Future leaders gathered bright and early on 23 August for our Future Leaders Breakfast – the Big Question 2.0 with Michael Manthorpe PSM FIPAA, executive coach and public administration consultant. In his speech, Michael drew from his extensive public sector career to reflect on pride in public service, personal leadership, and resilience.

Kylie Crane PSM, deputy secretary at the Department of Education and Anthony Pronin, assistant director at the Department of Defence and chair of the Future Leaders Committee, joined Michael for a panel discussion. Kieran Vassallo, director at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts and Future Leaders Committee member facilitated the discussion.

Here are some takeaways from the discussion:

• If you feel pride in your work, you attract good people in your team. And when you attract good people to work with you, they multiply, and you continue to do good work
• You have to be an expert in your field – know your stuff but also allow others to have a voice
• Look to collaborate rather than to compete
• Don’t stop listening to your stakeholders
• Be razor sharp with your goals – clarity of purpose is empowering
• Public service is hard – things constantly shift, and you will make mistakes
• When something goes wrong, it’s what you do next that counts
• Own up to your mistakes and present ideas to solve the problem
• Public service is more than just a job. It becomes a vocation, but it’s not your life
• Carve out a life outside of work that is sustainable for you – this helps sustain you and gives you perspective
• Be your own advocate – support your resilience so you can also support the resilience of your team
• Curiosity is a defining quality of a leader – ask a lot of questions
• Have a healthy ego and stay humble – lead and serve every day with the exercise of curiosity
• The bigger the role, the stronger network you’ll need – be deliberate in building your connections.