Leadership does not hold the hand of the status quo.
Diana Taylor AM has spent a lifetime leading through pressure, change and disruption in the worlds of law, business, community and sport.
A fearless community builder whose life purpose is to create better outcomes for others, Diana initially completed a law degree at Deakin University, worked in some of Australia’s largest law firms and businesses and was the inaugural General Counsel for Netball Australia before establishing her own law firm, Diana Taylor Legal Consulting.
Diana is a trailblazer and pioneer in the world of Australian rules football, becoming the first female president of a men’s AFL metropolitan football league, the Western Region Football League, the first woman appointed to the VFL Tribunal, director of the Geelong Football Club in 2010, and in 2019, Diana became the Club’s first female Vice President in its 165-year history.
In the 2024 Australia Day Honours, Diana became a recipient of the Member of the Order of Australia for her significant service to Australian rules football and the community of Geelong. Diana is also a winner of Victoria’s Telstra Business Women’s Awards (Corporate & Private category).
Diana is also an experienced board chair and director, and has served on a number of boards including Public Skills Australia, the Geelong Authority, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust, GOTafe, AFLW Competition Committee and Anam Cara House Geelong.
In 2023, Diana added ‘author’ to her portfolio, writing her first book, ‘The Playbook – crossing the white line to succeed in life, business and the AFL’, to support people to think strategically, plan smart and execute for success.
Talking Points
The Female Leader: built to lead, last and create legacy
Gender matters, and women in leadership roles or aspiring to leadership should be given every opportunity to succeed. There is a playbook that every current and aspiring female leader needs to understand to build their skills, read the room, develop their talent and character, develop their networks and refine their grit. Diana guides the audience through each of these critical elements by placing no ceiling on what is possible, and on refining the art of never giving up even in the most challenging of circumstances. Leadership does not hold the hand of the status quo. Leadership demands far more, and this presentation goes to the heart of what every female leader, and those who support them, need to know for sustained success.The Female Leader: built to lead, last and create legacy
Audiences will learn:
- Why female leaders and aspiring leaders should be supported and the ways this can be achieved
- How to build talent, character and leadership capability and stand out in crowded marketplaces
- Techniques for leadership presentation, communication and managing the art of perception
- How to build networks and open up multiple portfolio opportunities for advancement
- The key elements of building and sustaining resilience and grit under pressure
Planning for Greatness: mastering the elements of the strategic planning process and leading for organisational and personal greatness
People and organisations have the ability to achieve extraordinary outcomes. But greatness doesn’t happen by chance, and it is never given as an instant reward. Careful planning, a clearly defined purpose, accountability for actions and a controlled response for events inevitably not going to plan are essential. Diana has supported individuals and organisations for over two decades in high performance sport, business, legal and community environments to lead and plan for the best and hold to the course over the long term. This presentation will support the audience to lead in finding competitive advantage in the planning and execution process to achieve the ultimate success.Planning for Greatness: mastering the elements of the strategic planning process and leading for organisational and personal greatness
Audiences will learn:
- How to master strategic planning to achieve elevated and sustained success
- Why the small things and consistency matter in the execution
- Why people and organisations fail at planning and execution and how to avoid the pitfalls
- How to lead people to embrace their greatness and the planning process
- To develop a greater understanding of why the short-, medium- and long-term planning horizons are all critical to achieving greatness
Community leadership: building a better future, one deliberate action at a time
With governments struggling under mounting weight of expectation and the cost-of-living pressures significantly affecting the way we live, there has never been a more important time in our history for strong community leadership. To be successful, community leaders need to be identified and step forward, be given the tools to succeed, to last and then pass their knowledge and skills onto the next generation of leaders. Community leaders have the ability to respond to and direct the power of their communities for good, and to deliver on expectations of community in the areas that make the most difference. As a community leader, Diana acutely understands and guides the audience through what it takes to be a successful community leader, how to prioritise action when there is so much need and how to take key stakeholders, including government, on the journey with the community.Community leadership: building a better future, one deliberate action at a time
Audiences will learn:
- Why community has become the place where the care for our people is paramount and actions to support this endeavour can succeed
- The difference between the community leader and other types of business and organisational leadership, and the superpower that exists in all community leaders
- What community leaders need to understand about governance, running an organisation and the overlay of integrity and trust in all matters
- The opportunities for community leaders to embrace their purpose, to find their courage and make great decisions and to grow the power of their communities
- Why financial sustainability in community organisations is paramount and how the community leader can achieve this objective
Sport and Leadership: applying lessons from the on field and off field sporting environment to excel in leadership
The competitive brutality of elite level sport, both on and off the field, carries with it daily lessons for leadership and life. Sport is continuously handing out learnings in multiple areas of leadership including the building of resilience, financial priorities, reputation management, working within and for a team and finding the courage to go the distance. With national, state and community sport administration experience spanning over two decades and within some of Australia’s most loved sports, Diana has been up close and personal with what matters and has led in these environments. Diana shares with the audience the factors that make the difference between success and failure, and how leaders can use the lessons of sport to take themselves and their teams to greater heights.Sport and Leadership: applying lessons from the on field and off field sporting environment to excel in leadership
Audiences will learn:
- Why sport is one of Australia’s greatest change agents and why sport captures hearts and minds
- How to use the sporting experience to find the core leadership elements that matter most, and successfully deliver on those elements
- How to use sport and its triumphs to shape the direction of the people in an organisation and what matters to them most
- The real opportunity to use sport to find the good in everything we do and to capitalise on facets of sport that allow us to achieve greatness
- Why sport and its health benefits should be embraced by all leaders to excel in their own arenas
Video
Diana Taylor: Leadership - Focusing on What Matters
A successful lawyer, Diana now operates a thriving consultancy business, specialising in workplace relations and governance, with a keen interest in sport. Through a Q & A session, Diana will talk about her career and leadership journey.PROPped by the Bar - EP10 - Special guest, Diana Taylor, Chair of Geelong Authority
In this episode of PROPped by the Bar we meet Diana Taylor, Chair of the Geelong Authority plus vice-president of Geelong Football Club. A successful Geelong businesswoman, Diana talks in-depth with Gareth and Michael about the role of the Geelong Authority in leading Geelong's future development, Geelong Football Club plus lots more. There's also a market-update that has some interesting property statistics that will knock your socks off! Don't miss this informative episode.Diana is an exceptional speaker who is able to draw on a vast array of experiences backed up by intimate knowledge of elite sport, legal decision making and significant community programs co ... keep reading Geelong Football Club
Diana was engaged by FRV to deliver a series of workplace behaviour training sessions for senior operational and corporate leaders including FRV's Executive. Diana has a confident, assertive and inclusive speaking style when presenting to senior operational and corporate leaders and has the ability to read the room and make adjustment in the moment to engage with participants and to enable input and full participation. Diana's deep subject matter expertise, delivery and approach has fulfilled the FRV brief and the relevant strategic objectives and outcomes for the workshops.
Diana speaks from the heart and is an inspiring and engaging speaker. Her very personal style makes it feel like she is having a direct conversation with you. Diana's core beliefs, experience and values cross over into business, not-for-profits, and the sporting community. She leaves you with a sense of empowerment.
Over many years I've had the honour of hearing Diana Taylor speak on diverse topics at significant events. As a speaker, Diana is engaging, thought-provoking and extremely-well researched. In 2020, Diana was the Committee for Geelong's keynote speaker at our International Women's Day event. The audience was in awe of her deep experience, authenticity and passion for equity in our community. Diana's opinions are in high demand as a well-respected, award-winning executive and not for profit Board Director.
Diana understands what her audience wants from the presentation: an understanding of their key drivers, clear guidance to inform their ideas and new ways of looking at their opportunities.
