Nick Stern, Chair, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics (also a member of the Dishaa Advisory Group and UK-India roundtable)
• Ian Short, Chief Executive, Institute for Sustainability
• Nafees Meah, Head of Science, Climate, Energy, Science and Analysis, Department of Energy and Climate Change.

They will undertake research tasks beforehand, develop their thinking and work together to come up with innovative approaches to the challenge. They will then present their findings and models to a cross sector group of policy experts from the UK and India, potentially leading to future policy change that could help tackle what Lord Stern calls "one of the defining problems of the 21st century."

The Dishaa Venture is run in partnership with the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office and sponsored by United Business Media (UBM), Tilda, Cisco, Fly Kingfisher and PwC. British Prime Minister David Cameron is patron of Dishaa and launched the Venture in July 2010.

Deepak Kapoor, Chairman, PwC India explains why his organisation is proud to sponsor the Dishaa Venture: "What the world needs today is a compelling vision to drive and deliver change. It's a matter of pride for PwC India to be associated with the Dishaa Venture, which is doing this by bringing together diverse groups of young leaders from the UK and India to collaborate and work for a better tomorrow."

Founder and Chief Executive of Common Purpose Julia Middleton said: "The links between the UK and India are long standing but more importantly, they are deep, edgy, thoughtful and multi-dimensional. By learning together the participants will be able to enrich the connections between both countries and produce some very exciting ideas."

[1] The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/stern_review_report.htm

[2] Established by Indian Prime Ministers David Cameron and Manmohan Singh to strengthen economic ties http://ukindiaceoforum.com

In 2010 90,000 people were employed in the UK by Indian firms, with many more involved in the activities of British firms in India [1]. Indeed, over 1 million people travel between the UK and India every year [2].

There is a growing level of mutual investment between the two nations, but increased communication and collaboration between leaders from both countries is needed to support this.

This is why leadership development organisation Common Purpose's Dishaa Venture aims to expand, enrich and energise relations between India and the UK by investing in the development of the next generation of leaders from the two countries.

Common Purpose Ventures bring together diverse groups of leaders to foster discussion and build shared approaches to 21st century political, economic and social challenges.

Participants in this, the second Dishaa Venture, are skilled and respected practitioners in their fields and looking to effect change both in their organisations and wider society. The diverse group, 20 from the UK and 20 from India, will come together in London from 29 November to 3 December to develop their leadership skills by meeting, interviewing and debating with a range of leaders, all operating in very different contexts. Bringing this group together will expand the existing partnerships, friendships and dialogues that are already taking place between leaders in India and the UK.

Founder and Chief Executive of Common Purpose Julia Middleton said: "The links between the UK and India are long standing but more importantly, they are deep, edgy, thoughtful and multi-dimensional. By learning together the participants will be able to enrich the connections between both countries and produce some very exciting ideas."

"Dishaa showed me that by working together with a diverse group of people from both the UK and India, there is so much we can do and so many changes we can make in the world for the better" said Vandana Saxena Poria, CEO of Get Through Guides Pvt. Ltd and a graduate of the first Dishaa Venture held in Pune, India in February 2011.

The Dishaa Venture is run in partnership with the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office and sponsored by United Business Media (UBM), Tilda, Cisco, Fly Kingfisher and PwC. British Prime Minister David Cameron is patron of Dishaa and launched the Venture in July 2010.

Jennifer Duvalier, Group People & Culture Director, UBM explains why her organisation sponsors the Dishaa Venture: "UBM is a keen supporter of Dishaa, believing that individuals learn most powerfully when they have the opportunity to engage with impactful development experiences and to share their learning journey with a diverse network of fellow learners."

[1] A transcript of a speech given by the Prime Minister in Bangalore, India, on 28 July 2010 http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/pms-speech-in-india/

[2] British High Commission New Delhi http://ukinindia.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/working-with-india/india-uk-relations/

The second Dishaa Venture took place at the beginning of December 2011, bringing together emerging leaders from the UK and India who gathered in London to tackle the challenge:

"Unique carbon cutting measures are happening locally in India and the UK. How do we accelerate and multiply our actions to reduce carbon emissions by 50% in the next five years".

Initially daunted by the prospect of building low carbon futures, they finished with six highly innovative, exciting and usable models. The participants are continuing to develop and refine these models, and hope to be able to prototype some of their ideas in 2012. The feedback has been glowing, replicating the success of the first Dishaa Venture.

"Dishaa was a truly life changing experience, one that I suspect I will look back on as being defining" said Maghin Tamilarasan, Director of Strategic Development, Rolls-Royce plc, India.

The third Dishaa Venture will take place in Bangalore, India in November 2012.

Six new Ventures are planned for 2012. They include:

Dao Xiang (London-Shanghai) May 2012, London
Itijah (European Cities-Arab Cities) 23 - 26 April 2012, Abu Dhabi
Yon (UK-Turkey) Summer 2012, tbc
Dou Heung (Scotland-Hong Kong) Summer 2012, tbc
Phambili (UK-South Africa) Summer 2012, tbc
Kompas (Hungary-Czech Republic-Slovakia-Poland-Romania) Summer 2012, tbc

For more information about Dishaa or any of our other Ventures, contact Senior Course Director Amy Ritman.

The final report from the first Common Purpose Dishaa Venture, "Heart Surgery for $1,000", has been published.

In it the participants, 20 from the UK and 20 from India, set out their findings, models and recommendations for tackling the challenge of lowering the costs of heart surgery to just $1,000. The group gathered in Pune, India in February 2011 and have been working on their models since.

Read the final report from the first Dishaa Venture, "Heart Surgery at $1,000":

Visit the Dishaa web pages for further information.

The challenge for the next group of Dishaa Venture participants has been announced:

"Unique carbon cutting measures are happening locally in India and the UK. How do we accelerate and multiply our actions to reduce carbon emissions by 50% in the next five years?"

On each Common Purpose Venture participants will be presented with a challenge to explore. They will investigate the challenge locally, and work together to come up with ideas and recommendations. Each year a different challenge will be selected for that year's participants to investigate.

The Challenge will be set by the Advisory Group in advance of the event and must be:

• A compelling issue for leaders that is common to both locations.
• Significant and wide-reaching in its impact but contained in its focus to ensure the participant group can explore and present feasible and meaningful solutions.

During the four day event, participants will investigate the challenge locally, and work together to come up with ideas and recommendations. Each year another challenge will be selected for that year's participants to investigate.

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