In addressing the graduates of the 2004 Williamson Community Leadership Program—a program aimed at developing leaders in business, government and the not-for-profit sectors attuned to the needs of the community—Victoria’s Chief Justice Marilyn Warren shared her views on leadership. As the first woman in Victoria appointed to the position of Chief Justice, her comments are especially?apposite. The following is an edited text of her address.
From my perspective, the concept of leadership should be seen in context and that context is essentially the human experience. As I reflect upon leadership and my human experience, one of my first thoughts is that leadership has to be for something. It is not a goal in itself. It needs to be seen as an instrument, a quality or a set of qualities that enables a goal to be achieved.
This view of seeing leadership as instrumental, takes you initially away from the task of identifying the key qualities of leadership and directs your attention to what you want to achieve. Focusing on what you want to achieve eventually takes you into a greater landscape—how do your goals fit into a broader vision of the human experience, individual and community welfare and social good?
This raises the question of whether leadership is ethically neutral. Can a leader of a criminal gang display real leadership? Can a leader of a group hell-bent on ethnic cleansing be properly described as a great leader? We are repulsed by the notion that such a person could correctly and finally be described as a ‘great leader’. I suggest that there is an ethical or moral core that resides deep within the heart of the concept we so much like to talk about, dissect and appropriate.
Leadership describes a human relationship. It is perhaps in the nature of this relationship that we find the moral and ethical connection.
What is the nature of this relationship and is it as simple as describing the reality of one person leading and other people being led? The reality is far more complex. There has to be a process of enlightenment, understanding, engagement, acceptance and approval for real leadership to be exercised. The question is: is it a relationship between equals or, by definition, a relationship between people who are not equals?
The teacher exhibiting clear leadership in the classroom will be a teacher who sees her students as young people with the same rights to