Cairns Crocodiles, Presented by Pinterest, has well and truly kicked off, with day one filled with a plethora of different speakers. In this op-ed, Rochelle Burbury, principal, Third Avenue Consulting, takes us through day one to uncover the theme that tied many of the speakers together.
“At 24, I was a catastrophe”.
I love this line from Crocs MC Maz Farrelly, who, during her introduction, you would be forgiven for thinking you’re in the throes of an early opener drinking game, with a shot for every mention of Pinterest she wedged into her intro.
Maz certainly summed up how I was at 24, and no doubt the vast majority of the audience. But not so for Olympic swimming Gold medallist and incredible human Ariarne Titmus.
She holds two World Records, and four Gold, three Silver and one Bronze Olympic medals – and that’s just on the world stage. Oh, and her “daily mileage” in the pool is a simple 15 kms, depending on whether she is ‘outstanding or dog shit’ (her coach’s words, not mine).
Remember, she is twenty four.
Which is an uneven segue into day one at the Cairns Crocs.
For me day one was a tale of two (groups of) speakers.
The ones who are doing it for others and the ones that are, well, doing it predominantly for themselves.
(Side note – kudos to Pippa Chambers for assembling a great cast of almost exclusively women to kick off the creative festival.)
What did strike me was the differences between those on stage today with succinct titles, and those with many titles. Do you need a lot of titles to effectively jostle for attention these days, or to demonstrate your creds? Is it true that if you have to tell the audience how much you’ve done – that you’re a trailblazer, an entrepreneur, a podcaster, an author, a writer, a creator and/or a thought leader – that you are a leader, or want to be?
It also struck me that those who are the most successful leaders, are the most grounded and authentic.
Like chef and content creator Khanh Ong, who turns down brand partnerships – such as private jets to and from a fancy lunch – because it won’t resonate with his community. That’s authenticity.
And when Ariarne Titmus said that she’s just in a pool of water trying to swim fastest and that a potentially life-altering ovarian cyst and having a life after swimming were actually more important than winning.
Or when Ana Andjelic laughed off being named one of the world’s most influential CMOs by Forbes not once but three times with the (great) line: “I think there were more people on that list than were not.”
And the excellent chat between Harvey Norman’s Katie Page and Lou Barrett from News Corp, when Katie refused to be a ‘token woman’ on Boards and used her role – as a woman – to effect positive change that now impacts all sorts of women in sport, or disadvantaged youths’ education or embracing women in the community via the CWA. She takes no credit and instead points to having great people around her to make positive change happen. She said: “It’s not Kate the individual…you need backing and mentors”.
There were some great one liners that had important life and career lessons in leadership – “Keep the goals sacred” and “There’s so much more to life than your job” from Ariarne, and the “I’m an old, white woman. It’s OK, I’m living with it” from Katie.
Ariarne is using her success in the pool to try to inspire young people to realise their dreams and Katie is using her success in business to champion women and help the disadvantaged have better lives. Oh and Ana is just off to help a $35 billion brand achieve cultural relevance.
So what I took from day one were some important lessons in leadership. Leaders aren’t made from how many years’ experience they have had in their careers – Ariarne is testament to that – they are made from a beliefs and values system that is unwavering and an ability to see beyond themselves.
Sure, you need to believe in yourself, but you don’t need to shout it at your audience.
Sure, it’s about you, but it’s more importantly about the people around you who guide you, provide inspiration and support. It’s less about the me, and more about the impact I can make for others.
Authenticity counts.
