GENERAL MORRISON TJMF ADDRESS FOR 2016

General Morrison may have had some challenging publicity when he was named “Australian of the Year”, but he knows how to challenge his audience and offer antidotes to organisations and sectors that are in sore need of self-reflection. Last week (13 October 2016) he delivered the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation annual address, speaking to a large gathering of NSW’s legal fraternity. He admitted that the defence force could never do enough to assist those in its ranks who are disadvantaged, but they were trying. 

He observed he had learnt the capacity to absorb the shocks – slings and arrows – of life without falling over, but this was because friends, family, colleagues, employer, had allowed him to make his mistakes. He used to take this for granted, and thought it was innate that he was so resilient, but he now realises this was a gift given to him by others. And he told us that it is a gift we can give to others. When someone is denied an opportunity to contribute due to an inherently flawed criteria, he reflected, then this limits us all. 

General Morrison named others who had assisted him on his journey of leadership enlightenment, including Liz Broderick, former Sex Discrimination Commissioner.  His story about the mother who told him “I gave you my daughter, and this is what you did to her”, still reverberates as a powerful accusation, and applies to the legal profession as much as it might to the defence forces. For him the art of sharing a story, and listening with compassion, delineates leaders from managers. He outlined his definition of culture - it is about the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, our profession and our country. Whilst myths such as egalitarianism and mateship may be features of Australian culture for some, they are not necessarily enjoyed by all. He asked how it is that women graduates are still subject to such a large pay gap, and he was aware of a large pay gap amongst senior legal counsel, having sat on an appointment panel. 

With some success, he recalled, the army sought to remove the stigmas suffered by soldiers in relation to their psychological challenges.  He wanted to know whether the legal profession had succeeded with this – something his audience was left to ponder. Marie Jepson concluded the address with her usual, powerfully simple statements, reminding us that we perform better if our strengths (and not our weaknesses) are highlighted; that a leader is like a conductor of an orchestra, not everyone can be the lead violinist, but all play a part; and that all of us have the ability to make a contribution to the profession.