Sir Robert Menzies, Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister, embodied many of the leadership qualities that remain important today. Integrity, purpose, strong values, a regard for all Australians and pride in our nation provided the strong core from which he devoted his life to service.

Like all leaders, Sir Robert Menzies experienced success and failure, his many notable achievements were punctuated by moments of uncertainty and discouragement. One of the key attributes of great leaders is how they face adversity. Menzies used these setbacks and moments of introspection to learn, grow and ultimately become a leader who inspired the nation and was respected by all, irrespective of political persuasion.

The Foundation is proudly non-partisan and as such,our strategic platform aspires to ensure that Sir Robert Menzies legacy as a leader continues to inform and influence the development of a contemporary understanding of outstanding leadership. This is inspired by the seminal role played by Menzies in Australia’s post war emergence as an independent nation. Like our namesake, we are committed to supporting leadership initiatives that grapple with issues that are germane to Australia’s future.

Based on this example, the Menzies Foundation aspires to raise the profile and importance of ‘outstanding’ leadership to encourage Australians to reflect on leadership, build their own leadership capability and contribute to the greater good.

To do this the Foundation leverages our expertise in partnership brokering to support multi-sector collaborations which identify leadership challenges, seek new insights, support the development of innovative solutions, pilot interventions and build collaborations for impact and scale.

Building on Sir Robert Menzies legacy, and In accordance with our catalytic model of philanthropy, we aspire to build platforms that model the importance of a purpose-led orientation, are entrepreneurial and adaptive, undaunted by complexity and focused on a more thoughtful, deeper interrogation of what it means to be a leader in the world today.