David Crombie

David Crombie has been a leader in many different arenas. In stepping down from the leadership of the National Farmers Federation (NFF) in November 2010, Federal Minister Tony Burke said, “It’s fair to say you only have to learn a little bit about David Crombie to learn a lot about the best of Australian agriculture - and Australian agriculture has been in a better place and in a better position because of the way David has led the sector.”

“Leadership is interesting,” says David. “A leader is someone who can empower and encourage others to achieve what they may not be able to achieve on their own. Leadership can certainly be developed, strengthened and fine tuned but I believe you need to have been born with some ability to influence and guide.”  

“Different leaders demonstrate various elements of leadership. Sir William Gunn not only gave me my first job but also inspired me to want to do more with my life. He was an extraordinarily powerful leader – an outstanding communicator but he was fallible on detail and commercial reality.” 

“General Sir John Monash learnt from disastrous experiences and bad planning early in the First World War to emerge as one of our greatest military leaders. He was a meticulous planner, he used the latest technologies and he cared for the welfare of his soldiers. He ensured that they were part of the battle plan and were properly trained and had a clear understanding of the role that they would play in its success. He espoused another characteristic of leadership ‘Always have a plan. Even if it is not the best plan, it is better than no plan at all’.” 

“Then there is former Wallaby captain John Eales who displayed another important characteristic of leadership and that is composure. Acting in a composed manner under pressure is very important and when the Wallabies were under pressure it was so often Eales who stood out for his calm demeanour. Who could forget the kick from the touch line in 2000 to win the Bledisloe Cup against New Zealand? But even more important was the following year in South Africa when the Wallabies where in a similar knife edge position and Captain Eales tossed the ball to Sterling Mortlock with the trust of a captain for his kicker. That is another element of leadership – complete faith in your team and those around you to do their job.” 

David not only works in the rural industry with his own farming and livestock business and sits on many primary industry boards, he also contributes his leadership expertise to his sporting heritage. A former player, David is also Vice President of Australian Rugby Union. 

“Different organisations require different leadership at different times, but there is a commonality that is the same for all administrations. First know where you are starting from and decide where you want to be. Be very clear about the outcome you want and with a consistent approach, encourage those around you to travel the journey with you. Sometimes you need to modify your path but always work towards the goal with your team. Most times the process of leadership is the same – it is just the circumstances that are different in agriculture or sport or leadership in general. Consistently working towards an agreed outcome is my leadership style,” says David. 

David was the longest serving Chair of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation (ARLF) from 200-2008 and is delighted to talk about that period of time. 

“Without a doubt the highlight of my term as Chair was seeing the ongoing quality and diversity of candidates participating in the Foundation’s programs. The transformation that happened year after year during each course, was simply amazing. The people bonded as a team during their term and then nurtured their strengths and overcame their weakness to individually grow into the leaders of today and tomorrow; back in their jobs, on their farms or within their communities. To see such enrichment, time and time again, and to continually meet with graduates in my travels has been an honour and a privilege,” he says humbly. 

With such a rich kaleidoscope of portfolios, David has experienced challenges of all kinds. “But that is the nature of leadership – taking on challenges, steering the direction, and hopefully seeing results!” 

“During my time at Meat and Livestock Australia we faced an enormous challenge. My objective was to transfer the industry emphasis from beef production to a customer focus. To understand and respond to future market needs we had to have a values based system dictated by consumer signals with through chain accountability. This is still a work in progress but now with the tools in place, individuals are able to embrace change when they are ready.” 

“During my four years with the NFF we had the objective to develop better policies at the National level on issues such as trade reform, emissions, water, research priorities, bio-security and to strengthen our advocacy role. We needed to widen our base so that NFF represented the whole of the supply chain including not only farmers but also the services, supply, processing and marketing sectors. To achieve this we needed to change the constitution. National membership has now expanded and there is a better unity of purpose in policy development, but again this is work in progress.” 

When asked about the future David is genuinely excited and optimistic about our rural industries and about the leaders of tomorrow. “I believe there are wonderful opportunities in rural Australia with the big driver being the population explosion in Asia as well as economic growth that is shifting food demand in an important segment of that market towards high quality fresh foods. We are part of that region – a good address for a positive future and we can produce natural, clean food for that market which carry guarantees for product integrity underpinned by industry systems.” 

“Where will new leaders come from? They are already here so the challenge is to create a vision of opportunity and optimism and the young primary industry professionals and business managers will be attracted. Leadership programs like those run through the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation set a benchmark for future leadership development. Looking at the graduates of past courses I know that regional Australia is in fine and capable hands.” 

With retirement on the agenda David has no doubts that he will now be busier than ever. “For me retirement just means doing something different – not lying about. And I have lots of plans. I want to be more hands-on in my own businesses like the farming and livestock interests in south Queensland. I want to do more work within my development company overseas and I am delighted to be on the board of Foodbank, a not for profit organisation supplying food to the needy.”

When asked for advice about his leadership he laughs and says he’ll leave that to others but does offer a few thoughts.

• Develop a set of ethical values that define who you are and what you stand for.
• Listen carefully because you can learn something from everyone.
• Always have a plan but be flexible to change in the light of new and better information.
• Maintain your composure; successful leaders need to look and act like leaders.
• Don't procrastinate - make decisions.
• Delegate to the lowest level and as close as possible to the action but make sure the person is equipped to handle the task and that there are safety triggers in case it goes wrong.