Staying Calm
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.
On this day 14 years ago, the siren did not ring loud enough or long enough in Tasmania. We won, then we lost.
It is now part of the folklore of the game, named “Sirengate”.
I was CEO of the Fremantle Football Club, and we took on the AFL, and to their great credit, they listened. Following an appeal before the AFL Commission, the game result was changed for the first time in 100 years.
It was a piece of history and an important milestone for a young club finding its way in a high-stakes and unforgiving competition.
The key learning was:
Stay calm.
When faced with decisions in stressful and emotional times, allow yourself time to review your responses, starting with the question:
“Did we stay calm?”
The image above shows me not particularly calm, but I was straightened up by a wonderful piece of leadership by our conditioning coach Ben Tarbox.
The following is a terrific write up of the events of the day by Fremantle’s Content Producer Tom Fee.
On this Day- Sirengate – The Full Story
Wonderful memories.
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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From time to time to time we will email you with some leadership insights, as well as links to cool stuff that we’ve come across.
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