Leadership Series 03 - Giles Gunesekera

Good Will Hunters

Welcome to the third episode in our leadership series of Good Will Hunters. I’m Rachel Mason Nunn, and I am the Founder and Host of Good Will Hunters. Your response to our first two episodes has been huge. This topic is clearly resonating with you, and it’s so special to receive messages and emails from many of you about your own experience on your leadership journey. In particular I’ve received messages about the need to invest more in leadership development for young women, particularly young women of colour, and the need for more horizontal networking for aspiring leaders in the development sector. Some thoughts to ponder as you listen to today’s episode. Today I ‘m speaking to Giles Gunesekera. Like our previous guest, Jacqui De Lacy, Giles has also been on Good Will Hunters before, several years ago now. Giles is the Founder and CEO of the Global Impact Initiative and he has over 25 years of experience building teams and businesses which solve global challenges. In this episode, Giles and I discuss the impact of being a first generation migrant in Australia on Gile’s leadership style, encompassing resilience, tenacity and persistence. We talk about diversity and how the aspiration for greater diversity amongst boards isn’t yet translating into the board landscape we see today. And we talk about why your leadership pipeline is as important as your leadership team. This episode contains some really specific skills that we as leaders can look to develop. Like all of the episodes in this series, I hope this is a useful, practical discussion of what it takes to be a remarkable leader in a purpose-driven organisation. Gile's organisation, the Global Impact Initiative - https://www.globalimpactinitiative.com.au Enjoy the episode, The GWH Team