30: Faith in Leadership with Krish Raval OBE

Krish Raval is the Founder and Director of Faith in Leadership
(FiL), Britain’s main leadership development organisation working
with inter-faith communities. As a practicing Hindu he works with
senior leaders and clerics from Muslim, Christian and Jewish
faith communities.  In this conversation Krish shares his
work and experiences of leading this inter-faith community. 
  Simon and Krish share their thoughts on how Eco-Leadership
expresses the inter-dependencies and rich learning potential not
only between faith communities but also between faith and secular
organisations.   Krish explains that the most powerful
learning and development he observes, comes from leaders being
with others, and learning how to work with and learn from
differences, rather than being taught leadership skills. 
This aligns with Simon's theory of Leadership formation, which
was inspired by his stay in a monastic hermitage. Simon noticed
that monks were not taught 'monk skills' but were formed by the
monastic life; the prayer, liturgy, rituals, work, spiritual
direction, community life, self reflection and service to others.
Krish's FiL work recognises this and he creates spaces for
leadership formation to happen. He is currently developing the
idea of ‘radical hospitality’, sharing his personal experience
that inviting others into your home or place of worship to eat
together, can be a transformative act.  In this wide-ranging
conversation Krish recalls his conversation with Nelson Mandela
and  he shares why he believes faith leadership in our
communities is so important, to all society. 





Bio  


Krish Raval is the Founder and Director of Faith in Leadership
(FiL), Britain’s main leadership development organisation to work
with senior and emerging clerical and lay leaders from the main
faith communities.  Based at St Benet's Hall, University of
Oxford, Krish supports and mentors FiL’s extraordinary alumni
network. Whether addressing refugee and human trafficking
matters, running foodbanks, contending with right-wing agitators
outside Mosques or Synagogues, addressing the fallout from the
murders of servicemen or dealing with Covid-19, FiL alumni are
the nexus of intelligent faith in the public square in Britain
today.


Krish read law at Cambridge and Sheffield Universities, started a
leadership development programme for young people when he was in
his twenties, and has interviewed icons of leadership including
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Nelson Mandela and HH The Dalai
Lama.  He’s the only person to have been award an OBE for
services to leadership education and inter-faith cohesion