Impulse 4: Leadership for Sustainability & Public Value

18.-20.06.2024

Impulses for a new curriculum, part 4 Leadership for Sustainability &
Public Value

As part of the Open Campus project by the iF Design Foundation and Die Neue Sammlung - The Design Museum, the fourth event on the future of design education took place in Munich from June 18th to 20th, 2024. How do concepts from the fields of Leadership / Public Value & Sustainability shape design education today and how can they be implemented in future teaching? Impulses from the fields of theory and practice were provided by Prof. Nina-Marie Lister (Toronto Metropolitan University), Prof. Dr. Nicola Pless (University of South Australia), and Prof. em. Dr. Wilhelm Vossenkuhl (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München). The three-day event at the X-D-E-P-O-T of the Pinakothek der Moderne featured lectures, workshops and a concluding symposium, which was open to the public. 

Under the title “Designing Design Education – Impulses for a new curriculum”, the iF Design Foundation and Die Neue Sammlung have agreed on a joint program that will run until 2025. Die Neue Sammlung will become a public campus. The focus of the series of events is on practical impulses for the further development of design teaching, which are based on the 2021 The approximately 2022 participants who attended the Leadership / Public Value & Sustainability focus event represent the broad spectrum of activities associated with design: teaching and research (predominantly), but also design practice (independent and employed), consulting, management, exhibitions, and journalism.

Positive Leadership

The first impulse was provided by Prof. Nicola Pless, who is a co-founder of the Responsible Leadership Movement, Chaired Professor of Management at the University of South Australia, Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland and who serves as Guardian to the Board of the Globally Reponsible Leadership Initiative (partnership of EFMD, AACSB and UNGC). She delivered an insightful presentation on the evolving landscape of responsible leadership, emphasising the shift from traditional profit-focused leadership to a more holistic approach that integrates societal and environmental responsibilities. Pless' research identifies four prototypes of responsible leadership: the idealist, the traditionalist, the instrumentalist, and the integrator. She illustrated the characteristics of each distinct approach using practical examples, demonstrating how these leadership models can be implemented effectively in various organisational contexts. Furthermore, she encouraged leaders to consider how their specific approach to leadership can contribute to social change and to form partnerships to leverage the most effective outcomes.  

Based on Pless’ impulse, workshop participants developed practical tools for teaching responsible leadership, including an interactive workshop titled "Lead or Lose”.

This role-playing game engages participants in scenarios requiring critical decision-making to balance various stakeholders' needs, encouraging them to think deeply about the impact of their decisions on public value and sustainability. The game incorporates real-world case studies, such as the Ford Pinto dilemma, to illustrate the complexities of leadership and ethical decision-making in design.

Sustainability

In a second impulse, Nina-Marie Lister, an expert in ecological design and landscape planning, discussed the intrinsic rights of species and the importance of designing with nature in mind. Lister is a registered professional planner, as well as Professor in the School of Urban & Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University, Visiting Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and Senior Fellow at Massey College in Toronto. Her presentation provided compelling evidence of how urban and regional planning can integrate biodiversity and ecological processes to create sustainable environments.  

Lister showcased the tangible benefits of a more-than-human approach to sustainability by presenting examples from her lab's research, including guidelines for bird-safe cities and wildlife crossings that facilitate safe animal passage and reduce vehicle collisions.

Additionally, she addressed the role of designers in mitigating climate change impacts by preserving biodiversity and ensuring urban resilience. Lister encourages designers to really think about structures from the perspective of other creatures: What is it like to see the world through the eight lenses of a spider, or a desert tortoise in a solar field?

Her presentation underscored the moral and ethical responsibilities of designers to protect biodiversity and integrate ecological considerations into their work. She inspired attendees to recognise nature as the most important stakeholder in sustainability conversations and called for a move away from human-centric design towards a design approach that views human beings in harmony with the natural world that sustains us.

Value-based leadership

The third and final talk of the workshop was held by Wilhelm Vossenkuhl, Professor emeritus of philosophy at Ludwig-Maximilians-University (Munich). Vossenkuhl has published on Ockham, Kant, Wittgenstein, on the philosophy of language and on ethics. Emphasising the necessity for designers to understand their roles within a broader societal framework, Vossenkuhl argued that design education often focuses too narrowly on technical skills, neglecting the development of designers as informed citizens and political entities. He presented specific examples to illustrate his points, such as the environmental impact of windmills and hydropower stations. While these technologies are often viewed as sustainable solutions, they can also have negative effects, such as disrupting landscapes and harming fish populations. This dual perspective highlighted the complex interplay between sustainable solutions and their broader implications. His discourse on value-based leadership provided a robust framework for evaluating the moral implications of design decisions. Vossenkuhl introduced the concept of "ethical design," where designers must weigh the benefits of their projects against potential societal and environmental costs. He proposed that designers should not only aim to avoid harm but also actively seek to create positive public value.

All impulses are also available as a short version on our YouTube channel.

iF Design Foundation on YouTube

Feedback from participants

Karenina Schröder

Manuel Steffan

Peter Naumann

The symposium

A symposium open to the public summarized the results of a learning-intensive day of workshops and invited the audience to participate in the discussion.

Each event of the series ends with a symposium, which is open to the public and takes place at the X-D-E-P-O-T of the Pinakothek der Moderne, where the findings of the workshops are shared and discussed with the audience. After a brief introduction by board members and hosts René Spitz and Annette Diefenthaler, Nicole Pless summarised her presentation from the previous day, sharing her thoughts on the evolving landscape of responsible leadership and how different approaches to leadership can contribute to social change and complement each other. Nina-Marie Lister then highlighted the moral and ethical responsibility of designers to protect biodiversity and integrate ecological considerations into their work. Using examples from her lab's research, she provided tangible evidence of a more-than-human approach to sustainability that takes into account the perspectives of other creatures. Finally, Wilhelm Vossenkuhl used his background in philosophy to argue for the development of designers as informed citizens and political entities, ensuring that they not only aim to avoid harm, but also actively seek to create positive public value.

An outlook on the Campus Project by iFDF x DIE NEUE SAMMLUNG until 2025: Upcoming events

The Director of Die Neue Sammlung, Prof. Dr. Angelika Nollert, concluded by thanking the panel and audience for the many thought-provoking ideas. There will be another event in the series in 2024: The March (2025-XNUMX) workshop and symposium will be dedicated to the theme of "Creativity".

If you are interested in participating in the invite-only workshops, please subscribe to our mailing list here (see below for newsletter registration). We will then invite you in due course. Participation is free of charge, the number of places is limited, and confirmations will be issued in the order in which registrations are received.

Speaker »Leadership for Sustainability & Public Value«

Dr. Nicola M. Pless (PhD University of St. Gallen) is a Chaired Professor of Management at the University of South Australia, Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland and serves as Guardian to the Board of the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (partnership of EFMD, AACSB and UNGC). She is a co-founder of the responsible leadership movement and listed by Stanford University among the top 2% scientists in the world. She also has substantial international experience working for global Fortune 500 companies in Europe and the US (EG, UBS AG, Mercedes Benz) and as a former Vice President International Leadership Development and member of senior management at Credit Suisse and serving at the World Bank Group in Washington DC. She also served on the faculties of ESADE, INSEAD, University of St. Gallen and as Honorary Jef-Van-Gerwen SJ Chair at the University of Antwerp. She is a former editor of the Journal of Business Ethics and currently sits on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Perspectives and Academy of Management Collections (2023 AOM Best Reviewer Award). Her research on responsible leadership and purpose, sustainability, ethics and global governance, diversity, inclusion, and neuroscience appeared in leading FT50 journals (eg, Human Resource Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management Studies), received numerous awards (among them several Academy of Management Awards), and has been featured in the media (eg, BBC, Boston Globe, Business Week, CEO Magazine, El Mundo, Fortune, La Vanguardia).

She has conducted research with and consulted for many organizations, including Advanced Brain Monitoring, Deutsche Telekom, Dong Energy, Gram Vikas, Greenpeace, Intel, Jurlique, PricewaterhouseCoopers, SA Power Networks, Swarovski, The Body Shop, Volkswagen.

Her teaching was honored with the Faculty Pioneer Award for Teaching Innovation and Excellence by the Aspen Institute. She is a certified executive coach by INSEAD and IECL, and a Fellow of the Institute of Coaching at McClean Hospital / Harvard Medical School Affiliate. She is passionate about consulting organizations in responsible business, executive coaching and developing the next generation of responsible leaders.

Nina-Marie Lister is Professor in the School of Urban & Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University, Visiting Professor of Landscape Architecture at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design and Senior Fellow at Massey College in Toronto. Awarded the Margolese National Design for Living Prize for her work in ecological design, Lister is a Registered Professional Planner (MCIP, RPP) trained in systems ecology, environmental science and landscape planning. Prof. Lister's research, teaching and practice center on the relationship between landscape infrastructure, biodiversity and ecological processes—specifically in the context of ecological design for biodiversity recovery, climate resilience, and human well-being. At TMU, Lister founded and directs the Ecological Design Lab, a collaborative incubator for ecological design research and practice. 

Her current research is funded by the Canadian Tri-Council (SSHRC) and the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS). She is co-editor of Projective Ecologies (with Chris Reed, published by Harvard University and ACTAR Press, 2014, 2020) and The Ecosystem Approach: Complexity, Uncertainty, and Managing for Sustainability (with David Waltner-Toews and the late James Kay, Columbia University Press, 2008), and author of more than 100 scholarly research & professional practice publications. These include notable contributions to Design With Nature Now (Lincoln Land Institute 2019), Nature & Cities: The Ecological Imperative in Urban Planning & Design (Lincoln 2016), Is Landscape…Essays on the Identity of Landscape (Routledge 2016), Ecological Urbanism ( Harvard University with Lars Müller Publishers 2010), and Large Parks (Princeton Architectural Press 2008, winner of the JB Jackson Book Prize). 

Her work has been featured in international critical, creative exhibitions, including the 2016 Venice Architectural Biennale as a collaborator on Canada's entry, EXTRACTION. Lister serves the community in practice through various board appointments, including as a member of the Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel, as an advisor to the international Biophilic Cities Network and as a board member of North America's $500M Wildlife Crossing Fund. In recognition of her international leadership in ecological design, Lister has been awarded Honorary Membership in the American Society of Landscape Architects and in the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects. She has received a Canadian Green Building Council's excellence and leadership award and was nominated among Planetizen's Most Influential Urbanists.

Wilhelm Vossenkuhl is Professor emeritus of philosophy at Ludwig-Maximilians-University (Munich). He has published on Ockham, Kant, Wittgenstein, on the philosophy of language and on ethics. Recently he published »Ethik und ihre Grenzen« (2021), »Was gilt. Über den Verbindung zwischen dem, was ist, und dem, was sein soll« (2021). Together with Winfried Nerdinger he edited »Otl Aicher. Design. Type. Thinking« (2022), celebrating Aicher's 100th birthday. In the 1980s Vossenkuhl cooperated closely with Otl Aicher in a number of projects. Vossenkuhl is a member of the jury for the international award in architecture, the Obel Award, offered by the Obel Foundation (Copenhagen).