Alison Leighton
Chief Executive Officer
City of Melbourne
Leadership as an Act of Service
So many in our community have been presented with significant challenges over the past year, particularly with the cost of living and housing crises.
As a capital city local government, it is our responsibility to ensure the City of Melbourne’s plans, policies and services are meeting the needs of our residents, businesses, students and visitors. This is more critical than ever when some in our community are doing it tough.
We are currently in the last year of our Council Plan and have recently been through an election, both of which can create a degree of pressure and additional complexity for our organisation.
Throughout my career I have come to learn the value of calm and considered leadership in times of uncertainty and change. Setting the right leadership tone is critical in maintaining and building focus and confidence across teams. This is even more important in large and complex organisations like the City of Melbourne.
It is also essential to ensure that our people have access to a clear vision, priorities and plan during times of change and challenge. It is this structure that assists in maintaining focus in the delivery our work.
Perhaps one of the most important aspects to the leadership style I aspire toward is seeing the act of leadership as an act of service. As the Chief Executive Officer, I strongly believe that a large part of my responsibility is to support our people to be successful in their roles, to build expertise and collective intelligence and to create high performing, engaged individuals and teams.
Whilst I don’t always get this right, I am very proud of the level of employee engagement and contribution that exists at the City of Melbourne. I am looking forward to working with our team to elevate this even further in the further and ultimately maximise the collective value we create for our city and its citizens.
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Recommended Resources:
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Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
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Essential Qualities of Successful Leaders by Rebecca Knight – Harvard Business Review, December 13, 2023
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Good to Great by Jim Collins
Alison is the Chief Executive Officer of the City of Melbourne – responsible for leading a team of almost 2,000 people to deliver the City’s $800 million budget including an infrastructure program of approximately $280 million per annum. Alison has more than 18 years of leadership experience in infrastructure, planning, operations and public sector business transformation. She is a qualified engineer, an alumnus of Harvard Business School, a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a Masters in Business Administration.