Dr Matt Beard is the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship’s Program Director. In this article you can read an overview of the latest in-person retreat, hosted at Clear Mountain Lodge.
“Our first theme is using voice to make change.
How do you, as leaders, find your voice to articulate and advocate for the ethical choices and changes you know will make a meaningful difference? And second, what
do you need to do to ensure the people you lead feel confident and capable in voicing their values – even if they are at times expressed in opposition to yours?Our second theme is dialogue, difference and disagreement.
It’s beyond cliche to talk about ‘living in a polarised world’, and yet, we do – and it is becoming an increasing feature of our lives and work. How should we approach these disagreements? What does it mean to create environments that are receptive to ethical dialogue and values difference? How do we draw the line between ethical diversity and ethical deviance?”
– edited excerpt from Matt’s letter to the Fellows ahead of the retreat.
The second retreat for 2025 signalled a change of direction. The theme was ‘Confronting the Shadow Self: Giving Voice to Values’ and our focus was very much on ‘ethics in action’ – exploring the practical challenges and courage required to convert ethical diagnosis into ethical impact.
We explored this in two different, but related ways.
- First, we explored what leaders can do to be more effective advocates and drivers of ethical progress within their various environments. Through a range of self-reflective, peer coaching and group exercises, the Fellows built their own ‘ethical toolkit’ for overcoming the rationalisations, misunderstandings and anxiety that often accompanies complex ethical challenges.
- Second, the Fellows took a deep-dive into the problem of polarisation. How should we approach disagreements when they’re based on the things that are important to us at an individual level? When ethical disagreement leaves people on tenterhooks, what can leaders do to bring everyone back together in ways that enable robust debate and disagreement but don’t leave people further divided?
Image: Fellows at the recent Vincent Fairfax Fellowship retreat. You can read about the first retreat and see a list of this cohort here.
Some highlights from the week included:
- A fireside chat with broadcaster and philosopher Scott Stephens, co-host of The Minefield on ABC Radio National. Scott offered the group a totally new language and approach to reflecting and thinking about ethics. He was passionate and inspiring, connecting the work of ethical leadership to a deep love of humanity. His talk reminded me of Sir Vincent’s own reputation for introducing unapologetically moral language into environments not accustomed to thinking in that way.
- A live performance of The Merchant of Venice by Bar’d Work, a three-actor Shakespearean troupe, as well as the opportunity to reflect on both the themes of the play and the current challenges the Arts face in navigating ethical tensions and political differences.
- Our visit to the Queensland Art Gallery and Museum of Modern Art, where Deputy Director Simon Elliot walked the Fellows through a day in the life of an art gallery – and the range of ethical challenges and tensions they need to navigate. It was particularly instructive to see how calmly Simon discussed their approach to highly political, complicated issues – it was a real demonstration of how powerful it can be for leaders to make it common practice to acknowledge, discuss and talk about ethical tensions with their teams, rather than waiting until a crisis to acknowledge their existence.
- Finally, the greatest joy of the week for me was handing over control of a number of sessions for Fellows to lead – allowing us all to benefit from the huge array of strengths they possess.
The Fellows won’t meet as a full group again until the graduation in November. We are thrilled that the second retreat provided such a fulfilling follow-up to the program’s events so far.
Thanks to Matt for helping us capture some of the retreat experience in words. The Fellows are on the home stretch and we look forward to telling some of their stories from the Fellowship soon.
Applications for the Vincent Fairfax Fellowship 2025 are open – find out more about the Fellowship and how to apply here:
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