Leadership Week - Day 5 - Mark Cross
This morning we had the pleasure of welcoming Old Boy Mr Mark Cross to assembly for the final presentation of New Zealand Leadership Week for 2018. Mr Cross attended PNBHS from 1980 – 1984, and will be familiar to a number of our current students after joining the Te Araroa Trail group earlier in the year as they ran through Auckland.
Mr Cross graduated from Massey University with a BBS in Accounting and Finance and spent 20 years working in investment banking in New Zealand, Sydney and London. He is now a professional director on a number of company boards and is Chair of Milford Asset Management.
In 2016 Mr Cross competed in the Gobi Desert Ultra-marathon, a 250km event over a diverse range of challenging terrain. Mr Cross competed against 100 ultra-marathon runners from 30 different countries. He managed to finish in third place and along the way raised $11,000 for charity. He explained that while at school he was not at all interested in such events, and even found the school cross-country challenging. However, upon completing his university studies, he developed a passion for long distance events and caught the ‘Iron Man bug’.
Mr Cross concluded his presentation with four key lessons he has learned about life and leadership:
1 – Work Ethic. This is essential. You must have discipline and not take shortcuts. In the world of ultra-marathon running, anyone who has taken shortcuts in their preparation is soon found out. This rule applies to all areas of life – it does not matter how much talent you have, if you do not put the effort in you will not succeed. Mr Cross referred to our school motto ‘Nihil Boni Sine Labore’ – Nothing Achieved Without Hard Work – in relation to this key aspect of leadership.
2 – Resilience. Your attitude is essential – you must be optimistic and see the opportunities that are in front of you. We all experience difficulties and failures, use these as a learning experience so that you can come back stronger next time.
3 – Self-confidence. Know who you are and be confident in the things you do.
4 – Humility. Know that when you are suffering others are too, sometimes worse than you are. Be humble in your achievements.
Mr Cross encouraged our young men to be open to new experiences, to try new thigs, find out what they enjoy and ‘give all you’ve got’ in following your passions.
A big thank you to Mr Cross for making the time to come and share his thoughts with us this morning.
