Conference Speakers
LI CUNXIN AO
Keynote: An Inspired Journey – Story of Mao’s Last Dancer
Li Cunxin AO’s journey is simply remarkable. He was born into utter poverty in Mao’s Communist China, at a very young age he was selected to train at Madame Mao’s Beijing Dance Academy. So began Li’s journey. The 7 years of harsh training regime at the Beijing Dance Academy taught him discipline, resilience, determination and perseverance. Li’s astounding drive and relentless work made him one of the best dancers in the world.
Li then made a successful career transition from ballet into finance. He was a senior manager at one of the largest stockbroking firms in Australia. He was named 2009 Australian Father of the Year. Li was Queensland Australian of the Year in 2014 and received the Asia Society’s Game Changer Award in 2015. Recently, he was awarded the Queen’s AO Honour for his distinguished service and contribution to Arts and Ballet. Li is the Artistic Director of Queensland Ballet.
The inspirational story of Li’s life is recounted in his memoir Mao’s Last Dancer, which quickly rose to number one on the Australian bestseller list and won the Book of the Year Award in Australia and received the Christopher Award for literature in the USA. It went on to become an international bestseller. It’s in the 57th reprint. Mao’s Last Dancer is also a blockbuster film.
Li’s story is a living example of overcome adversity and achieve excellence in life.
DR KATE HADWEN
Keynote: A Journey to Boarding Leadership
Dr Kate Hadwen has more than 25 years’ experience in educational leadership across the breadth of schooling from Kindergarten to Year 12 and tertiary. She has worked extensively across Australia and has held a variety of roles from kindy teacher to Head of Boarding, researcher, and lecturer. Kate is currently Head of Pymble Ladies’ College, the largest single sex girls school in the Southern Hemisphere; she was formerly Head of PLC, Perth.
Kate worked for five years as a Senior Research Fellow at The Child Health Promotion Research Centre and was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research. She has authored several policies and curriculum resources related to technology, wellbeing and antibullying. Kate’s doctorate was on transitioning challenges faced by boarding students and families, and she has since written a handbook for parents on the topic.
She is a Non-Executive Director with the Australian Youth Orchestra, The Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia an Honorary Fellow of the Telethon Kids’ Institute and the Child Health Promotion Research Centre, Chair of the AISNSW Mental Health Advisory Committee and a member of the AISNSW Advisory Council.
Kate has always championed student voice and has worked hard to ensure young people are empowered as co-contributors in all major decisions in the organisations she has led.
KEITH ABRAHAM
GoalDriver Advance Masterclass
Keith Abraham is the global authority on goal achievement and the creator of the GoalDriver formula. A formula designed to accurately determine what energises and engages each individual, driving them to achieve the unimaginable, unreachable and unattainable.
Adding to his already impressive CV, Keith is the best-selling author of five books, published in twelve languages, covering the areas of passion, goal achievement, customer loyalty and focus.
As a regular contributor to publications and a frequent guest on business media and podcasts, Keith’s expertise and authority on the subjects of goal setting, goal achievement, goal centriccultures and goal alignment is recognised globally.
Keith is passionate about the work he does.
GoalDriver Advance Masterclass
How would you feel if your people achieved their goals faster, easier and sooner? For more than 36 years I have been a student of the goal achievement process. For more than 25 years I have educated over 1.6 million people across 39 countries on how to set their personal and professional goals. Then 18 years ago I became extremely curious around not just how to set goals, and how to achieve goals, but how to achieve them faster, easier and sooner!
Why? All too often people take longer than they should to achieve their goals, they place too many roadblocks in their way and delay - or perhaps even never achieve - what is truly possible for themselves to obtain! 4 years ago I started to design a GoalDriver Diagnostic Tool to accurately assess what drives people to achieve their goals, how to identify each individual’s desires, which in turn stimulates the highest level of focus. The final piece of the puzzle is how to develop a level of personal determination in order to become compelled, committed and prepared to move up a level by getting out of their comfort zone to achieve massive momentum.
Every business leader, business owner, sales professional or customer service champion needs to master three areas in their career, business and life ...
• SELF-LEADERSHIP
• BUSINESS LEADERSHIP
• MARKETPLACE LEADERSHIP
The GoalDriver Advantage gives you unfair competitive advantage over yourself and all of your self-imposed limiting beliefs about yourself.
CHRIS MILLS
Breakout Session: Balancing Leadership and Management
Chris is a passionate consultant/coach and keynote speaker that makes natural and powerful connections with individuals and groups, that results in positive and healthy outcomes for all. He specialises in leadership development, creating, changing and protecting healthy cultures and seeing potential reached in individuals and groups.
From his roots as a high school boarder in Brisbane and making his way through a few different industries, to focusing over 20 years in education as class/PE teacher through to Principal, he is still passionate about schools and boarding cultures.
Chris enjoys a full life with family consisting of kids and grandkids and enjoys working with his hands from building to being active in the arts.
Bulletproof Performance collaborates with teams and their leaders to engineer behaviours that produce high performance teams. They help your communities to overcome challenges, focusing on collaborative goals and specific areas of behaviour that impact the culture, safety, quality and productivity.
Balancing Leadership and Management – Breakout Session
Over the past couple of years the obvious differences between leadership and management have become very loud. Whilst both roles are necessary, it has taken the restrictions on human contact to expose the lack of true leadership capacity in many in ‘leadership/management’ roles. The art of connection, communication, clarity of direction and showing genuine care have become highly sought after skills and in an environment like the boarding house, imperative for both survival and healthy growth and most importantly, safe places for our boarders.
During this session we will:
- Explore the definitions and confusions of the two roles – Leadership and Management
- The mechanics of management
- The lens of leadership
- Take some time for Self-Analysis on the topic
- Create a plan for personal strengthening and or improvement
- Above all, make further connections and learn from each other
DR MICHAEL CARR-GREGG
Breakout Session: Is that a psychologist in your pocket? The smart phone apps that can support wellbeing in boarders
Dr Michael Carr-Gregg is one of Australia’s highest profile psychologists who specialises in the area of parenting adolescents and adolescent mental health. He sits on the Board of the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre, and is the parenting expert for Channel 7’s top rating Sunrise and The Morning Show and is a columnist for Girlfriend and New Idea magazines. He is also the psychologist on 3AW’s Morning Show with Neil Mitchell.
Educated in Kenya, England, New Zealand and Australia, in 1985 Michael founded the world’s first national teenage cancer patients support group, CanTeen - The Australian Teenage Cancer Patient’s Society. A founding member of the National Centre Against Bullying (an Initiative of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation), he has worked in private practice as a family therapist, child psychologist and clinical psychologist, as an academic and researcher, and for four years as a political lobbyist. He has held a variety of appointments including Executive Director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation and Director of the Centre for Social Health at the University of Melbourne and Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. Michael has been the recipient of a number of awards including the Australian Jaycees Outstanding Young Australian of the Year (1987) and in 1997 he was made a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International in recognition of his work in the prevention of youth suicide.
Michael has been the honorary psychologist for ABSA for many years.
GREG WARD
Master of Ceremonies
Greg Ward is insatiably curious about humans and human behaviour. A former professional soldier and trained actor, Greg performs on stages around the world, combining his love of performance with his deep interest in human group dynamics. Greg’s particular area of expertise is in the MC role for association conferences, awards and events, which allows him to using all elements of his skill set.