News from around Australia about the competition

#education | Tracey Hodgkins claims we will end up with a “whole society of disengaged learners” if the education system doesn’t change.

Tracey, CEO of AELC, is interviewed this week in WA Business News.

“… kids are coming out of university and they can’t apply what they have learnt because it doesn’t make any sense”

View a larger clipping of the article on the AELC Facebook page

The red carpet was out and there were ladies dressed in 40’s style golden sequins waiting at the entrance. I felt a little bit like a movie star (or maybe I was the bodyguard escorting the QLD Business Icon winner up the red carpet). Either way it wasn’t a bad way to enter a networking event; dressed in cocktail dresses being handed champagne after champagne.

Only a week ago I received an invite to this event; the red carpet networking function to honour the winners of the Sunshine Coast Women’s Business Awards! It came just after being asked to judge the Caloundra Business Awards! Me, little old me at age 23 and having only been in the business community here for a few months is now a business judge and a VIP guest! Hmmm not bad.

Lahnee Thomas – 1st Place Sports Model INBA Brisbane Title 2010

Of course the first thing I do is call and invite the lovely Jenna Waters, QLD Business Icon winner for 2010 and get her into this crowd of ambitious local women.

I think the funny part about this night was perhaps the fact that both of us were at least 10 years younger than anyone else there. That’s right we were surrounded by Gen X! Don’t get me wrong, this was great and what a boost to be the only Gen Y’s invited to this prestigious event.

This brings me to another point; I am known on the Sunshine Coast! It came as quite a shock when some of the ladies approached me saying they knew who I was!!! It might have been the fact that my face has been plastered over the newspapers and mags recently for a completely separate matter (sports modelling) but… I have also been swamped with jobs at my little (and I mean little) Media business so I’m guessing my name is really getting out there.

I guess the point I am trying to make here is that it doesn’t take long to get where you want to be if you put yourself out there to be seen! Take every opportunity to meet people and take up any offer thrown your way. Who knows maybe it will be me they honour on the red carpet one day soon!

#ausvotes
As I got my name ticked off, was given that ridiculously humongous bit of paper and made my way to the polling booth – I still had not made my mind up as to who I was going to vote for. In my eyes, neither party deserved my support.

I find it so frustrating that our supposedly ‘best leaders in the country’, instead of inspiring us with great policies that are going to mean a bright future for our country, resort to short term manipulations of people and events to please the masses and ugly slander campaigns.

It made me think of the Australian Business Icon competition which I competed in last year. The environment of the Business Icon competition is very similar to an election campaign in which you compete in teams to win a challenge but are also monitored on an individual level.

I could not imagine any of these young, motivated, passionate contestants getting up in front of the judges, tearing into the other groups and wasting time telling the judges why the other groups and contestants should not go through. We were way too passionate and excited at our fresh, innovative ideas to be worried about anything like that.

What we need is our political leaders to take a leaf out of the Business Icon book – If you have great ideas/policies that you are passionate and excited about – and that you think are going to change our country for the better – then you should have no need to tear the other groups/parties down through negative debating and personal attacks.

In fact – I wonder if it has ever occurred to our leaders that maybe it would be better for the overall goal to take a more collaborative approach to politics and build on each other’s ideas…

This power struggle has to end.