Featuring Dr Jo Newton OAM
We frequently say that young people are “future leaders”.
The phrase is intended as encouragement. But it can also unintentionally defer their contribution.
What if young Australians are already leading — and the challenge is whether our institutions are prepared to recognise them?
Dr Jo Newton OAM, an agricultural scientist and advocate for young people in agriculture, offers an important perspective on this question.
Her approach to leadership begins not with age but usefulness.
In research, Jo argues that producing knowledge is not enough. Scientific work should ultimately create tangible benefits for farmers and industry, which means involving the agricultural sector in defining research questions and developing pathways that take knowledge out of laboratories and journals and into practice.
That same instinct towards participation shapes her thinking about generations.
As a young volunteer in agricultural organisations, Jo encountered committees containing decades of accumulated knowledge. She learnt enormously from experienced members. At the same time, she could contribute skills and approaches that were newer to those organisations, including digital communication and different ways of structuring sponsorship.
The value was not in replacing one generation with another.
It was in combining them.
That process was not always comfortable. Jo encountered dismissive attitudes towards what people in their twenties could contribute.
But experience has also taught her the importance of visibility.
Jo describes herself as naturally introverted and says public leadership does not necessarily come comfortably. Yet a phrase has stayed with her: you can't be what you can't see.
As an undergraduate student, seeing a female geneticist give a guest lecture changed the trajectory of her career. That scientist, Sonya Dominik, subsequently became Jo’s supervisor, mentor and friend.
Jo now sees stepping into visible roles as a way of paying that opportunity forward, particularly in an agricultural sector where women have historically been less visible in some positions.
Representation, in this sense, is not symbolic.
It expands the range of futures that people can imagine for themselves.
Jo experienced the other side of this equation when she received the Medal of the Order of Australia shortly after turning 31.
Her initial response was discomfort. She associated honours with people later in their careers and knew many other young Australians making significant contributions whom she regarded as equally deserving.
Rather than diminishing her own recognition, that realisation sharpened a wider point: perhaps Australia needs to become better at noticing contribution while it is happening.
“We shouldn't wait till people are retired to celebrate those achievements,” she argues.
There is an important challenge for established leaders within that observation.
Inviting young people to participate is not sufficient if institutional cultures continue to treat experience as the only legitimate form of knowledge.
Intergenerational leadership requires both sides to arrive prepared to learn.
Experienced leaders bring accumulated judgement, historical understanding and networks. Younger leaders may bring different technologies, assumptions, expectations and ways of seeing longstanding problems.
Neither has a monopoly on insight.
Young Australians do not simply need encouragement to step up.
They need institutions willing to make genuine room when they do.
About the series
Voices of Leadership, Extraordinary Impact is a collaboration between the Order of Australia Association and Menzies Leadership Foundation, bringing to life the stories and insights of Australians recognised for their contribution and service.
Hosted by The Hon Vicki O’Halloran AO CVO FAICD, former President of the Order of Australia Association (2023-2026), the eight-part series explores the lived experiences, values and leadership lessons of Order of Australia recipients and what their stories can teach us about leading in service of others.
