Future Directors Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In my last episode before a brand new (very special) season kicks off, I literally sit down and riff with my Governance Geek friend Matt Fullbrook to chat about good people and good governance.

This short episode was totally unplanned. We were working in his Brisbane AirBnB during our recent "Experimental Mindsets Tour" of Australia in October 2024. More on that next year.

For now...judge for yourself whether people make a difference.

Enjoy!

Links

• Join Future Directors for FREE
• Follow and Connect with Paul (LinkedIn)
• Matt's OMG Podcast

Much of board education likes to zero in on technical knowledge—keeping up with regulatory updates, sharpening financial skills, risk management, and staying on top of industry trends. 

These are crucial, no doubt. But they're only one part of the picture.

The often overlooked part is the necessary human skills...and for me, the real heart of what makes a board effective.

So, here's another little short podcast which describes the harmonic balance that any good boardroom needs...

Have a listen and see what you think. 

Podcast links

• Join Future Directors for FREE
• Follow and Connect with Paul (LinkedIn)

Can you believe we are four episodes away from the Magic 100?!?

This is a wonderful in-depth chat between two people obsessed with board governance. 

Jess Bulger is a proud Wiradjuri woman from Tumut in NSW, Australia. She is the CEO of the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute and Co-Chair at Outward Bound Australia. She cares deeply about indigenous leadership, capacity building and seeing communities thrive. 

In this wide-ranging conversation between two governance geeks, Paul and Jess cover:

• The importance of language. Is it First Nations, Indigenous, or Aboriginal?
• Is Indigenous Governance singular or does it take many forms?
• What can companies do to engage their indigenous stakeholders better?

Here are some links:

• Join Future Directors for FREE
• Follow and Connect with Paul (LinkedIn)
• Connect with Jess (LinkedIn)
• Check out AIGI (Australian Indigenous Governance Institute) 

Dale Simpson is one of the Principals of Bravo Consulting, which is a blend of executive coaching, systems design, leadership and boardroom development, and operates across Australia and India. Dale was a suggestion from one of our previous Boardroom Hustle guests, Alison Rowe.

In this episode, we dive into topics such as:

• Shifts in our mentalities
• The search for more meaning in our work
• The difference between coaching and mentoring
• Curiosity as a learning tool
• The importance of forgiveness as well as humility
• The benefits of imperfection
• Harnessing vulnerability
• Working in India
• And much more!

Links

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalepsimpson/

Bravo Consulting - http://bravoconsulting.com.au

Bravo Blog - http://bravoconsulting.com.au/blog/

Top Quotes

1. “I think the first thing that precedes any foreign intervention or help that we seek is knowing when to seek help, that’s what makes us humans – is knowing when to seek help.”
2. “I don’t want us to feel that we are somehow obligated to be perfect, we just need to also know what happens and what we need to do when things don’t work out the way we intended.”
3. “We live in a world where we value extraverts as vital to leadership, but in fact, there are many, many great leaders who aren’t”
4. “What you want at any table is diversity. Not just in gender, race and ability, but also diversity in thinking”
5. “Good coaches are the ones that teach people how to coach themselves”
6. “We in the west think we will be happy if we are successful. The Hindus, Buddhist and Jains have taught us the opposite: we will be successful if we are happy.”

Action Items

1. Seek out work or experience in an unfamiliar area. Try and join a project in which you are not already an expert.
2. Always be curious and stay humble - that allows you to ask more questions, which unlock the door to learning.

Raph Goldsworthy is the Managing Director of ‘Better Boards’, an organisation that provides professional development around being a board director.

Raph is someone who has had very little interest in actually sitting on boards himself, but understands the power boards have on shaping the future. He feels he isn’t personally suited to the boardroom, but has been instrumental in impacting boards through his curation of the annual ‘Better Boards’ conference, the ‘BoardWise’ online program, and providing resources to help directors with their professional development in their own journeys.

In this episode, Raph and I talk about:

• Growing the ‘Building Better Boards’ conference to 600 annual attendees
• The ‘art and science’ of the boardroom
• How directors in the NFP sector can connect with those that can help them on their journey
• How to address the reoccuring, perennial problems of the boardroom
• Thinking about how we can learn from history
• Leaving your ego at the door
• Embracing risk and stepping outside the comfort zone
• The power of asking questions
• Impacting boards without sitting on boards
• Specialists vs Generalists
• Diversity and the future of boards
• And much more!

Links

LinkedIn - https://au.linkedin.com/in/raphgoldsworthy

Better Boards - http://betterboards.net/

Upcoming Better Boards conference: http://conference.betterboards.net/

Sign up to the Better Boards newsletter - http://betterboards.net/newsletter/

BoardWise - http://www.boardwise.net/

Sprout - http://sprouthq.net/

Sprout Podcast - http://sprouthq.net/podcast/

Penelope Twemlow has a lengthy list of positions and accolades. Just a few include:

• CEO, Energy Skills Queensland
• Project and Change Manager, Glencore
• Co-Founder and Chairperson, Women In Power
• Ambassador, White Ribbon Australia
• 2016 Queensland Telstra Businesswoman of the Year (Social Enterprise & Not-For-Profit)
• 2016 APAC Insider CEO of the Year

Penelope spent almost 11 years in the Australian Defence Force before transitioning to a ‘civilian life’. Whilst the myriad of skills and qualifications she’d built up in the ADF didn’t directly transfer, she was able to lean on a few key mentors that helped her apply the abilities she’d developed and quickly climb the ranks. In recent years, she has flourished, winning multiple awards and being appointed to new positions.

In this episode, we dive into topics such as:

• The current ‘No’ crisis
• How we can avoid being pulled in too many different directions
• How to be more selective in our approach to what we choose to do (or more importantly, NOT do)
• Giving others the ability to step up and take on greater responsibility
• Tools and tips for time management & productivity
• Scheduling time for yourself to clear your mind and get some space to do some thinking
• How her medically-diagnosed insomnia has helped her think strategically and put new plans into action
• The TRUE role of a CEO (hint: it doesn’t begin until 5:30pm when everyone else has gone home)
• The importance of professional mentors and advisors
• Breaking out of your pigeon hole and broadening your experience
• And much more!

Links

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/penelope-twemlow-40012246/

Glencore - http://www.glencore.com.au/EN/Pages/home.aspx

Women In Power - http://womeninpower.org.au/

White Ribbon Australia - https://www.whiteribbon.org.au/

2016 Telstra Business Woman of the Year - https://www.telstrabusinesswomensawards.com/brilliant-business-women/past-winners/

Anna Byrne specialises in solving complex people problems and shaping mindset decisions and behaviours. She is a Partner at Neuro Power group and is a strategic advisor to boards and CEOs. Anna began her own board career at the age of 17 when she joined the United Nations Youth Association.

Anna has always been fascinated by how humans operate, and she brings a combination of neuroscience and behavioural economics to understand the deeper experiences that shape how we see the world.

Anna published a book called ‘Behavioural Economics for Business’ in 2016, and is currently working on another book called ‘Boardroom (R)evolution’, to be launched in 2018.

In the conversation, we discuss:

• The characteristics of ‘complex systems’
• Behavioural economics and Cognitive biases
• Experimenting within a board career
• The different filters through which we all see the world
• How board members can get to know each other better
• Ways to increase your ability to perform

And much more!

Links:

Neuro Power Group

‘Behavioural Economics for Business’ book

LinkedIn

Alison Rowe is the CEO of the Moreland Energy Foundation and the inaugural Chairwoman of the Future Business Council, among other Executive and Non-Executive Board Directorships. Having started her working life in the Navy and finding herself driving warships at the age of 22, Alison brings a strategic approach to the organisations she is involved with.

From an early age, Alison learned the benefits of failing fast, failing early, and most important, trying again. It takes time to build courage and resilience, but these are vital characteristics of an effective CEO and Director. You need to be willing to try innovative things and be willing to failing in order to achieve something great.

We get into a wide range of topics, including...

• Techniques for building and developing resilience and accepting failure
• Unintentionally becoming a non-conformist
• Having trusted advisors outside of the boardroom that you can reflect with and get any feedback you need
• Having courage and making decisions when you don’t have all of the information
• Being comfortable with the fact that you will never have 99.9% of the inputs, and how you can harness your skills and experience to still achieve the desired outcomes
• Developing a ‘Risk Appetite Statement’ to allow you to walk the tightrope between managing risk appropriately but maintaining innovation and entrepreneurialism
• Having multiple pathways and a complex web of stakeholders through which you can influence outcomes, so that you don’t have any single point of failure
• Having an appropriate Decision Making approach so boards members feel empowered
• The different size boards required for different stages of growth in startups
• And much more!

Links

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisonrowe1/

Moreland Energy Foundation - https://www.mefl.com.au

The Future Business Council - http://www.futurebusinesscouncil.com

Climate Alliance - https://www.climatealliance.org.au

Episode four of Boardroom Hustle is a powerful one. My guest today is an old friend, Claire Maloney. Founder and director of The Bravery, chairperson of the charity One Girl, proud feminist and advocate for total diversity, Claire is relentless in standing up for the things she’s passionate about. In today’s episode, we discuss those passions, and how they’ve driven her to succeed.

In the show, Claire and Paul Smith have an insightfully philosophical conversation about a variety of things such as the journey that led Claire to where she is today, the importance of knowing when to shut up and listen, what makes her tick and what she considers the most valuable thing in the world – and how you can make the most of yours.

We also get into the following:

• Fear, courage, sustainability and social causes
• What Claire is feeling most vulnerable about right now
• How the boardroom can act as a conduit for social change and positive impact
• Confidence, privilege and coping without a safety net
• Where Claire’s business, The Bravery, is planning to go in the near future
• The high emotions that come from being face-to-face with confronting issues, and how to handle them
• Avoiding business burn-out and keeping a strong sense of purpose
• How to de-stress quickly and effectively
• Refining your passions down into a successful career path
• Claire’s love of crisis management and how that’s been beneficial in her board career
• Being real, honest and (in Claire’s words) owning your shit

Links:

The Bravery Website

Claire Maloney's Twitter  

Claire Maloney's LinkedIn

One Girl Website

One Girl Twitter

This episode of Boardroom Hustle covers a wide variety of different topics. My guest, Alan Jones, and I get into things like EQ, IP and everything in-between. Alan is an entrepreneur, investor, board director and startup mentor, and he sheds some light on the life-changing moments he’s experienced throughout his journey: the relationships between startup founders, investors and the boardroom. He also talks about the big changes he’s trying to encourage and bring about in the world.

Throughout Alan’s career, he’s been lucky to realise the importance of stopping and smelling the roses. Today, we discuss how he came to that realisation, as well as:

• Why serenity is such an important part of Alan’s day
• The Darwinian approach that many industries take towards business, and how this can be of detriment to those industries
• How Alan came to value taking time out from the daily grind and learned to relax
• The various flaws within his industry, and who is the most likely to come up against discrimination
• How Alan came to be known as the Chief Hindsight Officer
• Why EQ is such a vital aspect of business, especially in the boardroom
• How to get that ‘spark’ back into your boardroom
• Why we tend to have shallow interactions rather than deep and meaningful ones, and how to start digging deeper with your directors
• The best way to take minutes for your meetings to ensure you get the most out of your time
• The one common theme that can be found in every single boardroom
• Negative outcomes that come from living a hard, fast lifestyle, and how you can avoid falling prey to them
• What it means to be a whole person, and how you can aim to become one
• Can a younger director find that balance between work and life, or is that something that comes with time?

Links:

Alan Jones LinkedIn

Alan Jones Twitter

The New Agency

Startmate

Blue Chilli