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Summary of lessons learned from other leaders and critical reflection on how this applies to my personal leadership plan

Summary of lessons learned from other leaders and critical reflection on how this applies to my personal leadership plan.

Mother Teresa was not a stranger to difficulties. Born Albanian in what is now Macedonia but was then a province of the Ottoman empire to Catholic parents of Kosovar origin she heard God’s call to become a nun at an early age and at 18 travelled to Ireland to learn English and then on to India to become a missionary taking the name sister Teresa.

Until her late 30s Sister Teresa worked first as a school teacher and then as a headmistress at a convent school in Calcutta. This would have been a respectable role with a strong social contribution. Sister Teresa could have felt that she had done enough. And yet it is as this stage, that she heard a “call within a call” after an annual retreat to work not with the middle class or the poor of India but with the poorest of the poor.

Following this call within a call meant leaving her comfort zone and respectability and venturing into the slums. She started out with a small school and soon others had joined her. In responding to need of those around her Teresa, now Mother Teresa opened her first hospice, about 4 years into her new mission. Her vision spread and by 2007 the missionaries of charity numbered 450 brothers and 5000 sisters and operated 600 missions, schools and shelters in 120 countries.

By pouring her life out for the “poorest of the poor” Mother Teresa shared with the world a special vision of the intrinsic value of human life.

One feature of the life of Mother Teresa is the degree to which she faced criticism and opposition in her vocation. Many of her choices, from how she received funding, to how she carried out her work – drew heavy criticism from bystanders. I can imagine that facing the darkness of poverty on one hand and the criticism from so called experts on the other must have at times been very discouraging. To persevere under these circumstances underlines her moral courage. The modern leader that I have chosen is Janet Cousens, the Executive Director of Act for Peace, a Sydney based NGO that works on refugee issues as well as with communities affected by disaster and conflict. Significant Challenge: A significant challenge in the sector over the last few years has been the increasing professionalization of the sector, bringing with it the need for greater specialisation as well as compliance requirements. Where once you could just have employed a generalist you now need specialised finance and risk functions, child protection experts, monitoring and evaluation experts and all these areas of expertise run the risk of distracting you from your core purpose. What would you do with the benefit of hindsight? In my first career in Television a lot of what we did was focussed on making money. I am not saying that truth got lost in the process, but sometimes it seemed more flexible than money. In the end I decided that I wanted my work to line up with my values which is to honour, respect and support people around you so I went back to university and retrained as a social worker. What is your message to young leaders in this field? Don’t be afraid to start at the bottom! I have changed careers several times and each time I have stated at a junior role and worked my way up. The benefit that this brings is that you can learn an enormous amount about the role from a number of different perspectives and start to learn what is really important and what is not. When you start to lead this hands-on experience is invaluable in helping you to understand those you lead.

Like Mother Teresa, Janet Cousens arrived at her chosen path as a second career. She started out in the field of media and telecommunications and for a time worked as a television producer. The change to work in the not for profit space, as it did for Mother Teresa when she reflected on her values and decided to make changes that took her outside of her comfort zone. Change cannot have been easy, and while working for the public sector and in refugee health is perhaps not the same as launching into the slums of Calcutta it still required giving up the glamour, prestige and money of a media job.

Showing leadership in working on refugee issues can take moral courage. This too is an area of sharp controversy in Australia and those who will work on these issues can face criticism from other Australians and even from the government.

Mother Teresa did not act alone. She drew on the institutional structures and resources of the Catholic church. As with Mother Teresa, Janet has not acted alone but has drawn on the institutional resources and support of the national council of churches of Australia and Act for Peace. Like Mother Teresa Janet’s moral leadership comes from taking a stand against the modern world’s way of seeing people for their uses (consumers, tax payers, viewers or voters) and not their intrinsic worth. Janet’s perspective is also informed by her faith and understanding of God as well as a concern for social justice and the desire to make a difference.

Like Mother Teresa Janet discovered perhaps that working in her field was not just about showing moral courage or taking an ideological stand. Janet cites as some of her best achievements delivering organisational and administrative solutions to the challenges faced by a successfully growing NGO.

One thing I found surprising about Mother Teresa was the importance of her organisational ability. Her large mission to the poor grew without central planning, and large HR, finance and marketing departments. This low-cost approach meant she could reach the poorest or the poor. Mother Teresa’s ability to find solutions to these challenges was a great surprise to me.

I can contrast this to the comments made by Janet Cousens that services delivered by international (an national) agencies are frequently required to meet a lot of administrative standards and reporting requirements which tend to create large bureaucracies that in make it hard to provide effective services to the most vulnerable.

Mother Teresa’s selflessness is well known around the world. However, many people are selfless so I would add to that statement and say that Mother Teresa was unique in having a strong will and determination and yet being selfless.

Janet Cousens ability to communicate and influence others, to advocate for change and social justice, using skills she learned in media is part of a balancing voice in the NGO sector.

I admire Mother Teresa’s humility in the face of world-wide fame that could easily have led to pride. Her simple approaches contrast with her fame. Mother Teresa had mastered the art of being a beautiful human.

Janet Cousens has chosen to make a stand for doing the right thing not by travelling to the other ends of the world but staying within her community and context and being the change she wanted to see.

Both the leaders that I have surveyed inspire by not just talking about how to make the world a better place by taking action that has required vision, dedication and person sacrifice. While the Sainthood of Mother Teresa can seem out of reach the leadership and choices made by Janet Cousens seem more realistic and attainable.


 * Notes**