Business

SECOND EDITION

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Viewpoint 1 been understood before, but also to actually help the

process along. And so I think that’s a vital element.
And the third area, I suppose, is perhaps one of the most
Dealing with change difficult of all – that change takes time. (It) usually takes
longer to play out than most people think. But in that
Louise Fitzgerald period of time, then the organization itself will be changing
Visiting Professor of Organizational Behaviour also – and particularly the external pressures on the
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford organization may change. So what you’re doing is making
change happen in a dynamic and uncertain context. And
VIDEO SCRIPT 01 the change planners and those implementing change,
What are the challenges of implementing change? have to actually make, take account of that – they have to
find ways of coping with that, and they have to find ways
Well, I think that out of the mass of issues there’s probably
of responding to that. And that’s quite a difficult process in
three areas that I would personally pinpoint. The first one
itself.
would be around good quality analysis and diagnosis of
what’s going on in the organization. The second would be VIDEO SCRIPT 02
engagement – mainly of staff – and the third one would be
understanding the dynamism of the organization and of How can a company implement change?
the context in which the organization’s operating. So I think there’s lots of ways in which the organization
So, just trying to run through those one by one; if you will can try and help itself. So, for example, trend data, which
think about the analysis – any change strategy that you’re shows how things are going over time, is very useful to
developing is based on some kind of view about what is the organization rather than just a snapshot of time. And
happening currently in the organization and what kind of if you think about trend data in terms of benchmarking
pressures the organization is under. And so, if you want a – what’s happening in your organization compared with
robust change strategy, that’s got to be based and founded what’s happening in other organizations in the same sector
in a robust analysis of what’s happening. And it’s very easy – then you can get an even better and broader and more
I think, and quite frequently the case, that senior managers externalized comparative view. So those are mechanisms
and senior staff in an organization have only a partial for helping yourself. I think that also there are forms of data
view of what’s occurring. And that might be because they – and we often talk about hard data and soft data – but
give particular precedence to financial metrics or that there are forms of data that sometimes get neglected. So
they look at some of the harder data and not other data. how are you going to find out about what the attitudes
And so really and truly that kind of process needs to be are of the people in the organization? Do you have any
cross-checked against other perspectives – against wider attitude surveys – you know, do you conduct those
perspectives – and particularly against what junior staff over time. Do you have things like customer satisfaction
and other people in the organization, and perhaps what feedback that tells you something about how your
customers think about what’s happening. So that would be customers think about the organization? And so looking at
a point about the analysis. attitudinal data – this soft data – is also very useful because
it gives you some element of foundation for trying to
I think engaging staff is probably one of the most critical
pre-judge how people will respond to the change. And I
areas of all. There’s a vast amount of research that shows
think also, things like human resource management data.
that if you want to produce a successful change process
You know, have you got high turnover in the organization?
and you want to produce beneficial outcomes, then
Are there areas that that turnover pinpoints as areas of
basically you need to engage your staff in the process
dissatisfaction in your organization? So, using all that
of change. And I don’t mean by that, that all the staff
data to try and understand what’s happening in the
in the organization have got to be consulted about
organization. And I would argue using the resources of the
everything that’s happening. It’s perfectly viable to draw
people in the organization to do some of that analysis as
boundaries round things, but staff do need to have some
well. You know there’s obviously often lots of untapped
understanding of what’s going on and to be engaged in
resources that can be used. So that’s how I would think
various ways – maybe to offer perspectives that haven’t
about the analysis.

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 I think, thinking about actions around engaging staff. I Jonathan Trevor
think I was trying to argue that that was probably one Associate Professor of Management Practice
of the most critical areas but there’s, it’s also one of the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
most practical areas. That there are many mechanisms
that people have talked about and used and tested VIDEO SCRIPT 03
that are good for engaging different types of staff in the In the last twenty years, what changes have had the
organization. So you might start perhaps by asking your biggest impact on our working lives?
managers to work in working parties to think about what
I think one of the biggest changes to work is how
the options are for change. It may be that the board has
companies are structured and indeed how they structure
already set the objectives of the change. It may be that
work. Most companies, indeed all enterprises, whether
they’ve set some of the timescales, but nevertheless
they are focused around governmental or social or
those processes still have to be unfolded into action steps
commercial activities, essentially have the same definable
and timescales that go with those action steps. It’s very
organizational principles. They are all of them aligned
beneficial to have working groups or project teams, if
behind a purpose and they consist of people organized
you like, that are cross-sectional. So you take a group of
into groups or as individuals to fulfil that purpose. And
people from your organization and you make sure that
in many respects, the effectiveness of an enterprise
they’re a mixture of different backgrounds, come from
is determined by the degree of its alignment, and in
different departments in the organization and they come
particular the alignment of its people, to its purpose. And
from different levels in the organization – not too broad
I think that’s one of the biggest changes, is how we’ve as
a range but nevertheless they are viewing things from
enterprises, again across all sectors and internationally,
their perspective and you give them a task. You ask them
sought to create that alignment behind purpose. In the
to work out how this plan is going to be delivered within
past, we’ve relied upon hierarchies, authority, we relied
a particular division or department and they know the
upon rules, we relied upon managers literally telling
detail, so they can put some of the detail into that. You can
people what to do, and placing constraints around what
ask – many of the staff will be quite challenged if you give
individuals and teams can perform. And actually for the
them some kind of an analytical project to work on. And
individuals and teams, theirs was not to question why
it’s different from their day-to-day work, so that’s again an
but to do and perform. And I think one of the biggest
engaging process. And just, even just having small work
changes that I’ve seen is that necessarily, in order to retain
groups come together and offer them some of the plans
competitiveness, again in whatever sector, whatever types
and be brave enough to ask, what’s your criticisms of it, you
of products or services that we’re offering, we’ve had to
know, do you think there’ll be any problems?
remove many of those hierarchies, we’ve had to remove
And then I think my final point would be, you know, if those layers of management, we’ve had to change the
you’re going to develop a change in an organization, you’re role of manager from being director to being enabler.
going to disrupt things. So whilst you’re busy disrupting We’ve had to essentially empower our people to use
things, why not say to people, is there anything we could their discretion. Not simply to perform their job as well
do alongside this change? Is there any improvement as possible but to even define what their job should be,
you always thought we should’ve done that could be in the context of the environment and whatever it is
implemented at the same time, so that the organization that the organization’s trying to achieve. So we associate
can get maximum benefit out of the disruption? You know, this change with terms like ‘delayering’, or ‘management
it makes practical sense. compression’, or ‘employee empowerment’, or indeed this
So those are just a few mechanisms really that people whole idea of a more open and organic and engaging
can use, but they do have beneficial effect. And I think it organization – and that’s the really big change. And I
flows into the point about managing the uncertainty and think in terms of scale, we really are seeing this transition
the dynamism of the organization because whoever is from large, formalized, rule-driven bureaucracies to
leading or trying to direct the change needs to build into something which is far more network based. Not for every
their planning processes that there will be dynamism. So organization but there is something more, certainly in
they need processes of reappraisal, processes of review, at terms of a concerted movement in that direction.
planned regular intervals, where they’re going to sit down
and say, are things changing around here? Are there any
hold ups that we hadn’t anticipated? Are there any external
pressures that have come on the organization in the last
whatever period? And then obviously, they have to plan
how they’re going to respond to those things. So that then
has to be built in to this change strategy, in an add-on, if
you like. And I think it does mean that on occasion you
have to change the direction. You may have to alter the
objectives of the change. And you’ve got to communicate
that to people. Why are you doing that? Why is it going in
a slightly different direction from what we planned before?
So, you’ve got to be brave to say that to people.

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VIDEO SCRIPT 04
How positive or negative have these changes been?
I think this is a really difficult question, and it’s a question
that governments are grappling with. It’s a question that
corporations are grappling with. I think it’s a question
for charities, it’s a question for families, communities
and ultimately individuals as well. And the fundamental
question is, in all change, and this is a period of significant
change, there are winners and there are losers.
Right now, I think there’s an argument to be made that
perhaps there is a perception there are more losers
than there are winners. Or indeed, fear and uncertainty
about what the future of work will bring for us, again as
individuals, as families? And indeed just general uncertainty
around the changing rules of the games … the game.
What does it even mean to have a career today? In the
past, we thought of a career as being something relatively
stable, something relatively hierarchical, in so much as
you go up the rank, bit by bit, perhaps according to time
served, or more recently competence, performance. But
what happens when there isn’t even a hierarchy anymore.
So, you know, these are some of the big questions. I look
at what’s happening in Europe, I look at the result around
Brexit, I look at the issues around incomes and equality, I
look around the, sort of, the average wages of middle class
across the developed world not really rising. These in some
sense are all aspects or symptoms of some of the changes
that we’re seeing. So there are definitely losers. And I think
there are definitely policy issues which need to address it.
There are also questions that corporations need to address,
and indeed individuals, about their own careers and how
they see their well-being in future, given opportunities and
challenges in the career space.
But there are also winners as well, particularly in what we
associate with knowledge economy – industries or indeed
companies or for that matter roles and occupations. There
are for many more, there is more freedom in their jobs
than they’ve ever had before. There are fewer constraints,
there is more opportunity, not simply within specific
organizations to work on different things or to mix up a
career or to find exciting innovations to work upon – but
to actually work across companies or across industries to
develop portfolio careers. So for those of an entrepreneurial
mind set, and indeed gifted with the opportunity to take
advantage of some of the, the delayering and the kind
of the changing of structures that we see, and indeed
the increasing informality of work, these are great times.
For others, perhaps locked in more traditional roles
or industries or occupations, then I think this is a time
of high uncertainty and therefore potentially anxiety.
And I suppose that’s a challenge for all of us, is to really
try and understand this future of work, how things are
changing and how we mitigate the risks, but maximize the
opportunities at all levels – societally, organizationally, and
individually as well.

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 Viewpoint 2 Fairtrade products. It’s very profitable for them because
people pay more for it. And so they tend to capture more
of the rents necessarily than actually the farmers do. So, in a
world where you want to improve it, often times you have
Ethical consumption to have both political and market mechanisms to do that.
Hiram Samel Market mechanisms alone are not going to suffice.
Associate Professor of International Business VIDEO SCRIPT 03
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
How ethical or conscientious can companies be in a
VIDEO SCRIPT 01 capitalist economy?
What is ethical consumption or conscientious In a capitalist economy, actually, firms can be quite ethical
consumerism? and quite conscientious, but it really depends upon
Ethical consumption or conscientious consumerism is a their growth patterns and their margin – effectively how
way that you can think of helping issues related to social profitable they are. Because how profitable they are and
justice across borders. So, for example, the biggest thing how much power they have in the market place will
that most people are familiar with is Fairtrade. So, if you dictate the conditions. And what you find is that in many
think of Fairtrade chocolate or Fairtrade coffee, what is that sectors there’s different ways to operate.
intended to do? It’s a system of certification that says that So the classic example is to look at Gap and Zara. So, Gap
growers in certain countries – say Ghana or the Ivory Coast is a big American retailer that’s generally global. Zara is
– are growing a commodity and they sell it at a guaranteed a Spanish company, known better, it’s sort of known as
floor price. And by guaranteeing the floor price — the Inditex, but better known as Zara. And it operates globally
commodities are highly volatile — so by guaranteeing a as well. They have two completely different supply chains.
floor price, it allows the producer to know what they’re So Gap is a typical apparel outsourcer – so they make most
going to get. So, conceptually they would then be able of their products in Southeast Asia, for example, or India
to reinvest in their farm, be able to train their workers, or in Bangladesh. And they have very long supply chains,
be able to basically have a higher standard of living. And so they might take a month or two to decide what they
consumers would be more willing to pay for it. So in want to have for the season. They might have, take four
principle, it’s a system of using markets to create social to six months to build up the inventory and ship that into
justice, and perhaps [in] a world where maybe issues aren’t the distribution centres. And by the time it gets to you, the
dealt with as efficiently by the state. consumer, it could be eight months. And often times that’s
why you see more generic-looking products, sort of white
VIDEO SCRIPT 02 T-shirts or solid-coloured T-shirts or jeans, and why you’ll
Why aren’t countries always able to create this kind of also see lots of, also lots of items on sale.
social justice themselves? Now, they’ve chosen this because it allows them to lower
(Now) Why doesn’t the state do it? The state may not do their financial risk by outsourcing all of their production
it because it doesn’t have the capacity to do it, or maybe activity. And so they, because they’re a public company in
it doesn’t have the desire to do it. Or it may be that it kind the United States, they have to have certain stock-holder
of has the desire and the capacity but it might have other returns, and so they outsource that. And so, often times
motivations to ignore those issues, particularly around how ethical their suppliers are, often times depends on
economic development for example. And what we find, where their suppliers are located and what governments
if you actually look at this, is it’s actually a good system enforce their activity.
if you use it as part of a portfolio of activities. So, let’s say Zara on the other hand has chosen to operate differently.
for example, one – a person said, you know, I really kind So, Zara, which has a fast-fashion model, essentially will
of am concerned about farm conditions in the chocolate take designs off the catwalk that they copy – and they’ll
supply chain. They may go buy Fairtrade chocolate. Is make them in Spain generally, and they’ll get them into
that going to help? It’s going to help some people, but the store in four to six weeks. But what you’ll find in Zara
it’s not going to help everybody. Because, in many ways, is once it’s gone out of the store, they don’t, you can’t
if you think about these systems, and if you think about come back and get it. I mean it basically makes a limited
markets cutting across borders, markets are only so production run. It has a higher cost of production because
efficient. And all of these things get mediated by the rules it’s making it in a higher-wage country, but has a different
of production. So, if you were in Ghana, what matters is totally, completely different business model.
who controls regulation there. And in particular, if you’re So is that more ethical? Well, one can suggest that it’s
in a village where you have communally-owned cocoa certainly going to lead to higher-paying jobs, and it’s going
plants, it’s going to depend a lot on who runs that village. to lead to a company culture that’s predicated around
And what we found is that often times folks like that don’t vertical integration, which leads to moral learning, which
necessarily distribute all the gains. And so you have uneven leads to quicker turnaround. But it also relies upon the
distribution of gains and when you have an uneven fact that Zara is good enough at this that they don’t have
distribution of gains, the perception is it’s not fair at all. And to really advertise, I’d say, opposed to Gap. So it has other
what also happens is, so people believe they’re helping, places in its budget where it can go. And you’ll find that,
but if you then go and look at the distribution channels, generally, these kind of models tend to be mediated by the
so take for example, in the United Kingdom, where there’s kinds of capitalist economy that exist in countries. So the
maybe five or six retailers – big retailers – they all sell US and the UK tend to be more liberal market economies,

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and the European continent tends to be a more What are some of the other pros and cons of this sharing
coordinated market economy. So it’s much more prevalent economy?
where there’s much more activity with labour. Whereas So, sharing economy companies actually are very good for
in the US and the UK, they’re moving towards financial consumers by and large. Consumers generally come out
returns and so they’re going to generally outsource. the winner – why? They generally get lower prices, they
get quicker services, they can live in an on-demand world.
VIDEO SCRIPT 04 Consumers are probably less likely to have to own a car,
What is the sharing economy? for example, with the rise of Uber and Lyft. Even medium
So the sharing economy is in many ways a euphemism sized cities are beginning to realize that it’s cheaper to give
for a lot of these technology platforms that you might vouchers for car services like Uber than it is to build out
indeed even have on your own phone. And the intent of tram routes, right. Or even to subsidise bus routes. So on
it was that you could take under-utilized assets and share the positive side, consumers are benefiting.
them. And so, an easy example is Uber. So, Uber which is On the potential downside, what you find is, it’s very
a company that’s raised 15 billion dollars and has a private difficult for workers. And this is where companies will need
market valuation of about 60 billion dollars as of December to decide what they want to do. In particular, because
2016, uses a model where essentially people that want to it’s an on-demand service, it works because people are
go somewhere for transportation will employ the services willing to work part-time. But as people begin to work
of a part-time driver – a driver that tends to own their own part-time and don’t see an increase in wages, they’re going
car. As so, in essence, that person, that driver is sharing their to start to say, OK, well I want benefits. And this is going
asset, alright, with others. Is that truly a sharing economy, I to vary by country, and it’s also going to vary by regional
mean, that’s a good question, right? level, or provincial level, and also even at a city level. And
So you might want to look at Airbnb. So, Airbnb is not you start to see that now. And so there’s, there will be
necessarily a similar model but a related model that talks increasing tension in the system. So is it a net gain for most
about housing. So, if I want to go to Singapore or if I want places – it really depends on what the set of, the ordering
to go to New York or Paris, and I was looking for a place of preferences are for (a) society. So some countries that
to stay, I have one choice – I can stay in a hotel – or I can preference consumer gain over anything else, like the
stay in someone’s home. And I can either rent out a room United States for example, the UK, well they’ll definitely say
in that home or I can rent out the whole flat – whatever I that it’s a net winner – a very innovative model. Countries
would like to do. And Airbnb markets it this way, as you’re like Germany or Japan, they’d say actually we have pretty
joining a community. So you’re joining a local community good services now, in a regulated fashion and, you know,
– you’ll find someone that’s local that’s going to help you it’s not necessarily all about the cheapest price but it’s
around the neighbourhood. In essence, you’re sharing about, kind of, giving opportunity for people to work
what they have. You’re sharing that local community. and earn a reasonable living – I won’t use the word ‘fair’,
Now, the question you have to ask yourself is, if you’ll because it’s probably hard to define the word ‘fair’, but we’ll
look at these companies, they’re very large technology say reasonable living – have a different take on it.
companies that have raised a lot of money. And in like
most things that you have on your phone, whether it be
Google or Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, they’re going
to look like monopolies. Because the network effects are so
profound – that is, is that the more people that are on the
supply side, there are more people on the demand side,
and vice versa. And so the more drivers that Uber has, right,
the more consumers are going to flock there, because they
know they’re going to have a choice of four or five cars,
and they’re never going to wait more than a minute or two.
And these companies know that. So, Uber for example, is
subsidising drivers and subsidising riders to build up this
critical network effect.
But in doing so, all of these companies are moving towards
a monopoly. And you start to see this for example in Uber
which in some countries, where they’ve already reached
a saturation point, are able to raise their take of what the
drivers make. And so drivers are now starting to complain.
So drivers that at first were very happy about sharing their
car, because they get an extra source of income, are now
saying, oh my gosh, you’re driving down my income –
because they can, because they have market power. And
so that’s now a very contested issue – we’ll see how that
plays out. And I’m sure it will vary by country.

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 Viewpoint 3 of people were transformed but more than that the lives of
many of their clients are being transformed, and that’s an
amazing thing – that’s a truly transformational thing.
Business education VIDEO SCRIPT 02
Kathy Harvey Georgia Lewis
Associate Dean, MBA and Executive Degrees Skoll Centre, Marketing & Design Lead
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
VIDEO SCRIPT 01 The Skoll Centre is a leading centre for the advancement of
social innovation. We are based in the Saïd Business School,
1
University of Oxford.
When somebody comes to an education course – an
The Skoll Centre primarily is used by MBA students, MFE
executive education course – at a place like Saïd Business
students, within the Business School, but also we serve the
School, at the University of Oxford, they’re trying to
wider Oxford community and other social entrepreneurs
transform themselves in a very complex way. They’re
or budding social entrepreneurs within the UK and
trying to think about the knowledge they have, to learn
worldwide.
more – they’re trying to build their skills, and they’re trying
to take time out to refresh their thinking – to have a new Lydia Darley
framework through which to view old problems and to Events & Administrative Coordinator
go away and think about things differently – to be able to Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
take action and make a difference. So executive education
So, our mission is to provide students with a launch in
is a very particular kind of education; it’s about thinking
their social impact careers and to teach them ways in
through your decisions, and having new frameworks to
which they can get involved and to help them with their
make decisions differently in future. That’s a very important
social ventures and their businesses. We really want to
part of executives’ education. We all lead busy lives, we’re all
push social impact in the world to make a difference. We
making decisions on the hoof – we need time out to think
think it’s something that a lot of organizations think about
about ourselves as leaders, about ourselves as decision
but don’t really do anything about. And one of our main
makers, to build our confidence and to build our ability to
goals is to get students who perhaps have an idea about a
go forward and make really difficult complex decisions for
social venture but haven’t actually worked within that. So
our organizations.
for example, somebody who wants to improve the water
2 supply in Africa, but they’ve never actually worked on
Executives are very busy, and all of us, in fact from a that issue. So we provide them with a chance for funding
very young age, have very short attention spans these and advice actually for them to work within that sector, so
days. Whether it’s being online all the time, social media, they get real knowledge about that so they can take that
constantly on our emails. So although when you come forward to their business idea.
on an executive education course, and you’re learning
something new, you do expect to take time out. It’s still Nazia Ali
very difficult for most of us just to learn in one lecture Programme Manager: Developing Talent
style. It’s really important to remember that everybody Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
learns in a different way. And so a good executive course So we run a leadership development program that is
will have a multi-faceted teaching style. Some should be called ‘Leading for Impact’. And that’s basically aimed at
online, but not all online, because you need to be able to 20 postgraduate students. Some of those will be MBAs,
have a conversation to spark off ideas with other people. I some of those will be postgraduate students from around
think executives learn from each other. The peer-learning is the University of Oxford. And basically what we’ll do with
absolutely vital when you have a group of people in a room those students is we will take them away on a leadership
who’re experienced – they all have a lot to offer – they development program that specifically focuses on (the)
have a lot to learn from each other. So discussion, seminar, kind of attributes that social leaders need to have, to create
as well as reflection, listening to a lecturer – a whole host the kind of impact that they want to have in the world.
of learning methods need to be used. It’s important to And while there’s a massive focus in the Business School
remember that one method will never help the knowledge on learning how to create (a) strong business(es) and all of
sink in. A variety of methods is going to have a much the kind of hard core-learning side of things, this is sort of a
greater effect. program – ‘Leading for Impact’ – is, in that we’ve developed
3 (it) specifically to help social leaders.
I have seen some quite dramatic transformations through
Breanne Svehla
education. I remember very clearly a group of students
working together on an entrepreneurial project, trying to
Skoll Centre, Programme Manager
put together a business plan for a new company – a new Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
social venture – in Africa. None of them apart from one in The Skoll Scholarship is funding for people who have
the group had worked on this kind of thing before. And been working in the social impact sector, who have
at the end of it, they had raised several million pounds success as an entrepreneur, or someone who has pursued
and they’d started a social business which is now up and a portfolio career that has focused on a certain social or
running, and doing extremely well. The lives of that group environmental issue. And these people have had success

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for at least three years or more before they apply for the Ana María Ñungo
MBA here at the University of Oxford. And we provide that Colombia
funding for them to come do the one-year MBA program I’m working on two different ideas. I will try to be brief and
along with a living stipend to support their studies. And explain both of them. One is in energy – I’m trying to help
while they’re here, they obviously do the MBA program, communities, low-income communities, in Latin America
but then they also become part of the Skoll Scholar Alumni that don’t have access to energy or who have very little, or
community, which is a network of about 65 of our Skoll limited access to energy, to bring new sources of energy,
Scholars who are out in the world doing great things in the such as solar panels and in general, renewable, sustainable
field of social impact. energy for these types of communities.
The Skoll Scholars work in a variety of areas – everything And then the second idea that I’m just starting to work on
from renewable energy to gender-inequality to economic currently is a language program. So being able to use, in
opportunity – so the range is very wide. And so for us, low-income communities, train low-income communities
it’s not about what field you’re working in, it’s about the in Colombia and potentially in all South America, Latin
impact that you’ve been having and the dedication and America, so that they can offer services for people that are
the entrepreneurial mind-set that you’re applying to learning Spanish for online conversational practice.
solving these big social issues and environmental issues
that our world is facing. John Walugembe
Uganda
VIDEO SCRIPT 03
Presently, I’m the founder of a non-profit organization
called ‘Better-Livelihoods Uganda’. This organization
Ahmed Abu Bakr
is a non-profit organization that seeks to use market
Bangladesh approaches to address social problems. And in our case, we
The Skoll Centre offers a great deal of resources for have focused on four core areas: we focus on the area of
networking and self-development. And the ways it does water and sanitation, we focus on food security, we focus
that is through conferences and events and letting us meet on entrepreneurship and skills development, and then we
with some really interesting people working in the space of focus on the environment and climate change. So most of
social impact. For example, there’s the Emerge conference our work has been in the aspect of water and sanitation,
that I’ll be speaking at, there’s the Skoll World Forum and where we are working with entrepreneurs to offer
the Social Impact conference – so through those I get to sanitation that is sustainable using what we call a ‘Diamond
meet people who are doing very interesting things in the [Model]’ approach.
social impact space and I get to learn from them, network
with them, build relationships with them, and that’s really
what the Skoll Centre brings to me primarily.
Also, in our second term we get to do an entrepreneurship
project and I’m hoping to really kick-start something off
with that, so that it doesn’t end with the project itself but
becomes a company in its own right. And to that end, I
think the resources of the Skoll Centre will be absolutely
invaluable, connecting with people who’ve done similar
things in the past, learning from them, gaining mentors
and really setting up a company while I’m here at Oxford.

Sophie Kin Seong

Canada
I think they have amazing facilities. I’m excited about just
being able to leverage a lot of their knowledge of the social
impact industry and their networks with entrepreneurs
and industry leaders. In the past couple of years I’ve been
working for a couple of initiatives in Africa and I feel like
I’ve just gotten my foot in the door and I want to learn a lot
more about the potential in this industry. And just by being
able to go to the talks with entrepreneurs and learn more
about the industry itself and just have one-on-one chats
with the Admin in the Skoll Centre and the conferences
that are coming up. There’s just so many channels for me to
be able to find out what I can do in this industry.

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 Viewpoint 4 VIDEO SCRIPT 01 / 03
Part 2
This is one way that, it’s not like you can say, well, people
Leading the future start to emerge when they’re 27 or 33. [Excuse me.] In
practice, it’s so contingent upon the situation and the
Tim Morris challenges that they’re facing. I think, what I would say
Professor of Management Studies is that we normally don’t put people into leadership
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford positions of any substance, usually until they’re in their
30s. And that’s when the tests really become demanding.
VIDEO SCRIPT 01 / 02
And so what I would tend to assume is that between
Part 1 say the ages of early 30s through to say mid-40s, that’s
So, the way we would tend to think about this is that when leadership development is un … is taking place
leaders are more associated with things like vision, strategy very intensively. But that’s a generalization, and around
in the long-term, innovation, managing the environment that what you can find is, first of all, in particular with the
around the organization. So those sorts of aspects of emphasis on entrepreneurial organizations and people
leadership, I guess you’d call it. Whereas managers are starting businesses, or being thrown into the, sort of, deep
concerned with making the system run, keeping the end much earlier in their lives. It’s not uncommon for
current system running, making things work more people to be really picking up, sort of, their first leadership
efficiently or effectively, running the sort of performance challenge, formally or informally, in their mid-20s. And so,
management and monitoring of the organization. In there’s no, as it were, hard, fast rule that says you can’t be a
other words much more humdrum, mundane type of leader when you’re 25 or even when you’re younger than
aspects of what people do inside an organization. And that. It’s whether you can respond to the situation around
the key difference there, I always think of it as being, you. So, there’s sort of entrepreneurship and … has forced
increasingly we think of leadership as being about how the that upon us.
organization is going to adapt and innovate, how it’s going But then, on the other side, what I think we shouldn’t forget
to change. Whereas managers are seen to be those people is that in many ways as well I think there’s opportunities
who are much more focused around the present, and for people to come through later on in their career. I’ve
maintenance and continuity of the present. certainly worked with people who, you know, only in their
But, as I said, I think this is a very false and artificial 40s, maybe even their 50s, really have grasped the nettle
divide which isn’t that helpful because I think about it in in terms of saying, well, I want to be a leader – I can lead
both ways. First of all, in practice, I think anybody who’s others. They’re what you might call (as) late developers
managing and their managing people, to some extent is or they’re people who’ve never had the chance and the
leading them. In other words, they’ve got a relationship opportunity or thought themselves capable. And again I
which is between leader and followers and if they’re going think one interesting thing about this, for example, is where
to be effective they’ve got to manage that relationship. more and more women have come back to work after
And leadership essentially there is about direction. And they’ve had families, and they’ve got what we call second
anybody who’s managing people has to give a sense of careers or second career – second parts of their career. And
direction and engage with people so that they want to they’re coming back having had some time out so they’re
follow. So there’s a sort of element of leadership in the a bit older and so on, and wiser, and it’s then that they take
management job. up the leadership challenge. But, so, it may be only in their
And then on the other side, I think that it’s ridiculous to late 30s, 40s, when they get the first opportunity. But then
think leaders don’t manage as well. Even at the level of, they make the most of it. And so you can see all sorts of
say, the Chief Executive of an organization. The Chief reasons why the old idea of leadership comes through at a
Executive’s going to spend an awful lot of time managing. particular point because careers are much more fixed and
They’re going to be thinking about the performance of the stable, is breaking down and you can see leadership being
organization. They’re going to be working with people on – leadership development occurring very early – and also
day-to-day relatively routine stuff, as well as trying to think relatively late in your careers. So don’t … I think the lesson
about the things that Chief Executives do when they focus is basically, don’t think you’re ever too old, as it were, or too
on the future. young to be a leader.
So, for me, although the essence of leadership may be
around change and the essence of management maybe
around maintaining the existing system, I think it’s a
worryingly artificial divide if you think leaders do one thing
and managers do another. There’s a lot of sort of overlap –
it’s like a Venn diagram – there’s a lot of overlap in practice.

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VIDEO SCRIPT 01 / 04 Jonathan Trevor
Part 3 Associate Professor of Management Practice
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
For me there are two or three aspects to this that are really
critical, in terms of learning to be a leader. The first one is VIDEO SCRIPT 05
experience – there’s no doubt this is a sort of a role or an
aspect of life where you have to do it by playing it – you There’s a traditional view that leaders are born and not
can’t learn it out of books. You can learn some things out made – that leaders are a little bit like top-flight athletes –
of the books but you’ve got to go out there and do it. So and so the theory goes that not everybody can be a Usain
experience counts for something. Bolt. The fact is that Usain Bolt was born or … with the
necessary qualities, the attributes, the physical qualities, to
Secondly, I think you can teach some leadership skills
enable him to be the fastest person on the planet.
and behaviours. And that’s, in a sense, what you do on
MBA programs or in executive education. And then … so, And we thought about leadership in the same respect.
experience and learning can take place – learning in the And we have referred to leaders as having a set of traits –
classroom … and then the third thing that I think is really the most important of which is charisma. And charisma
important for this is actually reflection. is something that you’re born with – it’s almost a divine
gift – and not something that can be learned. It’s not a
So, whether it’s by experience, or whether it’s happened
skill, it can’t be taught, you either have it or you don’t. The
through the classroom, or ideally a combination of those
implication being, like Usain Bolt, you know, you either
things, where leadership really comes into its own is
have it or you don’t, you’re either born with it or you
actually through me or you, I … me reflecting on myself,
don’t and only a few of us are born with it. So only a few
anybody else reflecting on what they are doing as a leader,
of us are destined to lead. And these leaders, whomever
what their style is, what are the things they do well as a
they are, and irrespective of the context in which they
leader, what are the things they could change. And in
find themselves, will always rise to a leadership position,
particular what happens is that, with that last point, people
because the cream always rises to the top.
get into styles or doing things as a leader and then they
don’t adapt. And yet self-reflection means that you can The answer is – the reality – it’s nonsense. In today’s age,
sometimes say, maybe I could do that in different ways. which is a more complex operating environment, it’s a
more uncertain future. It’s more changeable, both in terms
And so those three things: experience, formal learning
of frequency of change but also what’s actually changing
and reflection are the really, the keys to learning how to
– the degree of change to every aspect of how we do
be a leader. And it – virtually anybody can lead, because
business, every aspect of how we organize, every aspect of
essentially roles in life, outside of work, have some
how we interact and come together to produce something
leadership capacity. There are some people who do not
more than any one individual can. It’s simply not true that
want to be a leader, they don’t want to be thrust into the
you need to find that one in one million talent to lead our
role, they don’t have the confidence and things like that,
organizations. Everybody has the capacity for leadership
and there are some people who more naturally take to it.
– if you start to think of leadership as being something
But that doesn’t mean to say that you can’t learn this and
other than a series of traits, which you either have or you
learn a lot about how to become an effective leader.
don’t have, beyond one’s own personal control or ability to
influence, but actually seeing it as a set of behaviours and a
set of skills, but also a set of roles.
Our organizations’ work in future will require us to, all of
us, to be capable of analysing and then scanning our
environment, of influencing others to do something
different from what they might otherwise choose to do, of
acting as a figure-head of political brokering, of allocating
resources, of motivating. Of all of these things, no role
will be untouched from that, except the most basic of
roles which will likely be automated anyway. So really,
the challenge for us, and it’s a leadership challenge, but
at all levels, and for everybody, is to escalate our personal
capability, to fulfil our potential for creativity, for initiative,
for passion and for influence. And not simply expect to
go to work and do nine-to-five, but to actually see work
as something intrinsic to our own personal purpose and
fulfilment.

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