Emerging Leader of the Year Paul Mead applies the leadership training he received in the military to his current role in sports consultancy.
A former member of New Zealand’s armed forces, Paul Mead runs a sports consultancy in Darwin. He provides an insight to the sport sector around developing commercial opportunities for sport organisations.
JUDGES
Melissa Sinopoli AIMM, partner & commercial practice group leader, MacDonnells Law
Graham Burns FAIM, CEO, Basketball QLD
Andrea Corcoran FAIM, client engagement director, Stephenson Mansell
Rachel O’Neill, state director – government, education and community business, National Australia Bank
Sponsor: Deakin Business School
THE JUDGES SAY…
“Paul believes our lives are richer with sports as a part of them and is committed to challenging the status quo of the sports industry. His commitment and leadership is demonstrated in his collaboration with others in the sporting community in the NT. Paul is an authentic leader with strong values which are reflected in the way he conducts himself in both his professional and personal life and is a very deserving winner of the Emerging Leader award.”
PAUL MEAD
“I still have a small document called the ‘Gospel According to Luke’ (Brigadier Lucas, DSO, OBE, MC, VD). It was handed to me by a grumpy but wise regimental sergeant major so I thought I’d better read it. It has 32 ‘rules’ about leading soldiers. These are my favourite five from that list:
- You are handling people – not slaves, nor robots.
- Each person can do one thing better than you can and each has some knowledge that you lack.
- An hour of preparation can save weeks of wasted effort.
- The earth is good – keep your feet on it.
- You don’t bake bread in a pigsty.
“I definitely believe leaders are made. Having been involved on both sides of training in the military – being trained as a leader and then training other young people to become leaders, I have seen the transformation.
“Something that the military does very well is breaking everyone down in basic training to their most simple self. This act of removing all the barriers that people have built up over time means that the true foundation of a person is exposed. Once this occurs, then a soldier or officer can be built, with the rest of the baggage no longer inhibiting that growth.
“This process is conducted over the course of initial training and from the outside looks brutal and unforgiving. On the inside as a participant, the true extent of the journey you have undertaken is often not realised until many years later.”
“I definitely believe leaders are made. Having been involved on both sides of training in the military – being trained as a leader and then training other young people to become leaders, I have seen the transformation.”
