Dr Alec O’Connell
Headmaster
Leadership is about letting go Complacency is a clear and present danger for all leaders. As a leader who has been in my current position for some time, there is always the danger of becoming too comfortable in the mental space within which I operate, leading to decision making by rote and, more critically, missed opportunities to renew, grow and envisage future strategic changes. The past few years have been a time to reset one’s priorities, to rethink what you care about. For many, this has been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, but for my family and me, in the midst of dealing with COVID-19, we also underwent a moment of personal reassessment and challenge. In early October, I was diagnosed with cancer. My family’s and my life drastically changed as we rapidly had to adapt to a world of chemotherapy, medical tests and hospitals and far less work-related responsibility than at any point in my adult life. The cancer was discovered via a relatively routine health check – I was experiencing some breathlessness – and I am incredibly lucky and owe my life today to how quickly my female GP identified it. Many are not as fortunate as I have been with the outcome. Furthermore, the pandemic has demonstrated the great inequality that exists in our society today, both in Australia and globally.
you deal with the new environment. People, practices and experiences come out of it that you would never have encountered without the unexpected contextual shift. I sat in the chemotherapy ward waiting room, listening to the conversations of people who have spent 20 years receiving chemotherapy treatment. It’s moments like these when you self-evaluate. I didn’t choose to be here, but I see people who have been going through this for years, and I feel gratitude. In Australia and at Scotch College, we are incredibly lucky to have the privilege of choice. It is a privilege, and many throughout the world do not benefit from the smorgasbord of choices available to us at Scotch and in Perth. COVID-19 has demonstrated how much we take for granted: the ability to travel, to have relatively easy access to work, and to spend face-to-face time with family and friends. It’s not until our choices are taken away that we miss them and realise, belatedly, how much they mean to us. What do you do when you can’t choose? COVID-19 is not a choice; cancer is not a choice; being separated from family and
friends or being unable to work is not a choice. But these are experiences that many in our society do go through because of, or outside of, the pandemic. When you don’t have options and autonomy, you hand over. It has been my privilege to work in education since 1982, but when faced with my own health crisis, I had no choice but to hand myself over to health specialists and oncologists; my years of educational leadership and academic qualifications suddenly meant very little. I went from being the so-called leader and expert of my chosen field to the participant; having to rely on somebody else with different expertise. In many ways, losing agency can be liberating. I was able to move into this space where my health and recovery became my primary focus and away from the College because of the systems that I’d put in place. I still cared greatly about the College, but I didn’t worry about it because I trusted the people I’d left behind to steer the ship. This is what you must do; it’s the reality of a crisis. You go from being the so-called expert, from deliverer to receiver, provider to user.
Headmaster Dr Alec O’Connell and James Goldsmith at 100 Days of Pre-Primary, 2021
When you’re challenged with personal health, you refocus; your values require revisiting, and your connections become different as you meet others in similar situations. Often, we talk about issues in the third person; you might have empathy, but these issues are kept at a comfortable distance from your own life. Once you’re embroiled in something, the playing field is level. Once you’re hooked up in the ward, who cares what you do for a living. You need to reassess: what do you love to do versus whom you love? And how do you balance those? You open the door to another world, very much a The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe moment; suddenly, the game is played within a new and very much unfamiliar context. You might still live and play in the original arena, but you must leave it behind as reports | 3
