The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, the Royal College of Art’s largest and longest-running centre for design research, has been influential in developing the practice of inclusive design over its 31 year-history. It is where Author Rama Gheerawo cut his teeth in addressing many aspects of human diversity and inclusive design.
Rama Gheerawo is hoping that his new book on Creative Leadership may offer an answer to how we fix broken models of leadership. This publication is for the creative that lives in every human. Throughout the book, using real case studies, Gheerawo reflects on creative leadership as a transformational process that can be applied to individuals, groups, organizations and projects. The model to create a framework from living experience.
The Creative Leadership model is based on the three connected values of Empathy, Clarity and Creativity. It proposes and cultivates a culture of inclusion. Current events continually demonstrate there has been a real need for its open-handed and open-hearted stance. It is an idea of its time, born from design and drawing on enduring, human values. Importantly, it provides a platform for us all to create the leadership we want to see, and effect this change in the world around us.
At the book’s core are three leadership values. These are based on the principles that everyone has leadership potential and most of us can access these three values:
- Creativity is a universal ability to develop ideas that positively impact ourselves and others
- Empathy is the hallmark of a twenty-first-century leader and is recognized as a signature value
- Clarity is the link that aligns vision, direction and communication, personally and professionally
About the Speaker
Rama Gheerawo is an international figure within design. In 2019, he won a Design Week ‘Hall of Fame’ Award and was named a 2018 Creative Leader by Creative Review alongside Paul Smith and Björk.
He addresses diversity across age, ability, gender and race. An innovator in the field of Inclusive Design and Design Thinking, Gheerawo has led over 100 international projects with government, business, academia and the third sector with clients such as Samsung, Toyota and Panasonic.
Gheerawo also holds visiting professorships and advisory roles globally for business, new ventures, universities, awards and initiatives, including D&AD, The Valuable 500, the RSA Decolonizing panel, and the Global Disability Innovation Hub at London’s Olympic Park.