When: 4th of December, 1:00pm AEDT
Where: This seminar will be partially presented at the ACFR seminar area, J04 lvl 2 (Rose St Building) and partially online via Zoom. RSVP
Speaker: Dr Bradley Hastings
Title: Leading at the Edge — Developing the Major Project Leaders of Tomorrow
Abstract:
Major projects are among the most complex forms of human organisation, presenting leadership challenges unlike those found in conventional organisations.
This presentation will explore how effective leadership can improve the cost overruns and under delivery that is typically associated with major projects. Drawing on research insights, it will contrast the temporary, high-stakes, multi-actor, and politically charged nature of major projects with the more stable, hierarchical environments of traditional organisations. Together, we will examine how uncertainty, shifting coalitions, public scrutiny, and the temporal nature of projects demand leaders who can lead across systems rather than within them—navigating paradox, balancing technical rigor with adaptive meaning-making, and fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration.
The session then turns to the evidence-based insights into how to develop such leaders—highlighting developmental pathways that cultivate vertical growth (mindset and meaning-making capacity), horizontal growth (relational and collaborative skills), and real-world lived experience.
Bio:
Dr Bradley Hastings is the Director of Executive Education at the John Grill Institute for Project Leadership.
Bradley’s passion is in decoding leadership, then utilising these insights to equip leaders with the skills to thrive in an ever changing and more complex world. He has led transformative Executive Education solutions across the public and private sector, around the globe.
His experience spans 30 years of helping C-suite executives positively transform their organisations. As a Partner at Stroud International consulting, he helped blue-chip companies secure brighter futures. As the Business Development Director for Capita Plc, Brad led the creation of solutions that reshaped public services and improved social and economic outcomes.
Brad’s research interest is Change Leadership. He is a Board Member of the Organisation Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management and has published on this theme in the Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, Journal of Management Inquiry, and Journal of Change Management.