PwC’s Academy faculty member Prof. Palsule captivates CA Sri Lanka National Conference

Award-winning leadership coach Prof. Sudhanshu Palsule, who also forms part of the leadership faculty of PwC’s Academy, recently steered the inaugural technical sessions of the 38th National Conference of CA Sri Lanka in Colombo. 

Speaking on ‘Agility - The Differentiator’, Prof. Palsule, who has made a name for himself as one of the world’s leading thinkers in the field of transformative leadership, helped the conference delegates understand the need and importance of embracing agility if leaders were to continue to drive organisations to success amidst the continuing complexities the 21st Century brings.

Palsule, who has delivered a series of programs in Sri Lanka in the recent past including this year for PwC’s Academy, shared his views with chartered accountants on the importance of building an agile 21st Century organisation. 

He emphasised the need to build an organisation suited for adaptability and resilience, as well as the need to embrace changes from within an organisation. He informed participants of the increasing need to focus on collaboration to ensure these organisations continue to remain successful. 

Palsule said that comfort, validation and safety were three barriers which prevented agility taking centre stage. He called on the participants to focus on overcoming the need for comfort, the need to be right and the need for validation and when they overcome these three they could evolve and go on to become agile as both professionals and leaders.

He said that by embracing an agile mindset, professionals could also move away from conventional and archaic mindsets. 

Another important point Prof. Palsule noted was that when one embraces agility, he or she starts focusing on one’s purpose and competencies. He said that by being agile, both professionals and leaders would be more willing to experiment, redesign and rebuild, which can all lead to holistic and sustainable success.

Palsule is an award-winning educator, CEO, advisor and leadership coach, regarded as one of the leading thinkers in the fields of Complexity and Transformative Leadership. His work on leadership brings together the latest research emerging from neurology and psychology, and his own exploration of human thinking and behaviour for over 30 years. He is based at the University of Cambridge and teaches at global business schools such as INSEAD, MIT and Duke CE. 

Palsule has conducted several programs for PwC’s Academy in Sri Lanka including the ‘The Power of Leadership’ program which was held early this year for senior executives. The other programs he has delivered as part of the leadership faculty of PwC’s Academy include ‘Leading in the digital age’, ‘CFO as a leader’ and ‘21st Century Leadership’. He also functions as a senior advisor to the United Nations for leadership development. 

Prof. Palsule is also involved in different customised corporate training and consulting projects with PwC’s Academy to help companies transform the mindsets of senior business leaders.

As the educational business arm of PwC Sri Lanka, PwC’s Academy was established with the primary goal of helping improve the knowledge, skills, competence and expertise of professionals in finance and business, whilst also helping organisations grow and retain their talent. 

The executive education programs offered by the academy is well-known for moving away from traditional workshops methods and offering participants a unique and effective teaching methodology, where case studies and group activities are incorporated into the program, while the resource personnel also focus on individual reflections to help participants enjoy the maximum benefit, in comparison to conventional workshop methods where a lecturer speaks and participants take down notes.