A STORY OF LEADERSHIP ON THE FAST-TRACK

By Stella Voules

I loved hosting our clients at the Australian Grand Prix again this year. The Australian Grand Prix Corporation is also one of our clients, so when I saw April’s Boss Magazine’s “How missing AFL’s top job drove the F1 Grand Prix CEO” article I was hooked before I even started reading it. What I didn’t expect was to appreciate how CEO Travis Auld’s story is also a story about being agile and showing adaptive and compassionate leadership. If you haven’t read the article, you can find it here.

As you might know, there’s a leadership crisis at the moment. In fact, a DDI global leadership forecast reported that 50% of CEOs said developing the next generation of leaders is keeping them up at night. This leadership gap has largely been caused by the profound pace of change experienced by organisations over the last two years.

Adaptive leadership is not new. The fevered demand for leaders to interpret, interrupt and innovate in the face of rapid change has never been more important.?

At JOST&Co, we see adaptive leadership as the elixir for navigating complex challenges that have unknown solutions and which often require confronting the status quo to change behaviour, practices and ways of working that have been deeply embedded. Yet landing these changes calls for compassionate leadership, which is fundamental to high-quality, high-performing systems.

And that takes three things, as Travis Auld’s story illustrates.

1) Adaptive strategies:

When leaders can readily navigate uncertainty and adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, organisations thrive.?

Travis held leadership positions within the AFL for 25 years, including as CEO Gold Coast Suns and the AFL’s CFO. He applied for the AFL’s top job but, after a year-long process, the CEO role went to his colleague Andrew Dillon. As Travis said: “When that happened I had to make a decision, do I stay in the industry or do I try something else? Just through pure, good fortune, the CEO of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation role came up.”

Travis adapted personally in making the move from the AFL to the Grand Prix. He’s now anticipating the need for adaptive strategies at a corporate level. “We still have our avid F1 fans and we’ve got to make sure they are looked after, but we need to make sure that we have something for everyone. Our challenge is to continue to evolve the event in line with the changing demographics,” he said. ?

These challenges are not technical challenges that can be addressed with authority, they are adaptive challenges. And it’s not expertise leaders draw on to navigate adaptive challenges, but relationships. That’s where compassionate leadership becomes a necessary companion skill to adaptive leadership. Travis recognised this when he said: “I’m not someone who professes to have a long history in motor sport. But you’re in the relationship business and, ultimately, I believe your success is determined by the strength of your relationships.”

2) Learning agility and velocity:

Learning agility combines an individual’s learning ability, adaptive performance and capacity to learn at speed.

Travis started in his new role just over six months out from the 2024 Australian Grand Prix. It must have been a steep learning curve. In the article, he said: “This is my first [Grand Prix], so if everything is going well, I’ll be making my way around the various facilities making sure partners are being hosted and getting what they need from the event. If things aren’t going so well, I’m guessing I’ll be sitting in a room somewhere with a few people trying to figure out what to do.” There’s probably not a better example of what leadership learning agility looks like than that.

3) Self-regulation:

Let’s be honest, leadership is a tough, competitive gig. But it doesn't have to derail you. That’s why self-regulation and compassion become key attributes that leaders need to survive and thrive in the fast lane.

When Travis was asked about Andrew Dillon being appointed to the AFL CEO role, he said: “I’m really proud that until the day the decision was made, we worked really well together. We are still really close today. There can only be one winner. I think Andrew Dillon will do a fantastic job, he’s a fantastic person, he’s been in the industry for a long time and is very connected to the game.”?

Kudos Travis.

How JOST&Co can help

To help companies boost productivity and engagement, enhance culture and fast track the next generation of leaders, we can augment adaptive leadership skills with compassionate leadership training.?

We have created an Adaptive and Compassionate Leadership program that is designed to help existing and emerging leaders develop these behaviours, including being confident in the actions to take. We share practical frameworks, case studies and research-backed strategies for cultivating these capabilities and equip your leaders to better prepare your organisation for the challenges ahead.

Email us at [email protected] - we'd love to hear from you!

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