Jack Viney Stepping Out Of Dad_S Shadow Creating His Own Path

I'm sure you're going to enjoy this week's episode of the Empowering Leaders podcast

with AFL legend Jack Viney.

Hear Jack talk about the lengths he goes to in the off-season to better himself.

So whether it's meditation, Zen Buddhism, finance, measures and acquisitions,

I'm always looking to expose myself of different ways of thinking.

What works for me? What makes me tick?

What makes me a better human, better leader, a better football player?

How his leadership style shows up at work and at home with his family.

You know, I don't like to sweat the small stuff.

You know, if there's something that's major, I'll come in and make a call.

But, you know, if it's something like a mess around the house

or the kids are staying up a little bit later than usual,

I'm kind of like, you know what, we'll just let this one slide.

You know, I've got the nails painted today in beautiful colours.

So, yeah, embracing the girl dad.

And you're going to love his take on giving and receiving feedback.

AFL and Clubland, like, communication is so important

and it's practiced daily.

And it's two-way feedback.

It's how you receive feedback and, you know, how you give feedback.

And the reasons we give feedback is because we care about people.

We want to, like, if we didn't want people to improve and get better,

then we wouldn't tell them.

We'd just ignore, get on with our lives.

We feel very privileged to have Jack Viney in our Leader Connect community.

We bring together leaders from diverse and unique backgrounds

in groups of five to six to come together to learn, to connect and share.

You don't have to be an AFL legend like Jack Viney to be part of it.

We'd love you to book a discovery call.

Leadercollective.com.

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Jack Viney is a legend of the Melbourne Football Club.

A premiership player in 2021, ending a 57-year drought for his football club.

A best and fairest winner.

Former club captain who's played 219 games over the last 12 years

and regarded and respected as one of the toughest competitors in the game.

Jack, it's been a brilliant history that you've had.

And of success in your career.

Plenty more to come, by the way.

But do you feel proud of what you've achieved?

Yeah, it does.

Thanks for having me on the podcast.

Yeah, I'm kind of just a keep moving forward type of operator.

So I haven't had a great deal of reflection about, you know,

the past kind of achievements or path I've taken.

Try and, you know, reflect and learn on the go.

But always kind of searching for how do we keep improving?

How do we keep getting better?

And growing?

So I think there will come a day where we sit back and have a look at what was and...

Not for now.

Not for now.

Don't stop to celebrate at all and think, you know...

Probably not enough.

I should do it more.

But I think that's just, you know, how I'm wired is to keep searching, keep evolving.

Yeah, that's all I hear.

Your dad, Tom, one of the toughest competitors of all time.

Two-time best and fairest winner at your club.

And I look at you and I just can't believe how incredibly like him you are in so many ways,

which is a...

Which is a big compliment.

Can you tell us the influence he's had on you?

Yeah.

So old man, you know, obviously a legend of the D's and quite fortunate growing up.

I got to have him as my old man and showed a real interest and passion for footy early days.

You know, being able to see him go about his business and the way he behaved and acted

and, you know, the values that he, you know, implemented to have the career he did.

And I tried to tap into that pretty young.

Like he wasn't the forceful type of father.

It was more my passion and enthusiasm for footy.

That was, I saw my dad do it.

That's what I wanted to do.

So I'd tap into the old man's expertise growing up and just hearing dad talk about stuff like

hard work and, you know, sacrifice and, you know, the best players that he ever came across

were the hardest working.

So kind of these mindsets or philosophies, I guess, were ingrained.

They were ingrained in me from a pretty young age and, you know, extremely grateful for that

because, you know, I probably got to 18, 19, 20 years old.

And, you know, some of my teammates were probably learning some of that stuff from scratch

where I had a pretty good lead in to it.

But you always felt, Jack, that he was happy to let you be who you wanted to be

and it wasn't Todd driving the ship.

It was you and your passion.

You never felt like that pressure was there?

You know, I never felt pressure.

It was your expectation.

But there were certainly times where dad challenged me growing up.

You know, it was, you know, I'm telling dad, I want to be an AFL player.

And then dad saying, well, you're telling me that you want to be an AFL player,

but you want to go miss a training session to do something with your friends.

So, you know, he always kept it real with me and 100% never sugar-coated any feedback for me.

You know, whether I had a bad game of football, there was, all right, well,

this is where your performance fell away, this game.

So whilst he never was, you know, forced his own views on me and, you know,

drove me to be something that I didn't want to be, that was always me.

He was always real and honest with me.

So I always knew the areas that I had to improve on and get better at.

You're a father of two young girls yourself now.

What type of parent are you on the home front?

I've got two girls at home and I think probably my wife,

sees me as the good cop at the moment.

You know, she feels like she's the one enforcing a lot of the rules

and that kind of stuff around the house.

And I come in and just the soft touch from time to time.

But, you know, I look forward to, you know,

the challenges going forward as the kids get older and kind of developing

that parenting philosophy of being on the team with your wife.

Where are we?

You know, what are we going to accept and where are we going to help steer our kids?

So, yeah, I'd say at the moment I'm a bit of a softie at home.

And that makes me smile, mate, so much because I love it.

The toughest, hardest competitors you're ever going to meet in your life

fall apart around their young daughters.

And my wife would say the same.

We've got Sienna who's 19 and she's got me wrapped around a little thing.

Has done from the very youngest of age.

Three boys are a bit different, I think.

But.

That's interesting, isn't it?

You just feel as though on the home front you like to just let things slide a bit more.

Yeah.

You know, I think just the job that I do, I feel like, you know,

there's a lot of stress from a day-to-day point of view.

So when I get home, you know, I don't like to sweat the small stuff.

You know, if there's something that's major, I'll come in and make a call.

But, you know, if it's something like a mess around the house

or the kids are staying up a little bit later than usual,

I'm kind of like, you know what, we'll just let this one slide.

You know, I've got the nails painted today in beautiful colours.

So, yeah, embracing the girl, the girl dad.

I love it.

Speaking of the ferocious competitor that you are,

I've always admired you from the very start of your career

that you look like the sort of teammate that everyone would love to play with.

You play your heart out for the team week in, week out.

Even if it's not going your way, you go, you look at Jack Viney

and think, oh, I'm going to win.

I feel like you're going to give something that everyone wants.

What does it look like to you when you're out in the field

and you're playing that way?

Yeah, you know, similar to what, you know, these principles,

I was taught from a young age was, you know, we do play a team sport

and whilst we might want to be, kick the most goals

or have the most possessions, you know, the successful teams

are not necessarily made up of the most exceptional players.

It's how do we all function together?

It's how do we all function together to help each other

and get the desired results?

So that's always been my, what I've wanted to achieve.

I've wanted to be part of a successful team

and at times that's role playing, that's sacrificing for the team

and I've been, you know, willing to do that to the best of my ability.

So, you know, whatever role that, that, that,

that takes or whatever shape that takes for the, for the team,

I'll give it 100% effort and intensity and we'll, we'll go from there.

There's a apocryphal story, Jay, you've got to tell me if this is true or not,

but your dad was assistant coach at Hawthorne under Alistair Clarkson,

legendary four-time premiership coach and word comes through

that young Jack Vining at school might've stood up to the school bully

and, and, and Alistair Clarkson really,

you know, embraced that story, felt proud of you

and he used that as motivation for the current Hawks players.

Is that true, that story?

I think so.

I'm pretty sure back in, might've been 2005,

I was living in Echuca.

Things were a little bit rougher in the schoolyard in Echuca

than back in the Glen Iris days.

But yeah, one of my friends was,

was kind of getting picked on in, in the schoolyard

and, you know, I went over,

and tried to stand up for him and end up getting,

you know, punched and, and, and fought back

and, and broke my hand in the schoolyard.

And, you know, it made its way to, to Clarko

and I think he ended up using it in one of his pregame speeches

for the Hawks, who then ended up going on to win the flag in 08.

So we can say that, you know, I'll probably take some credit

in that flag, the 08 flag.

But yeah, no, funny story.

I'm told there was a decent, decent age gap between you

and the guy that was standing over your mate.

Is that correct or not?

Oh, there was a year.

There was a year gap.

Okay.

I was in grade five and I reckon it was, you know,

the grade six bully.

The big grade six boy bully.

Yeah.

And, and that would have just been in your DNA.

We're not going to stick up for my mate.

That's just who you are.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There was just, you know, what's, what's fair and right.

And I think, what do you, what do you want to stand,

you know, what do you want to stand for?

Whether you're,

um, put yourself in, in danger or, or whatnot.

So I just saw this, this moment unfold as a little

tacker and, um, yeah, it was probably like, you know,

I need to stick up for my mate here.

This is, this is a time where he needs, needs some

help and, um, yeah, the rest kind of unfolded, uh,

as, uh, as it did.

Your mate wasn't Ollie Wines, was it?

He was your old school mate.

He was in the, he was in the schoolyard too.

Although he wasn't the one being picked on.

Um, he, he was around there.

He had your back.

If, if, uh, you win a premiership, you've been

top four consistently in this period of time, the

Melbourne Football Club, I think there was a stat

this year, I read 82 weeks consecutively in the top

eight, so remarkable period of success in one of

the most competitive sports in the world.

Yet it feels as an outsider looking at Melbourne,

that you and your team have faced more public

criticism, more hand grenades have been

thrown at your group than maybe any other sport.

Sporting code, I could possibly imagine.

Have you found that hard to deal with given the

success that you've had?

Oh, certainly challenging when there's so much, you

know, noise and, um, media around, around your

football club, cause it does unsettle, um, you

know, things in internally, but I guess, um, you

know, you, you try and best keep, keep, you've

got to keep an eye on it and, and, and check in

from time to time.

But.

And if you're constantly looking into it or reading

it, I think it, um, can derail you even, even more.

So, um, been trying to find the balance between, you

know, what, uh, what are we doing internally?

Are, are, you know, processes and, um, you know,

how we're behaving and acting internally, um, still

on track with, with our, um, with our goals and

values, um, as, as opposed to, no, is, is there

really something that we need to, um, to look at?

And where are these improvements that we can, we

can make?

So, um, you know, whilst, you know, we've had a

really successful few years, um, you know, whether

that's the flag in 21 and, and kind of the

following home and away seasons, um, certainly

we've got to continue to look at our program, um,

our leaders and, you know, how do we continue to

get better?

Um, because it's, it's an ever, ever changing

landscape.

Um, people change, um.

The competition changes.

So if we stay, you know, stagnant and, and happy

with where we're at and what we, what we achieve,

we're going to get left behind pretty quickly.

And then you get to the end of this season and

you, you get another one to, to deal with.

You're one of the elite players of the game,

Christian Petrarca, your great premiership

teammate, outwardly expresses the potential

that he may be, he's better off somewhere else.

And the whole footy world sort of is rocked by

that and as your teammate and someone that's

obviously played so much.

Great team.

Great footy for you.

He's now committed back to the club, but can

you, can you give us a little bit on that?

How, as a leader and someone who's died for

their club, like you have that, that must've

been a challenging one.

Yeah, no, definitely, you know, just the added,

um, amount of, you know, pressure and scrutiny

that, that put on, um, you know, different

people at the, at the organization.

It just makes, you know, made, made things,

you know, challenging, really challenging period.

But, you know, I feel like.

Uh, there's really been really robust discussions,

um, between many different parties at the football

club to ultimately create change.

And that's, what's really exciting is whilst we've

been through this really challenging period, I

think, um, you know, when we got all the right

people at the, you know, you've got the right

people at football club, you know, it's going to

create a really clear, um, path forward.

So that's what I'm really excited about is, is

getting over these little, little hurdles and

challenges, um, galvanizing.

together and having a really clear, um, path forward.

Um.

And is that all it is for you when something like

comes up, you just, it's a challenge you work

through, pre-season starts and you just, you go

back to getting everyone on the same page, even

with someone like Christian who's had that challenge?

Yeah, absolutely.

You know, at the end of every season, you, you

review your year, um, you review personally as a

team, as a leadership group, you know, where do

we, where do we think we did well?

Where do we think we fell away?

What are our opportunities to get better and grow?

And we've had some things, you know, like the

Christian stuff really high, you know, make it

heightened or, um, awareness on, on some of

these issues.

So, yeah, I, I see it as opportunity, you know,

you can look at it, you know, the glass half empty

or glass half full.

And for me, I think it just, it's really

exciting for the future.

Um, so now I'm looking forward to, yeah, continue

to, to get through, you know, these review, the

these, these reviews going on at the moment.

Um, seeing what the, what the outcomes are, we've

already had, you know, great discussions, um,

through the playing group, through the leadership

group between, you know, Goody and Richo and, um,

and Purdy.

So yeah, I think there's going to be some really

positive things come out of this, um, process and

this hardship, I guess.

Love the way you think about Jack, we've been

really privileged to have you, um, join our, uh,

leader community where we bring together diverse

groups.

Of people from different backgrounds in groups of

five or six and the opportunity we think to

learn and connect and share in unique ways together.

Uh, um, have you found that experience?

Yeah, no, I've really enjoyed it.

Um, I guess there's a bit of a theme of me wanting

to continue to grow and evolve and, and then, you

know, I was looking at the end of last year about,

you know, what, what are some other leadership

opportunities out there?

And my, my coach, Simon Goodwin, being part of the

leader, uh, connect family, um, for, for a while.

So.

You know, he recommended the leader program and, you

know, the ability to be able to work with, you

know, five or six other like-minded, um,

individuals, um, working in different fields or

something extremely appealing to me.

So I jumped on board and it, you know, the last 12

months has been terrific to just about have people

to bounce certain things off, um, and, and get

different perspectives on, on things.

Trusted environment, a lot of those conversations

are private to you, Jack, but is there anything

that you've felt like I've been able to take that

away and implement?

That into your day-to-day life or into the, your,

your work life and your footy life?

Yeah.

You know, like, you know, whether it's just getting

confident in it, you might have a thought on, on how

to approach an issue and even hearing people say,

yeah, no, I think, you know, I align with that or

I think that's a good way, like just the confidence

to then be able to, you know, follow that out and

know, and not doubt yourself.

I think that was, that was really, you know, valuable.

And, you know, I work with someone who was in kind

of ed education who looked at the world completely

different outside of the football bubble.

So to even be challenged of different ways of thinking,

um, just, just get, you know, I felt like it really

gave me balanced, um, view on, on how to approach

different issues and how to get the best outcome.

So, um, yeah, whether it was being supported and

having that, that confidence to be able to really go

after it or, um, or being challenged, maybe I can

approach this from a different angle, um, and see

it from a different angle.

Yeah.

I thought it was invaluable.

You're a great self-improver, Jack.

You've just done an MBA in the last season, you go and

do an internship with Deloitte, you sign up to

collaborative leadership programs like Our World

at Aleda and it's just a great reflection on, on you.

A lot of people would, you know, think footy's enough

to bite off at one point in time, but you, you seem

to be constantly finding that.

Ty, how do you get the balance right between all that?

Not all the time.

Um, my wife, my wife was under the pump last year

with the internship.

Um, and just for the record, I've got the, uh, degree,

not the MBA, haven't quite nailed the, uh, haven't

quite got to the MBA, but got the commerce degree.

Um, you know, I just want to continue to keep the doors

open and I want to continue to, to grow and evolve.

And I never want to think I have the answers.

Um, and you know, football is going to

wrap up at one, one point in time.

And, um, you know, I, I enjoyed doing my commerce

degree and, and majoring in finance.

And I was like, you know, is this something that I

want to continue to challenge myself?

You know, exhaust myself in football playing, maybe

post footy, can I go and create a new career for myself?

Um, so that's kind of what I'm, I'm exploring at the moment.

I did the, you know, eight week internship at Deloitte

the last year in mergers and acquisitions, which was,

which was intense, you know?

That was a.

Um, you know, I was up at 5 00 AM to do my off season

training and then go to work on public transport and do

your, your nine to five.

Um, although at Deloitte, no one's really budging from

their chair at five o'clock there, uh, the hard work is there.

So, you know, I'm getting home at seven o'clock, which is

pretty much when my, my kids are asleep.

So, you know, balancing the football, the internship and

the family aspect was certainly challenging.

And it's something that I continue to.

Check in on from, from time to time, you know, hence why

I'm not doing an internship this off season, um, giving

you a bit more time back to, um, back to the family.

Jack, we love those patterns around what we see great

leadership looks like in different settings.

And you would have heard some of this language through

the leader program, this idea of self-leadership.

I want to ask you on that front, how do you make sure

you're feeling your best so that you can lead the others

in your world?

Yeah, I think something that I've really focused on over

the last, you know, back end of, of, of.

My career and probably something I learned, um, you

know, a few years after being in the system was balance is

really important.

You know, my default was to kind of, when things didn't go

well, work harder, do more.

Um, but you know, I feel like the more I kind of win at home,

I win doing, um, you know, growing, whether it's at uni

or, you know, doing things that I enjoy outside of football,

like surfing or, or camping.

The more.

My football actually improved.

So for me, it was, it was understanding that, you know,

balance is really important.

Um, checking in with that from time to time.

Um, so that, that was, that's been a, uh, something that I

continue continually try and evaluate is how am I feeling?

You know, at times this year been under pump, whether it be

form or, you know, the external stuff going on.

And then it's like, now my default here is to push

harder.

Push harder.

Um, do more, um, and that kind of detracts from the rest of

your life and eventually catches up to you up with you, I think.

So I think just having that awareness of, of yourself and

when you're at your best and how you operate at your best and

maintaining that.

Love this idea of impact on others.

And wanted to ask you, is there one piece of leadership advice

that you pass on to others regularly?

I think in like the football, football sense, it's, you know,

make sure your, your backyard's clean.

I, I think before you can lead and drive and have positive impact on others,

it's, um, leading by example, I think is the best form of, of leadership.

Um, it's a bit hard for me if, you know, a vice captain of, of the football

club to say, Hey, no, we need to be, um, be on time.

Uh, and we need to treat people with respect if, if I'm not doing it myself.

So I always start with how am I behaving?

How am I acting?

Am I living up to the, the values that we say we want to live by?

And, um, hopefully people say that, um, the young, young 18 year olds

coming into the football club say, you know, that's how our senior players

are acting and that's what's expected of, of this group.

So it's probably my first and foremost.

Don't think anyone would doubt Jack Viney on that front at all.

Um, in terms of vision, setting the vision for us is one thing, but do

you have any advice on how to successfully deliver that?

Within a time, obviously some clear visions that you've got for success in

your world, how do you go about doing that, executing that with a time?

Yeah, I think what, one of the things I really enjoy, I love about team sports

and being involved in, um, you know, our leadership group is, we all have

different, you know, you want to have a leadership group that have different

thoughts, different opinions and challenge each other, but then you come

to a clear decision and it's like, all right, how do we make this decision?

Um, how do we communicate that, communicate that decision clearly to the rest of the

group and all be in support of that.

So, um, I really love having robust discussions, discussions, but then having

that loyalty and that, um, you know, trust in each other to, all right, well, this

is the decision, whether I've agreed with it or not, um, we've got it, we've got to

back it in, I've got to support that.

Um, so I think, yeah, the, uh.

Uh, the getting clarity is, you know, what, what do we stand for?

What, what, what do we want to be, um, you know, known for the, how do we want to

live and live and breathe and what's our culture, what's our identity being super

clear on that and then, you know, when issues arise, you talk it over with, with

people who have different thoughts and then, um, through those robust discussions,

you, you get clarity and, and then hopefully relay that through, you know,

effective communication to, to the rest of the group.

It's a brilliant way to describe that.

And then once it's said, it's this united front, regardless of the differences, you've

got to be united and yeah, it makes, it makes a lot of sense.

Curiosity is a word that comes up all the time and successful people like you, we feel

like they're extremely curious.

And from a curiosity point of view, can you maybe share a rabbit hole you've gone down

recently that has piqued your interest that you could share with us in terms of curiosity?

Um, you know, I always like using my off season as a.

A way of challenging myself, doing things that might peak, uh, spark a little bit

interested in me.

So obviously the internship last year, which, which was challenging.

And then the year before that I did a five day silent retreat.

Um, so whether it's, you know, meditation, you know, Zen Buddhism, um, finance measures

and acquisitions, you know, I'm always looking for, for to expose myself of different ways

of thinking how, you know, what works for me.

What makes me tick, what makes me a better human, better leader, a better football player.

So, yeah, I guess the, uh, the five day silent retreat was, it was an interesting one.

Got to tell me a bit more about that.

Jack, how did that go?

It was, it was challenging.

Um, definitely one of the most challenging things I've ever done.

Um, it was pretty much wake up, um, meditate for most of the day.

Um, a few, a few kind of food breaks here or there, but you know, we're talking.

We're talking hours and hours of meditation, no talking.

Um, where did you do it?

It was, uh, Byron Bay.

Um, kind of like in the, they call it hinterlands, like the, yeah, the, the foresty area of Byron

Bay.

Um, and it was, it was a really cool experience to be able to just gain clarity on your own

thoughts.

Um, and, and what I found as well was like coming back to normal society and getting

back on my phone.

Was just understanding how different thing, you know, just the amount of, like whether

it's marketing or, um, you know, billboards or the things you follow on social media,

how that makes, how that influences how we, we think.

Um, so just was like, I think the first thing I did was go on my Instagram.

I was like, why am I actually following?

I don't actually enjoy this.

This doesn't make me happy.

This doesn't, um, bring much to my life.

Or add much value to my life.

So I think just getting a few different realizations, um, from the experience was pretty cool.

Yeah.

Brilliant.

I'm, I'm fascinated by that.

You know, we, they say we have 80,000 thoughts a day and to understand that, you know, if

you slow that down, what does that mean?

And get a sense of your own, uh, mind.

I'm, uh, I'm more curious about that.

Uh, I'll have to ask.

How would you go?

Well, I am passionate about the meditation space.

So it's something I've done for more than 25 years, Jack.

Three footy.

Yup.

So I do the 20 minutes twice a day and, and that's been a, just a piece of gold for me.

I'm pretty consistent with that.

So I've often thought about, you know, would you extend that out and, uh, read a bit about

the silent retreats, but you know, for you to say it's, it's, it's challenging, uh, you

know, with your mental toughness is, is interesting, mate.

I, uh, I'd be up for it.

I'd be up for it for sure.

That's a cool space.

I really, um, something that I was introduced to reluctantly through Paul Ruse, um, back

in, um.

Um, maybe my second, second or third season, he, he kind of made us all do meta or meditate,

um, before trainings and being a 19, 20 year old having to sit still for 10, 20 minutes.

I was like, I hated it.

But after doing it consistently for, you know, a couple of weeks, I was like, I'm actually

starting to play a little bit better here and I'm thinking a little bit clearer and

making some better decisions on the footy field.

So since then, yeah, it's been a pretty big part of, of my program.

And keep it, continue to be the best version of myself.

It's interesting, Joe.

I did it all three footy, gave it up the second I retired.

And a year later, my wife's going, you're a fucking nightmare.

What has happened?

You need to, and I hadn't really worked out that it was helping me in so many other areas

of my life, putting it down to some of this transition.

And, uh, she was a hundred percent right.

Like just what it was doing to calm you, make better decisions, be a better dad.

And then I really understood it.

Then I really sort of worked it out.

And, uh.

Um, you know, it's been a, been an absolute gift, that one for sure.

In terms of collaboration, we, we love this quote, Jack, the cost of leadership is time.

You mentioned a little bit before about the demands and, and, and workloads and your

curiosity taking you into different areas.

You know, how do you manage that and still be the leader that you want to be?

Yeah, I guess it, like, it's a really challenging one, Das, like you said, is, uh, I

want to continue to find different ways of, of thinking.

But at the same, in the same way, I'm, I'm trying to consolidate my own leadership philosophy.

So, so how much do you bunker down in what you think, you know, to be true versus what others, um, say, you know?

So I think that's just like the journey in mind at the moment as well.

It's, I continue to explore different ways of thinking, get exposure to different things, different experiences, you know,

whilst consolidating, you know, this is, this is what.

This is how things have played out in my own life and my own experiences.

And, um, yeah, continue to build upon, upon my, my own philosophy.

So it's a challenging one that, um, yeah, I don't, I don't have the answers to right now.

Communication's a, a, a pillar that we speak about with everyone.

And that idea that that's something that people getting a handle on that consistently.

Have you got a mantra that you live by when it comes to the way you communicate in your world?

This is probably something that came to fruition through my leader experience was, I haven't known anything differently about communication.

I feel like at, um, AFL and club lands, like communication is so important and it's, um, it's practiced daily and it's two way feedback.

It's how you receive feedback and how you give feedback.

But I feel like maybe from a.

Corporate or business point of view.

Communication isn't as strong of a, um, you know, key feature, but, um, you know, w we practice so much about, you know, there's, there's, there's feedback, um, to be given what's the most effective way to give that feedback.

Um, and the reasons we give feedback is because we care about people.

We want to, we want people to improve.

Like if we didn't want people to improve and get better than we wouldn't tell them, we just ignore, ignore it and get on with our lives.

But.

Yeah.

Football context, context, we're all trying to improve and if our teammates are better, we're going to be better as a team.

So here's the feedback I'm going to give you because I care about, about you and I'm doing it in a respectful manner.

Um, and then on the flip side, there's, there's how I receive the feedback, you know, whilst in the moment I might not agree, I'll get my walls up and get a little bit defensive, which happens most times.

You know, people, people don't like, um.

Um, hearing feedback, um, sometimes, but with time you, you process that information.

You say, you know, it's no, it actually is a bit of truth to that.

Um, even if they are wrong, you know, I can see where they're coming from.

I can understand their perspective.

Um, and then we, we, we galvanize again and, um, come to that United front, um, and try and yeah, deliver a better performance for each other.

Um.

So I think, yeah, for me, it's that two-way communication, constant feedback, um, and, and circling back, I think that's something as well on a football field.

There's not a lot of opportunity to explain where you're coming from.

It might be, uh, you know, there's a few expletives, a bit more blunt, bit, bit more direct.

Um, but then when you get to the halftime, once you get to the end of the game, you, you got to follow back up and say, you know, this is where, um, this is where I was coming from.

I might've been a little bit off.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I might've been out of line in the moment, but you know, I needed you to do this, um, right then and there.

Um, cause there's a lot of trust that can be eroded through poor communication.

Um, so just continuing to follow up and, and check in, I think is critical.

Brilliant description.

Jack, who's been the greatest leader in your life?

Probably cliche, but my old man, you know, we've talked about him a fair bit, um, tonight and my mom as well.

You know, there's all the time dad was, um, dad was, was working.

Hard and I came home with few issues from school and, um, whether I was being bullied or whatnot, and mom's the one giving me, giving me the philosophies and the solutions to, to move forward.

So my parents have been enormous and I've been quite fortunate to have Simon Goodwin as my, my head coach for the last, you know, nine, 10 years.

And I think he's a terrific coach and I've lent on him, um, enormously and continuing to be, you know, inspired by the way he, he leads and coaches.

So, um, yeah, I would say, I would say Simon's a massive inspiration to mine as well.

Been full of admiration for you from the moment I heard about you as a young kid and the type of person you are and the, the Viney family tradition is, uh, not surprising.

Here you talk about values, here you talk about the way you live and, and you live that in every moment that I've ever seen you on a footy field or, or off the footy field.

So congratulations.

There's so many great chapters to unfold and, um, been a great pleasure to catch up with you.

Thanks for your time.

Thanks, Darce.

Thanks for having me on.

Thanks for listening to another episode of the Empowering Leaders podcast.

Huge thanks as always to our great friends at Temper, and we encourage you to check out our Leader Connect program.

New episodes are out every Wednesday morning at 6am.