Be. Leadership
The idea for Be. Leadership began in 2009, when a group of disabled leaders, organisations and friends, came together to start a conversation about disability and leadership in Auckland City. A series of community gatherings were held over 4 months, where over 100 representatives from both the disability sector and community came together to explore ideas of leadership.
The overwhelming response was that the group saw leadership development as fundamental to their future. They wanted it to be explicitly developed, nurtured and resourced. They wanted to create a disability leadership community that was strong, resilient and sustainable.
Minnie Baragwanath, Philip Patston and Lesley Slade were mandated by the group to turn that vision into a working reality and Be. Leadership was born.
Be Leadership is a unique programme in New Zealand, and is based on the highly successful Leadership Victoria, Leadership Plus and Leadership New Zealand programmes that have been in operation for between 18 years (LV) to 6 years (LNZ). Each programme has produced a considerable alumni group, the members of whom are frequently identified as leaders in their respective local and national communities.