Scotch College

Searching for meaning in the marketplace

The 13th annual Prayer Breakfast learns that leadership is primarily about serving the community.

The Rev Archie Crow (’38) was the first to arrive, coming through the doors at 6.30am. ‘Anything I can do to help?’ asked the cheery octogenarian. ‘The first taxi came on time’ he explained. Actually, there were a few things to be done, but it seemed best to suggest that Archie have a seat and a cup of tea. Shortly the band arrived and increased the interest level as it set up its gear around the piano.

It was 7am and 28 degrees in Melbourne. Kate Paterson and Gail Moore were setting out the name tags, Kate Kerr arrived with hot cross buns fresh from Baker’s Delight, and a steady stream of folk were arriving, already hoping it might be cooler inside! Suddenly the Boykett Room seemed buzzing with the conversation of people reconnecting.

It is always pleasing to see thriving connections between all sectors of the School community. Especially pleasing were the inter-generational connections, as biblical storyteller, Rob Turnbull (’00) and current theological students Angas Tiernan (’04) and Randle Bond (’99) chatted with the Rev Bill Morgan (’35), Ken Bethel (’37) and others of their vintage.

Switching with practised ease into the familiar role of MC, the newly retired Prayer Breakfast committee stalwart, Bruce Brown (’60), called the gathering to tables, and so the 13th annual Prayer Breakfast commenced with Chief of Staff the Rev. Grant Watson saying Grace.

The guest speaker this year was Mr George Savvides, CEO of Medibank Private, a company which today insures over three million Australians. When George took over as CEO, the company was losing $30 million per month. It lost over $120 million in the first year. He spoke of it as having been a broken company which has been turned into a good company, and now faced the challenge of becoming a great company. This can only be done by creating a company in which people can find meaning.

Serving the needs of the members had to become a clear and important priority to all employees. Rather than seeing themselves as just employees of an insurance company, asking ‘What do we know about health?’, the challenge was to help employees learn about health. By improving the health of the sickest members, all Medibank members would feel better. This he called ‘the virtuous cycle’. This approach sees leadership as being primarily about serving the community. George illustrated with selected quotations that it was not a new idea.

These included: ‘We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give’ from Norman McEwen and ‘Put away your charisma – the best leaders are quiet, humble, and decidedly unglamorous’ from the best of the Harvard Business Review on Leadership. In the light of the impending Easter break I found his final quotation (opposite) from Edward Shillito to be deeply moving. GS