We at the Taproot Foundation wanted to explore the connection between pro bono and modern leadership, so we brought together two leadership development experts and pro bono enthusiasts: George Hallenbeck, Director, Commercialization at the Center for Creative Leadership, and Austin Dowling, Head of Human Resources for the Americas at Macquarie Group Limited. The pair sat down with Cat Ward, Taproot’s National Director of Advisory Services, to discuss essential leadership skills and how pro bono can help develop them.
Over the course of the conversation, several key takeaways emerged.
1. Experiential learning has emerged as the most powerful way to equip corporate leaders with essential but hard-to-build skills like empathy, humility, and resilience.
2. Building this “human skillset” has become increasingly important as automation and technological innovation increase rapidly and change what we require from leaders.
3. Pro bono is the rare experiential leadership opportunity that directly builds these critical abilities in leaders and has emerged as a powerful, cost-effective way to develop leaders who will thrive in our ever-evolving corporate work environment.
