I was listening to an episode of The Signal podcast recently about the life and achievements of Bob Hawke and realised that there was so little about him that I actually knew.
When I arrived in Australia almost 30 years ago, Bob Hawke was nearing the end of his tenure and my most vivid memory of politics around that time was watching the outrage in the media coverage about Paul Keating’s successful challenge for the Labor leadership, followed by being glued to the outcome of the 1993 election in a bar in Darling Harbor (never let it be said that we didn’t know how to enjoy ourselves in the 90s!).
But, listening to the stories on the podcast about Bob’s achievements reinforced the knowledge that the stories you have access to significantly develop and shape your decisions and choices.
As a new migrant to the country I was obviously missing a lot of the history of his time in office and was relatively unaware of Australian politics, business and life at that time. The people who were at the core of my life at that time were staunch LNP supporters and painted a picture of Bob Hawke as a larrikin who was incapable of anything other than drinking beer and supporting great sporting achievements. Never mind that his most famous beer drinking achievement was as a Rhodes Scholar, a privilege that is limited to an elite few who meet high intellectual and character standards.
The stories that have emerged in the wake of Bob Hawke’s passing are consistently of someone who was highly principled and who made decisions based on the values of inclusion and fairness, and of doing things in the interests of people and the planet. These stories have made me realise what an incredible asset he was to Australia, and I hope enough of them have filtered through to inspire a new generation of millennial politicians who are prepared to make decisions based on principles that rest in diversity, inclusion and with a view to creating a more egalitarian community.
If, as an organisation, you have strong principles that drive what you do, it’s vital that you craft and share your unique story. Make sure that people get to know your values, innovations and things that you stand for (as well as things that you won’t). Don’t let someone else tell the inaccurate version of who you are because your customers, clients and community will be making decisions based on the information available to them.
If you don’t know where to start in sharing your story, get in touch with us, because we certainly do.
