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On the back of the recent US election, this week’s episode features Hon. Sandra Nori, the former NSW Minister of Sport/Recreation and Women. We hear a few of the things Sandra learnt in the bear pit of the parliamentary floor, how she harnessed her ambition and what advice she would give to younger people.
Hon. Sandra Nori
Politics was in Sandra’s blood.
She wanted to be an MP from primary school.
So she followed her heart and after years of grinding work and door knocking she was elected as the Minister for Sport and Recreation and Women for 17 years in the NSW Parliament.
The hardest thing was getting the confidence in the first place to say you are good enough. But once she started…. she didn’t stop.
In the bear pit of Australian politics Sandra learnt how to communicate. She learnt how to be heard by the male parliamentarians – to be taken seriously to get her reforms pushed through the parliamentary floor she learnt to give no extraneous information and keep very focused on each point. She found she had to sound half angry in order to get them to listen to her… in other words, she spoke like a bloke.
Sexism comes when men don’t appreciate the skills women bring and they often categorise them into weakness. In Sandra’s opinion men do hear the female voice but often it is categorised into the either the lover or nagging wife role.
Her biggest piece of advice to women and to men – GET EDUCATED. Especially for the women. Prince Charming may never come or may not turn out to be so charming after all.
Habits of success Sandra learnt along the way:
- Eat the ugliest frog first in the morning.
- Put things into bite size chunks and get through 10 or 15% of them each day.
- And most importantly – follow your dreams. Follow what brings a smile to your face and that is what you are supposed to do.
