Looking at the good country index

At a time of disruptive change, we need good citizens, good organisations and good countries

HOW do you rank a country? There are any number of ways to do this, including the size of GDP, rate of growth, competitiveness or even how happy they are. All these are founded on how well the countries are doing for their own citizens and themselves.

In contrast, the Good Country Index looks not at how well a country is doing for itself, but how it measures its global contribution and impact on other parts of the world in terms of science and technology, culture, international peace and security, world order, planet and climate, prosperity and equality and health and wellbeing. This is not a subjective moral judgement, but rather a data driven measure of how much any one country contributes to humanity at large.

The Good Country Index currently ranks Malaysia 37 out 163 countries.

We live today in a very complex and interconnected world where the impact of political, social and environmental discourse in any one country goes beyond its borders to influence the lives of many people thousands of miles away.

While the world is interconnected, the current political movement towards governments in dif- ferent parts of the world becoming more inward-focused does not help with bringing us together to address our grand challenges in areas such as water, energy, health and the environment. The aim of the Good Country Index is to shine the spotlight on this by introducing the intellectual concept of being a Good Country to the wider world.

The idea of the index is very interesting and I believe that it can, and should, be supported through encouraging “doing good” not only at country level, but also at the organisational and the individual level. Education immediately suggests itself as a key platform for this. How can we encourage our students, at all levels, to aspire to have a good impact on the world beyond themselves, and how will this contribute to making our countries, organisations, nations and ultimately humanity better off.

In order to encourage “doing good” at the individual level, Heriot-Watt University Malaysia has pioneered the EmPOWER programme. This takes the students on a four-stage journey - knowing and leading self, leading teams, leading communities and leading enterprise. A key element of the first stage of the programme is the development of an Impact Statement. Students are supported through an exploratory workshop to develop a statement that describes how they will hone, develop and use their skills, knowledge and attitudes to have a positive impact on the world around them.

Research has established that developing a clear sense of purpose is not only good for the world, but it also contributes to mental and physical wellbeing as well as increasing productivity and resilience.

In a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review and the Energy Project, where 20,000 employees across 25 industries were polled, results indicated that the presence or lack of purpose was the single most important contributor to high performance and feel good among the participants. Interestingly, the same study indicated that fewer than 20% of the business leaders developed a clear sense of purpose that they can readily and convincingly communicate to inspire their employees.

Workshops for the development of Impact Statements are not only offered to students but also to staff at our university. We started by getting every member of the management team to develop their own Impact Statement, before asking the other members of staff and their students to draft theirs. This not only sets the level of expectation as one of leading by example, but also created an environment whereby every member of the community becomes aware, at least intellectually, of the concept of documenting impact, as well as immersing the students and staff in a supportive atmosphere.

Robin Sharma said that “Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence and inspiration. Impact involves getting results, influence is about spreading the passion you have for your work, and you have to inspire team-mates and customers.”

At a time of disruptive change, volatility and global challenges, we need good citizens, good organisations and good countries. Educating for purpose and impact will surely take us in this direction.