Source: Wealth Creator Magazine March/April 2007

Words of wisdom

“You need to know where you want to go,” he says. Leaders, in both corporate and sporting fields, need to convince people of their aims and their end-goals; “you do that by challenging your staff and your players…we can always do greater things than what we’re currently used to doing,”
enewsletter signup:
Why subscribe?View archive

John Buchanan: Leading the Charge

Source: Wealth Creator Magazine March/April 2007

Brief History

  • 1973-1981 University ‘A’ Grade - 1975 & 1978 Brisbane ‘A’ Grade Cricketer of the Year
  • 1978-1979 Queensland Sheffield Shield Team
  • 1981 – 1982 Sport Coordinator – XII Commonwealth Games
  • 1983 – 1984 National Director – Australian Volleyball
  • 1994-1999 Queensland Bulls Cricket Team Coach:- First Sheffield Shield win
  •  (1995), Second Sheffield Shield win (1997), Mercantile Mutual Cups (1996 & 1998)
  • 1995 Australian National League Coach of the Year
  • 1999 – present Australian Cricket Team Coach (will retire after World Cup in march 2007)

John Buchanan: Leading the Charge

John BuchananWith his famously stern countenance and constant air of stability, John Buchanan has embodied Australian cricket dominance and discipline since taking over as national coach in 1999.

By his own admission, Buchanan’s early career was “topsy-turvy. His job history is fascinatingly varied; he worked for the Brisbane YMCA and a number of local gyms in 1970s, for the Townsville City Council as a recreational officer, for the 12th Commonwealth Games foundation as a sports coordinator, and as the National Director of the Australian Volleyball Foundation. Buchanan remarks. “I always looked for challenges in jobs…as soon as I feel that I’m not being challenged by (a) job then I think it’s time to look around.”

After completing a Diploma of Teaching, he attained a Masters Sports Administration. Buchanan began to wonder whether the qualities he’d taught “in sports administration (would) actually work in practice in a sports team.”

His first full coaching position was with a university A-grade cricket team in the early 1990s. Under his guidance, the team won both the one-day title and its first Club Championship in 17 years. Spurred on by this success, Buchanan applied for the job of Queensland coach when it was advertised in 1994. In his first season, Queensland won their first Sheffield Shield title in 68 years. When the job of national cricket coach opened up in 1999, Buchanan was the ideal candidate. His success as national coach has been extraordinary – a winning ratio of 70 per cent, world records for consecutive wins in tests (16) and one day internationals (14), a World Cup title, and countless series wins.

Read the full article in the current issue of Wealth Creator with Bob Hawke on the front cover. Out Now!