The Newday story – The legacy I want to leave

I’m lucky. I’ve had many callings in my life. When I was younger, I knew my purpose was to achieve world-class excellence on the sporting field. Through a process of self-belief, determination and the alchemy of performance, I graced the Olympic podium many, many times.

Then something happened. The experience of meeting my sporting potential fuelled a new opportunity to put my purpose into practice. Put simply, I was compelled to help others strive to be empowered. So, that’s what I did.

Whether it was working as a physiotherapist, or through my business Silver to Gold High Performance Solutions (established over 20 years ago), I’ve been helping organisations and individuals achieve their best through personal mastery, wellbeing and performance coaching.

But this was only the beginning of my story. Building inside me was the desire to create greater positive momentum in the world by empowering people to lead for the greater good.

Bringing Newday to life

Wrestling with the intense desire to make the world a better place, I knew I wanted to create a community of purpose-driven people to drive global change.

After attending decades of business conferences that were formulaic, boring and predictable, I realised a gap existed in the market. People wanted to attend events and conferences that were different to the norm. They were seeking a holistic experience that nourished their wellbeing, gave them energy, inspired their future and developed their personal and professional skillsets and interests.

With only 14% of Australian and New Zealand employees engaged at work, I also saw an opportunity to help people find meaning in their vocation as well as purpose in life. Thus, developing a compelling employee value proposition was front-of-mind when creating the Newday offering – and this tenet is still central to our programs today.

I was also intrigued with the community spirit and feeling of ‘belonging’ that churches and service clubs fostered. How could people who were not religious have a similar experience? And how could they be encouraged to do good for humanity?

With this philosophy and vision in mind, it wasn’t long until Newday Leadership was born.

The Newday way

Creating our first one-day Summit back in 2016 was an ambitious goal. I had a strong and enduring vision of what I wanted to achieve, and a fire in my belly to bring it to fruition.

Our aim at Newday was simple – to motivate, challenge and prepare attendees to become exceptional leaders, and to remind them that every ‘new day’ is an opportunity to make the world a better place.

Featuring world-class speakers, creatives, trailblazers and changemakers who epitomised our motto ‘leading for the greater good’, we sought to bring extraordinary people and stories to the Newday stage. From business pioneers, and creative entrepreneurs to monks, magicians and musicians, the Newday program was eclectic, yet powerful.

We soon found that the most inspiring and impactful speakers were often not those with the highest profile. They were those who had endured significant challenge, showed incredible resilience, or paved the way for others to lead in their footsteps, for the greater good.

Like wildfire the word got out, and Newday began growing in leaps and bounds. Today, 5 years on, I am still deeply committed to spreading the Newday ethos. I get a real buzz from helping organisations and individuals achieve their potential, unlock their purpose and connect with others to create positive change.

I feel this is what I’m meant to do.

Why we need Newday in the world

Let’s state the obvious…Newday is different from other leadership conferences and organisations. It’s this uniqueness that has seen Newday grow so rapidly.

So, why do I think the world needs Newday? Here are my top 3 reasons…

1. We need a leadership shake-up

Leadership is a broad term and means many things to different people. But one thing’s for sure. Leadership is about influence, impact and collaboration. When we look around today, we’re in an individualistic society with questionable ethics at the best of times. We live in a materialistic world, bullying and harassment is rife in our workplaces, the rate of depression and anxiety is increasing, and we are often more drawn to creating virtual relationships than real ones.

I think we need to take a step back. I think we need to reassess our values and what’s most important to us. But above all, I think we need to live our lives with the mantra of ‘what can I give’ instead of ‘what can I get.’

2. The world needs leaders with heart and compassion

Newday was created to inspire, empower and instil the leaders of today and tomorrow with a different set of values. So, what does a Newday leader look like?

Well, they are driven by the desire to advance humanity, not just themselves. They believe that leading is not about controlling with an iron fist but empowering with a warm heart. And they are cognisant of their impact on our planet, and how they can safeguard it for future generations.

3. We create connections that spark real change

Newday understands the power of connections. It is part of our philosophy to spark conversations that ignite action, create value and catalyse positive change. Whether it’s uniting purpose-led attendees at our Summits, or facilitating introductions between organisations and social impact partners, the transformative outcomes we’ve seen have been extraordinary.

So, why do we focus on sparking connections? Because we know that being a changemaker is not a sole pursuit. It requires the collaboration of inspired minds to achieve great feats. These introductions and not-for-profit partnerships are core to our Newday offering – and we have stories of powerful change that prove it works.

What I’ve learned from creating Newday

Newday has been an intense learning curve, but it’s given me a range of valuable learnings along the way. These are my greatest take-aways:

• Always follow your heart and intuition. Never give up on trying to change the world. The ripple effect that one person can make is a real phenomenon. In fact, there is now research to support that one kind action can have a ripple effect that positively impacts over 100 people each time. So, never underestimate your personal power.

• Find your tribe and stick with them. Power comes from having people in your life who have your values and feed your soul. I’ve found that when values-led people get together, magic happens.

• Life = learning. I have found that being curious, having a growth mindset, and soaking up wisdom from others is key to unlocking your purpose, and finding your true path. That’s why Newday brings you the best of the best; global speakers who are renowned for their insights, stories and powerful life lessons.

Our Newday vision

So, what’s my Newday vision? In time, I want the Newday philosophy to capture the hearts and minds of thousands of people, not just in Australia, but around the world.

To cope with pandemics, atrocities, poverty, climate change, global unrest and a plethora of other world challenges, we need compassion, collaboration and community. Newday is that community – for us all.

Ready to join the Newday community? Learn more here