While Winston Churchill, Bob Hawke, John Howard, Sir Robert Menzies, Paul Keating, had their detractors, they are considered by many to have provided outstanding leadership at different times when called on.
In more recent times, we saw outside the political sphere, Dylan Alcott, named Australian of the Year for 2022. Dylan is a disability advocate who has been open about his experiences of bullying and discrimination regarding his disability. Since his award, I am seeing more and more how I can engage and normalise disabilities in our working life. In a moving acceptance speech after being named Australian of the Year, Dylan urged non -disabled people to “challenge your unconscious biases, your negative perceptions and lift your expectation of what you think people with a disability can do.”
Dylan follows in the footsteps of some outstanding Australians such as Adam Goodes, Ita Buttrose, Patrick McGorry, Lt Gen Peter Cosgrove, Cathy Freeman and the late Ian Kiernan (a Taurus client with Clean Up Australia).
Interesting, all of those Australians short-listed for the 2022 prestigious award, and they were from many different fields, would have been worthy recipients at a time when Australia is looking for inspiring leadership as we move on from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Business leaders are now in the spotlight more than ever before as they help drive the Australian economic recovery. We are the ones that will provide the vision, the inspiration as well as the strategic and critical thinking to keep people in jobs – as we have done, as I have done, thus far.
Are we up for the challenge? Business like never before appreciate how critical it is to adapt to the changes the Pandemic have bought on – including clearer and more open communication, team building and focus on wellbeing.
Leaders will need to show patience, tolerance and empathy and may I say quick thinking in dealing with these changes. At the same time, individuals will need resilience, open minds and the ability to react to change and uncertainty as well as speak their mind.
“Empathy is the new brand currency. A good leader will provide sage counsel to employees in an environment that practices authenticity and self-awareness’’.
It is encouraging to see lots of movement in the PR and marketing industry and at Taurus we are continuing with our founder driven 26 year old hybrid working model, taking on mature practitioners, and training the next generation of leaders.
As Simon Sinek, a British-American author says:
“Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge.”