The 2021 Captains Breakfast was a resounding success! More than 200 student leaders from schools and colleges all over Brisbane descended on Mueller on Tuesday to network, share ideas and receive quality leadership training while enjoying a first-class breakfast. In its 6th year of running the event has become a cornerstone of the year for Mueller’s student leaders.
This year we were privileged to have guest speaker and good friend of Mueller – Warrant Officer John Roxburgh present over the three conference sessions. John first responded to our invitation to attend as a guest at Mueller’s 2018 Anzac Day service. Since then he has been a regular contributor to the college and has helped develop our partnership with the Australian Commando Trust, who are now a focus for fundraising each year.
John captivated students with stories and reflections of real-life experiences from his service, and his leadership knowledge gained from his seventeen years of service as an Australian Commando. Over this time, he was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, while also completing domestic deployments and duties. He shared of the costs involved in leading and serving, and unpacked for students four key principles of effective leadership, highlighting the reasons why people follow good leaders. It challenged students to consider that effective leadership is much more than position and completion of assignments and tasks, but about influence and positively investing into the lives of those whom they serve and serve with.
The program allowed students to collaborate with those from other schools, as they worked some real-life leadership scenarios. This proved to be an invaluable time of meeting other student leaders and learning leadership skills and techniques done in a range of school contexts.
It was amazing to see the way all the students got out of their comfort zones and took initiative in starting conversations with each other.
