Last week Slade Group, in partnership with TRANSEARCH Australia and Gadens, hosted a breakfast for Chief Executives on Values Based Leadership. Presented by Brian Cook, legendary CEO of the West Coast Eagles, Geelong Football Club and now Carlton Football Club, Brian’s achievements over his 40-year career in AFL football have been nothing short of remarkable. When there’s an opportunity to hear him speak, people want to listen.
During the session, Brian shared invaluable insights on his leadership style, including strategies for reinforcing culture and aligning purpose with values. He talked about how leading with integrity and purpose fosters high-performing cultures, builds resilience, and drives sustainable success at the highest levels.
Throughout his talk, Brian posed thought-provoking questions, a few of which I spent a lot of time reflecting on: Do you lead your planning with strategy or structure first? What is unique about you that will keep you relevant in the future? In a business or career context, why do we exist, why are we here? (In other words, does what are doing align to our values and what is meaningful to us?)
We were reminded of the practical and philosophical aspects of values-based leadership: striving for 100% of people demonstrating 100% of values 100% of the time. As such, it’s a target that we continuously strive to attain. Critical to this is balancing accountability with support. Notably, Brian shared that at his current club, there is a 3:1 ratio of support staff to players. He also outlined methods used to reinforce values, such as the Wheel of Values and staff recognition programs, both of which help align people to a shared mission and purpose.
One example that particularly resonated with me was how players review their “most accountable moments” after a game. They sit down with their direct line coach, analyse video footage of key moments—typically when they have or are near the ball—and reflect on their performance. Despite training for 32 hours a week, these clips last about a minute. If a player underperforms, they risk being dropped. That’s true accountability.
That got me thinking even further: Which are YOUR truly accountable moments, and what would those 60 second video clips show?
Brian emphasised the importance of aligning organisational values with behaviours while maintaining a balance between accountability and support, highlighting the need for continuous education and the development of inclusive business plans. In an environment as equalised as the AFL, it is your values that will ultimately give you a competitive advantage, provided they are genuinely embraced by everyone within the club.
In high-performance environments, a wide range of personalities also exist—from low-values, poor performers to high-values, high performers. If given the choice between a low-values, high performer and a high-values, mediocre performer, what would you choose?
As Brian wisely put it: Appoint well and manage little. A recruiter after my own heart!
If you have any questions about leadership development, recruiting top talent for your organisation or would like to be included in future Slade Executive events, please reach out to me Barry Hodson on 0466 881 552.
With recruitment experience spanning in excess of two decades, Barry has extensive and deep expertise in Accounting search and selection, particularly in the specialist areas of performance analytics, finance business partnering, commercial finance and financial control. Commencing his career in South Africa where he worked for one of the country’s preeminent listed recruitment firms, Barry relocated to Melbourne with his family in 2008. Since immigrating, he has furthered his career with both large global, and privately held boutique search and selection firms where he has developed strong working relationships and networks. Read more…
Barry Hodson
Practice Lead
Level 10, 333 Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: +61 3 9235 5138
Mob: +61 466 881 552
bhodson@sladegroup.com.au
