On Thursday 9th August, I had the pleasure to introduce Peggy Grande to all the Year 11 students at Pymble Ladies College in Sydney.

Peggy was the executive assistant to US President Ronald Reagan after he left office. She has had an amazing experience regularly engaging with world leaders and these days she spends much of her time speaking at conferences and seminars to a wide range of audiences.

I had the great fortune to meet Peggy on a recent flight from the US to Melbourne and was delighted to hear her story. She very generously offered some of her valuable time to engage with some of the teachers and students I work with in Victoria & NSW.

The Principal of Pymble, Mrs Vicki Waters, and members of her executive staff put on a lovely lunch for Peggy and myself before we met with the Year 11s.

Kim Maksimovic, the IT Integrator at Pymble was my main contact at the school. I was so pleased when she was able to organise our visit at such short notice.

Kim took the opportunity to record a podcast interview with Peggy as part of series she is doing on women in leadership.

Some of the key messages shared by Peggy to the Year 11s included the following …

• There is no limit to what can you can achieve as long as you don’t mind who gets the credit
• Don’t give into the drama of challenging situations
• Prioritise people – people are the most important things
• Leadership is a mindset, not a title
• A good leader is always looking forward with optimism & inspiration
• We always have a choice to either be toxic to our environment or optimistically contagious
• You can be strong a successful and also be a good person at the same time

Click here to see my article on a dinner I organised in Victoria with Peggy and some key educators.

Click here to see a video interview I recorded with Peggy when she was in Melbourne.