For What Matters Lecture

From Purpose to Impact: Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty

Adirupa Sengupta
Group Chief Executive, Common Purpose Charitable Trust

Adi Sengupta has a huge passion for developing talent and connecting people from different backgrounds. She has over 20 years’ experience in leadership development, which includes work with major organizations and institutions around the world. Her For What Matters Lecture will focus on how, in today’s diverse, fast paced worked, being able to cross boundaries is a critical skill to master. And the key to that is finding one’s purpose, self-awareness and understanding who you really are, and how your experiences and influences inform the way one sees the world and engages with others.

This talk will invite those attending to reflect on their own purpose, the responsibilities that come with leadership, and how their talents can be used — individually and collectively — to help create a more just, inclusive, and sustainable future.

Part of our For What Matters public lecture series. Guest speakers and our academic community are invited to talk about what matters to them, share knowledge and insight, spark conversations which address current critical issues and global challenges, and promote positive social impact.

Adirupa Sengupta is Group Chief Executive of Common Purpose Charitable Trust. She has been with the organization since 2001 and has held a variety of roles over the years including CEO of Common Purpose Asia-Pacific, during which time she started a global hub out of Singapore and grew it to be a major player in the leadership field in Asia-Pacific.

Adirupa has been working in the leadership development space for over 20 years. She has a passion for developing talent and connecting people from different backgrounds. She has extensive knowledge and experience of working across different countries, cities and cultures to help leaders learn to cross boundaries in order to tackle complex problems. Her TEDx talk speaks to her passion for cross-boundary leadership.

Over the years, she has worked with major organizations and institutions and driven some key partnerships for Common Purpose including the American Express Foundation, BNP Paribas, GE, DBS, FWD, the UK Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office, the ASEAN Foundation, and RMIT University to deliver leadership programmes for different generations across the world. These include the SG100 Young Leaders Programme (with the National Youth Council of Singapore), CSCLeaders (with The HRH Duke of Edinburgh Commonwealth Study Conferences (UK Fund)) and the ASEAN Leaders programme (with the ASEAN Foundation).

Adirupa grew up in India where she completed her Bachelor’s degree before reading for an MPhil in International Relations at St. John’s College, Cambridge. She is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School’s High Potential Leadership Programme.

Admission is free but booking is essential.