Rosalie Nelson is the CEO of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship, whose mission is to “incubate solutions to global problems from Aotearoa New Zealand, and make a lasting positive impact on the world”. (Full disclosure: I am an EHF Fellow.)
Like Matthew in episode 13, Rosalie starts with her Pepeha, “a way of introducing yourself in Māori. It tells people who you are by sharing your connections with the people and places that are important to you.”
At the core of our conversation is being of service to Aotearoa New Zealand, and getting beyond hierarchical hero leadership model of leadership and innovation. Instead, really being able to let go and think about what is our collective? How do we unlock the collective capability? And with as much diversity of thinking as possible.
We spoke on 11 July 2022.
Listen
Links
0:59 – Q1 What are you doing now? And how did you get there?
4:12 – BONUS QUESTION: What does “bicultural nation” mean?
11:28 – Q2. What is the future you are trying to create, and why?
15:39 – BONUS QUESTION: Are there particular values that inform the values-based innovation you are trying to nurture?
17:04 – BONUS QUESTION: How do we make sure that values of stewardship and guardianship do not slow down what is needed?
18:22 – Q3. What are your priorities for the next few years, and why?
20:45 – BONUS QUESTION: What challenges want to focus the EHF on going forward?
22:50 – Q4. If someone was inspired to follow those priorities, what should they do next?
24:48 – Q5. If your younger self was starting their career now, what advice would you give them?
26:30 – Q6. Who would you nominate to answer these questions, because you admire their approach?
27:29 – Q7. Is there anything else important you feel you have to say?
Timings
xx:xx – Q1 What are you doing now? And how did you get there?
xx:xx – Q2. What is the future you are trying to create, and why?
xx:xx – Q3. What are your priorities for the next few years, and why?
xx:xx – Q4. If someone was inspired to follow those priorities, what should they do next?
xx:xx – Q5. If your younger self was starting their career now, what advice would you give them?
xx:xx – Q6. Who would you nominate to answer these questions, because you admire their approach?
xx:xx – Q7. Is there anything else important you feel you have to say?
Quotes
-“how do we unlock collective capability and intelligence [of the Edmund Hillary Fellows] in a way that allows New Zealand to fulfil its potential, but I guess the best language is to think of it as a base camp for the rest of the world.”
-“There is a quality in today that you’re trying to grow from which tomorrow will flow and that’s the galvanising of these communities, the…actualization of the potential that you see the growing of that capability to be more innovative and transformative. It’s much more focused on the present and growing the capabilities in the present than it is on a particular future.”
-“My outcome would be that New Zealand actually inspires fresh way of thinking and global leadership, that we are a seen as sort of a testbed for values based innovation.”
-“I don’t think of guardianship in the context of conservativism and preserving. I think it’s moving in principle from extractive to additive. So in other words, ensuring that what we’re doing, I think we absolutely need radical innovation, and we need radical systems change. And because no one person can be that silver bullet, I think that can only happen through through the collective.”
-“I’ve had a long, long time working in even though I’ve been working in technology in quite disruptive areas, the mindsets have still been quite locked into a hierarchical hero leadership model, which and so for me, that’s the breaking of that as a, as a mental model. And really being able to let go and think about what is our collective? How do we unlock the collective capability? And with massive amounts of diversity, bringing in as much diversity of thinking as possible. To me that feels like the starting point.”
-“Optimism gives agency.”
David Bent 