Know what you don’t know before the rest of the world figures it out

Benign to five

At the beginning of this year my older daughter started pre-school. She goes to a community-run kinder, which means a committee of volunteer parents, along with the staff, manage and organise the whole thing.

I’m not entirely sure how – possibly through trickery or magic – I recently became the president of that committee. After the initial shock wore off, and I stopped looking like Darrin from Bewitched trying to comprehend a flamingo landing on his head, I decided this was something I should embrace.

It wasn’t as if I was a stranger to leadership. I’d been the CEO of a multinational electronics company, briefly taken over as the managing director of Smorgy’s Burwood during my 35-day stint there, and managed one of the world’s most difficult employees as a sole trader.

I went to my first committee meeting as boss deciding I would take firm control. I would turn what could be expansive and freewheeling affairs into exemplars of sharp communication exchange and efficient use of time. The meeting began at 7.30pm and I was determined that we would be out, having discussed every item on the agenda, by 8.30pm.

At 11.45pm, as we were heatedly debating whether Kwazii from The Octonauts was a feisty go-getter or a raucous clown, a camel wearing a mariachi jacket wandered in through an open door and began to eat the 60-profiterole croquembouche we’d ordered for the meeting. I wondered whether I may have lost control.

The problem, I think, was being too ambitious too soon. Next meeting I’m aiming for 11.30pm and a llama.