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Sharing his personal philosophy and South Africa’s principle of ubuntu, former President of the University of Johannesburg Ihron Rensburg argues that transformational leadership is rooted in purpose, compassion, and collective growth. He shares how aligning personal mission with institutional goals can create authentic change — and why leaders must build trust and humanity before expecting performance.
Yes. It's probably one of the hardest jobs with multiple stakeholders that you have to work with and align with and connect with. So enormously difficult. And so I think it all begins with ambition. It all begins with ambition and recognizing where we find ourselves, as a people in the world right now.
It is self-evident that we're sitting in a very difficult place. Whether we look at our politics, economics, in particular our industrialization trajectory and the challenges that have brought to our planet in relation to our solar system. And therefore, the continuity of the Earth as an inhabitable was a habitable place, for its people.
If we just think about that reality that could spur us, that could catalyze us. At the same time, if we think about the challenges that we face in respect of humanity and our humanity as a people, and again, that might catalyze, that might energize, right? In the innovation space, ditto. The fact that we have to to pivot more, effectively towards renewables, despite the opposition, in particular recent opposition, that we have to sustain that pivot.
I think it might again, catalyze the innovative dimension in us, but ultimately it begins with, as we sometimes use the word purpose and the question as to the existential question as to why am I here as a being? Am I simply here? Sometimes I say tongue in cheek, to sleep, eat, drink. Or is it more than that?
I think virtually all of us believe that we can change the world and changing the world doesn't always mean at a planetary level change. The world can be at a local community level. It can be in my organization, in the public or private sphere. But all of us, I do think, have this belief that I'm here not just to vegetate, but to energize, to dynamite, to catalyze, to help move ourselves forward.
And so when we achieve alignment between personal purpose and the organization that we find ourselves in, and then eventually leading, I think then the possibilities are endless because hopefully we will be happier. Hopefully we will not be pushing against the tide, so to speak. Hopefully the tides come together. My personal purpose and that of my organization, and I'm then able to align my team to that organizational purpose, because when we achieve that, turmoil is nothing, because we are able to sustain both composure.
On the one hand and courage and urgency on the other hand, with systemic, thoughtful, integrative approaches to minimizing how selves first and then our organizations. Two new turning points or into new pivots, so to speak. And so it begins there, I think, for future university leaders, if we and when we are able to mobilize the self, then the possibilities exist for us to mobilize whole teams, energize, dynamite, support, encourage, inspire, challenge. Right. Our teams and therefore move our organizations forward. Yes. There are many programs available. Many executive leadership programs are available, across the world's universities. Ultimately, for me, it boils down to purpose. And then self-awareness. And the commitment to being a transformational leader by self-awareness, of course, the importance of EQ, right. EQ is not just about self-awareness and self-regulation and social awareness.
It is also about compassion. And from where I come from, in southern Africa, we prefer the word ubuntu for compassion, because with ubuntu we simply mean that I derive my sense of being and of humanity, not from self, but in journeying with you. And so I become my true self, right? And then we ask ourselves, what is a good leader from that perspective? Is it a leader who harmonizes teams? It is a leader who dynamizes teams. It is a leader, ultimately, who is able compassionately to move with their teams, into new territories from which we can see significant social impact and other impacts that we're looking for. In the context of our grand challenge of achieving, higher levels of humanity than the levels that we find ourselves in.