Courage Over Comfort

When I had the choice…

Craig Foster was 23 when he first chose courage over comfort. Rising through the Socceroos, he saw older teammates being denied medical treatment, players without power getting pushed around. He had a choice: use his growing status for himself, or use it differently. That decision set the pattern for thirty years.

Legendary AFL coach Ron Barassi used to say "the great people in life are better than human nature." Fozzie understood this is what leadership would ask of him—a 'get to' thing, not a 'got to' thing. From protecting teammates in his early football career to walking into FIFA headquarters knowing it could end his broadcasting career, all to save Hakeem al-Araibi, a detained refugee footballer facing extradition and danger.

In this conversation, we explore the moments that define us: the taxi ride to Zurich where Fozzie and my brother Brendan acknowledged what their choice would cost for Hakeem, the human rights framework that guides him through ambiguous terrain, and the discovery that courage has its own rewards.

Craig talks about building "the muscle of principle," why leaders must be better than human nature, and what he's learned from thirty years of choosing the harder path—from the football pitch to refugee camps in Bangladesh, from broadcast studios to evacuating Afghans from Kabul.

When you had the choice, what did it say about you?

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