I Was Born With Big Ears, So I Figured I might As Well use Them

The thoughts I’ve recorded here have all been inspired by the wise people I’ve met, books I’ve read, podcasts I’ve listened to, people I’m coaching and the insight they have given me. I thank them all of them for going deep to find their wisdom.

My goal is to match their generosity by sharing some brief ideas, quotes, as well as a recommendation each Friday for you to ponder.

The concepts are taken from years of daily journaling and in the moment note-taking in my Moleskine journal.

In elite sport, and in my experience, it is the curious and courageous learner-teacher that separates the great coaches/teachers.

Hall of Fame coach Allan Jeans is my favourite example, and his influence on generations of football people is evidence of his remarkable leadership legacy.

The reason for this is simple. For Allan Jeans, identity was fundamental, and he educated and coached based on ensuring you had an understanding of where you have come from, where your place is now, and providing a clear understanding of where you were heading.

The basis from which he built this was trust, and Allan was the type of person who trusted easily, and trusted freely.

Whilst he had a somewhat intimidating veneer, his warmth and wisdom quickly become apparent, as he did what he could to help you find who you are, what you want to be, and what you want to stand for.

And for many young people finding their way in this most distracted of environments, identity can be elusive.

It needs to be taught.

You quickly learn however, to benefit from the Allan’s wisened methodology meant leaving your ego at the door, opening yourself up knowing that your confidences were safe, and you would be emboldened by his preparedness to reciprocate your openness.

While Allan’s booming coach’s voice was legendary, his silences were even more profound.

“I was born with big ears, so I figured I might as well use them”, he would say, and listen he would. He also had a unique way of creating the space required for you to work it out for yourself – surely the best form of teaching.

“Success needs no explanation, failure accepts no alibis”, he would say, knowing fully that building resilience means you have to learn from your disappointments. That’s how you find out who you are.

As a personal reflection, my greatest regret as a leader was not spending more time teaching. There were too many times I allowed myself to get lost in far less meaningful aspects of the role, the busyness, the stuff that really doesn’t matter.

With leadership, if you understand what really matters, you get to appreciate what seems to matter.

Teaching really matters.

I always enjoy the opportunity to talk all things culture and high-performance, and the development of leaders to achieve it.

Here are a few of ways to start the ball rolling:

• I like to share the ‘bruises’ of my lived leadership experiences as a 25 year CEO in the AFL with leaders as part of our Learning Leadership event for senior leaders. We have run this event for the past few years, and the feedback has been excellent. We have now transitioned the event online. There is no cost as we recognise that time allocated to learning is perhaps our most precious resource, and therefore we have also provided a number of dates from which to choose, please use this link.
  

• Sign up for the “More to the Game” weekly email, and receive a copy of my “What business can learn from football” White Paper. The emails are short leadership reflections, no more than a couple of minutes to read and we will always treat our communication with respect. Please use this link.
  

• Download my book “More to the Game”. In this publication, I have combined my writings and drawings with the beautiful imagery of Michael Willson, the premier AFL photographer. It is free to download (no sign-ups) at “More to the Game – What leaders can learn from football” 
  

You can also contact me at cameron@designCEO.com.au and let me know how you think we can work together.

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