The Road Ahead

There is a lot of empty space between Perth and Melbourne.

Tomorrow, after I land back in Perth and hand over the keys, I will start crossing it.

I already know the kilometres will not care about titles.

The Nullarbor will not know what a CEO is.

Roadhouses will not ask who was right in a Board meeting.

I will fuel the car.

Drink water.

Drive.

Stop.

Sleep.

Repeat.

Behind me will be Bendat Basketball Centre.

The courts.

The office.

The Board meetings.

The accounting review.

The Xero plan.

The IT proposals.

The staff structure.

The referee pathway.

The venue meetings.

The domestic reform.

The summer competition.

The sponsors.

The programs I thought we could build.

The children already playing and the hundreds still waiting.

Ahead of me will be home.

A long drive gives you too much time to replay conversations.

I expect I will.

Even before I leave, I know there are things I would handle differently.

I could have slowed down in places.

Explained more.

Understood the politics earlier.

Chosen a different moment for a difficult conversation.

Leadership without self-reflection becomes arrogance.

But the more important question, the one I can answer before I even turn the key tomorrow, is whether I would change the principles behind the decisions.

I would not.

I would still insist that financial information be reliable.

I would still want accounts reconciled.

I would still want Association data controlled by the Association.

I would still examine commercial arrangements if I believed members could receive better value.

I would still want clear reporting lines.

I would still believe Boards should govern and executives should be allowed to execute within agreed authority.

I would still believe the CEO's responsibility was to the organisation as a whole.

Maybe that made me difficult at times.

Maybe it made me inconvenient.

But I did not move across Australia to occupy a chair.

I went there to lead.

For seventy-two days, that was what I believed I was doing.