Brad, 41, grew up in Perth, Western Australia and by the age of 24 was leading his first organisation with 60 staff. “At this stage I didn’t have an academic qualification. It became obvious to me that I needed to further develop my cognitive abilities, to learn from others, so I did.”
He chose to head for ECU and completed a graduate certificate, a graduate diploma before moving on to an MBA. Brad’s career continued to progress and he held a number of senior roles. “In 2004 I was recognised as a Western Australian Business News "40 under 40" entrepreneur. I subsequently completed a Master of International Business with ECU and finished top of my cohort, then set up a business in South East Asia. This year I received an Australian Leadership Award from the Australian Davos Connection (World Economic Forum).”
Having spent so many years at ECU Brad must have found they had a teaching formula which suited his learning style; “I chose ECU because the university’s values align closely with my own... ECU is not pretentious, nor is it rigid or fixed in its approach. The university is particularly strong in creativity, teaching and learning.” Brad also found that ECU is accessible and its staff and students are encouraged to “strive toward being ethical and self-reliant contributors, building prosperous, inclusive and sustainable communities.”
Brad currently performs several leadership roles in Australia and South East Asia. These include Vice Chairman of Integral Leadership Institute, Founder and CEO of The Sustainability Centre, Director of Organisational Capability at Integral Development and advisor to the national executive of the United Nations Association of Australia. He also coaches several CEOs and senior executives in corporate, government and not-for-profit organisations.
Leadership has become Brad’s area of expertise, he says that “it is simply where my life has taken me through personal experience and the roles which I have held. I didn’t set out to make leadership my area of expertise, it found me.”
With a leadership expert in our midst it would be foolish not to try and find out what the ingredients are that make a brilliant leader. Brad says these points are the most important useful points which contribute to effective leadership:
- Self-awareness – really knowing who you are, including your fears, judgements and perceived limitations. This requires trust and courage and is a perquisite if you are to effectively lead and manage a team, let alone an organisation.
- Personal responsibility – taking responsibility for the decisions we make and the impact of our choices on other people, society and the natural environment.
- Hard work and resilience – It take a lot of hard work and steadfast commitment to do something worthwhile and there will always be people who say it can’t be done along the way. Sometimes things work, and sometimes they don’t – it’s ok to fail… learn from it, bounce back and be great. After all, we don’t really learn very much from being comfortable and successful all of the time.
- Ethics – it’s vital for a leader to act with integrity and exercise power in a responsible and ethical way. Three ethical questions I ask myself when making decisions are: 1) Am I doing the right thing? 2) Am I doing it the right way and 3) Am I doing it for the right reason?
- Mindfulness –this requires us to be present and give our focussed attention to whomever and whatever we are dealing with in any given moment of time. This takes practice and discipline to achieve, but it’s definitely worth doing because with it comes clarity of thought and leadership presence.
- Unconditional respect - this involves compassion and a genuine appreciation and acceptance of diversity. It also means not prejudging people or their beliefs, or the circumstances surrounding a particular situation or problem. It is respect for all living beings.
- Contributing to the greater whole – building a financially successful business is important. At the same time it has to be a great place to work, developing staff, looking after customers in a genuine way and providing services and products that are truly needed and built to last
- Balance – This requires cross training to maintain a healthy balance between our physical, cognitive and spiritual fitness. This is critical to leadership effectiveness and can be achieved through regular resistance training, reading and studying, and meditation. It is essential to connect the head, heart, hands and spirit.
Brad is a founding member and Vice Chairman of the Integral Leadership Institute, “a great organisation that is emerging through its start up phase. It is a not for profit charity and registered research organisation in Australia. The Institute conducts research into best practice leadership and organisations, and provides practical courses in philosophy to the community. It also provides an Advanced Diploma in Integral Leadership which articulates through to university post graduate courses.” Brad’s role involves strategic planning, community engagement, governance and compliance, fundraising and negotiating alliances with government, universities and corporate institutions.
The Sustainability Centre in Thailand was founded as a leadership coaching and management consulting company in Bangkok with a leadership retreat in Pak Chong. “The approach is to inspire executives who stay at the property to transfer what they experience back into their personal lives and the organisations they lead.”
Brad is pretty definitive when he says he will not be doing anymore degrees any time soon as he wants to focus on doing good work and making a difference. He also enjoys giving back to ECU and does this by guest speaking at events, delivering guest lectures and by sitting as a member on the School of Management Consultative Committee.
Clearly a strong proponent for ECU he would recommend the business school to anyone who has “an open mind, is creative and prepared to tackle the many challenges we face as a society in new and innovative ways. ECU is an accessible University that is strongly guided by a set of values which are ‘integrity, respect, rational inquiry and personal excellence’.”
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