The Hon Kristina Keneally, the CEO of Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation; Ronni Kahn AO, social entrepreneur and founder of OzHarvest; and Simon Miller, the CEO of Anglicare, shared their strategies for leading social impact at an event hosted by the Macquarie Business School on Thursday 19 September.

Guided by the moderator, Professor Yvonne Breyer, Deputy Dean Education and Employability of Macquarie Business School, the panellists shared their diverse experiences as leaders in politics, business and social ventures. Their insights inspired the room of MBA students, alumni and industry professionals to start with a ‘teaspoon of purpose’.

There are multiple pathways to purpose

The panel started by sharing their career journeys and motivation to join or establish social organisations.

Surprisingly, Ronni said she stumbled upon her path of purpose. The social entrepreneur and founder of OzHarvest said it all started when she “saw a problem and wanted to fix it” during her time as an event organiser.

“I kept seeing waste and food thrown away because I didn't really think about a solution for it. It only struck me after I put on an enormous event for a bank of one thousand people and laid on an absolutely magnificent spread of food, beer and wine,” Ronni said.

“At the end of the event, I was left with thousands and thousands of kilos of food and there was just no way I was going to throw that away. I drove to the door of the Matthew Talbot Hostel and offered that food late at night. They opened their arms and said, ‘we want this’, so I became a rogue food rescuer for a while.”

Ronni used this story to emphasise the point that it is never too late to make change, encouraging attendees to start at any stage of their life and career.

Kristina shared a similar message. She said she lives by a simple philosophy: to leave the world better than you found it. By leading by example and saying yes to unexpected opportunities, Kristina moved from politics to the not-for-profit sector (or as described at the event, the ‘for-purpose’ sector).

“I often say about the job I have now, I might have left politics, but the values that allowed me to say yes to politics are the same values that drove me to want to work for the Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation,” Kristina said.

Harness existing skills for good

The panel provided some practical tips for attendees who were seeking some direction on how to get started.

“I saw this role at Anglicare and I thought that is a tremendous opportunity for me to take the skills that I’ve learned in my political and corporate life and put them all into action in a new field,” said Simon.

Ronni said, “It’s about what difference you want to make and what skills you have to share. The first thing to do is to find out who’s doing something similar – is there a gap? Talk to people and use your connections – don’t underestimate every single connection.

“This is a small country on so many levels, and yet it is so rich in talent, and rich in need.”

Measure success by impact not financial returns

The inspirational leaders turned to talking about measuring success in the for-purpose sector and said often people get it wrong when they try to measure accomplishment by financial returns rather than impact.

“You can say anything that you like, but it’s not what you say; it's what you do, and it's how you do it,” said Ronni.

Kristina added, “You only get so many minutes on this Earth; am I going to use them in the way that when I get to the end of my life, I feel I haven’t wasted the time or the opportunity that I was given?”

And Simon provided a simple tool for assessing priorities and measuring success. He said, “The way you work out what you value is to think about the things that would make you angry if you lost them.

“Once you understand your values and what you care about in the world, then you can work at how you want to spend your time and how you will make a difference.”

You can watch the event highlights below.

About the Leadership Series

This series of exclusive events runs throughout the year, with a focus on being a forum for ideas and networking for current postgraduate students, alumni and industry professionals. Each event spotlights an important business topic with commentary from high-calibre guest speakers and Macquarie Business School academics. The series will continue in 2025 – watch this space.