Two weeks ago I attended a public address by Germaine Greer through Westpac’s sponsorship of the Sydney Writers’ Festival.  True to form, Greer created a storm in a teacup with views shared on everything from pioneering nations to public policy and profiteering bankers.  Love her or hate her, one thing’s for sure: when Greer speaks, she pulls no punches.  For that, she’s earned my respect.

It got me thinking about the power that comes with having an opinion and being prepared to voice it. 

I’m not talking here about a group think I-agree-with-the-last-guy kind of opinion.  Nor the sitting-on-the-fence-not-wanting-to-offend kind (which is sort of like agreeing or disagreeing at the same time!).  And I’m not talking about the contrarian disagree-with-everyone-and-everything way of making a point either.  What makes Greer different is her willingness to take an idea that may or may not have a popular following, and really put her personal stamp it for others to love or hate.  It’s risky, which is why so few of us do it.  Yet the rewards are also high: who amongst us hasn’t heard of Germaine Greer?

In the past Andrew Denton introduced Greer as “not so much a human being as a force”.  Having seen her in action I have a sense of what he means by this.  In a world of homogenized and sanitized opinion, Greer is prepared to back herself and really put herself out there.  I wonder when you were last in the company of someone who truly did the same? 

I realised after hearing Greer speak that I’ve gone a bit quiet on opinion myself.  Perhaps you’ve noticed it too – that I’ve gone a bit vanilla on the vocal front over the past 6 months!  But with a bit of inspiration from Germaine I’m back on the front foot.  I’ve started pointing out the obviously obtuse again, and I’m going in to bat for the unrealized potential in each of us.  Those of you following me on Twitter (follow me at jendalitz) might have seen my not-so-quiet tweets about the all-male line up of “Leading Australian Thoughtleaders” at last week’s TedX event in Sydney.  Surely there’s at least one woman in all of Australia with some unique views on some topic worthy of inclusion? And for those of you who’ve seen my letters in the Fin Review in the past, expect to see more of them coming. 

I’ve committed to standing up and sharing my opinion at least once a day for the next 90 days, just to see what might happen as a result.  I might do this in a meeting, or online or it could be in the press.  Given we’re all coming up with ideas every day, voicing them into a public forum should be the easy part.  For me and for you.

So what do you reckon… are you in too?  We’re all having the conversations with each other (or in our heads!) anyway.  Just imagine the potential we could unleash if we put it out there for everyone to hear.  Now that is a force to be reckoned with.

And why not start now… use this blog to post your opinion on something.  Anything profound will do!