By Liam Tapper
For the Men Of League CEO Corene Strauss, leadership is in her nature.
Having a successful career which has seen her travel from her native South Africa to Kalgoorlie and finally to Sydney, Strauss believes her current role is the most rewarding.
Recently at Sharkies Leagues Club for a Men Of League Southern Sydney chapter fundraising event, Strauss couldn’t be happier with her move from the corporate sector to the sports industry.
“It’s great,” said Strauss. “The difference between the corporate world and the sporting sector, the fundamentals are still the same but the thing that differentiates the two is this real essence of mate ship.
“The way people respond to feedback as well and take that on board. It’s not personal.
“They all know it’s about being better and it’s so uplifting.”
These values have been with Strauss throughout her working career and it’s something that she makes an effort to include within her team at the Men Of League.
“My underlying philosophy and it’s interesting we’re in the sporting industry but whatever you do in life, you smack for six,” Strauss said.
“Be happy if you get a four but aim for a six. That’s what drives me.”
It is this persistence and drive that has seen Strauss get her to where she is today and is something she believes is crucial to success in any industry.
Having been the National Marketing Manager at Legacy Australia for seven years prior to her role at Men Of League, Strauss understands the value that a healthy working environment has on providing a message to a target audience.
Strauss believes this ability to engage and connect with an audience is evident at Men Of League and that she has found that combination in her team.
“I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much as I have in this job because I have the greatest team,” she added.
“It’s an absolute joy. I really love the ethos of Men Of League which is around this mate ship and mates helping mates. I love the broadness of the role.”
Strauss’ career has been dominated by the existence of men in senior positions however this is something that she hasn’t let affect her.
The Men Of League CEO believes people are put into positions in the workplace with the aim of achieving a common goal and should not lose site of this.
“Most of my career has been in a male dominated environment.
“I don’t notice it. It’s only when other people point it out because at the end of the day, we’re there about a common purpose.
It is this desire and willingness to work towards a common purpose that drives Strauss and it is what keeps her hungry as a woman in a position of leadership.
“We’re there to achieve an objective and gender actually has nothing to do with it.
“I don’t notice the gender issue because I’m more focused on the issue we’re trying to address at that time and what our objectives are of that particular project.
“We really need to focus on the issue of why we’re there and what the conversation is about and not about the gender.”
Strauss is reluctant to call herself a trailblazer for women to be appointed into leadership roles in the workplace, as she believes that society is progressing enough for this to become a common occurrence.
She also has a sense of humor on the matter.
“The fact that people notice that I’m a female is fantastic because god if they didn’t notice I was a female I’d be worried.”
This attitude to creating and maintaining a positive workplace is something that has brought Strauss success throughout her career and something that she feels is one of the key elements of not only the Men Of League Foundation but also the broader Rugby League community.
“The Rugby League community is an incredible community. It is so loud with laughter and I don’t think I’ve experienced it anywhere else.
“The things I’ve learn in this role are that I love the way that they don’t take things too seriously and that they pay out on each other and it’s always done with good spirit and good meaning with no militant and that humor is so important,” Straus said.
“It’s there every day.”
If Strauss’s legacy, created from her work in recent roles is anything to go by, she will be bringing a great deal more laughter as well as success to the Men Of League Foundation in the years to come.
