S11-Ep5: The Accidental Peacemaker: How Philanthropist Steve Killelea Pursues Peace in a Complex World


Episode Artwork
1.0x
0% played 00:00 00:00
Mar 04 2025 34 mins  

Guests: Mike Hardy, ILA Board Chair, & Steve Killelea, Founder of Institute for Economics & Peace


It happened unintentionally, as if by accident: working in Africa, philanthropist Steve Killelea realized economics and peace are deeply intertwined.



Applying the business and leadership acumen that built his fortune in tech, Steve developed his eight pillars for positive peace. These pillars not only predict the fortunes of nations and quality of people’s lives, but hold leadership mindsets we can all adapt to bring similar stability to our own organizations.


Here's what Steve, Mike Hardy, and host Maureen Metcalf cover:



  1. How old metrics of peace actually measured violence – muddying the underlying factors of truly peaceful nations;

  2. The eight pillars of positive peace Steve uncovered; and

  3. How these principles dovetail with the decades of research at Mike Hardy’s Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relatiions.


Other episodes you'll enjoy:




For daily wisdom from our guests, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn. We’re onTikTok, Threads, and Twitter, too!



RESOURCES:


Steve’s Institute for Economics and Peace has more information online at https://www.visionofhumanity.org/ and their main website, https://www.economicsandpeace.org/.



Mike’s Centre for Peace & Security is online at https://www.coventry.ac.uk/research/areas-of-research/peace-and-security/.



Our host Maureen Metcalf posts a newsletter every week on LinkedIn. You can subscribe here.



Maureen’s latest book is Innovative Leadership & Followership in the Age of AI. You’ll find details about it at https://bit.ly/LeaderInAI, or check out the Kindle version at https://amzn.to/44buVz8 . The audiobook version is now available at https://amzn.to/4dTCleZ.



Her other 10 books are available on Amazon here.



Books we’re reading for fun or personal development right now include:




NOTE: As an Amazon partner, we may make a small commission from books you buy through these links.



-----------------------


OUR PODCAST TEAM:


Host & Executive Producer: Maureen Metcalf


Editor & Executive Producer: Dan Mushalko


Assistant Editor: Devon Mushalko


Booking Producer: Jenna Reik


CONNECT WITH US:


YouTube: @InnovatingLeadership


Threads: @innovativeleaders


X/Twitter/Whatever New Name It Has This Week: @IL_Institute


LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ILI-LinkedIn2


TikTok: @innovativeleadership


Website: InnovativeLeadershipInstitute.com



Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating!


-----------------------


About Our Guests:


Steve Killelea A.M is a global philanthropist focused on peace and sustainable development, with a long, successful career in high technology and international business development. Over the last two decades, Steve has applied his business skills to his many global philanthropic activities, established an internationally renowned global think tank -- the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) -- and a private family charity, The Charitable Foundation, which now has over three million direct beneficiaries.



Mike Hardy is the founding director of the Centre for Trust, Peace, and Social Relations at Coventry University. The Centre is a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and experts whose work draws together issues such as conflict resolution and reconciliation, social identity, inequality and mobility, wealth and poverty, integration and pluralism, prejudice and discrimination, intergroup conflict and cooperation, the problem of civil rights and the politics of equality. Mike has been twice honoured, awarded the OBE in 2001 for his peace-building work in the Middle East, and appointed a Companion of Honour of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, June 2010, for his work internationally in Intercultural Dialogue. Mike is a trustee of 3FF, the leading interfaith charity in the UK, and board chair of the US-based International Leadership Association.