Driven When you realise someone else thinks you have potential, you'll start believing it yourself

Overcoming a childhood of abuse and neglect, Bill Sutcliffe's unselfish life proves that one goodhearted person can make a difference to many.


'A wound is very precious because it lets the light in. It can either make or break you. Bill Sutcliffe is a wonderful example of how healing this light can be.' Reverend Bill Crews

Bill Sutcliffe is an ordinary man with an extraordinary story to tell. Coming from a childhood of poverty and abuse, Bill is a remarkable example of how seemingly insurmountable obstacles can be overcome with faith and a belief that anything is possible and achievable.

As a youth, Bill found himself falling into bitterness, violence and petty crime, but his life was turned around at the age of nine by the kindness of a stranger who encouraged and believed in him. This belief in Bill's potential was reinforced by one of his teachers who said, 'I reckon what you've got to do, more than anything, is to prove people wrong. All those people who have put you down over the years and said you'll never amount to anything-prove them wrong! Otherwise you'll play into their hands.'

Bill attended a theological college at the age of twenty-one. Two years later, he was appointed Assistant Manager then Manager of a drop-in-centre and alcoholic rehabilitation centre in Melbourne, and subsequently became the youngest Superintendent of the Ballarat City Mission in its 100-year history. His mission of helping and inspiring the disadvantaged to realise their own potential has led him to work with prisoners and those with special needs for many years.

Today, Bill has helped literally thousands of underprivileged Australians find hope with the simple belief that when you realise someone else thinks you have potential, you'll start believing in yourself. He knows that to be true because it's the story of his own life.

Driven is a compelling memoir about the exceptional power of love, forgiveness and encouragement.

After a difficult youth of violence and petty crime, Bill attended a theological college at the age of twenty-one. At twenty-three he started working as the manager of a drop-in and alcoholic rehabilitation centre in Melbourne, and subsequently became the youngest-ever superintendent of the Ballarat City Mission in its history of more than a century. He has dedicated his life and career to helping and inspiring disadvantaged people to realise their own potential, working with prisoners and those with special needs for many years. In his fifties, Bill completed a Bachelor of Arts at Deakin University, the first of many qualifications, including as a life coach. Throughout much of his life he has been an ultramarathon runner, and has competed with the world's best Yiannis Kouros and folk hero Cliffy Young a number of times in the famous Colac Six-Day Race. The enormous resilience he has displayed in his running and throughout his life has been an inspiration and a model for others.