Leadership lesson

Within the drama around the appointment and resignation of Andrew Thorburn to Essendon Football Club’s top job is an important lesson about leadership.

The drama of Andrew Thorburn, Essendon Football Club’s chief executive officer for a day, centres on the subject of leadership. Many in the social services sector and beyond would have read by now that Thorburn resigned as Essendon CEO twenty-four hours after being appointed because his ties to a church that condemns homosexuality and reproductive freedoms were in direct contradiction to their club’s values of inclusion and diversity.

The fact of the matter is that Thorburn intended to hold two roles at the same time: Essendon CEO and chairman of the Christian church City on a Hill. It happened so fast it could have caused whiplash, but coverage of the incident continues, with much of it missing the point.

The City on the Hill church is well-known for its staunch opposition to and intolerance of LGBTIQA+ people and reproductive health. Their website, as well as their Spotify account, contain articles and podcasts condemning homosexuality, “transgenderism,” and reproductive health.

The church does not allow women to sit on its board because, “eldership belongs to men.” As the church’s chair, Thorburn is the public and political face of those views and values. While he is entitled to hold them, he should rightly recognise that many others do not and will not tolerate prejudice and bigotry based on who they love and how they live.

Leadership is a responsibility that entails taking action and creating conditions for others to achieve a shared purpose. Essendon, which encompasses AFLW, VFL, and VFLW teams, as well as the Purple Bombers, the club’s LGBTI supporter group, took decisive action in this case by accepting Thorburn’s resignation. It demonstrated their club’s ongoing commitment to inclusivity, equality, and creating a welcoming environment for their fans. It also marked a significant shift in how far Pride organisations have progressed in changing the culture of AFL.

The round 21 game between Sydney and St Kilda in 2016 was Australia’s first professional Pride-themed game for premiership points. It publicly demonstrated a desire for change at the highest level of sport to create a safe environment for players, teams and supporters alike, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

Now, the Pride Game has become a regular season fixture on the AFL calendar and has only grown in strength and support. This is the power of action, backed up by appropriate support, policies, and resources. It takes us past platitudes and into implementing our values.

Wherever homophobia and transphobia are in the public eye, our leaders have a responsibility to condemn it. This includes social services, our CEOs, chairs, and other sector leaders. Doing so exemplifies what it means to be a good leader.

Let us be clear: there is nothing divisive or controversial about standing up for the dignity and rights of LGBTIQA+ people. LGBTIQA+ communities are frequently expected to tolerate bigotry, discrimination, and, at times, outright hatred for who we are, with an enormously negative effect on our health and wellbeing. First and foremost, this costs lives. It also impacts livelihoods with the negative economic and financial cost has now been calculated, and it is in the billions in Victoria alone.

Australia is growing increasingly diverse, pluralistic and secular. This incident has led to a flood of commentary on the culture wars, the damage done by “wokeness”, cancel culture, and religious persecution. This echo chamber just adds to the noise while missing the point.

The issue is that Thorburn sought to be the public face of two diametrically opposed sets of values. In this saga, leaders across the community stood up for inclusion and tolerance and they made the right call. Because that’s what good leaders do.