“If you don’t get leadership right, it’s almost impossible for your business to succeed,” says David Pich, Chief Executive of the Institute of Managers and Leaders Australia and New Zealand (IML ANZ). It’s for this reason that he believes the Institute’s partnership with Griffith Business School is giving students the skills they need to give them an edge in the ever-changing employment market.
“Leadership is a unique combination of knowledge and practice and the best example of our partnership is actually Griffith,” he explains. “Griffith was the first university in Australia to formally partner with us in our Pathways program; Griffith was the first university to recognise that partnership with a professional body around leadership could yield good results. We now have three Pathway partnerships with Griffith, we’re now in a multi partnership relationship.”
David says the skills IML ANZ offer complement the Business School’s commitment to giving students transferable skills to make them more agile and ready for the future of business.
“You provide your students with knowledge, we provide your students with practical skills. You put that combination of knowledge and practice together, and you end up with an incredibly powerful proposition for future managers and leaders who are the students that study at Griffith.
“That’s why I think the partnership with Griffith is so critical. Griffith has partnered with us on three courses; that is as progressive and forward thinking as it gets.”
And to further cement that relationship, David pledged $15,000 on behalf of the Institute to fund a new Griffith Business School scholarship, the Eka Suputra IML Scholarship.Theycreated this scholarship in memory of beloved colleague Eka Suputra. Eka sadly passed away in late 2019, leaving behind his wife and young daughter. IML is delighted to support Griffith in providing this scholarship to enable someone to achieve their goals, as tertiary education allowed Eka to achieve his.
“I think institutes like ours need to put their money where their mouth is,” David explains. “We should assist with access. We want to help people who might have the drive but not the means to attend university.”
David says it is also important to support degrees that are preparing students for what the business world will look like in the future. “The pace of change in businesses at the moment is unprecedented and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. Anything that looks at the future of work is something that needs to be supported and encouraged.
“Students looking to study will be entering a workforce that will look very different in three or four years time than it looks today. So I think anything that the Institute can do to support that is a good thing.”