A Q&A with Leadership Council Member Lord Dr. Michael Hastings CBE

The newest addition to the Concordia Leadership Council is Lord Hastings, the Chancellor of Regent’s University London. Beginning his career in education, Lord Hastings later moved into government service and has served as the BBC’s Head of Public Affairs and a vice president of UNICEF and Tearfund. He’s regarded for his work to advance the SDGs in the private sector, notably in his 13 years as Global Head of Citizenship at KPMG International, through his commitment to eliminating poverty and illiteracy, and to supporting equity and justice priorities. Lord Hastings is the Stephen R. Covey Professor of Leadership at the Huntsman School of Business, Utah State University.

Lord Hastings recently sat down with Rohitesh Dhawan, President & CEO of the International Council on Mining and Metals and an active Concordia Advisor, who officially nominated Lord Hastings to the Leadership Council. 

1) Concordia is hosting its first-ever hybrid summit this fall, delving into themes such as environmental sustainability. At the 2017 Annual Summit, you delivered a speech on the importance of implementing SDGs in the private sector. How can we effectively navigate these conversations in the private sector to better create lasting impact in our communities and the world at large?

The duty to lead on SDG and ESG matters has shifted from the CR team to the CEO Executive Team – this is now a Board matter and all serious CEOs will have a risk list that highlights climate and equity issues as fundamental to the internal workings and external reputation and value of any business. We no longer need to contend for the cause – the sheer weather and energy reality states how radical action and radical responsibility are now intrinsically vital to business performance and essential to business competitiveness. This requires leaders who have embraced the vision they know to be fundamental and set their teams to work on implementation. Debate is over. Only delivery is required.         

2) Concordia’s Leadership Council plays a vital role in advising programming and determining the direction of Concordia’s initiatives. What do you hope to achieve in this new position, and how will it allow you to bring issues such as poverty and illiteracy to the forefront of global discussion?

I committed at age 16 to speak for the poor and to bend the power of the prosperous to the potential of the poor and so now, any platform that affords the opportunity to speak for the isolated and disadvantaged and destitute and broken and poor and unsupported – then I will do it – that is my mission and I will not depart from it.

3.) In this digital era, access to education is key to ensuring citizens have the ability to shape their economic, social, and political future. As Chancellor of Regent’s University London, whose mission is to develop tomorrow’s global leaders, how can we catalyse cross-sector collaboration to pave the way for equitable access to education across the globe?

Digital education is now an accepted norm and we all have the opportunity to grab the greatest access tool to knowledge the world has ever known – the phone or the tablet in our hands – and be wilfully focussed to learn the essential skills that will guarantee that our learning energy achieves the skills absorption we need. We now know that universities are, like schools, just the opportunity to pivot towards education – they are no longer the primary sources of knowledge as the depositary of information or even insight. Our challenge though is not the opportunity to gain knowledge – it is the need to find wisdom… to know how to deploy the immense potential of digital learning and gear it towards equitable awareness and wise deliberation.