By Helen McKenzie-Fairlie
My local hero is an ordinary man with an extraordinary vision.
80-year-old, Dick Wilke, is the President of Aerospeakers Toastmasters Club Laverton. His vision is to see members communicate openly, honestly and from the heart.
The son of a country school teacher, he inherited a love of language that along with management workforce experience prepared him for full-time retirement, and involvement in three Toastmasters clubs.
Dick’s heart is for the younger, tech savvy generation, whose appreciation and grasp of language has yet to be refined in the furnace of fire.
‘Vision with action can change the world’ These words of American author Joel Barker define Dick’s pragmatic approach to transforming developing speakers into exceptional communicators. He envisages the club as a team with a common goal to see every other member become a confident communicator, where members are encouraged to further this goal. Because according to Dick, it’s only when we help others to achieve their goals that we also, without realising it, achieve our own goals.
For Dick, Aerospeakers Presidency offers an amazing opportunity to achieve something of value that our younger members can learn and share with all those whom they encounter throughout their life journey.
