Knowing our core work

20120610-155145.jpg

Recently I heard Major General Jim Molan, a retired Army officer who served in the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars talk about leadership. He opened with the observation that the army and schools have something in common – they both had social licences to operate and they are both often badly portrayed in the media. Interesting.

I couldn’t help getting a photo with some colleagues who had also been in line for National Service to serve in Vietnam and Jim (in front) A useful link to learn something about the history of conscription in Australia is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Australia

He spoke about knowing our core work – while his was legal killing ours is educating – and that like us he supervised and mentored others to ensure they were learning or practicing the “right way” yet was open to respect feedback.

Interesting to me was he was able to define his core work in a few short sentences. Being retired he had a certain freedom to not sugar coat his story – although I got the feeling he never did anyway.

20120610-162114.jpg

This entry was posted in politics, school, Teaching, Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Interested in your thoughts