Aboriginal Leadership Program
An edited version of this article appeared originally in the Financial Times of London. During the final morning Reflection Session of our one year, four module Aboriginal Leadership Program I shared with the group that I was feeling very emotional. I have worked with many groups over fourteen years of working in executive education but there was something special about the “generosity of spirit” of this group. Then I said something which surprised me and I didn’t even fully understand, but I shared that the experience for me left me feeling “more whole” and I felt like I was “coming home”. Some of the participants suggested that I was experiencing their sense of community.
The final session reminded me of another experience during an earlier module. We were conducting the module at the Koori Heritage Centre in the Melbourne CBD and staying at the hotel next door. After one day’s sessions I was sitting with about six participating Aboriginal leaders having a drink in the bar when two very young police officers came rushing in. They were clearly chasing someone and they spoke to the barmaid and walked around the room. As they cast their attention in our direction I could feel the tension rise at our table – maybe it was only my tension but the light banter suggested to me that it was shared. And I noticed the guns in the holsters of the young policemen and for one of the few times in my life I felt threatened by it. Nothing out of the ordinary happened and yet I had a small experience of what it might feel like sometimes to be Aboriginal in Australian society.