Pardon the pun, but we have reached a taxing time of the year!
As many businesses work hard to close of their books, many are looking forward to the second half of the calendar year and the new beginning of a financial year. What will this new financial year have install for us? What will our economy have install for us?
For those of you who were at last month’s breakfast club meeting, Tom Elliot gave us a fantastic insight into the current economic climate and what we can maybe expect over the next 12 month. I hope you all took note of his comments on Interest rates. We look forward to having Tom talk to us again soon.
The MBN Committee is also working hard to ramp things up in the next 6 months. We have many fantastic events on the horizon and some great guest speakers lined up, many of them, leaders in their field.
So what makes a good leader?
Is a great leader one who can direct and lead others, or one who can guide and encourage others to make decisions for the better of the group? Its and interesting question and not one that can be answered easily and one may come under the terms of a manager and the other a leader. Do good managers make good leaders? Several identified qualities that leaders have are:
1. Competence
2. Integrity
3. Values
4. Vision
5. Commitment
6. Decisiveness
7. Effectiveness
8. Understanding people
9. Ability to build teams
10. Self confidence
11. Learning ability
There are many of you who I already know have developed a high level of standard in many of these areas, but take a few moments to critique yourself on how you perform in each of the above areas. Where can we improve and how can we achieve that improvement?
We have had many great Australian leaders, many of them in business>
Agree or disagree, several of them are a leader in their own right, (for better or worse) and have their view on leadership:
· Alan Bond - Everybody makes business mistakes. I mean, I take the responsibility, and I did. I was the captain of the ship and I took that responsibility.
· Gerry Harvey - I went to the brink many times. A couple of times I thought "I'm gone. This is it." But then you would just keep working. I think if you're close to the brink and just make sure that you work twice as hard and put twice as much effort into everything and the people around you and everything, you should come through.
· Janet Holmes a Court - The Company was quite hierarchical. I often think it was like a pyramid with Robert (husband Robert Holmes à Court) at the top and lots of us paying homage to him. I try to turn the pyramid upside down so that I'm at the bottom and bubbling away and encouraging people and energising them so that they are all empowered so that they can do what they need to do, now that's the dream.
· Richard Pratt - Encourage your people to be committed to a project rather than just be involved in it.
These are just a few examples of what these successful (and very familiar) leaders have said at some point in time. Each quote is a certain link to one of the 11 leadership skills, they have processed. Think carefully about those around you who you admire as a leader and what it is about them that you admire. How do they display and implement the leadership qualities? Why is it that you admire that quality?
Holding the position I do, I am often privileged to spend a short amount of one-on-one time with great leaders. Some of them have been guests of MBN, such as Stan Alves, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and the current Vice President John Stock (a well respected Leader of MBN for many years). There are many more to go, but you can only learn how these leaders have achieved their skills by talking to them and/or reading about them. Do not be afraid to seek their wisdom and guidance. I have found that many of them are happy to share their thoughts. I will be doing this with our next guest speaker.
Our next guest speaker is recognised as a highly qualified leader and has displayed many of the leadership skills. Christine Nixon was a young outsider and the first women to be appointed as a Commissioner of Police in Australia, and one of only a handful in the World. The leadership skills Christine showed in her reign as the Commissioner ranged from an open door policy, to each member of the police force having direct email communications with her. These are only two of many initiatives Christine implemented as part of her success as a highly decorated leader.
These skills have now lead Christine to be appointed the head of the Victorian Bushfire Task Force, tasked with rebuilding the fire ravaged areas from “Black Saturday”.
This is a limited opportunity to learn from the knowledge and skills of one of Melbourne’s very successful leaders. (I know Christine was a Sydney sider, but it was Melbourne that recognised her skill – so I think we can now claim Christine as one of us Melbournites).
Book now to avoid disappointment as numbers are limited.
I look forward to seeing a big turn out on JULY 16th at the RACV club.
Have a great End-of-Financial-Year month and I look forward to seeing you all soon.
Happy Networking
Dave King
President
MELBOURNE BUSINESS NEXT BREAKFAST CLUB:
Thursday July 16th
Guest Speaker:
CHRISTINE NIXON
Chair of the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority
Topic:
"WHAT IMPACT DID THE FIRES HAVE IN THE AFFECT COMMUNITIES?" What's happening right now and what are the plans for recovery?
We launched Melbourne Business Books at our February Breakfast Function and now are happy to offer to you discounted books through Melbourne Business Books. This is a partnership between ourselves and one of our Corporate Members, Wilkinson Publishing. Take a moment and have a look at the many books that are on offer, click on the logo above to find out more...
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