Bruce Djite: How Elite Sport Shapes Business Success

**Bruce Djite** (0:03)
There is no single more powerful, soft diplomacy tool than international football. There's a lot of people who are displaced in this world, who don't know the language, don't know the anthem, don't know the culture of the countries that they're in, but they could easily go onto any football field, and they're all speaking the same language. And the World Cup is a showcase of this game, and the good that it brings to the globe as a whole.

**Aleda** (0:32)
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Empowering Leaders podcast. At Aleda, we are passionate about inspiring connections and creating a world of collaboration. Our signature program, Aleda Connect, curates groups of five to six leaders from diverse backgrounds in sport, industry, social venture, and the arts, who come together to learn, to connect, and to collaborate. The Empowering Leaders podcast is proudly brought to you by Victoria University, where cutting-edge sports and exercise science facilities like heat chambers, performance labs, and altitude environments mean VU is ranked seventh in the world for sport science.
VU, uniquely you. If you enjoy listening to the Empowering Leaders podcast, be sure to subscribe, and please, if you have a moment, we would love you to leave a review so we can reach more listeners and empower more leaders. Briony, welcome.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:21)
Our guest today is Bruce Djite. What a history that you've got. It's an annual pioneer.

**Aleda** (1:26)
One of the most compelling examples of a successful career transition post-sport. Bruce enjoyed an outstanding football career representing Australia on the international stage and becoming a fan favorite at Adelaide United where his leadership, resilience, and competitive spirit were on display for more than a decade. Across his playing career, Bruce played professional football in five countries across three continents, giving him a truly global perspective on high performance and leadership. What makes Bruce's story particularly fascinating for me is his transition from elite sport into executive leadership. After retiring from football, he made the rare leap into senior leadership, becoming director of football at Adelaide United, CEO for the Committee for Adelaide, and now executive director of the Property Council, SA.
Bruce has been widely recognized as a leader who brings the discipline and mindset of elite sport into the boardroom. Bruce, welcome to Empowering Leaders.

**Bruce Djite** (2:15)
Thanks for having me on.

**Aleda** (2:16)
Impressive CV that you've put together in a short space of time, Bruce.

**Bruce Djite** (2:22)
I've got to bring you on as my personal PR guy because that was a nice intro, nice pump up. So thank you.

**Aleda** (2:29)
I heard you speak recently and I loved it. But perhaps if I go back to the upbringing, you were born in the US, West African parents spent time in the Ivory Coast as a child and then grew up in Australia. It's a diverse upbringing. Can I ask, where did the passion to become a professional footballer come from?

**Bruce Djite** (2:46)
It came from a period of time where we spent in Abidjan, the major city in Cote d'Ivoire, West African country, Ivory Coast. We didn't spend that much time there.
Maybe six to seven months of my whole life, I've spent over there. But it is where I started playing the game. It's a game everyone played on the street, at recess and lunch at school. I was six years old when we went over. I had been in Australia for a number of years and didn't even know what soccer was. So when I was over there, I thought, well, if I want to make some mates, I better get involved in what all the other kids are involved in. And that was kicking a ball around or keeps the socks put together. So you make it into a ball so you could kick it around indoors without breaking stuff.
So yeah. And then when we came back to Sydney, Australia, I made it clear to my dad that that's what I wanted to do. And joined Linfield Soccer Club in Sydney on the North Shore there. And by the time I was eight, that's all I wanted to do. And I set my goals on what I wanted to achieve at that age. So through high school and university, when people are all saying, I don't know what I want to do, I don't know what I want to do. Well, I was lucky enough from when I was eight, I had a goal in mind and I was very determined to get there. And when I say get there, I mean play at a professional level.

**Aleda** (4:17)
Got this feeling that that is not an uncommon thing for professional athletes. They get it at a young age. And I think I used to tell people that five or six, that's what I was going to do.