BANDAR ENSTEK, September 18, 2018 –  A group of 22 academicians from 10 public and private universities throughout the country came together to Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT), under the auspicies of the Ministry of Education Malaysia to participate in a two days AL 404 course ‘Qalb Ladership Decision Making: Balanced Leadership Model (BLM)’. Datuk Professor Dr. Rohana Yusof, Director of AKEPT graced its official opening with a warm welcome. Also present was Dr. Wan Nur Ibtisam Wan Ismail, Deputy Director, AKEPT Centre for Leadership Sustainability.

This course led by Professor Tan Sri Dato’ Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, Founding Convener of Sejahtera Leadership Initiative (SLI) who is the Chairperson of Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) and Rector of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). He was assisted by a team of co-facilitators comprising of Assoc Prof Dr. Mohd. Rushdan Mohd. Jailani (USIM), Assoc Prof Dr. Cordelia Mason (UniKL), Assoc Prof Dr. Mahazan Abdul Mutalib (USIM), Dr. Nuradli Ridzwan Shah (USIM) and Dr. Haji Zulkifly Baharom (SLI). The focus of this course is designed to guide leaders in the academic world to make decisions based on the Qalb-BLM. Delivered using the experiential learning approach, this course encouraged participants to tap into their inner-self to move closer to their highest potential to lead in managing the academic environment.

Universities need a new generation of authentic leaders to step forward, who are genuine and compassionate. They recognize that the purpose of leading is to serve others and society. Each day, they practice their values. They don’t just state them; they actually practice them in their lives. They lead not just with their intellects, but with the whole person in a holistic form of leadership. It is not to diminish the role of intellect but engaging in a deeper relationship with people and happiness for society.

In the opening keynote presentation, Professor Tan Sri Dzulkifli articulated that “In order for a new generation of leaders to emerge, we need to move away from top-down leadership. For many years we have looked to the person on top as all powerful and we have studied that person, rather than looking for talented people throughout organizations who have the potential to step up and lead at various levels. I believe at a deeper level that people’s desires have changed. They’ve learned the hard way that money is not the goal. There is a deep underlying values for meaning in people’s lives.

“The role of the leader in this century is different than in centuries past. It’s to bring people together around this sense of meaning, purpose, and values. It is a difficult task, particularly in organizations that span the globe, to gain that kind of alignment where people believe in the purpose of the organization and practice its values.

“The second role of the leader is not to exert power over other people. Many scholars have written about leadership as power. This idea of power suggests a zero-sum game: if I give you power, I have less. But I reject this idea. I think leadership is about empowering other people to lead. What we’re trying to do through empowerment is more like love. It can be infinite. If we can empower other people to step up and lead, then we have much stronger organizations, and we can contribute our best abilities.”

In a nutshell, the ultimate of Qalb-BLM course is about ‘education of the heart’ and ‘leading with our hearts’ by nurturing the competencies of wisdom, justice, courage, temperance (WJCT) through a balanced spiritual heart (Qalb), soul (nafs), intellect (‘aql) in line with the five universal values. As such, Qalb-BLM could surely be the linchpin to espouse the values of ‘happiness, love and mutual respect’ (HLM) as expounded by the Education Minister.

 

Prepared by :
Dr. Zulkifly Baharom
CEO Sejahtera Leadership Initiative