Activities and highlights

Building positive impact in a contested world

The theme of this year’s conference was ‘’Building Positive Impact in a Contested World”.

Participants heard from a wide range of speakers who have been hugely successful in their own domains including Fatima Whitbread, Peter Molyneux, Mdu Dube and Dr James Robey. Each speaker reflected on lessons learned from their experience, how they navigated the different expectations placed upon them and what this could mean for people and organisations seeking to create positive impacts in the world today.

The conference also shed light on how leaders balance the competing needs of stakeholders in both the public and private sectors as well as in the world of sport and how JMCR research has led to positive impacts beyond academia.

Different Perspectives on Reputation

The theme of the 17th Annual Conference was ‘Different Perspectives on Reputation’. Participants will hear from a wide range of fantastic speakers, who have been hugely successful in their own fields: each speaker will reflect on lessons learned from their experience and knowledge and what this could mean for the world today.

In doing so, the conference went behind the scenes to the worlds of broadcasting (Sir Michael Parkinson), music (Sian Philipps), Business and Leadership (John Cross). The conference concluded with a panel discussion, considering lessons learned from these different perspectives for the world today.

Here's the conference flyer :

JMCR 17th Conference

Building Bridges in a Post-Brexit Britain

The Brexit vote has highlighted differences between various aspects of British society: between young and old; between people of different national origins; between different socio-economic groups; and between people living in different geographical locations. In this conference we started to build bridges between these groups, asking speakers representing different perspectives to share what would
make Britain a more positive society for all. In doing so, we heard from speakers such as: the former head of the Conservative Party; young people volunteering to make their communities better places; a CEO of a global communications firm; and the chair of a charity providing end of life care. The day concluded with an interactive panel discussion inviting participants to share ideas on how relationships can be strengthened and bridges can be (re)built between societal groups.

Here's the conference flyer : JMCR 2017 conference

Creating and Evaluating Social Impact

Creating positive social impact is important for corporations, public sector organisations and charities alike. But how can you create and measure social impact? How do you balance the competing needs of financial motives with a wider social purpose? And how do all these aspects play out in the public arena of developing reputations and creating social support? On this day, we heard from leaders who have experienced the positive and negative aspects of social impact. Issues under discussion include: creating social impact through entrepreneurship; the social impact and reputation of private equity; destigmatising mental health; how the BBC creates a positive impact in a public service context; and finally, integrating theories of love to create positive impact in organisations. Speakers included industry leaders as well as scholars.

Here's the flyer :

JMCR Conference 2016

Reconciliation and Relationships

Strong and trusting relationships are the foundation of successful individuals, organisations and societies. But how can individuals continue to flourish in times of failure or trauma? On this day, we explored what we can learn from leaders and organisations that have experienced both stumbling blocks and successes to answered questions such as: How can success and failure define our identities and relationships in a positive way? How can relationships become stronger through reconciliation and forgiveness? And what lessons can be learned when reconciling with yourself and others? The day drew on the experience and knowledge of industry leaders as well as scholars who have studied success and the processes by which positive change can happen in organisations and society.

Here's the flyer : JMCR conference 2015

How to set and achieve goals for personal, community and organisational benefit

In this interactive online event Tori Gardner, CEO Coolplay and Professor Kevin Money will draw on insights from the Coolplay approach to allow the attendees to explore their relationship with goal setting and help them set better goals for themselves and their organisation.

Leading a Successful Team – Building Motivation and Performance

In this interactive session Professor Kevin Money shared insights about how to build and maintain team performance. The session allowed attendees to better identify and positively label the roles that members of their team played and to identify areas of collective weakness in their team. The session was interactive and there was space for participants to share and learn from each other.

Leading for Sustainability and Societal Impact

This was a personal leadership programme for people who wanted to better identify, label and communicate their strengths and purpose. It was for leaders to increase their orientation and effectiveness in generating positive societal and sustainable impacts. Importantly, it connected leaders from the Reputation and Responsibility Immersion visit to South Africa (both NGO’s in SA and MBA participants) in a way that allowed the network to continue and have impact.

Morning Summary: A Human Approach to Sustainability and Societal Impact

This day focused on helping participants define their purpose and legitimacy as a leader. It covered the following aspects: What is sustainability? What is a human approach to sustainability and societal impact? What are your key strengths as a leader? How can you define your purpose in a way that builds on your strengths and fosters support from stakeholders?

Afternoon: Sharing Current Challenges and Brainstorming Solutions

This day focused on NGO leaders sharing their key challenges and issues in a safe environment and seeking insights from the wider group. Sub-groups were created to look into issues in more depth and consider how issues could be overcome in practice.

You know more than you think you know – Exploring the gap between what you know and what you communicate

In this interactive online event Professor Doug Saddy and Barry Van Zyl drew on insights from the world of neuroscience and music to help attendees make better sense of the world around them : To better understand when and how they can trust their intuition and to consider how they could better resonate and connect with themselves and others.

The JMCR invites fellow researchers to join for regular research events, with the aim to support idea generation, collaboration and high-quality publications. We aim to meet once a month for a writing retreat, and once a months for a paper development group, the latter in collaboration with the Henley Centre for Engaged Leadership. Dates for both the monthly JMCR writing retreats and the monthly paper development groups for the academic year 2024/2025 will be released in September 2024.

The Henley Centre for Leadership and the John Madejski Centre for Reputation collaborate every year to host paper development group sessions, where the researchers get the opportunity to share the papers they are working on and seek ideas to improve research. We had a series of interesting papers and inspiring discussions last year and it is always a joy to hear success stories of papers getting accepted at conferences, journals, etc.

Hence, we will be organising these sessions again for the 2024-25 academic year and one paper will be presented per month as per the following schedule :