After completing high school in Canberra and spending a gap year overseas, Adam Diprose started his journey at Drew’s in 2008. Adam involved himself in as much as possible at College, allowing his natural leadership qualities to thrive in his position as the Honorary Secretary. Adam now leads a successful career working with Elevate Education. He always had a passion for education, and business, and so was driven to lead a career with the perfect in-between. Throughout his 16 years at Elevate Education, Adam helped establish the business’s first overseas office in the UK and is now based in South Africa working in HR for the global company. [AD1] Adam shares with us what he values most about education and advice for students who may be considering a future in the industry.
Please tell us a bit about yourself – where are you originally from and how did you come to be a resident at St Andrew’s College?
I grew up in Canberra (the land of milk and honey!) and finished school in 2006. I was always keen on moving to Sydney to study, and during Year 12 I applied for Drew’s, Paul’s & Wesley. Thankfully, I made the right decision… and after a gap year in England where I worked as a sports assistant at a school near Oxford, I started as a fresher at Drew’s in 2008.
What parts of College life were you involved in? Do you have a favourite College memory you would like to share?
I tried to throw myself into everything! I have always loved sports and enjoyed playing touch every afternoon on the oval and competing in Rawson rugby and tennis. On a cultural front, I represented Drew’s in public speaking. More informally, there was a fair amount of post-lunch Halo, the Emmanuel rugby tour to Brisbane, helping at the bar for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, cheap Thai food and kebabs on King Street…
One of my favourite memories was the whole O-Week experience – from turning up on the first day and meeting people for the first time, to a week later feeling as if you had known them for years. It was amazing to then sit at our last formal dinner three years later, reflecting on how much had happened since that first day.
You were the Honorary Secretary and a member of the Students’ Club House Committee during your time at Drew’s. What did you enjoy the most about being in this role? What advice would you give any current students who might be interested in put themselves forward?
It was a privilege to be nominated as Honorary Secretary, and it was a role that I really enjoyed. I think in any environment you want to make a positive impact and ‘leave the jersey in a better place’, and through the House Committee, we were able to drive some important initiatives that hopefully made the college experience more inclusive and fulfilling.
You shouldn’t need a formal title or position to be a leader. In my experience, the best leaders were granted the opportunity to lead because it was an extension of the positive things they were already doing in that space. So don’t approach leadership as a prize that you win and then you magically turn into a leader once you have been given the opportunity. Rather, think of leadership as a reflection of your values and interactions with people, and generally, the acknowledgements will follow. In my experience, the most important trait of a leader is integrity: Do they do what they say they are going to do?
How did your time at St Andrew’s influence or affect your life after College?
Firstly, I made friends that I am still extremely close to 16 years later. I also met my fiancée on the first day of college! At the end of first year, two of my friends told me about a job going to schools around Sydney and giving study skills workshops to students, and that “you talk a lot, we think you’ll be good at the job”. I owe them a lot (thanks Em & Hattie!) because I am still working with the same organisation.
Finally, being fortunate to live and study in an environment like Drew’s fuelled my interest in education, which is a sector that I still work in and am extremely passionate about.
Was there a particular academic, professional, or personal experience that motivated you to pursue your career in the Educational Experience Industry?
I have an incredible amount of respect for teachers and anyone working in the education industry. I think most people who go into teaching (or education more broadly) were influenced by some of their favourite teachers that they connected with and benefited from. I had some wonderful teachers and coaches at school who made me think about going into education.
Then the year that I spent living at Abingdon School after high school was where the education bug really bit me. When I finished my degree, I was not sure what I was going to do with it. I was interested in education but did not necessarily want to become a teacher at that stage, and I was interested in business but didn’t necessarily want to work for a big corporation or start a business. So, I was fortunate that I found an education business that scratched both of those itches.
You have held several different positions at your current workplace, Elevate Education. Could you tell us a bit more about the organisation’s purpose and activities?
Elevate started as a research company in Sydney in 2001, with the aim of understanding what top-performing students do to do so well, beyond IQ. We found that there were certain techniques and strategies that higher-performing students were using, that often middle and lower-performing students weren’t. We condensed that research into a series of workshops and hired young and engaging presenters to deliver that content to students. Our presenters, who are typically university students, are able to go into schools and effectively deliver our content as positive role models.
Elevate now has offices in Australia, the UK, the US & South Africa. Our work is centred on engaging students and teaching them critical skills that will improve their confidence, academic performance, and ultimately their opportunities in life. We are also looking at how we can re-think education and traditional approaches to pedagogy, to better prepare young people for a rapidly changing world.
What are the main responsibilities of your current position as Head of Operations of People & Culture at Elevate Education?
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to move to the UK to set up the first international office with Elevate. I am currently in Cape Town where I have lived for 8 ½ years, and until recently was the General Manager of the South African business. I have transitioned into a new role looking at how we recruit and train presenters; how we manage them and set them up for success; how we can retain our people and make Elevate an employer of choice; and finally how we can promote smart, passionate, young people within the organisation.
Since completing your studies, you have spent over 16 years working for Elevate Education. Considering your long-term commitment to the company, what do you value the most about your workplace? Do you think there is value in working for the same company for many years?
Yes, I think in some ways I am a throwback to a different generation where you stayed at a company and got the gold watch when you retired! For me, the biggest thing was finding an organisation whose values aligned with my own. I refer to it as the ‘dinner party (or pub) test’ – if someone asks you what you do or where you work, are you actually proud and excited to talk about your job? With Elevate, normally people can’t get me to stop talking…
One of our core values is ‘challenge, grow, reward’ and I’ve always said that as long as I feel like I’m being challenged and learning in my role, and that the juice is worth the squeeze, then I’m more than happy to stay. So far, it’s 16 years and counting!
You’ve also had the opportunity to work in a range of different countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and now South Africa. What aspects of working and living in these varied locations have you found enjoyable?
As anyone lucky enough to travel will tell you, it is eye opening and stimulating to be able to experience different cultures and to meet different people. I loved living in England for very different reasons to Australia and South Africa – the proximity to Europe for travel, the pub culture, and football. Living in South Africa has been a completely different experience and has taught me a lot about checking your privileges, and the many things that we take for granted living in a country like Australia. At times, it hasn’t been an easy place to live; when there is no power for 12 hours a day (load shedding!), high crime rates, and people going through your bins for scraps of food – but it’s an amazing country and I can’t recommend visiting enough.
Reflecting on your work experiences, are there any adjustments you would consider making if given the opportunity to do it again? And what are the key insights have you gained about Education both in Australia and globally?
The biggest thing that I have learned is the value of being curious and driving your own learning. With the way that technology is advancing, education is about more than memorising facts and information, it’s about developing frameworks that enable you to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve problems. When I was younger, I was probably too reliant on being told what to do and how to do things, rather than being proactive and trying to find a solution. If I have learned anything in business it’s that very rarely is a problem unique to you – it has typically been encountered and solved many times before, in many different ways, by many different people. The framework exists, so go and find it.
I have a slightly controversial opinion on education, which is that schools still follow a system that was designed around the Industrial Revolution and factory work. I believe this is a key reason why many young people become disengaged with school. We are working on developing projects that are still built around the curriculum topics, but are also based on real-world problems that require students to work in groups to develop a solution.
We’ve all heard students say things like, “When am I ever going to use this?” or “Why do I need to learn this?”, so we believe that by engaging them with a topic that is relevant, current, and meaningful, we can light a spark that can encourage them to re-engage with the learning process.
What do you like to do outside of your work?
Cape Town is an outdoor paradise, so we hike a lot, run, and try to surf. I play golf and have recently become addicted to padel [tennis]. There are also some phenomenal restaurants and wineries nearby, so we are very spoiled for activities.
What are you reading, watching, or listening to now that you would recommend to others?
Some of my favourite books that have influenced me at different stages: Thinking, Fast and Slow. Good to Great. Legacy. Radical Candor. Why has nobody told me this before? The Obstacle Is the Way. Shantaram.
Listening varies between music, sports podcasts, and true crime podcasts.
Is there any advice you would give to young Androvians looking to pursue a career like yours, or for those wanting to travel and work overseas?
Be curious, ask questions, put your hand up for opportunities, stay humble, be patient and understand that things don’t generally happen overnight and that you have to put the work in first. Finally, no one has it all figured out! Not many people know what they want to do with their lives when they are 35, let alone 19. So get involved, try things, make mistakes, it’s all part of the experience!