2017 Webber Lecture – Lt General David Morrison AO
The 2017 Webber Lecture was given by Lieutenant General (retired) David Morrison AO on 22 May 2017. The focus of the Lecture was the power of words and of storytelling. Morrison shared his personal accounts, addressing issues of military culture, what worked, what didn’t and more importantly, the reasons why, which he believes, has applicability across many organisations. In his opinion, culture is founded on the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and attention to language is a critical attribute of effective leadership.
The core themes of Morrison’s lecture—culture, language, legacy, and to lead with the heart—resonated with the School’s Year 12 Leaders, who have chosen the value of ‘integrity’ as their theme for 2017. The Leaders, through their assembly addresses and the personal examples they set, have challenged the entire School body to think about integrity and for this to inform our actions, remembering ‘what you do matters’.
Morrison delivered a powerful and engaging address and before closing, caused the audience to think about future encounters, with a parting message of ‘The standard you walk past, is the standard you prepared to accept’.