“If we are to grow in life, we need to successfully cross many rivers” – NMMU Business School’s Second Eco-Leadership Excursion

Seven NMMU Business School MBA students, along with Prof Paul Poisat from the Graduate School, participated in award-winning author, specialist wilderness guide and NMMU Business School Adjunct Professor, Dr Ian McCallum’s, Immersed Wilderness Leadership Excursion at the Imfolozi Game Reserve in the heart of KwaZulu-Natal.

The excursion, which forms part of the Business Schools “green” philosophy, was aimed at allowing the participants to uncover and understand the link between the natural environment, personal identity and ecological leadership.

The excursion included a four-night, five-day wilderness trail in the Wilderness Leadership School concession area of the Imfolozi Game Reserve.

This Leadership Excursion, which forms a fundamental knowledge building block, has been implemented in universities internationally and is seen as a critical learning opportunity for sustainable growth, both personally and institutionally.

Upon return from the Wilderness Excursion students and Prof Poisat were asked to comment on the impact the Excursion had on them:
“I think one of the greatest impacts for me was having a fresh perspective on my role in my organization and a businesses’ role or behaviour within the industry,” commented East London second-year Block Release MBA, Justin Cork.
“The wilderness experience presents every participant with his/her own unique challenges and represents in many ways the personal challenges life throws at us,” said Prof Poisat.
“The excursion’s primary objective, which was aimed at knowing yourself and understanding your purpose, serves as an extension of the Leadership Development Project offered on the MBA,” he concluded.

As it is an extension of the MBA programme’s Leadership Development Project, the Immersed Wilderness Leadership Excursion’s founder, Dr Ian McCallum, also lectured on the Leadership Project Two module. He was further joined by Prof Oliver Williams, an associate professor at the Department of Management at the Notre Dame University in Indiana, USA, which specialises in business ethics and corporate governance.