Kikki.k founder talks leadership and why she’s joined uni team
QUT’s newest program is drawing in some heavy hitters, including the successful Kikki.K founder who tells InDaily about living her dream life.
The Queensland University of Technology rolled out its new QUT Leadership Institute yesterday, a new program with a cohort of experienced leaders including Kikki.K founder Kristina Karlsson, who InDaily spoke with on the importance of forward-thinking leadership as Brisbane navigates an uncertain landscape.
“The world will only really be focused on the games for a few weeks,” Karlsson said.
“But we will live with the leadership that we’ve built now for decades and that is the real legacy.
“We need leaders who are comfortable leading through change rather than waiting for things to settle,” Karlsson said.
Karlsson founded Kikki.k in 2000, and has since stepped away from the company to become an international speaker, mentor and author through her new business Dream Life.
Now, she is also a part of the QUT Leadership Institute team, which uses the symbol of a lighthouse as an apt metaphor for strong leadership.
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“Lighthouse leaders, they find the way for others from their own lived experience,” Karlsson says. “Leadership really is built brick by brick long before anyone sees the light from that lighthouse.”
The QLI program has been developed in response to challenges facing business, government, sport and not-for-profit sectors across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
“The opportunities will be enormous, but of course, they won’t realise themselves,” Karlsson says of the years leading up to the 2032 Olympics.
“They depend on whether we have leaders who can turn a global moment into stronger organisations, stronger communities and deeper pipeline of talent.”
Karlsson draws on the difficulties she faced with her own business through the pandemic years, and the moments that taught her about the importance of leading with honesty and strong values.
“That’s when leadership stopped being about what I was building and started being more about what I could leave lit for other people,” she says. “A lighthouse doesn’t move and it doesn’t change, it just keeps shining so others can find their way and to me, that’s what leading with legacy really means. “
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QLI has developed high-impact programs led by industry leaders, formed through collaboration between private and public sector leaders along with researchers who draw on evidence from every field leadership touches.
The first cohort of QLI Leaders in Residence will include Karlsson, alongside chair of Sport Australia Hall of Fame and Olympian John Bertrand AO, global leader on AI and ethics Najoh Tita-Reid and chairman of Ventia Services Group David Moffatt FAICD.
QLI participants will also be guided and connected by Institute Fellows including former Ramsay Health Care CEO Carmel Monaghan, former Canstar CEO Andrew Spicer, NEXTDC CEO Craig Scroggie, Australian Counselling Association CEO Jodie McKenzie, The Royal Australian Navy Commodore Phillipa Hay CSC and Bar, Go1 co-founder Dr Vu Tan and Walkley Award-winning journalist Catherine Fox AM.
The QLI program will be co-led by Executive Director Professor Sarah Kelly OAM and Professor Gene Moyle to help Queensland produce the leaders capable of turning a global events like the Olympics into long-term influence.
Professor Kelly said industry member and government consistently report that leadership capability is a growing challenge in our region.
“There is a pressing need to strengthen our current leaders and to grow a new generation of leaders equipped to navigate this upheaval,” Kelly said. “Equally they need to be prepared for the scale of the opportunity being presented as our region takes centre stage in the world.”
She added that there is the potential for an exponential leap in economic expansion based off other cities that have hosted major events as well as when Brisbane hosted World Expo in 1988.
“The conversation ahead of the Games often focuses on physical infrastructure, but what we are instilling at QLI is leadership as legacy.”
The QUT Leadership Institute will feature five leadership programs built around strategic challenges; QLI Trailblazers for undergraduate students; QLI Unlimited for women leaders; QLI LeadLab for C-suite leaders; QLI Ignite for senior leaders; and QLI Unlocked for sports executives.
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