Move over tall poppy, it’s time for some chutzpah

Could 3 types of responsibility be the secret to unlocking Australia’s greatness?

I love Australia. I was born in it, and as a child of parents who immigrated to Australia in the 70’s, I’m incredibly grateful for the country that has given me so much opportunity. But with the utmost respect Australia - I reckon we can do better.

I have just returned from a 9-day women’s delegation to Israel.?I’m unclear whether it was the opportunity to bond with 33 of our country’s most respected female business leaders or the feel of the sun on my skin, or the circa 60 tech entrepreneurs and leaders we met, or the stories of horror, hope, and humanity we heard.?Probably safe to say it was all of the above, but it was undoubtedly the shot in the arm I didn’t know I needed.

?It's hard to come back from a place like Israel without feeling inspired. With good reasons, Israel is well known as the Start-up nation.?With a population of around 9million people, Israel has the largest number of start-ups per capita in the world.?We’re talking around one start-up for every 1400 people.

?So… why?? How??

Believe me - we all asked.?They put it down to 3 things:

1. Necessity | 2. Diversity | 3. Audacity

?Necessity:?

?My take: "Response Ability": I choose to see this as an opportunity

As a country with scarce natural resources, and low physical security it would be fair to say that Israel doesn’t have it naturally easy. Prime example is this low natural resource country, once completely reliant on imports of oil and gas, is not only completely self-sufficient?but is somehow now also an exporter of natural gas.?This was just one of the many "despite all constraints…” style examples that served as a springboard for discovery and innovation.

It reminded me of mindset coach Ben Crowe's take on the word "responsibility"??- the ability to choose your response.?

This is a nation that has collectively chosen its response: theirs has clearly been - to face into the problem, to study it, to challenge it, to collaborate, to innovate, to solve, and ultimately, to thrive.?

?Diversity.?

My take: "Democratised responsibility":??Give it to the kids!

It is by no means a big revelation to say that those who have greater diversity in their organisations, and decision-making bodies generally perform better, but Israel in my opinion harnesses this earlier and with greater intentionality than most.?And the secret sauce here seems to be, giving greater responsibility.?

There is 3-5 years required military service in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) for all men and women from all socio-economic backgrounds upon school completion.?Essentially a complete melting pot of people together - having access to each other, moving in circles and with different ages and cohorts that they would probably not have otherwise had exposure to.?And from a very young age those people are given enormous responsibility - including the responsibility of protecting the lives of others.?They are given challenging problems to solve and challenging conditions in which to solve them.?And counter-intuitive to us - at least in a military context - they are encouraged to challenge the status quo regardless of any hierarchy.

Upon speaking about this with one former Military leader now CEO and Tech entrepreneur he said "talent is everywhere.?Giving them responsibility is key".?He then point-blank challenged us: - "why don't you let your best and brightest young talent run the company for a week or two?". ??I had a moment of metaphorically clutching my (non-existent) pearls.?"Ummm…" we all said internally, whilst rapidly raising in our minds a myriad of questions almost certainly around risk, financials, brand and reputation.?Maybe our minds even drifted to the question - what would that mean for me???

But it was an interesting provocation and one I have continued to dwell on.

Audacity aka "Chutzpah"

My take: Respond Ably: Turn a whinge from a wallow into a win

The Israelis we met good humouredly acknowledged that they are well known for complaining. But interestingly their complaints don't seem to equate to dissatisfaction.?Instead it's a signal that there is an opportunity to fix things.?It's the springboard for the next start up idea, a lightbulb for the next application of technology, the impetus to create the next possible unicorn.?They say they have the audacity - nay the chutzpah to back themselves in being able to fix, to improve and to solve, to make the world better.?Where a complaint here on our local shores more commonly morphs into a whinge and at times a downright wallow, it seems like a complaint in Israel very often turns into a win.?

Traffic a problem??Enter a startup with an innovative AI backed solution which creates personalised commute plans to redirect traffic, optimises ride sharing, minimises carbon emissions and which then feeds into future infrastructure planning and development.?Talent shortage in a city an issue? Let's co-opt academia, government and the technology experts to create a tech hub with a university program, guaranteed employment and the best of the best capabilities. This is a nation with the audacity to make the moonshots, and even better, to?deliver it.

It struck me that this chutzpah was underpinned by another critical mindset that we don't typically share here in Australia.?The mindset that failure is a critical measure of success.?The reality is that only 1 in 10 startups succeed.?Now, by our measures those stats ain't so compelling unless you have a huge risk appetite.?And yet not only is it actively embraced in Israel, the failed stories are worn like a badge of honour.?A source of pride about what was tried, what was learned, who was involved from the ecosystem, how close they were to success, what they would or did do differently the next time around.?

?I'm unclear whether it was by design, or by poetic serendipity but on our last night in Israel, we went to a Leonard Cohen tribute given by the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra.?Our delegation leader Margie Seale reflected on the poignancy of those infamous Cohen lyrics:?"Everything has cracks in it, that's how the light gets in".

I think we have plenty to learn from the Israelis who most certainly do not shy away from the cracks. And I think it's going to involve some fundamental mindset shifts.

• ?How do we celebrate the abundance that we have in our wonderful country but still act with entrepreneurialism and pace, and innovation?
• How do we expand our view of success such that we recognise that failure is part and parcel of it and we still make those moonshots?
• How do we empower people of all ages and walks of life to step up in responsibility, safely encourage more challenge, and push more decision-making down?
• How do we hold onto our self-deprecating Aussie charm, whilst surfacing our own chutzpah?

Personally, I reckon we’ve got it in us individually and collectively.?I think it's our ability to choose our response, our willingness to democratise responsibility and our conviction that we can respond ably that will allow us to just get on and do it.