Executive MBA breakfast session: Leading with purpose
Purpose is belief in what you are doing. Connecting with and maintaining this belief is one of the most challenging and important tasks in leadership.
Recent world events and worrying global trends have emphasised that knowing how to frame, express and live with purpose may be the defining feature of sustainability in business. Purpose is more than just a pressing question; it is one that emerges and changes over time. Peter Drucker once wrote, “there is only one valid definition of a business purpose: to create a customer” (Drucker, 1954, p. 37). But is this still true? What is your business for? What are you for?
This Executive MBA taster session, led by Dr Chris Dalton, will explore two basic questions; “what are we here to do?” and “where do we go from here?”. Together, these create a bridge between what is and what could be. Purpose requires a proper understanding of an organisation’s core mandate as well as its future place in a wider system. Now more than ever, companies, sectors and whole economies must change. Will purpose-led businesses be the ones leading the way?
Expect an interactive and thought-provoking discussion, in line with the style of learning on the Henley Executive MBA.
Dr Chris Dalton is Associate Professor of Management Learning and module convener for Personal Development at Henley Business School. He joined Henley in 2005 and was Programme Director for the Distance/Flexible Learning MBA until 2010, when he took over the Personal Development role. Chris speaks and writes about management learning and development, and publishes practitioner books for managers. His latest, The Integrated Leader: a Foundation for Lifelong Management Learning, was published in 2021. A second edition of his book, MBA Day by Day, was published in 2019.
Chris has over 28 years of experience in management education and training. He teaches on the Henley MBA, the Henley DBA, and runs corporate workshops and seminars related to management development in South Africa, central Europe and the Middle East. He is a visiting professor at Soka University, Tokyo, Japan. Chris holds a PhD in Management Learning and Leadership from Lancaster University and an MBA from Henley Business School. He is an energetic and innovative tutor. He has trained as a systemic constellations facilitator, regularly working with the public and private sector in facilitating team and organisational development, as well as reflective retreats.
