Supporting leaders to navigate organisations with integrity and purpose

Matt Finnis has more than 17 years’ experience as a chief executive, first as CEO of the AFL Players’ Association and then as CEO of the St Kilda Football club. His achievements include establishing the Danny Frawley Centre for Health and Wellbeing that is co-located with St Kilda Football Club, staging the world’s first Pride Game in professional team sport and delivering record growth in club revenues from membership, sponsorship and philanthropy. At the AFLPA he was a strong advocate for player interests across a range of workplace, commercial and welfare settings, instigating a pension annuity scheme for AFL players, the first of its type for athletes in Australia.

Read on for our interview with Matt!

Describe your career trajectory and how you got to your current position.

I held a number of roles in the Not-For-Profit sector while completing my law degree part time before practising as a solicitor. I was given the opportunity to take-up an in-house lawyer position with the AFL Players Association and went on to become CEO of that organisation. After nearly a decade with the PA I moved across to lead AFL Club St Kilda which enabled me to deepen the club’s connections into the community across a range of initiatives. Having decided to lean deeper into a “for purpose” career, I was privileged to be given the opportunity to lead a new venture for Monash University in partnership with the Myer and Fairfax Foundations to foster ethical leadership across Australian society.

What does this role mean to you?

It is seriously impressive that two of Australia’s most active philanthropic families not only share a belief that the most effective way to shape a good society is by developing its leaders, but also are emotionally, intellectually and financially committed to achieving that. It’s a very rewarding experience to witness the change in people which can occur by challenging and supporting them to think deeply about their purpose and values and then develop the skills to amplify the impact of their leadership.

Take us through a typical day of work for you.

My role is all about enabling super talented folks to shine – whether that’s our dynamic team working behind the scenes, our diverse faculty of thought leaders and program moderators or our clients who more often than not are keen to roll their sleeves up and co-design programs with us. Of course there’s budgets to manage and other governance responsibilities, but I’m really enjoying leading a small team focused on having a big impact. 

If you could go back in time, what piece of advice would you give yourself as you first embarked on your career?

“Don’t stress the small stuff.” Humans are hardwired to overthink the negative consequences of our decisions and replay our mistakes over and over. Critical thinking is key to ethical leadership – but not self criticism. My leadership has been at its best when I’ve found the right balance of wisdom and courage and not let seemingly insurmountable short term concerns get in the way of doing what’s right for the long run.

How do you stay motivated to work in this field?

I think some of the brightest, most innovative leaders are working in the For Purpose sector – but in order to sustain their leadership over the journey it’s critical they take the time to nourish their own personal growth and wellbeing. Personally I love sitting in the back of the room on the final day of one of our programs listening to leaders who have embraced the rare opportunity to situate their own leadership journey in the context of others and some timeless wisdoms. Hearing these leaders reflect and share new ambitions for the next phase of their leadership journeys is pretty motivating.

What was the last thing you:

• Watched, Read, & Listened to?

Watched – Slow Horses on Apple TV

Read – History For Tomorrow by Roman Krznaric

Listened To – People I (mostly) Admire Podcast