Success without Excellence By Lisl McGuire, Head of Stirling House.

Transcription

1 Success without Excellence By Lisl McGuire, Head of Stirling House. Today I am going to talk about the most important school value SUCCESS! Why do we value it? Why is a school value? What does success look like? Does it look like a flash car, ripped muscles, a six pack stomach, the paparazzi waiting for you at the school gates, women throwing themselves at you, men wanting to be like you? Who in this room, in this community, in this nation lives and breathes success? For me one of the most iconic success stories as a football loving, Western Australian Team supporter, is James Hird. James Hird, played for Essendon from the early 90 s until his retirement in James came to Essendon under Kevin Sheedy in An injury in 1991 saw him nearly delisted with a vote of 4 for delisting against 2. Sheedy made a coaches choice and overruled the selection committee and its advisors. Sheedy gave Hird the freedom to essentially play wherever he wanted such was his talent. Hird became a member of the baby bombers including greats such as Mark Mercuri, Gavin Wanganeen and Dustin Fletcher. In 1993 they won the grand final against Carlton and James Hird took out the first of three consecutive Fairest and Best club awards. His last one in 1996 also saw him taking out the Brownlow.

2 He was made Captain in In 1999 he played only two games but he remained Captain until 2005 such was his regard. Essendon, under Hird, won the 2000 grand final. In 2002, against the Dockers, a sickening collision with a team mate s knee saw James Hird suffer significant facial injuries likened to a car accident his composure when being led from the ground with blood pouring down his face drew even more admirers, including me. What a man! In 2003, he narrowly missed out on winning his second Brownlow and in 2004, in a game against the WA rivals Eagles, he won hearts and minds with 34 disposals and two goals. He chose an Eagles game to be his last in 2007 and the whole of WA stood up and celebrated this amazing, excellent, football player. To top it off - over his football career, Hird also qualified as a Civil Engineer. Hird looks and sounds like success. He seemed an obvious choice to become coach for the 2011 season he was Essendon s favourite son after-all. This highly successful player, became a successful coach and coached Essendon to the finals in was not so successful and then the supplements scandal hit. In the murky world of leaks and innuendo and acquittals, this is what can be confirmed: Players signed consent forms to be taken off site and injected with vitamins into their stomachs by a Sports Scientist, Stephen Dank, with the permission and knowledge of the coach. ASADA got wind of rumours that players were being injected with banned stuff and asked the AFL to investigate. The AFL investigated and were pretty stroppy. Players being injected into their stomachs, who does that? Thirteen players faced sanctions. Stephen Dank admitted to the media that the players were injected with a named substance and then retracted that statement when the journalist pointed out that the substance he named - was banned. Hird was suspended by the AFL for 12 months in 2013 for his role. He was not to coach any football team and nor were Essendon to pay him over the

3 2014 season. To get around this non-payment issue, Hird received an advance of $1,000,000 in 2013 for the 2014 season. So a very liberal interpretation of the suspension rules and flagrant disregard of the intention of the suspension. Pretty successful don t you think? We all know now that the players got off. There were 13 players in total. There are 18 on a field so some of them must have refused, but imagine the pressure on young recruits. Hird is back coaching Essendon. His explanation was that he believed Stephen Dank when he was told that it was all above board so therefore it is not his fault Let me draw an analogy for you. Dr Massey and Dr Harris, Doctors of extraordinary academic ability, hear of an academic peptide and feel compelled to share this knowledge with Mr Webber. It can help staff be more efficient Sir. They will want to work 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, the students will benefit and Guildford Grammar will rocket through the league tables! Mr Webber thinks to himself, yep sounds good. We are all about success after-all. Then a thought occurs to him, Is it on the PSA academic list of banned substances? Nope! Drs Massey and Harris assure him We just need staff to sign consent forms for them to be taken away and injected into their stomachs offsite. But we have Nurse Vicki, says Wise Mr Webber. It needs special expertise as it is a special injection, the Doctors say and only we can do it don t tell Nurse Vicki! Mr Webber of course is excited. If it works for the staff, imagine if it gets rolled out for the students! The PSA gets wind of it and investigates after the peptide program has a notable impact on league tables. It turns out that the academic peptides are on a list of banned substances that the PSA regularly advises the school about.

4 Mr Webber s response Oh, I didn t know it was that peptide on that list being injected! Now we know that neither Dr s Harris or Massey nor Mr Webber would ever, ever consider such a proposition. 3E v 3G? Success is not a Guildford Grammar School Value. Excellence however is. And success without excellence is not what this school is about. In Essendon, excellence looks like the players who said no. Excellence would have been having a moral compass and not engaging in something so suspect in the first instance. Stephen Dank had a history and his methods had already resulted in suspensions within the NRL well before his involvement in Essendon. Excellence would not have been pleading ignorance when you are the coach. The buck stops with the coach, just as the buck in this organisation stops with the Principal. Excellence is not about success at all costs. Excellence is about doing your best and your best becomes better and better as you reflect and learn what you are capable of. Excellence is about staying true to your moral and ethical compass If James Hird is an example of someone starting out excellent and then losing that moral compass in the name of success, consider Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. They made a very poor decision eight years ago chasing the trappings of success. Over those eight years both young men were determined to become excellent and applied themselves to helping fellow prisoners learn English, overcome drug addictions and provide spiritual support. Andrew become a religious advisor, Sukumaran an artist. With limited freedom, resources and ultimately time, they worked hard to find their moral compass and be excellent, every day. As the bullets ripped into their body this morning, 1.30am Australian time, they died as excellent young men.

5 So when you are doing your best to learn and grow and you stick to your moral compass, only then can you wallow in the trappings of success, but my guess is, the truly excellently, successful people, have no desire to roll around and cover themselves with the glitter of success because they are about excellence, not success. That is why excellence is a School Value and success is not.