The University of Birmingham was delighted to support the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, sponsoring the first week of their month-long Growth Through People campaign, with its aim to raise awareness of leadership and people management skills and their positive impact on productivity. The first week focused on Growth through Responsible Leadership which looks at ways in which organisations of all sizes can demonstrate best practice in responsible leadership and management.
The University of Birmingham Business Club’s Growth Through People Breakfast Briefing was the second event in the Growth Through People campaign’s ‘Responsible Leadership’ week. Over breakfast at the University’s Edgbaston Park Hotel, delegates from Birmingham’s business community enjoyed thought-provoking presentations and debate about leadership and management with guest speakers Professor Kiran Trehan from the Birmingham Business School, and co-founders of TRADESCEND, James O’Toole and Mengchen Kang.
James and Mengchen, who are both Entrepreneurs in Residence at the University, have extensive leadership experience drawn from their respective backgrounds in the military and Chinese State Construction. They have since jointly founded TRADESCEND, an international business planning and entrepreneurial learning consultancy. At the Breakfast Briefing, they discussed their top leadership tips for successful business growth and increased productivity, ultimately focusing on the importance of people as a business’s greatest asset.
A second breakfast briefing session the following day, again hosted on campus, focused on the future of responsible leadership combining viewpoints from senior leaders from across the region: Ian Reid, chief executive Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, Sarah Cooper-Jones, regional director of West Midlands Corporate and Commercial Banking at RBS NatWest and Professor Kiran Trehan.