John Trevillian AM
DIRECTOR
Planning and Events for
NSW GOVERNMENT (1999-2015)
Some of the large jobs he coordinated at a Government level:
The Sydney Harbour Bridge turf the deck
The Olympics
The Oprah Winfrey show at the Opera House.
Indigenous Walk Across the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Centenary Celebrations
Some of the gems JT shares with us include:
Trust and confidence in people’s abilities are crucial.
110% support not a competitive environment but a friendship environment where people can makes mistakes and still grow.
Need a strong team with you that support each other and does not compete against each other.
Enjoying yourself is a crucial part of the mix, no matter the situation or environment.
Humour is a crucial part of JTs life and ingredients of success.
Started World first – work experience for year 11 young girls, who were traditionally supposed to finish school early at Year 10. We got them jobs and senior jobs that needed education. In his mid 30s – 1980s.
Take the good people with you – good people normally have time for other people.
Good people are hard to find.
Came from a humorous and generous family.
Trying to big things in a small way.
People power – fairness and generosity – with trust – there has to be bravery in the way people lead.
Trust and honesty in leadership are crucial in order to achieve respect.
Weekly meetings with the junior school and we could not make a negative comment in any of those meetings.
Des Renford – important person in JTs life – helping people with disabilities. Had a big heart – loved helping people. Had the best sense of humour in Australia. “ I never learned to tumble turn.” That’s why he swam the English Channel so many times.
Most important thing in interagency meetings:
All we did was respect the meeting where government agencies come together. How important is that?
Respected the meeting and the tools of the meeting.
Minutes taken, got out in a couple of days.
All actions progressed and results were respected and implemented.
The Sydney Olympics were a success because we got the mechanics right. We provided information and why each agency’s job was important.
Bicentenary celebrations put Australia on the map as an event capital.
Be successful with what is front of you.
Surround yourself with good people.
Brave young leaders – their ability and strength of character.
2000-2010 Sydney had event after event at an international level.
Sydney Harbour Bridge with grass all across the car deck. Put Sydney on the front page of the New York Times for the first ever.
Trust across all the agencies that made it possible. We had the bridge open 30 minutes early – wouldn’t happen anywhere else in the world.
Jeff Parmenter – Brisbane Olympics now but at the time he had just lost his wife to cancer. Quality of people were working with. That quality was replicated tho their own family. His daughter ended up in the Australian Netball team.
Working with Good Leaders
Worked in an environment of success not an environment of failure.
Humour is a big part of JTs live
When he left Education he turned up for his next job interview one day early because he was so keen.
You get to hear JTs laugh when he tells this story. This is the laugh we were used to hearing almost daily.
Most proud event
The Olympic Games – Sydney had the right spirit
Intellectually Disabled Games in the Asia Pacific Special Olympics – 17000 disabled kids came to Newcastle.
Mentor to one Special Olympics competitor. Mentored her through her schooling and now as an employee.
Working on creating an annual concert to celebrate and promote people with a disability with John Foreman at the ICCC in Sydney.
3 leadership tips:
- Be themselves
- Be joyous in what you are doing
- Work with people with real abilities and add your qualities to the other people and do not try to distract from them.
The link to John’s Interview is here
The link to all The Courage to Lead Interview Series is here
https://allansicard.com/podcasts