Graham Dickson - Centre for Health Leadership and Research
Leadership is crucial, especially when organizations are on opposite sides
Dr. Graham Dickson is the former director for the Centre for Health Leadership and Research at Royal Roads University.
In 2004 Graham moderated an online dialogue that engaged Canadians from all walks of life in a discussion on the controversial decision by Canada to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases. The dialogue brought together scientists, researchers, professors, business leaders and activisits. The idea arose from one of RRU`s mandates to engage in applied research in the public policy arena.
"It has been said Canada has taken an international leadership role in signing the Kyoto accord – and kudos to former prime minister Jean Chretien for being a visionary by doing so," Dickson said. "But that`s the easy part. The hard part is finding the leadership vision, will, and resolve to implement Kyoto, and to do so in a manner commensurate with the spirit of the agreement. The Kyoto dialogues on leadership will discuss these issues."
Dr. Dickson has made a life of analysing leadership and how it affects positive and negative change in any organization. Earlier this year he was asked to appear on CBC Radio`s All Points West to discuss the leadership skills of NHL president Gary Bettman and NHL Players Association lead council Bob Goodenow.
"Leadership is crucial, especially when two organizations are on the opposite side of a very public issue," Dickson says. "So this was a great opportunity to show that RRU teaches tangible skills that play an important role in the real world."
Dickson`s work on Kyoto also posed some important leadership questions and attempted to generate a consensus on what directions could be pursued by our leaders. It asked participants to find the leadership qualities each of them may possess and make a decision whether to use them in support of Kyoto. It challenged particpants to truly see if there are better ways to set social direction than many of the traditional processes represented by our current decision-making structures in Canada.
