When Jason Strong stepped away from his role as Managing Director of Meat & Livestock Australia at the end of 2023, he chose to go without the typical fanfare that normally accompany a departure of this kind. Instead, he made the conscious decision to leave quietly and to take a deliberate break.
After decades leading major organisations in Australia and Europe (think AACo, MLA, Pfizer Animal Health), he shifted his focus to something slower: mentoring, advising, farming, and above all – being present for his family, especially as his son finished high school.
“It was just the loveliest experience to be around more of that. I think quite proudly but also embarrassingly I reckon I took him to school more and picked him up more in Year 12 than in all the years before.” He says.
Today, Jason describes himself in a quieter chapter of life, but others might disagree. He currently chairs a biotech start-up, supports early-stage agtech companies, and remains deeply involved in livestock agriculture. What’s changed is how he leads and that shift, he says, was shaped in no small way by the Australian Rural Leadership Program (ARLP).
The before picture
Jason is the first to admit that leadership wasn’t something he set out to do.
“I never really thought of it as one of the first things that I was doing. I was probably in senior leadership roles and being influential as a leader before it even dawned on me that that’s actually what I was doing”.
But regardless of intention, leadership found him. By 25, Jason was managing programs at Meat Standards Australia. By 30, he’d held national roles in agri-politics and was already helping to shape some of the most significant reforms in Australia’s red meat industry.
Even then, despite the titles and influence, he hadn’t stopped to reflect on what kind of leader he was, or wanted to be.
It wasn’t until several years later that Jason applied for the ARLP. The motivation was clear: he wanted to improve, to contribute more, and to deepen his understanding of what he was already doing.
Unlike many traditional leadership courses, the ARLP is not about conference rooms or online modules. It’s experiential, immersive, and physically demanding. Over 15 months, the program places participants in real-world scenarios designed to mirror the complexity and unpredictability of leadership in action. It pushes individuals to refine their decision-making, test their communication under pressure, and confront their blind spots.
“I’d seen the program’s impact on people I respected. I wanted to deepen my contribution to the industry and I knew I had more to learn.”
Entering the ARLP
The ARLP’s experiential, hands-on approach to learning resonated with Jason from the outset. So too did the level of challenge it presented.
“It forced me to examine how and why I lead. Some days that was exciting. Other days it was brutal.” He reflects.
One of the most confronting realisations came through a personality profiling session. Jason discovered he was an extreme introvert.
“It explained a lot. I struggled so much with some things but forced myself to do them and why other things came, why some things came naturally and some things didn’t. So that whole personality profile piece and then the exercises we did out of that was very impactful for me and something I still lean on to this day.”
Embedding the learning
Discovering he was an introvert gave Jason new insight but also presented a fresh challenge of navigating the diverse dynamics of his ARLP cohort and other situations in “the real world”.
“It was a really good learning experience for me of being conscious of those around you. They may be coming at it from a different angle to you and maybe motivated by different things”.
In the early stages of the program, he found himself clashing with others who approached tasks differently.
“I just wanted to get on with the task. But others needed to understand the ‘why.’ This difference in approach frustrated me until I realised they weren’t wrong. They were just different.”
Through this process, Jason began to see how his usual “bullet out the gate” style, while effective at times, often came at the cost of connection. ARLP gave him space not just to observe this intellectually, but to experience it physically, emotionally, and relationally.
He credits the program with helping him shift from a task-oriented mindset to a more people-centred approach. One that values collaboration and takes others on the journey.
“It slowed me down. Made me listen. Made me aware of who was in the room, not just what needed to be done. That awareness changed how I led from that point forward.”
“These lessons did not come quickly for me, but ever since then I’ve become very conscious of those types of challenges where we’re trying to solve a problem, work out an opportunity or look at a challenge and not everybody’s necessarily coming from the same place or for the same reason”.
Leadership as a shared experience
One of the most enduring takeaways from ARLP was the importance of connection. Jason admits there were points in his career where he felt isolated in leadership. Today, he is far more intentional about investing in his support networks (both professionally and personally) and understands that these relationships need to be nurtured, not assumed.
“How we actually bring people with us is a really critical part of what we do and build the strength of that network around us.”
“You’ve got to take your network with you, you’ve got to take your people with you as well. If you want someone to talk to, then it’s not their fault they didn’t keep up with what you were doing between the last two times you saw them. There’s a real obligation to be conscious that they’re not living every minute of every day in the same way you are and how you actually bring them with you actually is a really critical part of the strength of your network”.
Beyond his immediate circle, Jason finds quiet reassurance in the bonds forged through ARLP. Even two decades on, he knows the connection is still there.
“It’s not about how often we talk. It’s about the depth of understanding. When you’ve been through something like that together, you can drop into a conversation with ease, even years later.”
Listen to Jason’s full conversation with host Claire Delahunty on the Rural Leadership Unearthed podcast.
To find out more about The Australian Rural Leadership Program, visit our website.
