In The Arena

Hawthorn Football Club President Andy Gowers’ leadership beliefs do not reveal themselves through grand declarations or certainties but through a willingness to embrace complexity. It is an effort to find connection where others might see only division. "The feedback I got when I was considering running for the board was confronting. Some people thought I'd be wasting my time. Others warned me it...

"You Can't Stop the Waves, But You Can Learn How to Surf" I've used this Jon Kabat-Zinn quote countless times in my presentations, conversations and keynotes with leaders, with an image of Layne Beachley, seven-time world champion surfer. It is a wonderful quote and a beautiful image of an athlete in their element. I understand enough about Layne’s story to know that both the element itself, the s...

Ben Williamson arrived at my office seeking a coach, though he had no intention of engaging one. What followed was a three-hour session mapping his 'so far' story on a piece of A3 paper. Through this process, Ben developed what he calls his "anti-goals" – not just what he wanted in his life but what he definitively didn't want. This clarity has guided his decisions ever since, particularly in his...

My guest today has forged a new path in leadership. A path that wasn't supposed to exist - from psychologist to Director of the Australian Institute of Sport. For decades, the pathway to senior leadership in sport has been narrow and predictable. Commercial expertise and playing experience were considered non-negotiable. For a female psychologist, these traditional expectations created a double ba...

“The Space Between” A wonderful kind of wisdom comes from those who understand that performance emerges not from exerting control, but from creating the conditions for performance to flourish. As I speak with our next guest on ‘In the Arena’, Shane McCurry, this thought comes to mind. His understanding of performance and well-being reflects this wisdom: "It's not one or the other, it's one through...

As a leader, people do not experience our intentions; they experience our behaviours. How you make them feel, to elevate and inspire, by not only supporting and encouraging them through the demands of their work, but also when trying to stretch and grow them when you glimpse potential and possibilities they are yet to see in themselves. I call this the Leadership Promise . Our next guest, ‘In the...

“What change do you seek to make?” I came to coaching, having been coached, and the coach was Scott Barrow, my guest on Episode 10 of ‘In the Arena’. This is a different conversation. We explore together. It is an open and sometimes challenging discussion, one that I am glad we had, as I always do, and I hope you enjoy it. Scott Barrow helped me see that leadership (and life) is not a ‘got to’ thi...

“Were you ready?” they ask. You’d think I’d have a ready answer to a question asked so often. One I’d prepared earlier. Maybe it is less question and more response when people learn I was appointed CEO of the Richmond Football Club at age 24. This thought comes to mind when I am interviewing Collingwood Premiership Captain Nick Maxwell, the perfect guest “In the Arena” in Grand Final week. Since r...

‘The Character to Compete’ “You will behave yourself in, or you will behave yourself out. The choice is yours.” The role of leaders is to create the conditions that get the best from a group with all of its idiosyncrasies. No team is the same and will always require something different from its leaders. Does your team understand (and believe in) what they are collectively trying to do, and are the...

As leaders, we are defined by our capacity to create the conditions that enable the group to perform at its best, and there is no better measure than building a culture and a common good so compelling that individuals know, accept and play their roles in a team and all of its expectations. I sometimes wonder about the application of this high-performance mindset beyond the sporting field. Its impo...

‘Lead, or be led’, is how Neil Craig, this week’s guest ‘In the Arena’, describes it. Choose to lead, or allow the challenge of your circumstance to lead you. In the podcast, he speaks about the two egos leaders need to succeed in high-stakes environments, and I love this insight. Neil Craig is a man with more experience in the broadest range of elite sport, and has made growth a practice. Whether...

“Leadership is an external challenge of communication.” A future vision requires imagination and someone to spark the flame. Performance Coach Owen Eastwood describes this as the creation of ‘forward memories’. To ignite, motivate and bond individuals into teams through a shared future and journey they will undertake together. Imagination, in terms of leadership, clearly requires creativity, but m...

“I am often overwhelmed by how much I don’t know.” Dr Lauren Burns Making room for the person you might be. My conversation with the leaders I coach starts with a simple question, one that relates to ambition: “What is it that you seek to do?” Having got a sense, often unclear and vague, which is perfectly fine and probably expected, as it is their uncertainty that most likely led to this conversa...

“To do extraordinary things, it takes a different type of person.” This week, we welcome Australian sporting icon John Bertrand AO to ‘In the Arena’, a leader who exemplifies this mindset. With the Olympics currently dominating the sporting landscape as only the Olympics can, John brings his perspective as both a competitor (two-time Olympian and Sailing Bronze Medalist) and the man who was given...

“Mum, do men play footy?” Having spent a lifetime in the game, I learned that some people are into growing, but most people are only interested in arrival. The ‘arrival’ people create all the commotion that distracts from the critical work of the ‘growers’, who are playing a much bigger and far more important game, energised by all its possibilities, and significantly, not overwhelmed by its ambig...

Just remember, you asked for it! Moments of uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity are the uncomfortable leadership moments, and what you signed up for. The discomfort of not knowing. These are the times when leadership is most needed, your leadership, and in fact, if not for these conditions, you may well be doing someone else’s job for them. Learning how to be comfortable with the discomfort of t...

In the Arena with Cameron Schwab. Stay tuned for more