Goyder says everyone can make a difference

THE chair of the AFL Commission urged Geelong’s business and community leaders to commit to “making a difference”.

Richard Goyder was the keynote speaker at the Committee for Geelong’s (CfG) 2018 Annual Leadership Breakfast, which drew a crowd of more than 300 people to The Pier.

Mr Goyder is one of Australia’s leading and most highly respected business figures.

He is also chair-designate of Woodside Petroleum, the largest operator of oil and gas production in Australia, and was previously chief executive officer and managing director of giant Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers for more than a decade.

He said sitting beside former American president Barack Obama at a G20 economic discussion in 2014 (and succeeding in his son’s request to get Mr Obama’s signature) was one of his career highlights.

At the time, Mr Goyder was leading the B20 (a business group advising the G20 on economic policies), and gave a six-minute speech to senior representatives of the G20 about what should be done with the economy.

“This is for the young leaders (in the room) – here’s a young boy from a farm in Tambellup, Western Australia who was sitting around the table with global leaders. We can all make a difference.

“Communities are about people making a difference, individuals making a difference.

“We should all demand that our leaders lead, but we should all make a difference.”

Mr Goyder said he believed in the importance of strong economic fundamentals for a city such as Geelong, which underpinned the health of a city-region, its community and social cohesion.

“We need to focus on leveraging the economic potential of a city to make it a world-class place. The economy is fundamental to everything we do.”

Although presently leading the governing body overseeing Australian rules football, almost all of Mr Goyder’s speech was about his previous business career, including his time at Wesfarmers, which has more than 220,000 employees and a wages and salary bill of more than $9 billion.

“I’ve always had a genuine passion for the businesses I’ve been proud to lead, and as a CEO one of my better attributes might have been a relative lack of ego,” he said.