PNBHS NEWS

Sir Peter Blake Trust Leadership Week Day 3

 
Picture of Ella Mitchell
Sir Peter Blake Trust Leadership Week Day 3
by Ella Mitchell - Wednesday, 5 July 2017, 2:18 PM
 

Today we were privileged to welcome student leaders from Palmerston North Girls’ High School, Manawatu College, Rangitikei College, Rathkeale College, New Plymouth Boys’ High School, Nga Tawa College, Awatapu College, Tararua College, Wanganui Collegiate, Longburn Adventist College, Feilding High School, Napier Girls’ High School and New Plymouth Girls’ High School, alongside senior PNBHS students, for a leadership seminar facilitated by Mr Andre Van Heerden.  The seminar focused on ‘Challenge and Change’.

Mr van Heerden began by stating that “Leadership development is about personal development – it is about who you are.”  He also challenged the participants: “Our world is constantly changing; life is about dealing with change; leadership is about turning change into progress; and you have a unique potential for leadership.”

An early key message related to the use of digital devices; how much of the world passes us by without our notice when we are on them, and how much we miss through being distracted and not ‘in the moment’.

We hope that all of those who attended the seminar enjoyed it, were challenged, and left with concrete ideas and resources to help in the development of their own leadership skills so they can make a positive contribution to their schools and our society in the future.

Mr van Heerden heads the corporate leadership programme The Power of Integrity™, and is the author of four books on leadership, Leaders and Misleaders, Leading Like You Mean It, An Educational Bridge for Leaders, and the soon to be published Reading and Leading.

He has unique qualifications for addressing the need for leadership in our society.  Since studying law at Rhodes University in South Africa, he has been a history teacher, a deputy headmaster, a soldier, a refugee, an advertising copywriter, a creative director, an immigrant, an account director for leading multinational brands, a marketing consultant, and a leadership educator.

His career in advertising involved working with a wide array of international blue-chip brands like Toyota, Lexus, Ford, Jaguar, Honda, Renault, Kodak, Canon, American Express, Kimberley Clark, SC Johnson, and John Deere, and prominent New Zealand brands such as Farmers, Lockwood, and Tararua Dairy Products.  The leadership development program he now heads has involved working with organisations in the science sector, dairy industry, food production, banking, retail, real estate, advertising, print production, governmental services, education and training, accountancy, and legal services.