Poland: Best practices in youth leadership & csr

In December 2008, the SYNAPSIS Foundation, that works with people with autism in Poland, hosted young leaders of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, an international consultancy firm, from acrossEurope. The visit was a part of a special program organized by the PriceWaterhouseCoopers board for its young and talented employees – looking like the promising future leaders of the company. The Company board wanted them to become sensitive to various social issues and perhaps – in the future – run in the company various social programs for socially disadvantaged groups, contributing to the corporate social responsibility image of the company.

The young leaders formed 10 person international groups and visited various organizations across the region. The purpose of these field trips was to inquire into ‘values driven’ (responsible) leadership and how this could lead the PriceWaterhouseCoopers to become the distinctive firm. Values driven leadership is a relatively new concept in the corporate world (but closely connected with the CSR – corporate social responsibility concept), whereas it is a crucial practice amongst social entrepreneurs and those working for social change in the nonprofit sector. It is therefore easier to experience values driven leadership in nonprofit organizations, which was one of the main reasons why field trips were organized. While visiting various nonprofit organizations, the leaders were to explore features of nonprofit world leaderships, leadership in a different context, both in the aspect of individual leadership of NGO leaders and social leadership of NGOs as organizations. As a result of the trips the young corporate leaders were to re-assess their approach to leadership and to decide which aspects they might change.

During the meeting at the SYNAPSIS Foundation, young leaders asked many questions and tried to get to know the challenges the foundation is facing in every day functioning. This looked as a completely new world for them.