In The Arena

“Leadership is an external challenge of communication.”A future vision requires imagination and someone to spark the flame.Performance Coach Owen Eastwood describes this as the creation of ‘forward memories’.To ignite, motivate and bond individuals into teams through a shared future and journey they will undertake together.Imagination, in terms of leadership, clearly requires creativity, but mostly, it is an act of courage.This thought comes to mind when I am speaking with my brother Brendan Schwab and his vision.Brendan is the most creative and courageous leader I have met, prepared always to hazard himself for the possibility of fulfilling the promise of the sport, impacting the structure and governance of sport, and the rights of athletes who play it.Having established the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) fresh from studying law and three decades in helping build the Australian and international player association movements, Brendan spent eight years as Executive Director of the World Players Association (World Players), representing 85,000 players through more than 100 player associations in over 60 countries.In 2018, he was recognised by the players as the fourth 'PFA Champion' and, in 2022, was inducted into the Football Australia Hall of Fame, the first Australian to receive this honour in any sport for their work as a player unionist.“Australia is a great sporting nation. We can become a great football nation” was the vision.Brendan understood that the vision would not be achieved through the embedded frameworks vested with responsibility for leading soccer in Australia. These structures and the power they afforded to the few had consistently failed the game, with self-interest prevailing against any potential of a greater good.Brendan drew the rough outline of a different future for the game he loved, something that inspired, knowing that others would need to colour it in.The ‘others’, in this case, were the players themselves.“I felt that through the players, we could realise that vision of Australia being a great football nation”.The shared love became the greater good the game so badly needed, and a very special group of players bought in with a collective purpose and preparedness to put themselves at risk for the sake of the game they treasured.So pleased to welcome my brother Brendan Schwab as our guest, ‘In the Arena’.I am very proud of him.Enjoy!Play on!

“I am often overwhelmed by how much I don’t know.”Dr Lauren BurnsMaking room for the person you might be.My conversation with the leaders I coach starts with a simple question, one that relates to ambition:“What is it that you seek to do?”Having got a sense, often unclear and vague, which is perfectly fine and probably expected, as it is their uncertainty that most likely led to this conversation, I will then follow up with:“Who is it that you seek to be?”We are making room for who the person might be. I thank Pippa Grange and her book ‘Fear Less’ for this powerful idea.This thought came to mind when speaking to Dr Lauren Burns for Episode 004 of ‘In the Arena’. She epitomises both the idea and its reality.Continuing our Olympics theme, Lauren was thrown into the public consciousness and spotlight when she won a gold medal in the Sydney 2000 Olympics in the sport of Taekwondo. As remarkable as her achievement was, the richness of her story is, in part, how unexpected it was given her upbringing as someone with no competitive sporting influences. As the daughter of a King of Pop father and ballerina mother, Lauren’s introduction to martial arts came via her brother’s obsession with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and from this unlikely place, greatness followed.The many layers of her story further unfurl as she sought to make sense and meaning from the achievements of the great athletes with whom she shared her journey to excellence. Australian sporting legends such as Cathy Freeman, Ian Thorpe, and Layne Beachley. Her work and insights are now a PhD and the wisdom is powerful and accessible to all of us as we become both coaches and players of our own lives.Leadership is not only something to do; it is something to be, but you must do the doing to be the being.As a leader and coach, Lauren believes there is never one ‘right’ answer and no perfect outcome. Life will always feel uncertain, which is most likely the most important skill you will learn.So pleased to welcome Dr Lauren Burns as our guest, ‘In the Arena’.Enjoy!Play on!Cam

“To do extraordinary things, it takes a different type of person.” This week, we welcome Australian sporting icon John Bertrand AO to ‘In the Arena’, a leader who exemplifies this mindset.With the Olympics currently dominating the sporting landscape as only the Olympics can, John brings his perspective as both a competitor (two-time Olympian and Sailing Bronze Medalist) and the man who was given the job of righting Australian Swimming when it lost its way a decade ago, with our team achieving a record medal haul in Tokyo, and off to an exciting start in Paris.But he is best known as the Australian who skippered Australia II to victory to win the 1983 America’s Cup, breaking 132 years of American domination and, in the process, breaking the longest-running record in the history of modern sport.Ask any Australian where they were that day, and they will remember.The Confederation of Australian Sport voted the Australia II crew’s victory the greatest team performance in 200 years of Australian sport. In 2013, John was inducted as a Legend in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, the most prestigious sporting honour that can be bestowed on an Australian sportsperson.He is also the most curious person that I have met.John is that rare kind of leader who can look at the future of their sport and see radically different things from most. He is far more interested in what we can become than who we think we are already.John also speaks openly about how sport has shaped him. How thankful he is for the lessons the experiences gifted him, always prepared to put himself in deep and diverse conversation to satisfy his relentless curiosity, being at ease with not-knowing.He is all these things and more in this conversation, and I am honoured to have him as our guest. I doubt whether we will have a guest who represents the idea of ‘In the Arena’ more than John Bertrand.Enjoy!Play on!Cam

“Mum, do men play footy?”Having spent a lifetime in the game, I learned that some people are into growing, but most people are only interested in arrival.The ‘arrival’ people create all the commotion that distracts from the critical work of the ‘growers’, who are playing a much bigger and far more important game, energised by all its possibilities, and significantly, not overwhelmed by its ambiguity.Our next guest on the ‘In the Arena’ Podcast, Debbie Lee, is a ‘grower’ in the truest sense.In my experience, the ‘growers’ are also exceedingly generous, as Debbie is in this Podcast. It would be easy for her to gloat about her achievements, but that is not who she is, even though she could be forgiven for doing so as the first (and only) female footballer to be inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame.Instead, she speaks openly about how the game has shaped her. How thankful she is for the lessons the game gifted her, always prepared to put herself in deep and diverse conversation to grow herself, the game and all that it is, and all that it can be.“Who you are is what you settle for, you know?” said singer Janis Joplin.Debbie was not prepared to settle for how she personally experienced our game of Australian football. She had the courage and insight to ask better questions of the sport, and would become the evangelist women’s football needed and changed the game forever.Debbie did not have a platform or a profile and also suffered from the personal bias directed at women footballers of her era. Every effort to grow the game was met with resistance and prejudice.But still, she had the fortitude and will to look at the future of the game and see something radically different.She was not prepared to settle for the prevailing view that only young men could envision a career playing the sport at the highest level or, for that matter, coaching, administering, or commentating on the game they love.She wasn’t prepared to settle for the prevailing view that people would not watch women’s football. Then, 52,000 people turned up to watch an AFLW Grand Final at Adelaide Oval, and the game was never the same.Our game is at its best when it leads, when it has the collective courage to forge a new way, and at its worst when it lags, as it did when it betrayed Adam Goodes.Until recent times, the language and sounds of the game were exclusively male, with homophobia, sexism and bigotry not only tolerated but an expectation, a way of fitting in and belonging, connecting via the worst parts of us.It was the football world I grew up in and desperately wanted to be a part of, never challenging and now sometimes wondering why I didn’t. But I know the answer. It was ‘the way’, and it would take individuals who could see another way, stronger and more visionary, courageous and willing than I was. It needed to be personal to start the conversation, a response to the pain of their lived experience. People like Debbie Lee, and with a force they created, a catalyst for change, and change the game did.I have learned that discomfort marks the place where the old way meets the new way. It is a place of vulnerability and courage. If it doesn’t challenge you, it will not change you, and whenever in doubt, back the new way and all its uncertainty.In terms of women’s football, the ‘old way’ was meeting the ‘new way’, and Debbie Lee was the catalyst. We worked together at the Melbourne Football Club and, with some wonderful football people, set about creating the vision the women’s game needed. An Exhibition Game in 2013, became the AFLW by 2017, an extraordinary achievement by any measure.Her story is remarkable, and she tells it wonderfully.Her legacy is profound.It will never be beaten.Play On!Cam

Michael Voss, a three-time AFL Premiership Captain and Senior Coach, shares insights drawn from his illustrious career and Hall of Fame legacy. He discusses the discomfort inherent in leadership, emphasizing the importance of embracing uncertainty. Voss reflects on his evolution from player to coach and the balance between being liked and respected. He highlights decision-making challenges in sports and the significance of building trust within teams. Through personal anecdotes, he illustrates how cultivating a supportive environment can drive collective success.

In the Arena with Cameron Schwab. Stay tuned for more