Wednesday, July 01, 2009

The makings of a good leader

As a young girl Jude Kelly would stage plays and charge family and friends to attend. She wanted to be a director. She became one, a very successful one.

But she says it was not about her per se, but about the act of giving something to others.

Her beliefs have made her one of the most sought after directors and personnel in the arts, not to mention the works she's accomplished as the cultural director of the London 2012 Olympics.

In front of a collective that nurtures leadership qualities, she offered a candid and personnel testament of leadership and what's expected from good leaders.

This could quite easily have been a TED talk, inspiring in its content, deeply illuminating in its delivery.

"I purposefully today wore clothes so you could see my body shape, because line of sight is important in judging people", she said at the beginning.

Leadership, very much like the arts is about innovating, finding spaces and creatively filling them, she concluded.

You can watch the film I shot about her this event in a couple of weeks.