During an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, Riady was asked what are the most important qualities of a leader?
'A leader needs to have a vision, because at the end of the day, the vision must drive the organisation. It must drive people. And a strong vision attracts people like a magnet and gets people to make changes in the community. But it's not just about having a vision. It's also about having humility. That's very difficult. The more successful you are, the more you face the temptation of being egoistic and full of pride. It's also about having the heart to serve, to do things not for yourself but for others. Those are the three things: vision, humility and the ability to serve.'
Riady was also asked for examples of what gives him pride in the work he is doing in education and healthcare? His answer points the way towards why Indonesia is making progress in international education tables and highlights what needs to happen in the UK as we slip further behind in education performance (eg the 2008 OECD international rankings place the UK 13th in reading - down from seventh in 2000 - and 18th in maths).
'I was not born into and did not grow up in a particularly educational environment. But it wasn't until when I went back to Indonesia in 1978 with my four children, who grew up in the U.S., and I had to look for schools for them that I realised that we do not have top schools in Indonesia that I would consider putting my children in. There is a great deficiency in education in Indonesia. I set out to contribute something, to make a change. So we set up the non-profit called [Pelita Harapan] Educational Foundation and started building schools and universities. Today, we have 20 schools and one university, which have transformed Indonesian education.
We introduced an education system that is not based on rote memorisation but the creative process of learning. It's not about knowledge; it's about the process of learning. We wanted small class sizes, and a holistic education that gets students to develop all parts of life. We don't just want to have good schools. We want to have model schools that other schools look at and want to copy. For the next generation, our schools hopefully will be a role model of what good education is all about, what good schools are all about. It's exciting because that's transformational.
We started paying teachers salaries that they deserve, increasing salaries three to four times more than what they were earning over the last 15 years and so instilling in the community that education has a high value. In today's modern society, there has been a shift. People do not respect and value teachers as much as they should.... I hope that when I finish my life that the biggest impact I have made will be in education.'
For the full interview, see - http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2365
No comments:
Post a Comment