vincent fairfax fellowship: graduation of group fifteen

This article was published in Living Ethics: issue 81 spring 2010

The Vincent Fairfax Fellowship is an Ethics in Leadership program that has been offered to small group of aspiring leaders each year by St James Ethics Centre. Here are some highlights from the celebrations to mark the graduation of the fifteenth group of Vincent Fairfax Fellows held at the Grand Court, Art Gallery of New South Wales, on Saturday 17 July 2010.

During the program, the Fellows have had to draw on and develop their own personal resources of moral courage in order to face the challenges that have been presented to them (and that they have presented to each other). Along the way, they have had to exercise discernment, political ‘nouse’, compassion and resilience. Most importantly, they have not simply read or talked about such things … they have actually had to live them. It is the lessons learned in this crucible that the Fellows take with them into the future. They join the other Vincent Fairfax Fellows who have graduated before them – as will others who come later.

The evening’s celebration coincided with the end of funding for the first phase of the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship program which has been, for the past seventeen years, a program of St James Ethics Centre, made possible by the generous support of the family of Sir Vincent and Lady Nancy Fairfax.

St James Ethics Centre extends its best wishes to the Melbourne Business School as it responds to a common challenge with a new approach, in a new program bearing the name of Sir Vincent Fairfax.

Peter Joseph AM, Chairman, St James Ethics Centre

For our twelve graduates it is the end of a journey of exploration of the mind, a searching of the heart as well as a stern test of the physical in remote Katherine Gorge. It is also a beginning as these Vincent Fairfax Fellows go out to make a difference to the world in which they live, whether at a local, regional or national level. It was Sir Vincent Fairfax’s vision that through this course our Fellows might learn more about translating dreams into action while at all times showing the virtues of humility, compassion and moral courage.

After seventeen years we have all learnt much, given much and have been united by the passion we all share for this very special Vincent Fairfax Fellowship. We haven’t always agreed on how to pursue that passion but that is of no matter. Tonight we offer with kindness and extend a thank you as simple as it is sincere. We believe that Sir Vincent and Lady Nancy, who loved these nights, would be smiling and approve of this special Fellowship we share. Our collective legacy is in front of us to see.

Leadership is about the long haul. It manifests itself in vision, strength, commitment, magnanimity, acceptance and resilience.

John B Fairfax AO, Patron of the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship

There will be some sentiment in the room tonight as those Fellows and Alumni reflect on what I believe for many, will have been one of the great opportunities and experiences of their lives. During their course, they will have been challenged physically and mentally. There will have been times when each individual has felt alone and isolated with their own thoughts. There will have been other occasions when the dynamics of group interaction created a certain degree of euphoria …

The variety of participants has been one of the real benefits of the program so far. They could be anybody from any vocation. Each of us know when we have made a contribution; when we have fulfilled expectations; when the product of our efforts benefits others rather than ourselves. It is not the notoriety nor the name in lights we seek, it is the benefits bestowed on those around us who are perhaps not so well dispositioned, that provides the fruit upon which we feast.

Particularly tonight I too congratulate those graduating. You can be proud of what you have achieved. You are fine representatives of what has been accomplished over the duration of the entire program. All of us are proud of you.

Reflection by Jane Cleeve, Graduating Fellow

This Fellowship provided me with three things, which have resulted in my personal growth toward a greater capacity to influence and contribute to the society in which I live. Firstly, a reference point for ethics in leadership, secondly, trust and thirdly, freedom.

This program helped me find a ‘voice’. A voice is important if we are to exercise and support the ethical leadership in our field of influence and thereby create a better world. I believe to have a ‘voice’ you must be informed. To be informed you must have knowledge and experience. The knowledge comes from questioning and reflecting. Experience comes from doing. Doing makes for an interesting life. And people are interested in interesting lives. They want to listen to what you have to say and share in your experiences. You then, have the capacity to influence to create a better world.

Excerpt from ‘moral courage’ address by The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP, Federal Member for Wentworth

All of you will be put to the test when you have to make the choice between doing the easy thing that is wrong and the hard thing that is right. That is what requires moral courage ...

Moral courage comes from strength of character. It comes from the very moral pores within you. You have to believe in yourself: if you don’t believe in yourself, then you cannot ask anyone else to believe in you ...

That courage to stand up for your convictions is a vital element in your character. It is something you cannot neglect ... Some people do not have the strength of character to stay true to their convictions …

Leadership is about listening, engaging, reaching out and drawing strength from the people around you. But at the end of the day, the people you are seeking to lead need to know that you stand for something ... How many organisations do you know where conventional thinking is encouraged, dissent is dangerous and making a mistake is met with great penalties? You get a culture like that, and the only rational response is to do nothing. Just as a good leader will speak up for what they believe in, they should also ensure a culture where others are encouraged to do the same. There is no virtue in moral courage if it is only the province of the leader.

Vote of thanks by Dr Pippa Grange, Graduating Fellow

The Vincent Fairfax Fellowship encourages irreverence, speaking out of turn, forgetting one’s place amid the status quo, the diminishing of certainty and the rise and rise of doubt, barefoot pondering, and on occasion, the undoing of information one has spent years gathering up and calling knowledge. For this we say thank you. We leave the program as better able and more willing to lead ethically in our respective fields, and though each flower may bloom at a different time, you have tended the garden.

… We would like to recognise and thank the Vincent Fairfax Family, who have had the constancy of vision to invest in developing ethical leadership in Australia … Through the generous support of the Vincent Fairfax Ethics in Leadership Foundation, twelve of us here this evening have been the beneficiaries of an incomparable opportunity to grow and understand what it is to ‘ethic’ in our respective fields of endeavour.

… There have been very testing times for some, and there have been times of sheer bewildering insight for others. We haven’t always got it all right, with our passions and our frailties, but often we have. All the time, the pursuit of ethical leadership has been the central, magnetic and immovable theme.

… Through a constellation of experiences; physical, emotional, spiritual and intellectual, we have worked as a group to increase the capacity of each individual member to engage in ethical leadership. I believe this is so for each of the Fellowship groups before us.

Our thanks to our master of ceremonies, Johanna Featherstone from Group 13 and Sue Green from Group 11 who provided the acknowledgement of country.

Learn more about the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship.