Our next guest is Dr. Jo Newton, a 2018 Australian Financial Review Top 100 Woman of Influence & Chair of Youth Voices Leadership Team. Growing up in Melbourne, Jo was told at 16-years old that she was “too smart to study agriculture” before moving to regional New South Wales to enrol in a Bachelor of Rural Sciences at the University of New England.
While an undergraduate, Jo stepped up to be the 2nd year representative of the rural science undergraduate society in 2009, the Treasurer in 2010 & join SIFE (now renamed to Enactus) from 2010-2015.
Jo would ultimately go on to receive the University Medal & complete her PhD in Quantitative Genetics in Armidale at UNE.
In this episode, I’m speaking with Jo about her experiences in club leadership roles as an undergraduate, what she learned about leadership & entrepreneurship, & discuss the impact she’s made to date.
Top quotes from this episode:
Saying thank you isn't enough for the opportunities you can have as a young person.
In Australia less than 1 in 3 leadership positions are held by women. In agriculture its less than 1 in 7 leadership positions held by women.
I got real world project management experience hosting an event for 300 people & bringing 20 companies to Armidale. These practical real-world skills help you stand out when you’re looking for a grad job.
We’re a group of students. We’ve discovered that we don’t really know what we’re going to be next year & we’d like to change that. This is what we’re going to do.
I said yes to any opportunity to get up in front of people. The nerves are still there & now I see them as a good thing. A colleague said, “The butterflies are a good thing, because it means I care & if I ever get up in front of people to speak & I don’t have that’s when I’ll worry because it means I’ve stopped caring.”
If you equip a whole team & bring the whole team on the journey you are paying it forward by giving other young people access to opportunity & they pay it forward again & you have this amazing ripple effect.
Resources:
https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts
Brené Brown’s TED Talk & Podcast with Tim Ferriss:
https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability/
https://tim.blog/2015/08/28/brene-brown-on-vulnerability-and-home-run-ted-talks/
Megumi Miki Quietly Powerful:
https://www.megumimiki.com/quietly-powerful
Connect with Enactus Australia CEO, Judy Howard:
Connect with Jo on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jo-newton-10012b3a/
For more interviews with leaders like Jo, make sure you follow Campus Consultancy:
Website: www.campusconsultancy.org/podcast
LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/company/campusconsultancy/ To connect with our host, Josh Farr, connect on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/joshdfarr