Inspiring leaders
Professor Neil Gibson, Director of the Northern Ireland Centre for Economic Policy at the University of Ulster, tells agendaNi about his experience as an Eisenhower Fellow.
Professor Neil Gibson returned in May from eight weeks in the US where he represented Northern Ireland as an Eisenhower fellow for 2014. The Eisenhower Fellowship exists to inspire leaders around the world to challenge themselves, to think beyond their current scope, to engage others, including those outside of their current networks, and to leverage their own talents to better the world around them. The fellowship identifies innovative leaders from all professions: women and men of notable achievement who have the potential to do even more.
During his fellowship, Gibson visited universities, think tanks and federal and state level economic development organisations to share experiences and bring back lessons to help the Northern Ireland Centre for Economic Policy (NICEP) succeed in its mission to ‘help Northern Ireland achieve its economic ambitions’.
Speaking about his time in the US, Gibson said: “It was a humbling experience to be selected for the fellowship and the experience was truly inspirational and life changing. The other fellows, none of whom were economists, were inspirational and will be a valuable global network for me and the research centre going forward.” The fellowship was not only about learning and the trip is likely to yield future global collaborations. “The trip fully endorsed the work of NICEP,” he added. “The desire to challenge some of the underlying principles in economic thinking, the development of practically focussed economics courses and the development of new methods of communicating complex economics messages were issues that many US organisations were also wrestling with. They are keen to collaborate with the University of Ulster in the future. It was good to have this commendation and to be able to provide insight and thinking to others. It will help inspire NICEP’s team to more success in the future.” The experience of eight weeks away from the office provided Gibson with a unique opportunity to think about leadership and what it means to run a research centre. He explained: “Northern Ireland’s leadership deficit has been the focus of considerable research and engaging with global leaders refocused my goal for NICEP to help to inspire and train future leaders in the field of economics.
“This means driving a greater sense of responsibility in students. They need to own their future, to want to change the world they live in, to want to get into politics, to want to make decisions, to learn from their mistakes and those of others and to show the compassion, understanding and resolve that great leaders possess.” Gibson is confident that the Eisenhower experience will not only improve NICEP and him as a leader but also bring benefits for Northern Ireland in the longer run.
