Today's whizz kids tomorrow's leaders

By VICKI JAYNE

What can a bunch of bright, high-tech students from around the world learn from an after-school homework centre in Avondale?

Quite a lot, it seems. It's the sort of stuff that helps equip them to be tomorrow's leaders, with a global perspective, project management skills, teamwork, people skills, best use of limited resources, rapid task turnaround and, perhaps most importantly, a keen sense of community obligation.

The Avondale homework centre is one of eight community service projects in New Zealand designed and carried out by students taking part in an International Corporate Leaders Programme headquartered at Arizona State University.

The 48 students involved come from four universities - Arizona State, Tu Delft (the Netherlands), RMIT (Melbourne) and Waikato - and encompass 15 nationalities.

All have come through a fairly rigorous screening process that takes for granted their high technical/academic capability and looks for something a bit further - that "glint in the eye" that suggests a calling, as programme director Richard Filley puts it.

"We are looking for people who are motivated, who want to do something with their lives, to make a difference. They want to leave the world a better place than they found it."

One of the aims of the programme is to show these potential young leaders that they can do just that.

As Chinese-born electrical engineering student Tina Liu puts it: "Before I joined, I never considered I could be a leader."

It's not that there is anything out there that prevents high-tech students moving into leadership positions, but no one is encouraging it, says Mr Filley.

"What we are doing with this programme is taking top technology students and getting them excited about themselves and what they are capable of doing. In a world that is increasingly high-tech, we need more people who understand technology involved in decision-making."

The Arizona-based programme is more experiential than academic.

"It's very action-oriented, hands-on learning," says Mr Filley.

"We get outside the classroom and into the community."

The approach is broad-based rather than pursuing a particular leadership philosophy. Those tend to come and go, he says.

"My opinion is that if you have 100 people going to become leaders, they will do it 100 different ways. There is no one right way that is always going to work."

The community service aspect of the programme keeps students' feet firmly on the ground. It helps them realise that they have been blessed in having the opportunity to pursue the goals they want, and that they are in a position to be able to give back to the community.

"But we try to do community service in a way that makes it a bona fide leadership development activity. Students had to prepare professional quality reports on their project and to give presentations on it to the organisations here," says Mr Filley.

That not only gives them speaking and writing experiences, but a chance to learn new skills in an environment where failure is okay.

For example, creating a web page may not be part of a course in mechanical engineering and learning it on the job may not be appropriate.

"This is a friendly, constructive team environment where students can teach and learn from each other."

They also have an opportunity to learn about other cultures.

"It's been fascinating to work with students from so many different countries," says Arizona-based Jacob Williams.

"With internet and plane travel, most organisations now work globally so it's important to learn how things are done in different countries."

It's not just a case of learning about how to do projects from a global perspective but of actually doing them, says Essam El-Dardiry, from Egypt.

"Working together from Arizona, we were able to meet the organisation's requirements on their goals. Then to come here and put it all together in a few hours, to have it all happen - that was the greatest feeling."

For French student Jean-Baptiste Vialle, it is all about people skills.

"Knowing how to listen, to understand what they want and to manage the information they provide to make a better outcome, that is the goal for me."

The students are sponsored by corporations and, while there is no contractual obligation, often end up working for them. But their leadership skills could be applied in academic, non-profit or even political organisations.

"Everything we have learned transcends not just the corporate setting, it extends out into the community, into our lives and families," says Phoenix-based Richard Coleman.

It is the second time the programme has included a New Zealand component and, given the close relations with Waikato University, this won't be the last.

For Indian student Sainath Thygarajan, it has been like planting a seed that will continue to grow.

"I think one good deed leads to another. The good thing that happened to us was having the opportunity to serve the community. I believe that will lead to more satisfied people because now those agencies will be able to serve more people."

* vjayne@iconz.co.nz