In collaboration with Reboot the Future, Franklin University Switzerland’s Master of Science and Arts students last week engaged in a series of workshops, seminars and guest lectures under title of “Golden Rule Leadership Masterclass”. 

Graduates students reimagined collaboration, social design knowledge and nature-inspired leadership in a 4-day laboratory of ethical and  values-based conversations, where the Golden Rule standed for "treating others and the planet as you would wish to be treated."

The explored themes and topics were:

• Leadership & Nature, on Tuesday, in which Barbara Bulc, Ambassador  Reboot the Future and Founder, Global Development Impact & SDG  Cola, introduced the quadrilateral model of leadership – responsible,  collaborative, compassionate and courageous – additionally professor  Darja Dubravcic, PhD (Biologist / Biomimicry Expert / Circular economy  & Systems thinking specialist – Founder and CEO of Wild Innovation  Agency) connected remotely to explain what nature inspired leadership stands for, practices for the wellbeing of people and planet;

• Nature, on Wednesday, an immersive day in the Swiss natural landscapes on top of Monte San Salvatore, accompanied by Anthony Bennett, CEO Reboot the Future, and Kim Polman,  Co-founder Reboot the Future, who examined and lectured on the relationship between nature, the Golden Rule, and the practical  applications of how the Golden Rule relates to professional lives and  the search for leadership;

• Golden Rule in Leadership, on Thursday, exploring individual core leadership values with Philip Clothier remotely (who  has worked with corporations, governments and NGOs around the world and  been an advisor on National Values Assessments in over 25 countries. His main focus now is inspiring and supporting leadership development and cultural transformation in service of the UN SDGs. He believes that  the main purpose of business (and all organisations) is to do no harm,  alleviate suffering and facilitate healing and thriving, and  understanding what values-based leadership looks like in practice and  ways to nurture it in personal and professional life. John Perkins, an American author (his best known book is Confessions of an Economic Hit Man), also joined in to outline the Values of a Life Economy.

• Conversation  Metholodology, on Friday, where students were empowered to lead conversations differently, followed by practical experimentation with  different techniques and structures. In the afternoon, Paul Polman, former Procter & Gamble president for Western Europe, and former CEO of the British consumer goods company Uniliver, gave a guest lecture, opened to the Franklin community and external guests, on Net Positive, setting  out the principles and practices that will deliver the scale of change  and transformation the world so desperately needs.

"In our master programs our intention is to go  beyond educating for knowledge and skills. Our ambition is to support  the adult development and transformation of our students. This is  particularly important in a Leadership course. 

Leadership and the Golden  Rule provides the students with a new awareness and compass to decide  what type of leader they want to be. How can they serve others and  society? How can they create positive impact? How can they exercise  their leadership not as a transaction but as a way of being the positive  change they want to see for the world?" commented Carlo Giardinetti, Dean of Executive Education and Global Outreach.

Franklin's master students are also looking forward to  the Global Issues and Responsible Leadership course which will take  place on campus on November 2 - 5, 2021. In  this course, students will be immersed in a real company facing a  sustainability challenge, focusing on transition risks that climate  change creates for companies, enabling them to develop different  solutions and strategies, thinking about their implications, and then  presenting their results to a panel of experts. 

The class will be highly  interactive, requiring students to think critically about responsible leadership of the individual and organizations in the context of  corporate responsibility and the United Nations 2030 Agenda and its  Sustainable Development Goals. Finally, the course will mainly  be delivered by Jonas Haertle, Chief Office of the Executive Director  at United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and Beat Stettler, Founder and Managing Director of Innotain Suisse.