Steve Gollschewski and his advice to his younger self
On the 25 February 2025, IPAA Queensland in partnership with Comtrac was delighted to host our first Stewards on the Couch series for the year.
This event saw Steve Gollschewski APM, Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service take to the couch to have a conversation with Samay Zhouand, Chief Executive Officer of The Public Trustee and member of the IPAA Queensland Council.
During this conversation, attendees heard more about Steve’s diverse career, his leadership journey, career challenges, and priorities for his portfolio.
An engaging and honest conversation about the Steve’s career and his approach, and the below is a summary of four key pieces of advice he would have shared with his younger self…
Samay: What advice would you give to young Steve Gollschewski?
Steve: One is to keep your values strong and stay connected to why you’re doing this, which I feel I’ve achieved.
The other one would be probably…I got into education later in my career and development because I was too busy having a good time locking up crooks. So, I would say start your education earlier and develop more and broaden it.
I got very focused on what I needed to do my job better and what qualifications going to help me to do that, and then I got into the leadership space. But I think broaden, you know, as I’ve got higher up, and you broaden your perspective, and it’s not just about policing.
The other one’s really the personal one, which I didn’t get right, which would be get that balance right for you, yourself and your family and, and what are you prepared to give up to achieve what it is that you’re trying to do professionally?
Because inevitably the higher you go, you’re going to have to give things up. And are you prepared to pay that price?
Think about that deeply before you do it.
Keen to watch the clip online? Click here to watch the clip on our YouTube account.
For more, read the event page here.
IPAA Queensland members can watch the entire event recording on the members portal.
IPAA Queensland thanks our partner Comtrac for their support
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About IPAA Queensland’s Stewards On The Couch Series
Stewards on the Couch is a regular and highly popular feature of IPAA’s annual event program, where one or more chief executives is joined by a respected journalist or facilitator ‘on the couch’ for an informal, conversation-style interview.
These events provide the IPAA community an opportunity to learn more about the influences, priorities, and core values of stewards leading public purpose work along with the key challenges and opportunities facing their organisation and/or sector. Guests are invited to stay for networking and refreshments after the interview.