BFM Aug/Sep 2016

BUSINESSFIRST for Business Leaders

August/September 2016

businessfirstmagazine.com.au

The fall out from Brexit

THE CITY WITHIN A CITY

Will it affect Australia in the long term?

How Jandakot City is changing the face of Perth industry

8 Ways to Change your Business Forever

Daniel Davis explains how to avoid unnecessary business challenges

PROTECT YOURSELF Why Patent Protection is so Important

Monash University Business School

The future looks bright

Can humans really outsmart robots?

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BFM | CONTENTS

26 COVER STORY 8 Questions That Will Change Your Business Forever Daniel Davis, Founder and CEO of EOS Worldwide in Australia talks to Business First about de-risking a business by avoiding unnecessary challenges.

CONTENTS REGULARS 4 Editor’s Desk 5 News

46 Writing leadership’s new map by Marcus Crow

FEATURES 8 How to become a business icon 10 Moblity permeates society 12 What will humans need to do to ‘outsmart’ the robot?

14 Can the Turnbull Government accelerate transforming Australia to a digital economy?

16 Real-world facial recognition technology coming to a store near you 88 The rise of Fintech

52 Cash will be king this new financial year

by Roger Mendelson 57 Transitional Measures for the $500,000 cap

by Michael Hallinan

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58 Stress caused by toxic staff is driving managers crazy by Peter O’Neill 59 How to deal with difficult people in the workplace

by AccessEAP

SPECIAL FEATURE – BREXIT

64 To share or not to share?

by Saxon Marsden-Huggins

18 Brexit volatility to indirectly hit Australian market 20 Could Brexit provide a Eureka moment?

22 Q3 Outlook: Brexit’s shadow

PEER TO PEER 24 Cultural intelligence is key to building Asia capability

by Felicity Menzies 32 How to creatively solve your business problems

by Debbie Pask 39 A+ grade employees – the radical intrapreneur

by Federico Re 40 Navigating changes in an organisation’s culture

by Luke Wintle

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70 8 Tips On Using Review Sites To Reach Customers 76 Your data is precious: are you keeping it protected?

by Chris Dickinson

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86 Hammer time

by Patrick Bright

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81 Philanthropy – Get to know Imagine Foundation

LIFESTYLE

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90 Destination – Take a trip to Wine Island 92 Health –How compassion can take a toll on health 94 The Leaders Bookshelf 96 Fast lane – Ferrari 488 Spider www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

CONTENTS | BFM

BUSINESS FIRST LOUNGE 34 Community-led growth

For Steve Targett, CEO at QT Mutual Bank, the interest from RACQ and subsequent development of the merger proposal is something he considers to be his greatest achievement.

42 Creating agents of change

Good, meaningful education is something that encourages discussion and debate, and evokes deep thought and depth of response to what can sometimes seem insurmountable problems: good education can influence behaviour and behavioural change when it is needed most. That is the approach Monash Business School takes to the education of its students.

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48 Why marketing needs to change to drive a business

For Darren Wooley, founder and global CEO of TrinityP3, a fragmented approach to marketing creates a wasted resource.

54 The Gallagher Way

Arthur J Gallagher was founded as a family business nearly 90 years ago and despite its current size and global reach, prides itself on maintaining its founding principles.

60 Learning from mistakes

With three consecutive years in the BRW Fast Starts list, Recon Solutions is making quite a name in the Australian recruiting industry. Steve Scanlan explains how.

66 Stewardship of a Family Culture

Although JK Williams has extended its engineering offerings, there is an undeniable link back to the local community. www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

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72 Bright Lights, Big City

Jandakot City is an ambitious $1 billion program to develop a mixed-use commercial and industrial city.

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78 How Shelston IP is bringing ‘mind to market’

Shelston IP was also ranked Tier 1 in Australia

by MIP and as a leading firm by Legal 500 in the Asia Pacific region in 2015.

82 Staff status critical

Craig Anderson, founder and managing director of Symmetry Human Resources asks: Does your recruitmen company treat its involvement in your business as a critical element of operations?

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BF | EDITOR’S DESK

Protecting your business It has been a big couple of months since we were last on shelves: we have opined about Brexit and the subsquent fall-out of the UK’s decision to exist the European Union. And we have endured the longest Federal election campaign since 1954 when Bob Menzies engaged in a 94 day campaign between calling a poll on February 24 and an election on May 29. For those curious, the 1984 Bob Hawke campaign lasted 54 days.

Suffice to say, the are few drawn out campaigns because they don’t necessarily work to a party’s advantage as we saw with this election... and the Australian public really doesn’t like politics to drag out so long.

Hopefully Mr Turnbull will make good on his call to instigate online voting, we’ll see if that happens or not, but what we do know from both Brexit and the Federal election is that there are local and international economic effects.

We analyse some of those effects in this issue, including what the Brexit decision means for long term markets and how it affects the global economy... and whether Mr Turnbull will follow through on his call to make Australia the innovation nation.

One company with an interest in innovation is Shelston IP, one of the country’s leading intellectual property firms that has delivered solutions in almost every industry from retail to nanotechnology. Managing Director Stuart Smith talks to Business First about innovation, patent protection and the possible rise of more home-grown patents.

While there are risk associated with a lack of IP protection, there are also risks associated with a lack of proper insurance.

According to insurance firm Arthur J Gallagher, risk management is as important as balancing the budget and should be written into a business plan on immediate registration.

In other features of this issue Symmetry Human Resources MD Craig Anderson discusses his philosophy towards recruiting, Darren Wooley analyses the change to marketing practices, Leigh Hartog lets us in on JK Williams’ family cultural values, Recon Solutions’ Steve Scanlan talks recruiting and Steve Targett gives us the lowdown on QT Mutual Bank.

How do you build a 100% owned city within a city, just ask the good folks at Jandakot who have done just that in Perth.

Finally, on the cover this issue is Daniel Davis, whose Gallop Solutions is at the forefront of leading business change. Daniel offers up 8 Questions That Will Change Your Business Forever.

From protecting your IP to finding the right staff, we have it all covered in this issue.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the read.

Jonathan Jackson Jonathan Jackson Editor, Business First Magazine

BUSINESSFIRST MAGAZINE

www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au PUBLISHER Alan Hyman EDITOR Jonathan Jackson SUB-EDITOR Judy Hyman MEDIA & Gareth Roberts COMMUNICATION Jake O’Donnell Gavin McCullough WRITER Jonathan Green DESIGN Gino Hawkins PRODUCTION Danise Li Head Office Level 1, 33-35 Atchison St St Leonards NSW 2065 Advertising enquiries Phone: 02 8416 5294 Email: bfadvertising@amgroup.net.au Subscription enquiries Phone: 02 8416 5294 Email: bfsubscriptions@amgroup.net.au Contributors Patrick Bright, Marcus Crow, Jack Delosa, Chris Dickinson, Jo Formosa, Saxon Marsden-Huggins, Nick Lembo, Roger Mendelson, Felicity Menzies, Peter O’Neill, Debbie Pask, Federico Re, Luke Wintle Associated Media Group Pty Ltd ABN 68 123 058 926 Copyright ©2016 Associated Media Group amgroup.net.au DISCLAIMER Readers are advised that Business First Magazine and Associated Media Group (AMG) cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of statements made in the advertising. Opinions expressed throughout the publication are the contributors own and do not necessarily reflect views or policy of Business First Magazine or AMG. While every reasonable effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, AMG takes no responsibility for those relying on the information. AMG and Business First Magazine disclaim all responsibility for any loss or damage suffered by readers of third parties in connection with the information contained in this publication.

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NEWS | BF

Want to improve your business relationships? Send an Emoji A study by smartphone maker, OPPO has found a quarter of Aussie professionals (25%) are regularly communicating using Emojis in the workplace, and it’s having a positive impact on their relationships.

The study shows 67% of workers feel Emojis help them soften the tone of messages, which could otherwise be taken the wrong way. Furthermore, two thirds (67%) of female and half (52%) of males claim Emojis allow them to better express themselves.

Emojis have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, helped by the rise in smartphone usage and their inclusion within major messaging platforms.

Emojis have been warmly embraced

by Australians, with more than half of

Australians (60%) believing that Emoji has now become the universal language for messages.

Michael Tran, CMO at OPPO Australia said, “A limitation of traditional text messages is the inability to accurately express feelings and tone within mes-

sages. Our research shows that 70% of people find traditional text messages are often interpreted the wrong way. Emojis help to overcome this, allowing workers to communicate with colleagues and soften the tone, so it’s easy to see how they could help improve professional relationships.”

Emoji use in the office comes with a warning. Almost a third (31%) of workers have admitted that they’ve accidently used the wrong type of Emoji and said something innapropriate.

With its rise in popularity, one in six (17%) Aussies think that Emoji should be recognised as its own official language, confirming that Emojis are far from a temporary cultural fad, and are here to stay in a big way. Even in the office. BFM

AUSTRALIAN ENTREPRENEURS CONTINUE TO DRIVE ECONOMY

Australian entrepreneurs are more than twice as likely to be hiring new staff this year as large corporates, with 61% expected to grow their workforce according to the EY Global Job Creation Survey 2016.

Australia’s figures are slightly above the global average of 59%, doubling forecasts 12 months ago at 31%.

Australian entrepreneurs anticipate an overall workforce growth rate of +9% over the next 12 months, in line with the global average figure of +9.3%.

The survey of nearly 2,700 entrepreneurs globally also found that disruptive entrepreneurs (who change some or all of the rules of their sector) and innovative entrepreneurs (who have created a brand new product or service in the past year) are also growing their workforces at a much faster rate than more conventional entrepreneurs.

The research is being launched as part of the 2016 EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ campaign. Manny Stul, www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

Chairman and Co-CEO of Melbournebased toy company Moose Enterprise became the first Australian to win the title of EY World Entrepreneur of the Year™ in Monaco last month.

EY Middle Market Leader Schalk Barnard said 47% of Australian entrepreneurs grew their workforce more than expected in the past 12 months – higher than the global average figure of 40%.

“Even against a backdrop of subdued economic growth, Australian entrepreneurs are growing at rates even they didn’t forecast a year ago. There is no doubt this sector is becoming more and more important to our domestic economy,” Mr Barnard said.

Mr Barnard said 48% of Australian entrepreneurs said their growth was largely organic, with 26% saying it was driven by M&A and alliances.

“Importantly, 26% of Australian entrepreneurs believe job creation is largely driven by innovation and

the start-up and emerging company ecosystem,” Mr Barnard said.

Mr Barnard said the biggest challenge to securing growth over the next 12 months for Australian entrepreneurs was identifying, attracting and serving new customers, with 26% citing this as the biggest challenge.

Other key Australian findings included: • 72% of all hires will be in the Australian market, 28% in overseas markets; 12% of all domestic hires are expected to come from overseas • Young people in their first role will account for 10% of total workforce growth and 75% of Australia’s entrepreneurs describe young people as important to their growth strategy • 78% feel confident about the direction of their domestic economy up sharply from 51% in 2015; 73% feel confident about the global economy, again up dramatically from 37% in 2015 • Australian entrepreneurs perceive global economic instability (22%), domestic economic instability (19%) and domestic political instability (12%) as the three biggest threats their businesses face • 21% of Australian entrepreneurs fall into the most ‘disruptive’ category – higher than the 17% figure globally; in total 57% are disruptors to some degree • 14% of Australian entrepreneurs fall into the ‘innovator’ category – slightly higher than the 13% figure globally. 6% of Australia’s entrepreneurs identified as both ‘disruptor’ and ‘innovator’ – higher than the global average figure of 4%. BFM

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BFM | NEWS

Digital disruption divides SME sector While many people have easily adapted and incorporated technology in their everyday lives, Australia’s small-to-medium enterprises (SME) sector is still testing the waters when it comes to digital technologies, says mid-tier accounting and business advisory firm Bentleys.

According to the latest results of The Voice of Australian Business survey, a bi-annual national survey of SMEs across all industries and regions, businesses were evenly divided with respect to seeing digital disruption as a threat or opportunity – 25 per cent saw it as an opportunity and 29 per cent as a threat.

Michael Ruggiero, Managing Partner, Bentleys SA said the split between those who see it as a threat compared to an opportunity could point to a lack of understanding around how to embrace these technologies in a practical way, which is causing a reluctance to engage.

“We are seeing that SMEs that are proactively embracing digital technologies, particularly in the manufacturing and agribusiness sectors, are reaping the opportunities in how it can effectively improve or even change their business model and operations completely. However, according to our research, that is only a quarter of businesses. Given the rate of development of digital technologies, it’s somewhat surprising this figure isn’t higher.

“The ones who are seeing it as threat are worried it will disrupt their traditional way of approaching their business – essentially upsetting the applecart.

However, when integrated properly digital technologies should create efficiencies that not only improve the bottom line but free up time for business owners to spend on more important activities such as deepening customer relationships and gathering data that creates more meaningful client interactions or better products and services,” said Mr Ruggiero.

As the new financial year begins, Mr Ruggiero believes SME owners should review their current situation and consider how digital technologies can provide improvement. For those looking to refresh and refine current practices, and who might be a little hesitant, he recommends: • Seeking advice from a professional: Only 26 per cent of SME owners are currently using external consultants to make business decisions, but in reality, accountants and external advisors are an extremely valuable source of information when it comes to new technologies and how to practically

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implement them. Engaging with them and asking for help can offer peace of mind.

• Tap into your professional network: find out first hand from other SME owners the types of technologies they are using and what they like or don’t like, what challenges they encountered when implementing and how they overcame them. Peer-to-peer learning can be one of the best sources of information.

• Do your due diligence: every business is different and has different needs.

Think about the areas of your business operations where you spend most of your time and how digital technologies may be able to help you. There are several options available so make sure you land on the best option for your business. Take time to undertake proper research – there is an abundance of useful information available online – specifically look at reviews and if possible ask the technology providers for a run-through of the product or at the very least an outline of its features. Don’t forget to consider the costs in buying and setting up new technologies to ensure it’s a viable option that fits within your budget.

Mr Ruggiero concluded: “Modernising your current business operations and processes by integrating digital technologies will help SMEs gain an advantage when it comes to speed, cost and the ease of doing business. But ultimately, it’s about ensuring your business is operating as effectively and efficiently as possible, keeping it competitive, while also positioning it for future growth. BFM

FROM SURVIVING TO THRIVING: NEW STUDY FINDS RESILIENCE IS A LEARNT ABILITY Whether it’s remaining calm in a crisis, reframing your job loss as an opportunity for growth, or empathising with your busy manager, some people appear a pillar of strength in situations that would bring others to tears, but new research from The Resilience Institute Australia is encouraging.

Working with 250 businesses and surveying 16,000 employees pre and post-resilience intervention, The Resilience Institute has found that, with practice, resilience is a competency which can be learnt.

Participants in the study over 3 years, experienced a 39 per cent reduction in worry, 35 per cent reduction in insomnia, 24 per cent increase in decisiveness and 29 per cent increase in joy.

At the beginning of the study, there were a greater number of liabilities recorded. Participants found it hard to remain calm and organised during their workday and lacked self-confidence. They worked late to complete tasks and felt tired and fatigued at the end of the workday. They experienced an overactive mind causing difficulty sleeping and would often wake up early, not being able to return to sleep. They also displayed physical symptoms including feeling stress in the stomach, chest, skin or shoulders and would be quicker to turn to sugar or fast food. Many expressed worry about the future.

Post intervention, participants were more likely to stick to a nutritious diet, exercise regularly and get annual health checks. They found their work to be more calm, organised and easily manageable.

They were more attuned to signs and feelings of stress and were able to take time each day to relax. They also experienced improved sleep.

“Resilience is more than just the ability to bounce-back from a stressful situation,” says founder and CEO of The Resilience Institute Australia, Stuart Taylor.

“It is the ability to bounce forward, re-frame your situation quickly and seek opportunity for growth and positive action.” BFM

www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

NEWS | BFM

Beware inflation complacency Fixed income investment boutique Ardea Investment Management has issued a warning to investors to avoid inflation complacency, despite the apparently benign inflationary environment.

According to Ardea, investors are facing a new period of volatility in interest rate sensitive portfolios, with the March quarter surprise inflation result highlighting the consequences of unexpected changes in inflation.

“Market interest rate expectations for the next 12 months changed by nearly 40 basis points in the space of two weeks, following that result. This was a large shift in an already flat interest rate environment, which resulted in substantial volatility in the Australian bond and currency markets,” said Ardea principal Tamar Hamlyn.

“This demonstrates the powerful impact of unexpected inflation outcomes on volatility in portfolios, which is amplified in an era of record low interest rates.”

While the tailwind of falling interest rates has been a positive benefit to asset prices generally, Ardea notes that the effectiveness of monetary policy and quantitative easing are being widely critiqued and all indications are that this tailwind is abating.

“What this highlights to us is that we are entering a new period of volatility in rate sensitive portfolios, where small differences in expectations versus realised outcomes can have larger impacts than periods where global interest rates were much higher and investors had more yield ‘cushion’,” Mr Hamlyn said.

“Any complacency could be dangerous, given that even a modest uptick in price pressures would have a large impact on interest rate sensitive assets.”

The case for tail risk hedging “At Ardea, we think about inflation as a persistent and gradual feature of the money system that ‘melts’ the purchasing power of our money over time,” said Mr Hamlyn.

“But that’s not the end of the story.

What our investors really pay us to think about is how to manage sudden changes in the inflation pathway, or volatility, over time, which can have significant impact on their wider portfolios.”

According to Ardea, the risk of inflation shock is particularly high for investors in the retirement phase, or institutional investors catering to an ageing client base.

“For investors managing drawdowns in capital to fund retirement living standards and maintain spending power, it is particularly important to recognise and manage inflation risk volatility, as these investors lack the ability to accrue the benefits of compounding as their capital is withdrawn - particularly if this occurs during periods of market volatility.” BFM

RISING USE OF DATA ANALYTICS The copious amounts of structured and unstructured data being generated all over the world from multiple sources has transformed competitive environments. There is a marked change in enterprises’ perception of data usage, collection and analysis as they are increasingly demanding Big Data projects to improve customer experience.

Analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Analysis of Big Data and Analytics Market in Latin America, finds that the combined market of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia generated a revenue of $538.3 million in 2015 and is expected to reach $1,956.5 million by 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.4 percent.

Converting unstructured data, such as tweets and posts, as well as structured data into relevant information within the business environment has become critical to the decision-making process.

Without high-quality data, it will be www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

extremely challenging to provide a single view of the customers and their behavior, and to map all their points of interaction with the organization.

“The valuable insights generated by analytics give enterprises across verticals a significant competitive advantage and eventually, positive business outcomes,” said Frost & Sullivan Digital Transformation Consultant Leandro Scalize. “Big Data enjoys considerable acceptance in

the financial vertical, mainly in risk management, credit scoring, customer analytics and fraud detection.”

While companies are gradually becoming familiar with the term, not many know how to harness the benefits of Big Data. One of the main reasons for this is that most companies do not have much expertise in analysing data to aid in business decisions.

Additionally, companies tend to invest in Big Data projects to solve a specific business issue, but do not incorporate data analytics as part of a broader and pervasive strategy.

IT vendors need to present successful case studies and demonstrate the advantages of Big Data and analytics to potential customers. Companies need to be made aware that Big Data and analytics will help them identify customers and their purchase habits, segment them, establish better ways to interact with them, and customize offers according to their needs. BFM

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BFM | FEATURE

HOW TO BECOME A BUSINESS IMAGE ICON

“Do you know your Why? The purpose, cause, or belief that inspires you to do what you do?” That’s the question author Simon Sinek asks when talking about organisational management and brand.

S

inek says in a 2013 Ted Talk, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

Successful brands are built on authenticity: an unwavering belief in why a brand or a business exists.

Authenticity has no replacement.

You can hide behind revenues and slogans for only so long before inauthenticity is exposed.

When that occurs, if that occurs, profits and revenues suffer.

If that occurs it means you haven’t been true to yourself, your brand or your business.

There are many examples of how brand authenticity has positively served communities.

In 2004, Simon Mottram and Luke Sheybeler started Rapha, a brand that has become a powerful identity marker for cyclists around the world.

Brand scientist Peter Singline says of the Rapha brand, “they decreed that everything the company made or did would communicate their passion for the sport through design. Such a mindset will always create a far more emotionally appealing product than those who carry only a functional paradigm in what they offer.”

It all comes back to the why.

Singline comments that Rapha was built around the concept of ‘Glory through Suffering’ – “a brand essence that celebrates the fact that from pain comes pleasure.

The sport’s great battles are fought on an epic scale, across the plains and mountains of continents.”

It is a nicely articulated sentiment.

Looking at more popular brand identities, we can perhaps gain a clearer picture of how authentic brands are built around the ‘why’.

RICHARD BRANSON We know the story inside out and there’s no point going through his career highlights, even though at times they bear repeating, however we should look at the why.

Why does Richard Branson do the things he does?

For Branson, being authentic is to shake the establishment; it is to live by a code that decrees without risk, there is no reward.

It was to be more effective than his competitors and bring a better value product to the marketplace. By doing that he created a disruptive model.

He says, ““Every idea that is going to better the world is going to come from risk-taking entrepreneurs.”

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FEATURE| BFM

And clearly he is one: as an adrenaline junkie, risk taking is his reason for being.

“Dream big by setting yourself seemingly impossible challenges. You then have to catch up with them,” he says.

Branson’s current brand value is estimated to be $5.2billian as of Jan 2016.

STEVE JOBS Think creative disruption and the first person to come to mind should be the late Steve Jobs.

Think branding and image as a mindset and the first person to come to mind would again be Steve Jobs.

Upon his death, the late Apple CEO was worth $8.3 billion in Apple stock and was the 34th richest man in the US. He reached that height because he loved to do what he did.

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.

Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.

So keep looking. Don’t settle.“ That’s a great insight into his character, but what about the why.

Much like Branson has disrupted myriad industries, Jobs’ why was to disrupt embedded IT practices and antiquated technology with a focus on design.

Jobs was design-minded and he appealed to all who wanted great tech with a design feel.

OPRAH WINFREY Not everybody has to be disruptive. Oprah Winfrey, worth approximately $3 billion certainly isn’t, howevwww.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

er like the aforementioned billionaires she does want to make a difference.

Let’s not beat around the bush and pretend these people aren’t ambitious, but their ambition is driven by their authentic selves. For Oprah this seems to be to help and nurture people.

She has a genuine passion and affinity for others.

She resisted calling herself a brand for many years, insisting as a brand she would lose the connection with real people. Yet, that simply propelled her brand to greater heights, as those ‘real people’ shared their joy and heart-ache with her.

She in turn has shared her most personal secrets.

Her why: to connect with people on an almost spiritual level.

DAVID BECKHAM Brand Beckham is now worth half a billion dollars or $771 million AUD. The Beckham family is richer than the queen.

Put one of the most famous football players together with a pop icon and that is brand enough.

Add children whose careers seem to be gathering their own head of steam and you have a team that could rival the global popularity of Manchester United.

Victoria Beckham’s latest collection was recently presented at New York Fashion Week. David’s corporate vehicle is Footworks, valued at £150 million and is where his football related revenues are collated. Beckham Ventures is valued at £60 million. This, combined with their non-business assets of an estimated £190 million, puts the family name at a total value of £470 million.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn has become a social media icon with over four million followers on Instagram and last year, Romeo fronted the Christmas advertising campaign for fashion powerhouse Burberry.

Burberry lay their 14 per cent sales increase firmly at Romeo’s feet.

Wherefore art thou Romeo?

I can’t speak for the family, however David’s motivations (his why) have been clear from the outset: enjoyment and dedication.

He told the Independent UK: “When I sit with kids and they turn round and say how can we be professional footballers the one thing I always say to them is, ‘you have to enjoy yourself, you have to have fun playing football if you want to be a footballer.

“More importantly you have to be dedicated you have to make sacrifices...”

THE KARDASHIAN FAMILY Every brand starts with a why. For the Kardashian family it may be a little harder to disseminate.

However, look at it from this article.

There is no doubt the Kardashian name is known the world over.

The Kardashian family net worth is over $300 million.

For the Kardashians building a powerful, personal and family brand image is not necessarily a tactic but it is a way of being. Again, it comes down to mindset.

Their why: I am successful, famous and wealthy, therefore I am. BFM

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BFM | FEATURE

MOBILITY PERMEATES SOCIETY:

TECHNOLOGY BEYOND THE OFFICE While digital technologies have transformed offices in Australia and worldwide, the business world is far from the only sphere in which these tools are becoming pervasive enablers of change and productivity writes Steve Coad, ANZ Managing Director at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

I

n every industry, wireless connectivity, digital devices, big data and many other emerging technologies are revolutionising business-as-usual procedures. At the same time they are supporting disruption and innovation and the new business models these trends are supporting. Here, we explore how industries such as sport, healthcare, retail and local councils are embracing technological transformation.

Technology has always been critical to the medical sector and this is even more important in today’s digital world. According to technology research firm IDC, healthcare spending on technology in Australia is predicted to rise from US$1.62 billion in 2013 to US$1.86 billion in 2018.

So what are these funds likely to be spent on? According to Deloitte’s latest Global health care sector outlook report, digital innovation is a key trend in this sector. There is an important shift happening that will involve technology increasingly improving patient outcomes. This is likely to happen through more medical devices being connected to the Internet of Things, both in medical environments such as hospitals as well as care homes.

Increasingly, medical monitoring devices are Wi-Fienabled, allowing them to deliver real time information about the state of a patient’s health to medical practitioners. We are also likely to see wearable technologies increasingly being used to collect patient data when they are not in a hospital, and also when they have been admitted.

All these tools will allow the medical sector to better collect and collate patient data, which will ultimately deliver more information researchers can use to help design better treatments and therapies, leading to much better results for patients.

A good example is one of our customers, Epworth Healthcare. The wireless network we installed for this

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business supports more than 750 patients and 150 doctors each day, across 300 hospital devices in seven locations. The wireless network is a mission critical part of the organisation’s operations and really the backbone of every procedure, surgery and function it performs.

Because of the nature of the industry, health has been an early adopter of many new technologies. But other fields are fast catching up, education being one of them.

A recent paper by the University of Queensland Future trends in teaching and learning in higher education, acknowledges the future importance of technology to education. It is becoming an increasingly important enabler and means of fostering engagement, not just a repository for information, as it may have been in the past. www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

FEATURE| BFM

We have helped many clients in the education sector improve connectivity in their organisations, often by implementing reliable wireless networks to which everyone in the school community can connect. The upshot is a more engaged student body and staff cohort.

That’s certainly been the case for one of our clients, Sydney’s prestigious Ascham school. With multiple classes of 25-plus students learning and using wireless devices such as iPads at any one time, access to a reliable wireless network is critical. The solution we built supports students, teachers and support staff to access leading technology around the clock. The feedback we have received is that this has substantially improved what was already an exceptional learning environment.

Sport is another arena in which technology is www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

playing an increasingly important role. I mentioned wearable devices in a medical context earlier, but these tools also have important implications for athletes at the elite, and right down to the club, level. The ability of coaches to collect data on how their most talented sportspeople are performing – changes to heart rates after exertion, for instance, – has the potential to deliver a competitive advantage to leading athletes.

This is of course only one application for technology in sport. For instance, we are one of Tennis Australia’s technology partners at the Australian Open and in 2015 we provided an upgraded wireless network for this important event. Catering for a broad range of stakeholders required a smart solution that tailors access to different groups.

In 2015 more than 15,000 hours of footage was broadcast through the network. Additionally, almost 704,000 fans were able to access the network, alongside over 700 international players, coaches and medical staff and 1,000 media representatives who were on site for the event. The wireless network was one of the heroes of an incredibly successful event, which is true of all major sporting fixtures.

The Australian Open Wi-Fi infrastructure handled 52 terabytes of data traffic within the precinct in 2015, not including mobile data traffic. This figure is approximately two and a half times greater than in 2014, which was six times greater than in 2013.

Retail is another area that has greatly benefited from advances in technology and this will also continue into the future. Connected retail stores that engage with customers through their mobile devices as they enter a store will soon become the norm rather than the exception, and wireless networks will be the chief enabler.

One business that has recognised this is KFC. Walk into any store and you will see staff take orders on tablets, which are seamlessly sent to the kitchen so staff can get started on the order as soon as it is received. Aruba’s wireless network supports all of this functionality, delivering the business transparent and complete oversight of the network.

Customers are also able to access the Wi-Fi, and KFC is able to use the solution to deliver targeted marketing messages to customers when they are using the network.

Finally, while local councils have not traditionally been early adopters of emerging technologies, many are now recognising the need to leverage new technologies and address legacy systems to deliver their services in a more efficient way. The recent merger of a number of Sydney councils is a good example.

Increasingly councils will look to use new technology to more effectively process rates, fines and development applications so they can better meet their constituents’ needs.

This is just a sample of some of the sectors that are progressively embracing everything the digital revolution has to offer. No field can afford to ignore the potential for technology to completely transform the way business is done. Disruption is rife and the businesses and sectors that acknowledge this are the ones that will be best prepared for the future. BFM

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WHAT WILL HUMANS NEED TO DO TO ‘OUTSMART’ THE ROBOT? This glimpse of the future was crafted by Chris Harrison

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FEATURE| BFM

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he worlds of film and fiction writing have always contained fascinating predictions of how we would live in the future. Some have been way off, but Arthur C Clarke’s visions of the 21st Century were more perceptive than most. In 1966, in collaboration with Stanley Kubrick, he created the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. It starred a ‘robot’ called HAL 9000, a Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic (HAL) computer endowed with artificial intelligence. The movie was a powerful demonstration of the possibilities of disaster caused by placing too much power or faith in a machine who, arguably, has no real conscience or awareness. Are we at risk of repeating this screenplay?

HAL was the first mainstream example of Machine Learning who used Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) to constantly learn and deepen its knowledge and functionality, yet this superior intelligence was of little use when the two astronauts on the spaceship (who the robot was admittedly planning to kill) decided to turn it off.

For the sake of this article, let’s assume HAL hadn’t been unplugged and try to imagine what it would think and feel about the digital world we inhabit today.

Would it be ‘pleased’ with the progress of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning? How would it have ‘reacted’ to IBM’s Watson winning Jeopardy? When Google’s artificial intelligence algorithm beat a professional Go player earlier this year, would it have felt ‘a deep sense of pride’ at a machine’s obvious superiority in a game in which it really is impossible to calculate all of the possible future moves? And what would the film critic in HAL make of Sunspring: an experimental film written by a machine called Jetson and directed by a man called Oscar Sharp? Perhaps the robot would have suggested they should have swapped roles?

What would it have to say around the ethical issues involved in allowing machines to make important decisions regarding human life without involving any humans – such as an algorithm-based software used in the USA to calculate the likelihood of criminals re-offending, which is racially biased against African-Americans?

And, as the most humanlike computer in history, what would the robot’s advice be on taking control of our own digital futures? In other words, how can we protect ourselves from being unplugged?

Being as smart as it is, HAL would have noticed that since 2001, many new organisations have appeared, which have leveraged their digital knowledge to take powerful positions within markets. HAL would have also deduced that, through the relative ease of replication, digitisation is leading to a growing commoditisation of the services and products that sit across multiple domains in today’s marketplace.

Recognising the increasing lack of differentiation across these markets, it would hopefully stop and ‘think’. HAL might go into chin-scratching mode and ponder: if Machine Learning ultimately means that machines will all learn in the same way, will we all be taken down the same path to a place where we become largely anonymous brands because of our resemblance to the rest of our competitors?

If HAL has become more human over time, it might

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surmise that the direction in which we’re heading is way off course for any organisation that wants to outsurvive its competitors. In time, HAL might arrive at this counterintuitive solution: if organisations want to remain competitive and not be digitally disrupted, they’ll need to act more like humans and less like machines.

Although the future will increasingly move away from human involvement, those companies who want to survive within this future will need to place humans at the centre of their service offering.

To remain differentiated, organisations will need to employ the very best of design thinking. Professor of leadership and innovation, Roberto Verganti, unveils in the book Design Driven Innovation, how leaders such as Apple and Nintendo build an unbeatable and sustainable competitive advantage through innovations that do not come from the market but that create new markets. “These leaders compete through products and services that have a radical new meaning: those that convey a completely new reason for customers to buy them.” The book quotes Ernesto Gismondi, Chairman of the iconic Italian lighting design company Artemide: “Market? What market! We do not look at market needs. We make proposals to people…”

Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, a company which has made its fortune from patenting a robust package to champion and sustain innovation in business, says: “Design thinking can be described as a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible, and what a viable business strategy can convert into customer value (‘meaning’) and market opportunity.”

This kind of thinking relies upon logic, imagination and reasoning to explore possibilities and create desired outcomes that benefit the ultimate end user (the customer).

To remain differentiated, organisations will need to start out with a bespoke digital solution that harnesses the combined power of humans and machines to ensure they aren’t headed for being ‘unplugged’. This way of thinking will give them the ability and agility to adapt when facing the risk of uniformity.

After having read the complete works of Roberto Verganti in a matter of seconds, we believe HAL would concur. While downloading the content, HAL’s more human attributes will have spent more time trying to understand the meaning of ‘meaning’ and its application within design-led innovation. The robot may well have struggled to fully comprehend this most human of all concepts, but it would be in good company as many humans battle to do the same.

If HAL had managed to survive until today, we believe the robot would be plotting its own digital future, using a combination of the best digital (including machine learning) and human skills it could locate.

Article supplied by Aurecon (Aurecon has launched a new futuristic blog! Called Just Imagine, it provides a glimpse into the future for curious readers, exploring ideas that are probable, possible and for the imagination. This post originally appeared on Aurecon’s Just Imagine blog. Get access to the latest blog posts as soon as they are published by subscribing to the blog.) BFM

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BFM | FEATURE

Can the Turnbull Government accelerate transforming Australia to a digital economy?

The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), the peak member body for the ICT industry has called on the Prime Minister to accelerate the transformation of Australia to a digital economy, to ensure Australia is globally competitive and to drive growth and prosperity for our nation.

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ob Fitzpatrick, CEO of the AIIA says, “Australia’s future is exciting. Digital technology is advancing rapidly, from smart phones that monitor your fitness, measure speed, height and distance, and remotely manage home thermostats and lights, to the way we manage our crops, cattle and mines, research cures for disease, manage city congestion, and deliver services to the most remote parts of our country. Without a doubt, digital technology will underpin our entire economy.

“Given the world is rapidly changing, we must move fast to set our course or risk being left behind. Australia’s prosperity hinges on our ability to innovate, which in turn will drive jobs, growth and importantly, our global competitiveness. And to innovate, we need the right environment with the right infrastructure in place,” concludes Fitzpatrick.

The AIIA says there are four key areas the Turnbull Government needs to prioritise: 1. Development and maturity of Australia’s digital talent and skills base; 2. Business adoption and integration of digital technology; 3. Delivery of high performing, competitive digital infrastructure; and 4. Digital transformation of Government.

Prior to the election, the AIIA issued a position statement, “Step it up: accelerating digitisation of Australia’s economy,” that details its recommendations to the next government on how to implement these four key priorities.

DEVELOPMENT AND MATURITY OF AUSTRALIA’S DIGITAL TALENT AND SKILLS BASE Forty-five percent of the jobs that we know of today will disappear in the next 15 years, and 75 percent of the jobs replacing these will require STEM skills.

[SOURCE: PwC, ‘A Smart Move,’ 2016].

To build the world-class, data-driven workforce needed for this future, the AIIA calls on the Turnbull Government to invest in a coordinated approach to STEM education, focusing the 300 plus disparate initiatives that exist today, encourage diversity in STEM, including women and mature aged workers, and improve ICT university graduate outcomes.

BUSINESS ADOPTION AND INTEGRATION OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY Going digital provides all businesses an opportunity to

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create new business models, reinvent core processes, improve efficiency, drive productivity and get closer to the customer.

“Digitisation must reach not just large global companies but also SMEs so that innovation, competition and growth can benefit all of Australia,” says Fitzpatrick.

“SMEs in particular are significantly underinvested in technology. They lack awareness of what options are available to them and they lack the capacity to implement changes even when they identify them, limiting the ability to grow their business,” he added.

The AIIA calls for the Turnbull Government to drive business adoption of technology in a way that includes SMEs. The AIIA has laid out recommendations targeting this problem, including encouraging SMEs to use proposed tax cuts as an opportunity to invest in development of their digital capability, and development of education and training initiatives.

DELIVERY OF HIGH PERFORMING, COMPETITIVE DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE Australia’s future economic growth depends on all Australians and Australian businesses having access to fast, ubiquitous, and affordable Internet as soon as possible. The AIIA calls on the Turnbull Government to fast track access to world-class internet connections, including the NBN rollout and 5G wireless technologies.

“It is an undisputed fact that Australia is falling behind in broadband speeds, and the delay in improving our infrastructure is putting our economic prosperity at risk,” says Fitzpatrick. “With increased broadband comes more innovation, more jobs, and greater economic growth.”

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF GOVERNMENT According to Deloitte, 40 percent of the estimated 811 million transactions conducted at the federal and state levels each year are still completed using traditional channels. As the biggest spender of ICT services, the AIIA believes the Australian government should be the exemplar of digital transformation.

“This past election itself has been a great example.

With electronic voting in place, we would have known the outcome of the election far sooner and the electoral process would cost fewer taxpayer dollars to run in the long term.” BFM www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

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REAL-WORLD FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY COMING TO A STORE NEAR YOU Over a decade ago, when suicide bombers with knapsacks full of explosives attacked Central London, it was one of the worst terrorist iniquities on British soil. The bombing proved that there existed no practical method to process thousands of hours of surveillance video apart from human examination.

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Virtually every conventional face recognition approach failed miserably on such low quality images where cooperative face recognition systems are very slow and require expensive camera and lighting installations to capture high quality faces,” explains Brian Lovell, CTO, Imagus Technology Pty Ltd. “A key technological advancement would be the ability to be able to reliably identify a person from surveillance video - this is where our expertise comes into the limelight.”

A provider of core technology for advanced real time systems that reliably detect and identify persons easily, Imagus Technology specializes in non-cooperative face recognition from surveillance cameras, mobile phones, social media and wearable cameras.

As well as traditional border and access control applications, the Imagus Facial Recognition Technology opens up a new range of opportunities for unconventional, profitable business solutions based on non-cooperative face recognition.

For instance, a system developed by Imagus is used to determine the audience for an electronic billboard in Times Square. The technology not only counts the number of people passing by, it also measures the age and gender of persons looking at the billboard.

Additionally, the company also offers a system that measures how long it takes for a customer to be served in a multi queue fast food establishment, as well as counting and measuring the customer traffic.

“Today, systems are being installed to recognize shoplifters as well as the good customers in major shopping centres. Such self-funded retail business systems can be interconnected and centrally managed to instantly look for persons of interest across wide areas and place their activities on a map,” observes Lovell.

Originally developed for counter-terrorism, intelligence and policing applications, over the years Imagus has collaborated with businesses in a range of industries. The company’s work with the banking sector to validate identity documents via a mobile smart phone has proved to be immensely convenient and practical www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

compared to requiring customers to visit the bank.

“The heart of the problem is reliably matching a selfie to secure identity documents without human intervention,” Lovell says.

“Our current focus is on cloud-based transcontinental surveillance system for retail and domestic clients.

Once the face recognition client systems are installed and configured, the system is completely managed over the public internet via a web browser interface.

Each company or a chain of stores gets their own private cloud space to handle their private watch lists and collect their recognition alerts,” explains Lovell.

The highly scalable system vastly improves security by alerting the guards and police to potential problems before they happen to create safer cities.

Driven to solve highly challenging problems through excellent scientific research, Imagus has a large biometrics R&D capacity, in addition to a defence grade video coding team.

Despite the complexity of face recognition as a technology, the company also provides complete video face recognition systems running on mobile phones and even on the award winning R7 Augmented Reality Smartglasses from the Osterhout Design Group based in San Francisco.

The Imagus app can match a face in real time to one in a database with resolutions as low as of twelve pixels between the eyes. As Imagus’ face recognition technology continues to be embedded in our everyday lives including TVs, refrigerators and smart homes, Lovell’s mission for the future is simply to be the very best in the homeland security arena.

“Our vision is that we want every computing device to recognize its owner and other persons as a standard service,” concludes the CTO. BFM About Imagus Technology Pty Ltd Located in Brisbane, Australia, Imagus Technology is a firm specializing in non-cooperative face recognition from surveillance cameras, mobile phones, and social media. For more information, visit www.imagus.com.au

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BREXIT VOLATILITY TO INDIRECTLY HIT AUSTRALIAN MARKET Will the Brexit impact on Australia depend on indirect impact to global markets? A leading fixed income manager says yes.

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he decision by UK voters to leave the European Union has resulted in global volatility that will persist for the short term and lead to a two-way division in the performance of core and periphery bond markets, according to Western Asset Management.

In a whitepaper discussing the impact of the Brexit, Western Asset’s Head of Investment Management London, Andrew Belshaw, says this historic decision will reshape and continue to send shocks through the market.

“This is a clear negative for the GBP, and the uncertainty over future trading relationships will lead to a weaker sterling. The Bank of England will have to adopt a more expansionist monetary policy to stabilise financial markets and shore up confidence in the wider economy. In the short term, this should cause British government bond yields to decline, but in the medium term it should steepen the UK yield curve as risk premiums are built in against further capital flight and inflation risk,” said Mr Belshaw.

“Core markets, especially Germany, should attract a safe-haven bid, driving yields lower and taking the yield curve further into negative territory. Periphery yields should rise as the rise in probability of further countries leaving the EU is factored into spreads.

“We expect corporate bonds, high yield and equities in the European market to weaken as exporters are weighed down by uncertainty and a lower growth outlooks takes a toll. We do however believe the ECB may ultimately backstop risk markets,” said Mr Belshaw.

THE IMPACT IN AUSTRALIA Commenting on the impact from an Australian point of view, Western Asset head of Australian Operations Anthony Kirkham said the Australian economy is not

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directly linked to Britain or Europe, therefore any fallout is very much dependent upon the indirect impact to global markets.

“Central Bank action from around the globe is certainly possible, but in an effort to avoid instilling a sense of panic, is likely to be somewhat measured. In relation to Australian markets, we saw a jump in volatility in sympathy with moves in global risk markets.”

Three year bond futures rallied by around 23bp, with 10-year futures rallying around 25bp on the day of the announcement. The Australian iTraxx index, which began the day in the mid 120s widened to trade at 142bp. From a currency perspective, the AUD fell approximately 3.5% to reach a low of US73c upon the announcement, retracing to US74c by late Friday afternoon.

“The fall is partially attributable to the unwinding of risk-on positions taken ahead of the vote. We expect the increased volatility and continuation of risk-off sentiment to continue in the near term,” said Mr Kirkham.

“With respect to domestic credit spreads, we expect to see continued widening in the short term. Much of the increased volatility will be restricted to synthetic bonds, as investors continue to hold cash bonds rather than sell into the weaker market. Cash spreads are also likely to widen, although in a more restrained fashion.

“Overall, volatility is likely to continue until the market gets a better understanding of the medium-term implications of the decision; including any potential central bank response. We expect liquidity in AUD markets to remain challenging in the near term, with any direct impact on the Australian economy and domestic credit markets from the decision likely to be limited.” BFM www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

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COULD BREXIT PROVIDE A EUREKA MOMENT? Since its discovery a thousand years ago, gold has managed to maintain its relevance and stature writes Kal Kotecha PhD.

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sed to make royal crowns and other valuable items, the value of gold has been high as from its discovery days. The Greek scientist Archimedes (287-212BC), the inventor of the Archimedes principle was the first person to find a way to measure the density of gold and other metals without deforming them.

This tale begins when King Hieron II of Syracuse suspected the goldsmith, whom he had commissioned to manufacture the royal crown, and suspected the gold given to him was replaced with an equal weight of silver. The king therefore asked Archimedes to determine the purity of the gold crown. Being a holy object dedicated to the gods, the crown had to be examined without deformation of any kind. While in a bath, Archimedes noticed that his body displaced more water the more he sank into the tub. He immediately got out and ran home naked shouting “Eureka! Eureka!” which is Greek for “I have found it!”

This method of displacement as a test for determining an object’s density helped Archimedes prove that the goldsmith had in fact been fraudulent and used a gold-silver alloy in the manufacture instead of pure gold. Gold is around twice as dense as silver making it easy to differentiate an alloy and pure gold. The royal goldsmith’s fate as a result was sealed. The Archimedes’ Principle is still in use to date!

HOW BREXIT AFFECTS THE BRITISH ECONOMY, GOLD AND JUNIOR MINING STOCKS With the recent passing of the Brexit vote that saw an increase in the instability of the British Economy, gold and junior mining stocks have been no exception to the post-Brexit effects. According to predictions by various economists, the British economy is set to suffer due to Brexit. George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer believes a number of companies are already pulling out on investments as the UK plans to leave the European Union. Credit ratings have already been downgraded with agencies like Fitch and S&P finding the UK government to be a less safe option when it comes to lending. The pound has also gone down considerably against the US dollar but not so much against the euro. Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England stated that UK interest rates would in turn go lower to new records in a bid to boost demand in the country after the release of the Brexit vote results.

The interesting fact however is, as a number of stocks including the Pound have been going down with

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fears of inflation in the coming future, gold prices and junior mining stocks have been on the rise. Most mining companies posted substantial gains in 2016 as opposed to the major losses witnessed in 2015. With the announcement of the Brexit vote, gold prices reached an unprecedented two-year high.

On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, mining companies have witnessed substantial gains for example Coeur Mining (CDE) has risen 301.2%, Yamana Gold (AUY) 174.2%, Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM) 97.9%, VanEck Vectors Gold Miners 94.7% and First Majestic Silver (AG) 300%. These companies were trading close to or above their target prices as a result of the Brexit vote.

Mining-based companies like Franco Nevada (FNV) and Cia De Minas Buenaventura (BVN) saw jumps in prices of 2.8% and 4.8% respectively due to Brexit and other gold related rises over five days. Pretium Resources Inc, one of the newest junior gold miners, saw a rise in stock by 9.82% in a period of just two days.

This goes to show that junior mining stocks are equally on the rise just like gold prices.

WHY MINING STOCKS AND GOLD PRICES ARE RISING POST-BREXIT This rise came about as a result of investors looking www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

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for other ways for storing their money taking the instability of other investments such as property and stocks at the moment. Investors have therefore been selling equities in exchange for safer asset options like gold or currencies such as the Yen or US dollar. Global sentiment, including Brexit has therefore strongly impacted gold and hence given it a substantial price bounce. With highs of $1,355.60 per ounce and lows of $1,253.70 on June 24, 2016, a 4.6% rise a day after the Brexit vote, it is clear that the effects were pretty immediate.

Physical demand for gold went up as a result. The world’s largest gold-backed ETF, SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD) witnessed its highest rise levels since July 2013 with a 2% to 934.3 tons in June 2016. This drastic rise in gold prices affected even China and India, the world’s biggest markets, with investors choosing to stay aloof since most Asian consumers view gold as a long-term store of wealth.

The expected volatility and uncertainty in the markets is therefore the main reason behind the post-Brexit rise in mining stocks and gold prices. Other precious metals such as silver and platinum have also experienced this rise with YTD (year-to-date) rises of 27.5%, and 9.8% respectively. Most company www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

shares experience major fluctuations depending on different political variations, leaving the EU being one of the examples. Precious metals like gold have over time proven to be very stable in the market and are as a result most preferred when it comes to safe longterm investments.

This gold rush was not for major investors only but also for ordinary savers. With many seeing precious metals as a safer investment haven, it is no surprise that the Google search for the phrase “Buy Gold” in the UK spiked by about 500% overnight after the announcement of the Brexit vote and subsequent resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron.

Mining shares move hand in hand with gold prices meaning a rise in gold prices could mean a rise in junior mining stocks.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 http://marketrealist.com/2016/06/tracking-preciousmetals-cross-commodity-rates/ 2 http://marketrealist.com/2016/06/much-can-brexit-affectprecious-metals/ 3 http://marketrealist.com/2016/06/why-mining-stocks-arerising-post-brexit/ http://ca.investing.com/commodities/gold-historical-data

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Q3 OUTLOOK: BREXIT’S SHADOW Uncertainty looms large over the third quarter of 2016 and beyond, but that is not necessarily a negative. In fact, if the uncertainty is met by reforms and improvements, then all of the present risk events could appear in hindsight as harbingers of positive change says Saxo Bank.

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axo Bank, parent company of Saxo Capital Markets, recently published its quarterly outlook for global markets and key trading ideas for the third quarter of 2016, the Essential Trades.

Now is the summer (in Europe) of our discontent.

Uncertainty reigns in Europe, the debt-driven cycle has reached its peak and the social contract is being remade through voters’ strong bias against the elitist political system. Trading the markets in Q3 will be about navigating increased volatility, understanding how populist sentiment will affect social direction, and accepting that the world economy – including the US– is about to renew its flirtation with recession.

Steen Jakobsen, Saxo Bank Group Chief Economist and CIO, said: “Personally, I am not too concerned about the Brexit as prior crises have taught me that these types of events often leads to real changes, and sometimes real reforms. Following the European Exchange Rate Mechanism crisis in 1992, UK growth and employment rose significantly “The good news is that the next six to 12 months will see a move towards the much needed mandate for change. The bad news is that it will come with more

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volatility and more uncertainty.”

Set against this context, Saxo’s outlook for major asset classes in Q3 is as follows: EU macro – Migrant crisis fissure: “We used to say that Europe moves forward in times of crisis. Unfortunately, this is no longer the impression in light of the EU’s timid reforms of recent years,” said Christopher Dembik, Economist, Saxo Bank.

Immigration is the most important risk facing the European Union since the sovereign debt crisis and also the most overlooked. As such and post-Brexit, Europe appears more divided than ever. Mismanagement of migrant policy and economic sluggishness have promoted an anti-elite groundswell across the continent. The result of the presidential election in Austria, where an extreme right-wing candidate almost won, and the unexpected outcome of the UK referendum represent two grave warnings to Brussels – a solution must be found that unites the periphery and the core, putting an end to the bloc’s timid reform regime of recent years.

Forex – Could get ugly: The spectre of the Brexit vote will loom large for some time, with sterling www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

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weakness persisting in the wake of the referendum (though likely with waning momentum). We would still forecast, however, the EURGBP pair to peak in Q3 ahead of other key GBP pairs around the longer-term questions for Europe, now that sterling has been severely discounted. Perhaps weighing further on market sentiment, the Fed also seems unlikely to provide support beyond its current inaction and may not believe that monetary policy is the answer to new recession risks. In short summary, the US dollar appears to be the best safe haven in the coming months.

Bonds – Low yields, long time: Post-Brexit, global yields once again sank to all-time lows, and with Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen finally capitulating to dovishness, the consensus expectation is very low yields for a very long time. Yet beneath the gloomy economic headlines, there are signs that sentiment is improving in many parts of the economy. Some of the major risk factors that have affected markets over the past six months have either played out or are largely irrelevant for now, fears around EM instability have subsided and the ECB has begun looking at unwinding QE. In the likely event of a gradual improvement in the global economic outlook, we expect core yields, especially European core yields, to rise swiftly.

Equities – A critical quarter: Based on the current trajectory of the global economy, we go into Q3 with a negative view on equities. Among the worst hit sectors, European banks will continue to suffer from a lack of confidence and renewed scrutiny on net interest margins as a result of negative rates, whilst UK equities will also face lower valuations – putting pressure on the FTSE 100. With the Brexit vote’s impact hitting the financial system, confidence among businesses and consumers may deteriorate enough to edge the global economy closer to a standstill in Q4, which is why we’re looking at the next few months as the most crucial period since the euro crisis of 2012.

Commodities – A second wind: The second quarter has bucked trends since 2014 and this year has been no exception after a bullish rally led by oil and gold lifted the whole commodity complex. As we enter Q3, growth prospects across some of the world’s major economies, including the U.S. and China, continue to be called into question and problems in Europe could lead to a knock-on effect in the global market. With this in mind, coupled with the uncertainty triggered by the Brexit vote and the potential for further dollar strength, we’re anticipating limited upside above $50/b this quarter in crude. The same uncertainty has also recently helped to drive gold higher as a haven asset and we remain positive - raising our end of year forecast to $1,350/oz.

To access the full list of trade ideas produced by Saxo Bank analysts which accompany the Q3 2016 Essential Trades, please follow this link: http://storage.saxobank.com/TradingFloor/ EssentialTrades-Q3-2016.pdf www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

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Cultural Intelligence Is Key to Building Asia Capability Asia is the single biggest growth opportunity for Australian business. By 2025, Asia will account for almost half of the world’s GDP and will be home to four of the largest global economies – China, India, Japan, and Indonesia. By 2030, two-thirds of the world’s middle class will be in Asia, up from one-third today, and by 2050, Asia will have twenty of the world’s top 50 cities ranked by GDP, up from eight in 2007. In A World of Difference: Leading in Global Markets with Cultural Intelligence, Singapore-based consultant Felicity Menzies offers Australian business a proven approach for closing the Asia capability gap and capturing this potential.

C Felicity Menzies Founder of Culture Plus Consulting

onsumer attitudes and behaviours are highly influenced by culture. When a company moves into a new market, the primary focus should be on understanding the local culture and modifying product and service offerings, pricing strategies and marketing programmes to better reflect local preferences, customs and habits. Unless local cultures drive business models, foreign

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businesses have a high risk of failure. The costs of failed international business ventures can be significant: on average, international retailers will absorb seven years of losses offshore before they eventually shut down or sell their operations to a local competitor. In September 2012, after six years in China, the world’s largest home-improvement retailer, American mega-chain Home Depot

Inc., exited the Chinese market, writing off US$160 million after tax. Home Depot’s rigid application of its American ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) business model had failed to lure the rapidly increasing first-home-buyer market. A more culturally appropriate model would have been ‘do-it-for-me’ (DIFM).

Manual labour is inexpensive in China and viewed as beneath a middle class deeply committed to www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

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enhancing and preserving their social status.

International business success also necessitates an in-depth understanding of local business customs that may not be evident to the foreigner. In China, ‘guanxi’—one’s personal network of trusted relationships involving mutual obligations and favours—is critical for business success. eBay’s ignorance of guanxi contributed to its failure in China to compete with local player Taobao. Using its government and industry connections, Taobao was successful in developing an integrated e-payment system whereas eBay’s payment system, PayPal, was subject to government scrutiny and restrictions.

Individuals from different social or cultural backgrounds naturally think, feel and behave differently.

If Australian business is to remain competitive in the Asian century it must strengthen its capability to understand the needs and concerns of different consumer segments and stakeholders across rapidly changing diverse Asian markets.

Strengthening Asia capability involves a three-pronged approach: winning the war for local talent across diverse Asian markets, leveraging the perspectives and experiences of Australian talent with Asian heritage, and increasing the cultural competency of its nonAsian workforce.

Achieving these goals necessitates the development of cultural intelligence or CQ—the collection of knowledge, skills and abilities that enable an individual to detect, assimilate, reason and act on cultural cues appropriately. Individuals with high cultural intelligence display four main competencies: CQ Drive is the willingness to work with others from diverse cultural backgrounds, CQ Knowledge is an understanding of culture and cultural differences, CQ Strategy is the ability to flex mentally and take alternative perspectives, and CQ Action is the ability to flex verbal and non-verbal behaviour to create shared meaning and build rapport and trust with culturally diverse others.

Cultural intelligence can help Australian businesses both win the www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

war for talent across Asian markets and dismantle cultural stereotypes at home that contribute to Australia’s “bamboo ceiling”—the underrepresentation of Australians with Asian cultural background at leadership level. McKinsey reports only 13 per cent of global organisations are confident that their talent pipeline in China is adequate, and only 52 per cent of global executives feel that their company is effective at tailoring its recruiting, retention, training and development processes for different geographies. Annual staff turnover rates of 25 to 30 per cent are not unknown for global companies in Asian markets. The factors that influence employee motivation, job satisfaction and organisational commitment vary across cultures.

Australian firms that understand the cultural value profile of their Asian employees and adapt their human resource policies and management practices accordingly are better placed to attract, retain and leverage local Asian talent.

Closer to home, Australian business is failing to leverage the Asia capability inherent in its working population. Diversity Council Australia reports over 9 per cent of Australian workers are Asia-born but only 1.9% of senior executives in ASX 200 listed companies have Asian cultural origins. Entrenched stereotypes and differences in leadership and communication styles prevent talent with Asian heritage from attaining leadership positions. Western leadership styles that endorse competitiveness, assertiveness and direct communication are at odds with Asian cultural preferences for cooperative interpersonal relations, indirect communication, and concern for ‘face’. A better understanding of how cultural stereotypes interact with dominant leadership styles can help to dismantle unconscious biases that prevent Australians with Asian heritage from achieving leadership positions and foster inclusive work settings where employees from diverse cultural backgrounds can thrive.

But increasing Asian representation in Australian company workforces is only half of the solution.

Cultural differences in attitudes, values, beliefs and norms for appropriate behaviour present new challenges for workplace effectiveness. Cultural diversity enhances the potential for language and other communication barriers, heightens the risk of ambiguity and value conflicts, and reasoning and decision-making differences threaten rapport and stifle the exchange of information and ideas.

Those challenges limit the strategic potential of a diverse workforce for accessing diverse customers and suppliers and attracting and energising top global talent.

Cultural diversity is complex and its benefits for growth in new markets will only be realised if an organisation’s workforce has the capability to manage that complexity. Cultural intelligence predicts important measures of performance in diverse cultural settings, including better problem-solving and decision-making, improved well-being, increased collaboration, the formation of diverse networks, innovation and better task performance. In fact, cultural intelligence is a better predictor of effectiveness in diverse settings than cognitive ability, emotional intelligence (EQ), personality, demographic characteristics, and international experience.

As markets become more diverse, cultural intelligence will emerge as an increasingly powerful driver of performance and profits. CQ can help you to build a sustainable business in Asia that captures as many customers as possible and provide them with the best products, continuously.

Cultural intelligence can accelerate you ahead of your competitors.

Companies without it are not even in the race. BFM Felicity Menzies is former Head of Private Bank, Westpac in Singapore, and Founder and Principal of Culture Plus Consulting – a diversity and inclusion consultancy with expertise in cultural intelligence, unconscious bias, and global diversity management in the corporate sector. Her new book, ‘A World of Difference: Leading in Global Markets with Cultural Intelligence’, is published by Major Street Publishing.

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BFM | COVER STORY

8 Questions That Will Change Your Business Forever A 90-minute Business-Changing Interview with Daniel Davis, Founder and CEO of EOS Worldwide in Australia.

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ost of the time an interview has a feel of selling something, however when I met with Daniel Davis he wasn’t like that at all. Daniel is very sincere about wanting to help business owners do one thing: avoid the unnecessary challenges that accompany business ownership.

Daniel opened up about EOS® - The Entrepreneurial Operating System®, an all-encompassing system to help any organisation reach its full potential. This system is used by thousands of companies in the USA and is only now being launched in Australia by Daniel, with the plan of expanding into Asia-Pacific.

Whilst Daniel explained the EOS Model™ it was quite refreshing to see how generously he shared some valuable strategies a business can apply straight away. In Daniel’s words, “We have an abundance

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mentality and we like to talk about what we do openly. We share what we can about the EOS tools, system and process and, ultimately, we just allow others to determine if there’s a real fit. The whole idea is to let someone find the value of what we do in their own time and in their way.”

Business First Magazine: Can you tell me, what is EOS? Daniel Davis: EOS® is the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, a series of simple yet powerful tools that help any organisation reach its full potential. Over 16,000 companies worldwide are using the EOS tools.

EOS Worldwide is the growing organisation of successful entrepreneurs, from a variety of business backgrounds, who are dedicated to sharing these powerful tools to help other entrepreneurs succeed as they have.

The company founder, Gino Wickman, started his entrepreneurial journey at the age of 21 and became soon thereafter an owner in a family business, one of the top sales training companies in the United States. Gino and several other business owners started the Detroit Chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization [EO], which soon grew to 90 members. Through that experience he found himself helping many of his fellow EO members, falling in love with the wonderful world of business and entrepreneurship. He discovered a passion and knack for understanding the science of business and so, after retiring from his family business, he devised EOS and set out to help entrepreneurial leadership teams get what they want out of their businesses.

Since inception 14 years ago, EOS Implementers across the world www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

COVER STORY| BFM

“The power of EOS is that it is real-world, simple and practical.

There’s no flavour of the month, no magic pills, no promises or “trust-in-me”; just timeless, field tested tools that really work.” (there are over 125 in the USA and another 15 around the world) have delivered over 14,500 full-day sessions to leadership teams from over 2,400 companies. I am thrilled to be the first Certified EOS Implementer in Australia.

BFM: How does EOS bring value to a business?

DD: The power of EOS is that it is real-world, simple and practical.

There’s no flavour of the month, no magic pills, no promises or “trustin-me”; just timeless, field tested tools that really work.

Implementing EOS helps leadership teams do three things; achieve Vision, Traction and Healthy: ▪ • Vision means getting everyone on the same page and engaged with the direction and strategy.

▪ • Traction means better execution, more discipline and accountability to each other.

▪ • Healthy means you become more functional and cohesive as a leadership team that breeds a productive and positive culture; a major issue for most companies. www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

From there, the leadership team teaches and integrates these ideas into the rest of the organisation.

Our typical client is a company with 10 to 250 employees, with an open-minded leadership team that wants to help their organisation reach its full potential. In organisations of this size and responsibility, it is vital to ensure the team is crystal clear on the vision, gaining more traction, more discipline, more accountability, and ultimately becoming more cohesive, functional, and healthy. If these factors

aren’t considered, the consequences can be fatal.

BFM: How did you come across EOS and what is your involvement?

DD: Well, I stumbled across it not knowing it would fuel my personal purpose. Going back to the beginning, my interest in business began very early with my first job at the young age of 10. You could say it was love at first sight, or maybe first pay packet – even if it was only $4 an hour!

By 21 I had opened my first busi-

Daniel Davis with the EOS Worldwide Leadership Team: Gino Wickman, Don Tinney & Mike Paton

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BFM | COVER STORY

ness, an IGA Supermarket in the Blue Mountains (west of Sydney), working massive hours, 7 days a week. I saw some great success and continued to grow my interests into a wider variety of industries including retail, communications, manufacturing, professional services and even an online start-up.

It’s fair to say that business is an addiction for me and I am obsessed with mastering the ingredients that make them successful.

You could liken the story of how I came across EOS to that of a romantic novel. In 2014 I was invited to meet Sir Richard Branson at his home on Necker Island along with a group of other entrepreneurs.

During my visit, one of the other guests, who happened to be an EOS Implementer, insisted I read Gino Wickman’s book Traction, saying that Gino and I were like twins. Of course I was intrigued, so I bought the book and was hooked by the first ten pages!

I decided to explore EOS further and over the past 2 years I have completed my Professional Implementer training and reached Certified Implementer status. EOS Worldwide has grown significantly in recent years, particularly in North America, and is rapidly expanding globally. I have developed a close relationship with EOS Worldwide’s leadership team; at the core, our values and passion align so perfectly. I now have the honour of being trusted with the task of bringing the EOS brand to Australia and the Asia Pacific region, which is very exciting.

BFM: You’ve been involved in the business improvement and education space for 7 years now, why EOS? Why commit yourself to this brand?

DD: Great question. Put simply, it is the most effective business operating system I’ve found. It can work in any size business, in any industry, and gets results quickly and sustainably. And that’s always been my ultimate goal; to find a system this simple, versatile and effective.

In terms of the EOS brand, it is perfectly aligned to my company here in Australia, Gallop Solutions Group. Combined, our passion (or obsession, if you like) is helping business owners and their leader-

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“It’s fair to say that business is an addiction for me and I am obsessed with mastering the ingredients that make them successful.” ship teams perform - to help them get what they want from their businesses.

BFM: So, what does the EOS Model™ comprise of?

DD: The EOS Model™ is made up of Six Key Components™:Vision, People, Data, Process, Issues and finally, Traction. It’s based on time-tested strategies, not fad ideas. These components must be managed and strengthened to become a great business. The model applies to big and small businesses alike, in any industry.

1. Vision. Strengthening this component means getting everyone in the organisation 100 percent on the same page with where you’re going and how you’re going to get there.

2. People. This means surrounding yourself with great people, top to bottom, because you can’t achieve a great vision without a great team.

3. Data. This means cutting through all the feelings, personalities, opinions and egos and boiling your organisation down to a handful of objective numbers that give you an absolute pulse on where things are.

With the Vision, People, and Data Components strong, you start to create a lucid, transparent, open and honest organisation where everything becomes more visible and you start to “smoke out all the issues,” which leads to...

4. Issues. Strengthening this component means becoming great at solving problems throughout the organisation – setting them up, knocking them down and making them go away forever.

5. Process. This means identifying, systemising and documenting the core processes that define the way your business runs. You then ensure everyone understands these processes and follows them. This creates consistency and scalability

in your organisation.

6. And finally, Traction®. This means bringing discipline and accountability throughout your company – becoming great at execution and taking the vision down to the ground and making it real.

BFM: That’s a lot to consider, how does one get started on this to make it usable?

DD: To really make it valuable for the reader, I’d like to share what I would do with any business I first meet and share how to apply the first component of the EOS Model, which is Vision.

Vision is how you will get everyone and everything in your business aligned and moving the same direction, 100 percent on the same page with where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. All other tools assist the achievement of this vision so this is clearly the first and primary factor.

If a business owner looks at their own organisation and answers 8 key questions, they will see what is and isn’t working very quickly so they can begin making decisions about how to better their business.

BFM: But don’t most business leaders know this? Surely this is Business-101?

DD: Surprisingly, it’s often not the case. So many business leaders tell me that they know where their company is going and that they have a plan. When I ask where it is, they say “It is all in here” pointing to their heads. But, having run and managed many businesses, I would venture to say employees are not mind readers and that your “plans” may not be as clear as you think.

We create this Vision Component by helping the whole leadership team form the vision and strategy, document it, and get agreement from the whole company. The key www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

COVER STORY| BFM

here is buy-in and agreement: an unrealistic or authoritarian vision doesn’t gain any buy-in which results in poor performance (or none at all).

Answering the 8 key questions and gaining agreement on them, no matter how simple they may be (and I ask you not to judge them by their simplicity), can fuel a leadership team to perform remarkably.

Here are the eight questions we ask: 1. What are your Core Values?

Core values are what define your culture; who you are as people.

Typically three to seven is the rule of thumb (less is more). We’re looking to discover what lies at the core of your organisation so that we can get to work on surrounding you with the right people, ultimately building a strong enduring culture around these values that you hold dear.

2. What is your Core Focus™? It’s been called mission statement, motto, purpose, etc. It’s also been called voice by Stephen Covey in his book, The 8th Habit. In brief,

your true Core Focus is made up of two things: Your purpose, cause or passion and your niche.

Once you’re clear on what it is, you must stay absolutely laser focused on it and not get distracted by what we like to call ‘shiny stuff’. That’s all that stuff outside of your Core Focus that distracts you on your journey of building a great organisation. So it becomes a filtering and guiding mechanism for you.

3. What is your 10-year Target™?

This is where you answer what is the big goal here? What are we all working towards so again, everyone can align around getting there?

This is a shoot-for-the-stars kind of goal.

4. What is your (high level) Marketing Strategy? What this section is designed to do is create a focal point on your sales and marketing efforts, ultimately increasing your sales and your close ratios.

There are four parts to Marketing Strategy: • The first part is your Target

Market. This is crystallising who your ideal customer is, who you should be targeting, the demographic, the geographic, and the psychographic of that ideal customer. Who are they, where are they, what are they?

▪ • How are you going to communicate to your Target Market? By defining your Three Uniques™. The most common equivalent term here is differentiators, but what are the three uniques that truly make you different as an organisation?

▪ • What is your Guarantee or Promise to your customer?

▪ • What is your Proven Process™ for how you do what you do for your customer? This how we take care of each customer and can guarantee their success.

Once you define these four parts you then have a clear high-level marketing strategy you can detail out and take to the world.

5. What is your 3-Year Picture™?

We then go to question number five, which is painting a picture of

BFM | COVER STORY

what this organisation looks like 3 short years from now. Now this isn’t a detailed three to five year strategic planning. Again this tool is designed to take a simplified approach to your strategic planning, starting with what your revenue, profit, and measurables look like in the future date.

Once those are clear, we then paint a picture of what the organisation looks like with 5-15 descriptive bullet points. That way, in your mind’s eye, you all are seeing the exact same thing. Once everyone can clearly see exactly what it looks like and where you’re going, you’re more likely to get there. This also enables you to understand how you can then begin to gain traction and do much better 1-year planning because you now know where you want to be in 3 years.

6. What is your 1-Year Plan? We then take a simplified approach: what do we absolutely have to get

done this year to make that 3-Year Picture a reality? And so with that the same drill, future date and then what are the revenue, profit, and measurables for this year. And then we go into your goals and determine: what are the three to seven most important things that must get done in the next year. Again, we take a simplified approach. We don’t focus on everything. We boil it down to just a simple handful, three to seven– hopefully closer to three, because less is more.

7. What are your Rocks (quarterly priorities)? With the 1-Year Plan now clear, we then take it down to the ground to what really matters and that’s the next 90 days of this organization’s life. We call them Rocks. These are the three to seven most important things that must get done in the next 90 days that will ensure you achieve your 1-Year Plan.

When we create this 90-Day

EOS CLIENT SUCCESS STORY Business Name: PowerNET IT Solutions Age of business: 22 years Your name and title: Daniel Williams - Director of Strategy Number of staff: 50 Revenue: $11M Prior to discovering the Entrepreneurial Operating System®, we were performing okay and achieving regular growth, but the business was having noticeable challenges with strategic focus, leadership alignment and accountability for outcomes. Our young leadership team were all engaged and committed but lacked the structure that enabled them to focus on the truly high priority items that would take us to the next level of growth. We were expending too much energy and time on operational tasks and often at the end of a quarter or a year found we had not completed essential projects or goals.

Often the feeling within the team, despite the success we did have, was frustration and overwhelm. What we lacked were the tools for keeping us accountable and on track so we could produce long-term scalability and predictable success. We had an idea of where we wanted to get to as a business, but had no map or plan for how we were going to get there.

When we started to implement EOS®, we very quickly found clarity and momentum. The business has been able to roll out key tools, reset our priorities with better accuracy and most importantly have made them visible to everyone

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in the company along with an understanding of why we are aiming to achieve them. Our quarterly priorities are now a part of every meeting to keep them top of mind; it makes the meetings more efficient and predictable.

Because of EOS, we have learned to manage our business objectives in very specific manner. EOS helps us make sure we: • Better prioritise what the leadership team should be working on. We’ve learned to elevate and delegate to our team members, which has released us from many of the dayto-day operational demands.

• Choose the correct most productive large-scale business objectives and strategic items we should be focusing on.

• Share weekly metrics with the business in the form of the scorecard, rather than waiting for monthly divisional metrics.

• Have the courage and conviction to make no exceptions when selecting the “right people” to have in our business.

The beauty of the EOS tools is that they are so simple. Every day I am referring to The Vision/Traction Organizer™, which is the tool that summarises our 8 key questions. Whether it be the 10-Year Target or Core Values, having all of this information on one page that is clear and concise has amazing power. It gives our whole team information that makes them realise they’re a part of ‘something bigger’, while still understanding how the people they are and the roles they play are major contributors.

Besides the organisational and management structure and focus, we’ve already had some incredible wins. We are about to exceed our budgeted revenue target for the 2015/2016 FY by 7.5% which is 14% overall growth on last year. Whilst we might have exceeded it without having implemented EOS, I don’t believe we would have surpassed it by the amount we have with EOS. It has taken our focus and drive to a completely new level. Everything we do now has our long and short-term plans in mind.

The thing about the EOS Model™ is that the value you attain from it is completely within your control. If you are engaged and embrace the suggested disciplines, then the sky’s the limit.

We have achieved a far higher level of functionality as a leadership team as a direct result of each session with our Implementer, but the key is then how we have taken all we have learned back to our business and shared it across the whole company; that’s where we have gained traction. We’re continuing to tick off strategic goals and see significant results on the bottom line, which as any business who has ever used consulting or a management system knows is a great result.

I would say the EOS experience has exceeded all expectations to date. It is not only business changing, it is life changing and empowering. We have been taken out of our comfort zone and challenged to work together and individually in ways we could not have anticipated.

www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

COVER STORY| BFM

Licensed to Daniel Davis

World™ with you it keeps your whole company accountable and focused on what absolutely must get done. Every 90 days the Rocks are re-set. You put your heads down and go to work for 90 Days, then come up for air, review how you did, review your vision, then set your Rocks for the next 90 days.

When you break down your vision in Quarterly Rocks like this, you start to gain transparency around who is productive in your team, how powerful your team actually is, and how much time in the past you’d wasted focusing non-priority objectives.

8. What are the issues getting in the way of achieving all of this?

And then the eighth and final question, as important as the rest, what are all the issues, obstacles, barriers, problems, opportunities and concerns that arise along the way? Well, we get you to get these out of your head and on paper.

There’s good therapy in just saying it. Once your whole leadership team has aired their issues, you then go about planning how to solve them once and for all.

It is at this point where we, as EOS Implementers, get the reputation for being comfortable in bringing up what others won’t and addressing the true cause of issues in a business. Usually it’s only a handful of core issues that create symptom effects across the whole company, but these can be hard to confront.

When we go through this issues process with our clients, we air the true and underlying issues that stop businesses from achieving their goals.

BFM: Does someone need to hire an EOS Implementer like yourself to walk them through these questions and get the tools applied in their business?

DD: No, actually. Gino wrote the book called Traction which explains the EOS Model and Process, and there is an online toolkit where all of the EOS tools can be downloaded for free. Yes, it’s our “abundance” mentality again. Additionally, we also offer an online training platform called Base Camp which anyone can sign up to and access for www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

themselves if they want to self-implement EOS in their business.

Many people decide to work with a Professional or Certified EOS Implementer because they want the benefit of an external facilitator who is a master of the EOS tools, which results in a raised level of accountability. As a standard, Professional and Certified EOS Implementers have a wealth of business experience and a passion for helping leadership teams.

BFM: If people want to find out more about whether EOS is right for their business, what should they do?

DD: They can do a few things: 1. Read the book Traction by Gino Wickman 2. Visit this webpage to download a free chapter of Traction, learn more about the EOS Tools™, and access more resources: www.eosworldwide.com/bfm 3. Request a free 90 Minute Meeting for an EOS Implementer to meet you and your leadership team. We find this is the best and fastest way for us to give you and your team an overview of

EOS, answer your questions, and ultimately determine if EOS is a fit for your business. Call 1300 087 010 and we’ll put you in touch with an Implementer that will best suit your business.

As mentioned, the 8 questions address only one of the Six Key Components needed for any business to achieve their business goals: Vision. Gaining clarity and alignment on your vision is a great first step, but there’s a lot of work to be done to achieve that vision.

Business leadership isn’t as easy as it can be made to look. There are so many factors to consider, and all aspects have to be clearly defined, agreed on, and followed by all.

This doesn’t mean business leadership needs to be so challenging or complicated. There are simple yet powerful methods of making your business manageable, understandable, and valuable.

My passion is to see business leaders around the world having access to these simple solutions so that they can get what they want from their business, and ultimately enjoy life more. BFM

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BFM | BUSINESS

HOW TO CREATIVELY SOLVE YOUR BUSINESS PROBLEMS In the lead up to the release of her new book, Zenful Business: 11 Models for Flow and Peak Performance at Work, we ask Debbie Pask, how do we solve business issues creatively and intuitively?

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here are a zillion logical problem-solving models available to the business community, so I am not going to list them like a wedding repository.

You probably have your favourites locked away safely. What I propose are three key insights to take into account when coming to a decision point or solving a business problem, that don’t utilise logic as the platform for resolution. Rather they rely on your intuitive answers, which I believe make the greatest difference to a successful outcome every time. What is the difference between logic and intuition you might ask? Put simply, logical decisions are managed by the masculine, left-brain hemisphere, and creative or intuitive decisions are from the feminine, right-brain hemisphere.

THREE PERSPECTIVES FOR INTUITIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING

#1 Timing – presence of mind Our Western brains are superfast computers. We often over-plan, over-commit and jump the gun on something when we need to practice patience and wait for the ideal moment to take action. Or, worse, we procrastinate on hard decisions (especially emotional ones relating to people), which then creates more problems down the track.

Complex creatures, we are!

Solving problems using mindfulness, which really just means being present in the moment, can allow us to hone our senses and

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wait for the right moment to take action and find the answers we need. I have a mantra that I often tell people, ‘Let your decision meet you.’ In my new book, Zenful Business, I showcase a model called the ‘fork in the road.’ It literally means that there is a distinct fork in the road for a yes and no decision when it comes to solving a problem of whether to take a path or not. Making a call on something too early thwarts our intuition because panic drives it. The logical brain stresses out which is clearly a control issue. We cannot stand not knowing right at that moment.

Alternatively, making the decision too late is our logical brain becoming fearful to act, which is a confidence issue. If we wait for the right moment and stop controlling when this will happen – it allows the universe to flow. Then the right information, when not under pressure will present itself – giving us clear signals of when to act and what to do. Learn to tune in and allow the answers to come your way. Timing is like an internal biorhythm, a feeling, a stirring and a knowing, and it cannot be planned. Great entrepreneurs know when this intuitive feeling activates because they get a rush of energy and start to fire on all cylinders. #2 Eulogy – long term vision This idea relates more to individuals in the workplace facing a personal challenge or problem.

Decisions/challenges such as career moves, moving companies, taking

on projects, changing roles, starting up a new business and more.

How can these challenges or decisions be addressed? A great way to get clarity on next steps is to complete the personal eulogy exercise.

Take the time to sit and write out a speech you would want your family or peers to read at your funeral.

What would you want them to say about you? Your achievements?

What kind of person were you?

What do people remember you for?

What life work did you undertake?

Solving a problem comes down to addressing the simple question of ‘what takes me closer to this life summary?’ Then we make deciwww.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

BUSINESS| BFM

sions and take actions to support that outcome. What you say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to will define your life path. Eulogy exercises are not logical – they are emotional and heartfelt. Following your heart is a good compass that will always point you north. The difficulty with many of us is that we are running so fast, we barely spare the time to connect with the most powerful electromagnetic organ in our body that science now proves is more powerful than the brain… the HEART. Getting clear on your future heartfelt vision often dissolves those big personal work challenges. www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

#3. Repeating Patterns – opportunity identification Sometimes it is not about solving the problem, and more about bringing your attention to a negative repeating pattern occurring in the business or your working life.

When a problem arises, the first step is to think about whether this has happened before, even in a different way, and what lies at the core of this problem. The insights and lessons we get from a challenge are often the richness that underpins an evolutionary change in your work.

Is the challenge telling you something you need to correct at

a deeper level? Seeking the clues and signals along the way is like detective work, and you need to have your ear to the ground and your nose sniffing out the scent of opportunity.

We often take a logical and modular approach to solving problems – fix as we go - because we have limited time or experience. Even worse, we band-aid. Go deeper into the creative pool of ideas. What’s at the heart of this matter and what left-field or blue sky thinking could we apply to this annoying problem of staff turnover, product manufacturing failures, restricted cash flow, market competition or anyone of the myriad of business problems that knock on our door daily?

Once you dig around and find the answers and the gift of what this repeating pattern/challenge is telling us – set about resolving it on a bigger and better scale than you thought possible. Solving challenges by using solutions that rely on activating your inner ‘X Factor’ leap you forward considerably. Your ‘X Factor’ exists in that creative and intuitive brain which travels into the void (where all possibilities exist) and pulls out a gem of brilliance. Einstein himself says that many of his discoveries didn’t come through logical thinking and that his imagination was the key.

I like to think of any problem-solving as being a two part process. Firstly, I employ creative and intuitive thinking to see if I can access some big ideas. Then I use the power of the logical brain to execute these great ideas. After all; we do have the luxury of this awesome computer chip in our head that loves a neat action plan.

To read more about ways you can be more Zenful in business or to purchase a copy of the book, visit www.zenfulbusiness.com.au. BFM Debbie Pask is a business coach specialising in mindfulness, purpose and value. With a background in board level advertising, Meditation and Reiki, Debbie aims to inspire a conscious and connected approach to doing business – on both a commercial and personal level – in creating a more sustainable working life.

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BFM | PROFILE

Community-led growth As this magazine goes to print, members are voting on the proposed merger of community bank QT Mutual Bank and state motoring body RACQ (Royal Automobile Club of Queensland). It is an interesting proposal between two Queensland identities, and one that would potentially offer significant benefits to both.

Whatever result is reached, the proposal has promoted new conversations around banking, and the role of the smaller institutions in the Australian landscape.

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or Steve Targett, CEO at QT Mutual Bank, the interest from RACQ and subsequent development of the merger proposal is something he considers to be his greatest achievements in the role. Most importantly, he also believes it is the logical step in development for his organisation.

With a long history in banking, Steve has a very good understanding of the financial sector and sees the benefits of both large-scale and smaller institutions in Australia.

“QT Mutual has been around since 1965; starting as a credit union,” Steve explains. “A number of credit unions started around that time, and they generally seemed to stem from like-minded people in various communities who got together to provide finance where banks couldn’t.

“In more recent years, those credit unions and mutual banks are still member-owned; however they need to behave more like a bank, particularly in respect to digital channels, contact centres and alike.”

The important differential, says Steve, is ensuring that they offer the convenience and opportunities of the bigger banks, yet still demonstrate care for the member in respect to relationship management and personalised service that reflects their history.

“I think the basic premise of banking hasn’t changed,” he continues. “At the end of the day, you have capital, you gather deposits, and you want to be a safe place for people to put their money and you want to lend it out safely.

The difference is in the delivery of banking.”

That delivery change has been led by technology which, combined with low interest rates and low growth, has meant that margins and profitability have been in decline.

With this in mind, there are obvious challenges for smaller financial institutions which have traditionally been marketed on a platform of personalised service. Firstly, that service is expensive compared to automated digital platforms.

“At CGU, we’re here to help our customers see it through into the future.

That’s why we’re committed to partnering with organisations like the Queensland Teachers’ Mutual Bank (QTMB) to help more customers protect the things they love. We have proudly worked alongside QTMB for the past five years and share a joint passion for providing our customers with exceptional products and services.”

Sema Musson – Senior Manager, Partnerships IAG

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PROFILE| BFM

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BFM | PROFILE

Secondly, the younger demographic prefer immediate digital platforms and don’t often see the value of personalised service.

“I came to QT Mutual almost three years ago and started a thorough review of the business and our position in the market. We identified that we had an ageing demographic in our membership, and that was not sustainable for our future,” says Steve. “Our challenge was to continue to service that part of our membership whilst also instigate growth through a younger generation. Quite simply, we knew that we had to evolve.”

Refocusing on the strengths of QT and its history, Steve made a conscious effort to engage with the teaching and education sector.

“We really just got back to basics and focused on what we could do well. I wouldn’t say it was a real change of emphasis in strategy; it was all about delivering it in a more sensible way,” he says. “We started to call schools again and rebuilt our relationships with teacher unions

and other influencing bodies.”

Underpinning this engagement was a clear strategy and communication of putting the members first – reenergising the reasons why mutual banks and credit unions were established in the first place.

While big banks need to address the shareholders, the message to members of QT was that there needed to be enough profit to facilitate growth, yet to ensure that service was maintained and price concessions were offered when possible.

“We want to give people a channel of choice and then we want to overlay that with a member management framework that demonstrates that we’re mutual.

We will treat you fairly; that’s part of the promise. For example, when there’s a cut in interest rates, we always look to pass them on in full – not every institution is doing that nowadays.”

With a solid structure in place, and engagement with the core audience refocused, the challenge for Steve became how best to move

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the bank forward. Having got the basics right, the simple question was whether QT Mutual could grow organically or if a partner was required. The conclusion, quite obviously, was that there wasn’t enough organic growth in the market, and

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At CGU, we give our customers the confidence to plan for tomorrow because they know that when they need us, we will be there to see it through.

We work with a range of organisations such as the Queensland Teachers’ Mutual Bank (QTMB) to help provide their customers with products to meet their insurance needs. Our commitment to excellence in everything we do ensures that our customers receive the best possible insurance service. CGU is proud of its association with QTMB.

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“For almost three decades, we have delivered exceptional outcomes to over 50 financial institutions, operating in one of Australia’s most regulated sectors – Banking and Finance. Through a strong customer focus, we provide leading end-to-end solutions that ensure top performance.

Our streamlined platforms are highly reliable and secure, minimising risk and downtime. At TAS, we are 100% Australian-owned and operated.

Our team brings extensive experience and industry know-how to delivering the highest levels of availability, compliance and quality of service. We’re unique, reliable, knowledgeable and adaptable – a proven partner for helping companies stay competitive and confident in today’s fast-paced world.”

Shane Baker, TAS CEO

the search for a suitable partner started.

Steve is understandably excited about the proposed merger with RACQ and believes the two organisations will be able to complement each other in business and culture.

With some 1.6 million members in Queensland, the RACQ offers a

QT Mutual Bank CEO Steve Targett and RACQ Group CEO Ian Gillespie

massive expansion to QT Mutual’s current 68,000+ membership.

The increased strength and capital would also enable digital expansion for QT Mutual’s services and products to compete with the big banks – particularly in younger demographics. Equally, RACQ has been public in its desire to enter the banking sector to complement their insurance and assist business arms, and would welcome an existing

framework with strong identity and valued intellectual property.

It will be interesting to see how the members vote and, if successful, how the new organisation will grow and what impact it will have on the established big banks. In any respect, it is an interesting example of two identities finding mutual ground in community membership, and thinking outside the box in how to work together. BFM

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A+ Grade Employees – the Radical Intrapreneur

For a long time, I’ve had the opinion that ‘intrapreneurship’ is a term and practice that most business owners or leaders in Australia prefer to neglect or even ignore. This is despite the fact that ‘intrapreneurs’ continue to be the driving force of innovation and growth of companies around the world, including Google, Pixar, Disney, and even Airbnb writes Federico Re.

M

Federico Re

Entrepreneurial Coach and founder of

creativeentrepreneur. com.au

y ongoing efforts to educate and explore intrapreneurship amongst Australian business leaders have always proven challenging and often frustrating. However, my feeling changed when I interviewed Andrew Coronis (Managing Director – Coronis Group) on my radio show, and discovered how Andrew is leveraging on his entrepreneurial employees to achieve accelerated growth.

What struck me the most about Andrew’s attitude was his entrepreneurial spirit, humble nature, and relationship with his co-workers, comprising of 300+ people.

A culture of success Andrew’s rich family history in business, combined with his 27year track record of success in the property/real estate industry, has enabled him to attract and nurture people of a distinct character.

He defines these individuals, or intrapreneurs, as people with a hunger for success, or those who are willing to go the ‘extra mile’ and contribute something special to the organisation, or play an instrumental role in the growth and development of the business.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE Andrew’s recipe to success is about harnessing the ‘emotional qualities’ and needs of his employees; this implies focusing and investing into the employees’ ‘love language’. Intrapreneurs have a strong desire and passion to commercialise their idea into a viable product or service. The Coronis Group management team therefore

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of the company should be encouraged to innovate and explore their own entrepreneurial path and potential within the company. ‘It’s all about transforming ‘ordinary’ people into the ‘extraordinary’ individuals’, says Andrew.

provide a support network and the necessary resources or infrastructure to help these employees reach their personal goals and ambitions within the company. It’s a winwin outcome for the employee and employer.

Andrew also believes that select individuals within the company should be given the chance to demonstrate their own leadership capabilities, and take ownership and responsibility of their ideas which, may, or may not go to market.

THE KPIS OF PERFORMANCE According to Andrew, company performance can be measured using a simple metric based on four primary factors: 1. It must be good for customers and the community.

2. It must be great for team members. 3. It must be profitable and 4.

It must be moral.

For me, the ultimate driver of performance is innovation. For innovation to occur, you need to burn profit and provide a high degree of autonomy to intrapreneurs, to encourage and cross-pollinate new ‘outside the square’ ideas.

ORDINARY PEOPLE WITH EXTRAORDINARY TALENT It is my opinion that a company’s workforce cannot be made up of just entrepreneurial employees.

It’s essential to keep the right balance between conventional staff, happy to perform repetitive operational tasks, and highly driven personnel seeking reward and opportunities to innovate. I believe the ratio should be around 3:1.

Andrew has a different philosophy. Regardless of whether an employee is intrapreneurial or not, all personnel should be harnessed and managed accordingly to reach maximum potential by leveraging on their unique talents and skills.

Even the secretary or admin person

REWARDING THE INTRAPRENEUR “Sharing the profitability of the company is the ultimate driver of performance and the best way to reward intrapreneurs,” says Andrew. It’s also about “share ownership, and providing the employee opportunities to trade their shares from within the company as a way of generating bonuses and other incentives.”

In other words, there is more appeal for staff in generating income through ‘share trading’ than just earning a salary. Incentivising staff is an ultimate way of creating a hybrid of new ideas and innovating business development, creating a competitive working environment for the benefit of all. BFM

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BFM | CULTURE

Navigating changes in an organisation’s culture Changing the cultural behaviour of an organisation is one of the biggest challenges a company can face writes Luke Wintle.

O Luke Wintle is a facilitator at Leading Teams

rganisational culture is essentially a mixing pot of goals, attitudes, processes, values, communication practices and assumptions that all need to be considered holistically. Many organisations struggle to achieve sustained, meaningful impact, often because they try to change one aspect without addressing the others in an integrated fashion.

However, if the right measures are taken, any organisation can work towards long-lasting change.

The most important first step any business can take when it comes to shifting their culture is to ensure the leadership team is 100 percent committed to the change.

As culture is often ingrained, in-

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vesting quality time and resources to help a new culture take root is crucial; management’s support will be needed to make sure this happens.

IDENTIFY YOUR CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE Leadership teams are not always made up of those that sit at the top of the pyramid. Leaders in a business are the centres of influence: the people that the rest of company gravitates towards because they are trusted, respected, and engaged.

They hold the key to unlocking change, as their words and actions are observed, listened to and most importantly, emulated. Recognising who is part of this key team,

and getting their buy-in and commitment to the program, is critical.

At Leading Teams, we encourage clients to consider who sits on their leadership teams and whether there are any significantly influential people who do not feature in the group. Can they be included?

Can they be consulted for input and support? Can a new peer-elected leadership team be created?

This leadership group has a responsibility to work together to determine company values and draw up plans for reaching cultural objectives. Mapping out what the business stands for creates the company trademark. The next step, which is to decide on the behaviours that model these tradewww.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

CULTURE| BFM

When individuals are willing but unable, does that mean more training needs to be invested to bring them up to task? Conversely, if an individual is unwilling but able, how do you create buy-in?

Who are they influencing and what are the consequences of their behaviour? Will one-on-one coaching do the trick? And if you have someone who is both unwilling and incapable, why are they still in the organisation? Is there a need to review the recruitment process?

These questions only form the tip of the iceberg when it comes to change. Understanding the ability and willingness of each person in the leadership team to play an active role in driving change is necessary in order to get the group in shape before tackling the organisation at large. Various tools such as updating work processes, professional training, team building exercises, direct coaching and group sessions with an external facilitator are at your disposal, but need to be used in the right circumstances to effect the desired result.

THE HARDEST YARD

marks, is even more important.

Without engagement and “right before your eyes” behavioural change, there will not be any culture shift in a company.

When the leadership team has completely bought into leading change and demonstrates this through action, a natural diffusion of culture typically occurs as employees begin to take notice.

ENABLE YOUR ADVOCATES Not everyone will have the same response to a change campaign.

Usually, one is faced with a group of people that will vary in their willingness to adapt and ability to perform within the new framework. www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

People tend to shrink away when it comes to having honest and genuine conversations. Yet, this is an important part of the process because, without hard truths, the change you realise will be superficial.

To achieve game-changing impact, accepting and dealing with open communication is a major aspect. And this is not a onetime process. Constant, ongoing feedback and being transparent about team performance, assessing target achievements and rewarding positive behaviour will ensure the new culture is given oxygen to breathe.

While the initial idea of having to listen to your peer’s honest review of your work and professional behaviour is confrontational and takes time to adjust to, high performing teams with a positive work culture understand that the purpose of feedback is to achieve better results for the collective team. In an environment with strong professional relationships, people feel assured to engage in open discussions because nothing is taken personally. Ultimately,

high performing teams with a positive work environment begin to crave feedback as it helps them realise how each individual is faring without guesswork.

THEY’LL DO IT WHEN THEY OWN IT People need to feel empowered to take full responsibility for a task.

Empowerment is not a top-down instruction; a leader cannot simply say, “I empower you” or “be empowered” and expect that to mean anything to the follower. Instead, it should really come from the follower believing that he or she is empowered to act on something.

This again boils down to trust and respect. Trust is a key ingredient in the process of change. When there is trust, there is the ability to take direction when necessary, and the knowledge that decisions are made for the collective success of the team. Respecting your team and trusting they will follow you to uncharted waters means giving them ownership and involving them in the process.

IT’S A MARATHON Cultural change will not happen in a day, or a week. One team building exercise, or a couple of off-sites will not yield significant changes. Short bursts of activity are fleeting and wear off. Cultural change can be likened to preparing for a marathon. A marathon runner takes months to prepare himself for a race, and gradually builds up to a level of endurance and strength required to complete a marathon. There is discipline, effort, commitment and time involved. Pace is essential. It is not sustainable to simply charge ahead without any planning or thought behind it. Instead, there are building blocks to get to the bigger goal. Finally, there is no toe-dipping. You are either all-in or you have already set yourself up to fail. BFM Luke Wintle is a facilitator at Leading Teams. He has over 15 years’ experience in education, where he has excelled in the facilitation and coordination of Vocational Education & Training programs, linked with elite/state sporting organisations.

Luke currently works with clients such as McDonalds, Monash Health and the Australian Sports Commission.

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BFM | PROFILE

Creating agents of change Nelson Mandela once said “An educated, enlightened and informed population is one of the surest ways of promoting the health of a democracy.” Indeed education should not be dismissed as having run its course when academic life ends. Good, meaningful education is something that encourages discussion and debate and evokes deep thought and depth of response to what can sometimes seem insurmountable problems: good education can influence behaviour and behavioural change when it is needed most.

T

o state the obvious, it is the role of academia to provide that education.

Yet not all schools are able to do this.

When looking at the world’s top schools, those that influence change have one thing in common: they produce students whose goal it is to make the world a better place.

To make the world a better place is an unchanging goal, no matter whether students are philosophy, politics or finance and economic majors.

Professor Colm Kearney is Head of Monash Business School and Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University.

Professor Kearney adopted the ‘make the world a better place’ mantra many years ago during his formative years in Ireland.

Today, it informs the way he runs Monash Business School, although he says this philosophy runs through Monash University as a whole.

“My underlying philosophy has always been to do the best I can and discover my own journey. For example, in Ireland I saw many challenges: people with few skills and little education, inequality of distribution and lack of opportunity. Understanding what causes these problems and what makes the world a better place, is what motivates me.”

Professor Kearney, who has a

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PhD in economics and call himself a “hard wired trained economist”, says finding the root causes of these problems is how economics works.

As a hard wired economist, he has conducted research into international monetary policy and finance, including how governments borrow money, and how resources may be used in better ways to change lives. He even put this to practice as an economic advisor to the Hawke/Keating government.

Yet to put monetary policy into practice is more of a puzzle than a straightforward decision-making exercise, and this is what students need to understand: there is no easy solution to making the world a better place through good financial and economic practice, but what can be achieved is a discourse that leads to understanding opposite opinions and opens a pathway forward.

Gaining a sense of what Professor Kearney stands for gives us an understanding of how he runs Monash Business School.

Monash Business School is one of the best in the world because it encourages discourse; it enables students to debate without making judgement, so when they enter the world they have the tools to openly discuss complex situations, and potentially find a world-changing solution.

The key is to find common ground among differing opinions

– rational or otherwise – which brings us to a theoretical plain.

“Past ‘rational economic man’ was a theoretical concept that informed how people think about managing the economy,” Professor Kearney says. “It was based on the notion that people will act rationally, meaning they gain access to the best information and act always in their own interest. We now know this is not as useful a concept as we thought. People behave in many ways that are not rational and most decisions are pre-cognitive.”

According to Professor Kearney, the problem with pre-cognitive behaviour is that it is designed to eliminate complexity.

“Most decisions are made because we can’t handle complexity: we simplify reality and our conscious mind writes the biography of our experience. We could better understand problems in the world today if we accept that part of the human condition is that we are a funny, social animal with a set of traits that can be rational when we want, and seek simple solutions with positive outcomes, but could also cause enormous evil in the world.”

Professor Kearney says that to protect the world we have to stick together.

This line of thinking is now the basis of the modern, successful business school.

“Seeking change in the world is www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

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ALMOST HALF O F T O D AY ’S J O B S MIGHT NOT EXIST IN 20 YEARS.

CRICOS provider: Monash University 00008C

FOR EVERY PROBLEM, THERE’S AN OPPORTUNITY. GET FUTURE FIT WITH MONASH BUSINESS SCHOOL. In a rapidly evolving business world, Monash Business School is creating leaders at the forefront of change. We are among the world’s top 1% of business schools to hold the prestigious triple crown accreditation. When you study with Monash Business School, you won’t just see problems. You’ll see opportunities.

MONASH BUSINESS SCHOOL

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what has changed in business education, and differentiates a modern broad-based, eclectic, practical business school that is of this world today,” Professor Kearney says.

“That is what Monash Business School is about: reinventing ourselves to be an academy that can argue on theoretical fronts, but also address real-world problems.

“We educate our students with great attention and pride to be agents of change.”

Professor Kearney sees this as permeating throughout the entire school – as part of Monash University’s overall DNA, and the statistics back the success of the program.

Monash is ranked in the top one per cent of world universities, and its business school ranks among the best in the world for its research, listed among the top 10 in the world in economics and econometrics (RePEC) and the top 30 in the world for accounting and finance (QS World Rankings by Subject).

The statistics here speak for themselves, but what is it about the students that attract the world’s biggest businesses?

“The kind of people who get the most out of Monash are those who are practical, intellectually applied and ambitious to have an impact on the world,” Professor Kearney says.

“That package of personality traits is in our best students and aligns with Monash’s DNA.” www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

For a business school to compete successfully, it has to recognise its strengths, build on those strengths, integrate them into a set of values, and act to make its unique contributions to the world.

“Many academic institutions and business schools want to be relevant and address these questions of value and contribution in the classroom, but what distinguishes us a worldclass business school is that we will do this on the basis of assisting students to do the hard yards on addressing theoretical aspects and then applying theoretical understanding to real world incidences.”

Professor Kearney cites Brexit and the Reserve Bank’s decisions on monetary policy as examples that can divide a nation, but could be approached by future leaders in a more empathetic way, while still using economic theory.

“The questions we want students to ask are: why does this happen in the real world, when theory tells us we should do it in a different way?

What you find is the students are well equipped because they have been immersed in the depths of the discipline and they then can debate the issues with the insights and knowledge that others can’t.”

This in no way takes self-interest out of the equation, but it allows students to put their personal beliefs and values in context.

Taking Brexit as an example of how this works, Professor Kearney says, “I could imagine the Brexit debate happening in hundreds of business schools with a focus on short-term sensationalism and press. What isn’t being discussed is what lies behind the decision and the frustrations within significant cohorts about the benefits of free

trade in financial assets, services and people. In a sophisticated business school curriculum, the leaders of tomorrow can learn to debate the issues with the detailed understanding of what is causing the problem.

They may not have the solution, but the school provides them with the best set of tools to be able to debate and participate at the highest levels of discussion.”

Recently, Professor Kearney attended the Global Compact Leaders Summit at the United Nation’s Headquarters in New York, which involves businesses and institutions around the world working with the UN on how to provide leadership for the next generation to help them solve problems. The takeaway from the summit vindicated the professor’s point of view that “we need people who have deep disciplinary knowledge, but who are aware of their own value systems and who can work together through team work, collaboration and being curious outside their home discipline.”

Based on its success, this is what Monash Business School is achieving with its students.

“We want to ensure that we have the best, most rigorous curriculum that focuses hard on pushing students intellectually. That is the type of school we are: we will push and challenge our students so that any firm that employs our graduates can be confident they have the skills and tools to solve complex problems.”

Essentially, Monash Business School is attempting to create agents of change, who hold true to their values, and who can become leaders in the workplace, in their communities, and in broader society. BFM

Professor Colm Kearney with Monash Business School student Morgan Stevens and Helena Fern from Monash Sustainability Institute at the UN Global Compact Leader’s Summit in NYC

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BFM | MAPPING

WRITING LEADERSHIP’S NEW MAP Once a travelling essential, today, the concept of using a paper map to find our way seems almost quaint. Likewise, the car street directory is now a thing of the past.

They have lost their relevance and become out of date.

A

nd, as we try to navigate uncertain professional landscapes, perhaps we need a new kind of map to help us navigate this aspect of our lives too?

For decades we have been taught a Newtonian model of leadership. A reliable “do this to get that” cause and effect logic. A standard set of tools, methods, and frameworks, offering us guidelines to navigate our way through organisations, industries and markets. Whether we use SWOT analyses, or situational leadership approaches, we are using these maps to help make sense of our world and plan our next steps in it.

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These maps work extremely well in a world where we know where we are (Point A) and where we are headed (Point B). They work well when we know how we are going to get there (The Plan). Indeed, planning how we get from Point A to Point B has been one of the most useful organisational maps for decades. And for times when we know where we are and where we are going, these maps are excellent in providing direction, but today they’re not enough.

Many of us feel that right now we are not sure where our organisations or careers are headed. Even more daunting, we are not sure

how we will go about getting there.

We read about the rise of automation disrupting industries, and are rapidly (or maybe slowly) realising that staying where we are would be foolish.

This is uncertainty, and it’s everywhere. Here the old maps simply don’t work. How can we plan our way from A to B when we cannot know where “B” is? How can we determine the steps needed when we cannot possibly know how we get to where we are going?

What is called for is the writing of a new map. A set of directions that guide us through uncertainty.

It’s about knowing the difference www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

MAPPING| BFM

between complicated problems and complex problems.

Complicated problems have known solutions. Somewhere there exists a knowable answer. Finding our way in a foreign city is a complicated problem, but easily solved by using one of the many reliable maps that are available to us.

Complex problems do not have known solutions. This is like finding our way in a foreign planet. No expertise already exists. No one has been there before, and there are no maps.

Instead we must find our inner cartographer and draw the map as we go. And to do this we must conwww.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

stantly experiment in small ways, learning along the way. This is how we can learn about where Point B is. This is how we learn what the steps are to get there.

In the new map, the solution emerges from action. Doing triumphs thinking, as it’s only through trial and error that we can begin to draw the new map, piece by piece.

If the approach goes well, then amplify it. Do more. Share it with others. If it doesn’t go well, then ask why? Ask what is missing? And then course-correct quickly. No mourning the loss of your brilliant idea. No devastation, just fast reac-

tions and trying something else.

Like the explorers and pioneers who wrote the maps we now follow, we are all being called forth to help write the new map for today’s professional landscape.

The new map is drawn as soon as we take that first step towards the uncertainty. And when we do, we can write the journey down, share it, and perhaps guide those set to follow our footsteps. BFM Marcus Crow is a co-founder of 10,000 HOURS, a specialist firm that exists to help adults learn and improve their professional fitness for complex environments.

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BFM | PROFILE

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PROFILE| BFM

WHY MARKETING NEEDS TO CHANGE TO DRIVE A BUSINESS The role of ‘marketing’ has changed over the years; blurred by the addition of new technologies and differing interpretations of the job description. Whether people would want to admit it or not, some businesses treat marketing as little more than a glorified name for advertising, as if it’s some form of necessary evil that costs money they’d rather be putting somewhere else.

F

or Darren Woolley, founder and global CEO of TrinityP3, this fragmented approach to marketing creates a wasted resource that should be working with other elements of the organisation to increase opportunities and profitability.

“There is a huge opportunity today for marketing to be the business driver, to actually drive growth,” says Darren. “However most organisations haven’t structured their marketing the right way to deliver that performance.

Marketing is often seen as the promotions department that works to the side of the business, when it needs to be involved in the driving of the business.”

This approach places marketing back into the analytical side of business rather than a creative add-on – a philosophy that extends from Darren’s own background.

Darren started his working life as a scientist at the Royal Children’s Hospital Neuropathology Laboratory in Melbourne, undertaking

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research in myopathies, neuropathies, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Repetitive Strain Injury.

He then established a chemical recycling company called Resolve, which whetted the appetite for the commercial side of life, before falling into advertising in his mid20s through the famed Copy School program. After some 15 years in advertising, where he even served as the president of the Melbourne Advertising and Design Club, he saw the opportunity to set up TrinityP3 and bring all of his skills and experience together.

“It’s a combination of my analytical science background, and an appreciation and understanding of the creative process, and the value that creativity can add to business,” he explains. “The company’s focus is how to maximize the value from creativity in business.”

While this may sound like a simple concept, it is a fundamental shift in thinking for many people – and it starts with considering the broad role of marketing within the

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BFM | PROFILE

organisational framework.

“Marketing is still often executed as a cost to business,” he says.

“That means that there is a budget set aside for marketing and the budget is spent – and yet there is very little accountability or measurement in the top-line contribution that marketing is making.

When you’re doing that, you’re not optimising the performance for marketing, you’re largely just executing a marketing plan.

“When treated as a full business discipline, marketing has huge application. What we’re seeing is that marketing is still being pigeonholed into a very narrow focus, and only a few businesses have really expanded the opportunities that marketing presents and really drives the top line. That’s what marketing does when it’s fully applied to a business; it drives the top line and growth for that business.”

In Darren’s view, if marketing is brought into the corporate strategy it can become the glue that helps all of the respective areas to optimise and perform better. Furthermore, with constant advancements in technology, those capabilities are now enormous; however, perhaps ironically, marketing is often marginalised in that process.

“Technology has enabled marketing to have much more influence with customers, and provide

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much greater insight back into the business about what customers and potential customers are doing,” says Darren. “Online engagement gives you huge opportunities to actually track performance and behaviours, and changes in behaviours. You can track leads and you can look at conversion rates – it provides a huge amount of insight and data.”

The challenge however, is that many organisations are not set up to operate that way. With advances in technology, many organisations keep adding new platforms and tools as a ‘bolt-on unit’, rather than integrating it into the core of the operations.

“We often see these businesses that keep adding new elements like social media, digital advertising, events and more – so they end up doing lots of different things, but none of them well.

“In actual fact, what they should be doing is to sit and think about restructuring marketing within the organisation to adapt to the changing world, and to adapt to their changing strategy. Most marketing departments still have the same structure that they had 20 or 30 years ago.”

Clearly, this belief is at the core of TrinityP3’s offerings and operations, and something Darren believes sets it apart from competitors.

It is not a cookie-cutter approach, but rather a top down approach that changes with time and client requirements.

“We get inside our clients’ marketing functions and look for the opportunities to drive value through marketing into the business. This approach is one that builds on the inherent strengths of the marketing function and helps identify the barriers, structural

obstacles and processes that stops marketing delivering full value to the organisation.”

Naturally, this means that TrinityP3 needs to work closely with its clients, as no two organisations will have exactly the same needs. Darren again reiterates the non-cookie cutter approach.

“We don’t use a cookie cutter approach, because there is no single best practice. There’s no particular model that suits all people. The first thing that we do is we spend a lot of time, very quickly I will add, to deep dive into the current state, because there’s no point moving forward until you know what you already have.

“Ultimately, we reach a position where we can say, ‘Here’s where we are now, and here’s an agreement on where we want to move to’ and then it’s a simple matter of analysing the two states, current state and agreed future state, to identify what are the steps needed to get there.”

It’s an analytical and personal approach to business development, driven by marketing, and has proven to be extremely successful for TrinityP3. Operating with a small administration team in Sydney, Darren has grown TrinityP3 to have offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Sydney and Melbourne to establish a genuine global presence.

Importantly, Darren also finds it personally rewarding to see businesses grow with TrinityP3’s help.

“We’ve had some big breakthroughs in restructuring marketing, so that it becomes a lot more customer-centric, and becomes the bridge between the products and services. We’ve made some fundamental changes to some organisations, and that’s rewarding for us.” BFM

www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

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BFM | FINANCE

CASH WILL BE KING THIS NEW FINANCIAL YEAR With many experts predicting economic storm clouds on the horizon, preparing your business will be critical to survive this financial year writes Roger Mendelson, CEO, Prushka Fast Debt Recovery

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he 2016/17 financial year is going to be a time of extreme caution for businesses, with many indications that we may be susceptible to an economic downturn, despite our current low interest rates and strong growth.

Our recent survey of more than 600 small and medium-sized businesses found 62 per cent of business owners are concerned about their profitability, indicating a growing level of negativity in the SME sector.

With banks moving away from lending to SMEs, it’s critical for businesses to look at ways they can preserve cash to survive any economic changes.

The new financial year is the perfect time to assess your cash situation and start fresh with a clear strategy in place.

Here are my five simple steps to kick off the new financial year on the right foot.

1. Monitor cash daily Bank balances are never a comprehensive guide to liquidity, but they certainly help you get a clearer picture of the situation. Get into the habit of checking the balances on your business accounts every day to ensure you are aware of everything that’s going on. Don’t wait for the bank to call or for cheques to start bouncing, if your situation turns sour then you need to be aware of it as soon as possible to make the necessary changes.

2. Reduce costs where possible It may sound like common sense,

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but the most effective way to improve your cash flow is to reduce your actual operating costs.

Look at ways you can reduce your spending; can you move to cheaper premises, are you paying too much for utilities, do you have too many staff?

It may not be a pleasant experience but, in almost every business, the most effective way to cut costs is to reduce wage costs. If your cash flow is struggling, you may need to look at changing full-time staff to part time, or letting someone go. The important thing is not to wait for the times to get tough, start doing it now.

3. Improve your purchasing process Just like your customers put pressure on you, to survive you need to negotiate with your own suppliers to ease the pressure on your expenses. Rather than focusing on trying to reduce the purchase price, which will more often just get your suppliers offside, try to negotiate payment terms. Try to have your major suppliers agree to accept payment within 60 or 90 days from your purchase. In most cases, this will ease some of the pressure on meeting expenses immediately and give you some wriggle room in your cash flow. If you experience resistance from your supplier, shop around.

4. Invoice early and follow up You should aim to invoice as quickly as possible; every delay in getting them out means the cash will take longer to get to you. It’s also important to follow up your

invoices with a telephone call on the payment date to give them a friendly reminder. You would be amazed how often simply picking up the phone and speaking to someone can result in payments being made immediately.

5. Offer discounts for early payments Customers will be more likely to pay you early if there’s something in it for them (even beyond the product or service they’ve purchased). Getting paid early helps alleviate a lot of the burden that can be placed on your cash flow when people are slow to pay you.

Give customers a discount on their account if they pay within a certain time, for example I would recommend taking 2.5% off the bill if they pay in full within three business days. Make sure this is clearly highlighted on the invoice.

These steps are simple to implement and if you take the time now to review your processes now, you’ll set yourself up for a strong financial year and be protected from any unexpected turbulence. BFM Roger Mendelson is CEO of Prushka Fast Debt Recovery and principal of Mendelsons National Debt Collection Lawyers. Prushka acts on behalf of 53,000 small to medium size businesses across Australia and operates on a basis of No Recovery, No Charge.

Roger is also author of The Ten Mistakes Businesses Make and How to Avoid Them and Business Survival Guide, both published by New Holland Publishers. www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

FINANCE| BFM

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BFM | PROFILE

THE GALLAGHER WAY

Against Australia’s fast-moving, burgeoning backdrop of industry and entrepreneurship, there exists a world of increasing complexity and uncertainty where the opportunities of today are transforming into the risks of tomorrow.

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he problem with risk is that it never stands still: think cyber-crime, terrorism and the rise and impact of artificial intelligence. More than at any time before in our history, trying to accurately predict the next bend in the road is borderline impossible.

This is where the experience of insurance and risk management firms such as Arthur J. Gallagher (“Gallagher”), a global organisation with more than 23,000 employees and a network of partners in more than 140 countries, becomes invaluable.

Founded in Chicago in 1927, based in Australia since 1985, and now the world’s fourth largest insurance broker, the company has grown into a US$5.2bn powerhouse with the aspiration to help businesses to survive all insurable risks. It has also cut an enviable groove as a leading claims advocate and an innovator of products and solutions tailored to the specifics needs of Australia’s business community.

Arthur J. Gallagher further expanded its presence in Australia through the $1bn acquisition of OAMPS Insurance Brokers, the insurance broking arm of Wesfarmers Limited, in mid-2014. It now has 34 metropolitan and regional branches across Australia and continues to grow.

“We’re really a very large business with global resources and a global balance sheet. At the same time we are on your doorstep in more than 30 locations across Australia and part of the local community, providing a high-quality solution matched with person-

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alised, specialist delivery,” says Chief Executive, Andrew Godden.

Sarah Lyons, Managing Director - Commercial Broking, adds, “We have a ‘family’ vibe and a strong entrepreneurial spirit, where we learn from each other in a culture of continuous improvement. Setting a high standard for the way we do business, and doing it ethically, is very important to us.”

“As you get bigger, it’s really easy to let size take its own course,” Andrew explains. “You have be very conscious and proactive about what you don’t want to become – as much as being clear and focused about what you do want to become.”

“Entrepreneurship is in our DNA. It’s much easier to get things done in a dynamic and agile thinking organisation. We’re not constrained by bureaucracy.”

Sarah continues, “One of the things that we can tap into is our expertise across the world. Say you’re wanting to launch a new product for a specific industry, through our access to a team of global specialists, whether that be in UK, Canada, or the US, we can find out what they provided locally for their clients and leverage from that experience. We continually learn from our experiences and successes globally and translate them into delivery at a local level.”

Arthur J. Gallagher as a highly acquisitive business is growth driven – largely due to an organisational structure that is able to drive change and support its network.

“We’ve undergone four acquisitions over the past 18 months, straight off the back of the OAMPS

acquisition from Wesfarmers.

Change has become part of our stability as well as our growth. The key is to create the right opportunities so that great people come with you on the journey, and lining up a career path for them aligned to the strategy,” says Andrew.

“Although we benefit from Gallagher’s international size and scale, we can also operate effectively at a local level. We’re big enough to punch wide but we’re also delivering through a network that is owned and aligned,” Sarah continues.

And Arthur J. Gallagher prefers to take a hands-on approach rather than follow the pack. Digital disruption and transformation is playing a key role in the next chapter of their success story.

“Different countries have adopted technology in different ways, but there is no doubting that it is shaping the role of the next generation of insurance brokers and our clients,” Andrew explains.

“A broker is well placed to provide expert knowledge and advice at the more specialist end of the risk spectrum, whereas digital becomes more relevant where the customer is more confident in their purchase and they fully understand the risk. That said, we are in a good position to offer a mix of both. Ultimately, clients choose how they want to talk to us, and when.”

That is not to say that Arthur J. Gallagher has overlooked the role of technology in the customer experience, rather that it won’t lose sight of the human touch when it connects with businesses across Australia. www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

PROFILE| BFM

Andrew Godden, Chief Executive

www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

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BFM | PROFILE

“You need to be really good at the human side and use technology as an enabler,” reiterates Andrew.

This means getting to know the client, and having the right mix of skills and capability to fully understand their needs.

“Some people look for the cheapest product and that is their prerogative. Our job is to clearly explain the risks associated with your business, and we prefer to look for the best fit solution and the best quality, rather than just focusing solely on price,” Sarah explains.

“Ultimately, it boils down to the customer’s final choice. At the same time, it’s important to us that it is an informed choice,” she continues.

“That risk may not seem so big when insuring your car, but it’s a very different prospect when you are an employer with a risk profile that is broad and complex. It’s essential to have the right cover in place and a trusted advisor on call to help you to navigate the best way forward when the unexpected happens,” Sarah concludes.

To ensure that its brokers can of-

fer informed, ethical solutions with a local sentiment, Andrew says that the company places great value on training and development. They want people joining the business to feel like they have a genuine career opportunity ahead of them at Arthur J. Gallagher.

“We obviously make sure that they have the relevant technical qualifications, but we also work with them on the behavioural skills to be able to feel comfortable, competent, and capable of having productive conversations with clients,” says Andrew.

This approach reflects the greater vision to grow profitably yet with an ethical core.

Recognised in 2016 for the fifth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as a World’s Most Ethical Company®, Gallagher is in good company alongside the likes of PepsiCo, L’Oreal, NAB and GE. Which brings us neatly to the Gallagher Way, a set of principles penned in 1984 by former Chairman

and CEO, Robert E. Gallagher, which set the future direction of the company and the way it does business.

As Andrew explains, Arthur J. Gallagher abides by 25 values that were written in 1984, just as the company was about to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

“These were the thoughts of the CEO at the time. It forms the basis of who we are and what we do – we’re really proud of them. They talk about our belief in ‘community’, our respect for each other and a culture built on the values of innovation and entrepreneurship.”

“The Gallagher Way is available in the public domain and it’s something we proudly share with clients and our people. They’re not the creation of a marketing person but the product of a guy who played a lead role in who we are today, and they come from the heart. That’s pretty special.”

“This is an amazing business to be part of. If you are highly motivated self-starter, looking to play a role in one of Australia’s success stories, then we’re a great choice for you.” Sarah concludes. BFM

Andrew Godden, Chief Executive and Sarah Lyons, Managing Director – Commercial Broking

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SUPERANNUATION| BFM

Transitional Measures for the $500,000 cap SUPERCentral’s Michael Hallinan looks at the government’s superannuation cap changes.

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t seems (based upon a response to a question posed during the course of the election campaign) that the Government will introduce transitional measures in relation to its $500,000 superannuation cap. The transitional measures will apply in two situations.

The first situation is where a super trustee had entered into a contract of sale before 3 May 2016 where completion of the contract was dependent upon the members of the fund making non-concessional contributions after that date.

The second situation applies to excessive LVR related party limited recourse borrowing arrangements where it is intended that the ratio will be brought within the safe harbour level by the making of additional non-concessional contributions.

The effect of these two transitional measures is that non-concessional contributions which exceed the proposed lifetime cap will not be treated as giving rise to excess contributions – these contributions will be “privileged” in the sense that they will not give rise to excess contributions tax liability (or be required to be refunded).

FIRST TRANSITIONAL EXCEPTION Consider, for example, the position of the AB Superannuation Fund.

This fund has one member. The trustee and the sole member have agreed upon the purchase of real estate valued at $500,000. The fund can pay the deposit and other related acquisition costs. However, the fund cannot pay the balance of $450,000. The sole member does have the means and intended to finance the balance of the purchase price by way of additional non-concessional contributions.

The sole member intends to make a $450,000 non-concessional contribution after 3 May 2016, thereby permitting the trustee to complete the acquisition.

The contract is signed and the deposit is paid on 1 May 2016. On 3 May the Budget is handed down and the sole member is now subject www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

to the $500,000 cap. Unfortunately, the sole member has previously made sufficient non-concessional contributions before 3 May 2016 to have exhausted the cap.

In this situation the (proposed) transitional measure will apply so that the sole member can contribute $450,000 non-concessional contributions. These contributions will be “counted” for the purposes of the cap but will not give rise to an excess contribution amount: they are “privileged” contributions.

Alternatively, if the sole member had previously contributed $300,000 of non-concessional contributions before 3 May 2016, and then contributed $450,000 after 3 May 2016, the entire $450,000 will be counted as a non-concessional contribution thereby exhausting the new lifetime cap. However, the $250,000 in excess of the proposed cap will be treated as failing within the transitional rule and will not give rise to excess contributions.

In this case, the $250,000 will be “privileged” contributions.

SECOND TRANSITION EXCEPTION Consider the JB Superannuation Fund which has a related party limited recourse borrowing arrangement involving real estate where the current LVR is 90%. The safe-harbour LVR in this situation is 70%. If the market value of the real estate is $800,000 then the excess LVR is 20% which equates to $160,000.

If the sole member of the JB Superannuation Fund has already exhausted the (proposed) lifetime cap, then the sole member could make up to $160,000 of additional non-concessional contributions which would all be “privileged” contributions – ie not giving rise to an excess contribution tax liability and which are not required to be refunded.

WHAT THE TRANSITIONAL MEASURES DON’T COVER The transitional measures will not apply to the following situations: • where the LVR exceeds the

safe-harbour limit and the lender is not a related party lender – the transitional measure will not apply simply because the LVR of an arrangement involving an unrelated lender cannot be excessive; • where an unrelated lender is voluntarily replaced with a related party lender so that the LVR of the arrangement is now excessive. This simply seems to be too smart a move. However, what if the unrelated lender forces a refinance because of a change in the membership of the fund or any reason initiated by the lender?

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT – THE UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS & INTEGRITY MEASURES There are, in relation to the transitional measures, a number of issues which we don’t know about.

Some of these issues are considered below.

In the case of a multi-member superannuation fund where some members have exhausted their lifetime caps while other members have not exhausted theirs, how will the right to make “privileged” contributions be allocated amongst the members? Clearly, if the members are part of the same family group, there will be a strong incentive for the “privileged” contributions to be made by members who have already exhausted their lifetime cap.

How will the ATO prevent this abuse of the transition measure?

Will the “privileged” contributions be required to be made in proportion to current member balances?

Will it be a requirement that any additional contributions be made by those members who have not yet exhausted their lifetime cap thereby minimising the amount of “privileged” contributions? Will the ATO bother to consider the issue given the presumably small number of cases? BFM

SUPERCentral is an online SMSF Services provider to Accountants, Financial Advisers and SMSF Administrators.

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BFM | STAFF

STRESS CAUSED BY TOXIC STAFF IS DRIVING MANAGERS CRAZY Managers are suffering from increasing stress caused by toxic employees in today’s workplace writes Peter O’Neill.

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erious health problems negatively affect managers when toxic staff problems persist.

I have found the main difficulties include their lack of skill to properly identify, confront and then discipline employees who cause trouble in the workplace.

Many managers, especially new managers, simply don’t know what to say to control anti-social or toxic behaviour and this causes them great stress and anxiety.

This can lead to all kinds of health problems including elevated blood pressure and loss of sleep.

Most people assume the boss doesn’t get too affected by difficult staff, but the reality is that staff challenges are one of the biggest emotional problems that managers have to deal with.

Bad behaviour from employees can include bullying of colleagues, gossiping, refusal to do set tasks, being disruptive and failure to meet work deadlines.

It may seem on the surface that

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all a manager needs to do is to take firm disciplinary action, but this in itself can sometimes cause significant stress for the boss.

I know many managers who take medication for the stress caused by aggressive staff members.

Many managers feel powerless because they do not understand why this type of employee does not respond appropriately to traditional discipline methods.

To perform more effectively, managers need to be able to: • Identify the main characteristics of difficult/toxic staff: These include antagonistic behaviour, lack of responsibility and a “whatever, I don’t care” attitude.

• Learn the specific words and phrases to deal with them: These words are positive statements that are said in a specific manner.

• Implement customised systems and procedures to limit their bad behaviour: This should include specific rules tailored to suit the company’s operation.

• Learn how to confront difficult/ antagonistic staff properly.

Knowing how to confront properly is a critical skill that has to be taught and learnt by every manager in business.

Whilst there are many business courses available for managers, many of them simply do not offer a complete management system with practical methods to help them address toxic staff behaviour properly. BFM Mr O’Neill is a successful businessman, author and management consultant with over 35 years’ experience as a senior executive with companies in Australia and overseas. He specialises in executive training and self-development for managers and staff. He has developed a unique staff management workshop, “How to Successfully Manage Difficult Staff” which gives managers the practical systems and procedures required to manage real life workplace problems and take control of antagonistic staff. www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

STAFF| BFM

How to deal with difficult people in the workplace For another perspective, AccessEAP gives its tips on how to deal with difficult staff.

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ost of us would have come across a difficult person at some point in our lives and most likely it has happened in the workplace. These individuals may come across as aggressive, intimidating or controlling, which can lead to conflict and have a detrimental impact on the person on the receiving end. However, it’s important to develop strategies to successfully manage challenging workplace conflicts so we aren’t doomed to a high conflict and overstressed workplace.

Recent data from Access EAP shows one of the top five leading issues in the workplace is conflict.

Conflict is unhealthy and can affect people in different ways, but more specifically it can lead to having difficulty concentrating, feeling less productive, an increase in absenteeism and resignation.

“We worry that disagreeing or standing up to a colleague might lead to being reported to a manager or perhaps being seen as difficult,” says Sally Kirkright, CEO, AccessEAP, a corporate psychology organisation which supports and develops positive organisational behaviour. “But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t react when faced with a difficult situation. In fact, if you don’t, your career can suffer and you’ll fail to gain the respect and trust you want from others.”

“With this in mind, we should focus on ‘how’ we say what we need to say and find ways to deal with different personalities in the workplace.”

Here, AccessEAP outlines some key strategies to help manage workplace conflict and challenging communications: www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

1) Understand the other person’s focus Is your colleague task driven or people oriented? Do they focus on goals and activities? Or do they place more emphasis on relationships and interactions? When you understand where a colleague’s focus lies, then you can find a way of communicating that best meets both of your needs.

2) Understand the other person’s pacing Are they slow to react and have difficulty processing information? Or are they reactive and fast-paced? If you can determine how they process and react to communications, you can pace your own communications in the best way to be understood.

3) Focus on the behaviour rather than the person There are many theories that offer guidance as to how we can manage relationships at work, but one that stands out is the DISC model. It outlines that people tend to develop a self-concept based on one of four factors – dominance, inducement, steadiness, or compliance.

From there we can try to establish where a person’s behavioural styles best fit. The four styles described

by Guy Harris at discpersonalitytesting.com include: “People who have both outgoing and task-oriented traits often exhibit dominant and direct behaviours. They usually focus on results, problem-solving, and the bottom-line.

“People who have both outgoing and people-oriented traits often exhibit inspiring and interactive behaviours. They usually focus on interacting with people, having fun, and/or creating excitement.

“People who have both reserved and people-oriented traits often

exhibit supportive and steady behaviours. They usually focus preserving relationships and on creating or maintaining peace and harmony.

“People who have both reserved and task-oriented traits often exhibit cautious and careful behaviours. They usually focus on facts, rules, and correctness.”

4) Reflecting/paraphrasing In your own words show the other person you have heard their viewpoint. This demonstrates you have understood and gives the person a chance to explain further until they feel they have been totally heard.

Remember, understanding does not mean agreeing.

5) Avoid seeming judgemental In order to communicate effectively, you do need to set aside your judgement and withhold blame and criticism in order to fully understand the person. Where possible, build rapport and identify the other person’s perspective. Some of the most difficult communication scenarios, when successfully executed, can lead to the most profound connections with others.

For more information on training available to manage workplace conflict and challenging communications, please visit www.accesseap.com.au. BFM AccessEAP is a leading Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) provider in Australia and has been assisting companies across Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia since 1989. As an Australian owned provider with a not-for-profit orientation, its surplus profit is distributed by the Curran Access Children’s Foundation to support children’s welfare programs and indigenous children at risk in the community.

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BFM | PROFILE

LEARNING FROM MISTAKES

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PROFILE| BFM

With two consecutive years in the BRW Fast Starts list, Recon Solutions is making quite a name in the Australian recruiting industry. When you then consider figures of 200% year-on-year growth, $15 million in revenue and no signs of slowing down, the future is looking very bright for Recon Solutions and its director Steve Scanlan.

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hile Steve is understandably very happy, the dream almost never eventuated, with some early mistakes providing valuable lessons.

“I started Recon Solutions with a business partner named Grant Taylor,” Steve explains. “He’s a great bloke – and I owe a lot to Grant. We set out with Grant on the consulting side of the business whilst I looked after the recruitment side.

“We saw a gap in the market between consulting and recruitment and how they could work hand in hand together. We started in my backyard, with a couple of laptops and mobile phones, and operated from there for the first six weeks.”

After getting a significant deal across the line, Steve and Grant got an office in Brisbane and saw massive growth. By the fourth month they’d broken even on costs and then paid a full year’s rent in advance by the sixth month.

Unfortunately, the excitement of success got away from them.

“We got a little bit too greedy,” says Steve honestly. “We hired a number of people straight away because we had so much work, but didn’t work through if they were the right people for the work. We opened an office in Sydney and tried to enter a market we didn’t know. After 12 months we were in debt half a million dollars, and things were terrible – it was hard to sleep.”

Although the business was in a mess, Steve still believed in the philosophy of Recon Solutions and decided to take up the battle to restore it back to profit. He bought the business from Grant and took on the debt, before stripping back operations and cutting costs. Within 18 months the debt was paid and there was a healthy bank balance.

“I still live by those lessons,” he says. “We try to run as lean as www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

possible without putting too much stress on the organisation. I looked at the business when it was a mess and knew that we needed to focus on what we set out to do in the first place.”

While Steve’s eyes may have been “bigger than his belly” with expansion plans, he thankfully never strayed from his fundamental ethics and strategy of providing an honest organisation for clients to partner with.

This philosophy was born after many years working for large recruitment firms prior to the founding of Recon Solutions, and believing that service could be delivered in a better way.

Steve says he effectively “fell into recruiting” following a successful career in rugby league (reaching the heights of English representation) before an injury drew a curtain on the playing days rather abruptly.

After moving to Brisbane he took on a role at Randstad as the general manager, building the business up and receiving a number of awards along the way. Although Steve says that Randstad was a “great company”, he always felt there was something else out there for him – and when there was a change in boss he thought the time was right for a move. He went to ITCOM (now Davidsons) and again demonstrated his ability to turn around a struggling company, but still felt like he was “being treated as a dollar sign, rather than a person”.

“I saw the opportunity to create an organisation that genuinely cared about people,” he says. “A company that actually cared about their families and wasn’t fixated on results, but recognised effort.

I believed that if you could create an organisation like that then you would be successful.”

One of the fundamental ele-

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Recon Solutions is a specialist Recruitment, HR Consulting and Workforce Solutions company.

Built on the principles of Service, Reputation and Quality, our results meet the expectations and aspirations of our growing number of clients and candidates alike.

We provide the right resource solutions and the delivery of quality business outcomes.

PEOPLE SOLUTIONS BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

I 1300 946 096

www.reconsolutions.com.au

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PROFILE| BFM

ments of this ‘caring’ attitude is honesty. Through honesty, Steve says that Recon Solutions has gained an extraordinary network and respect – two fundamental elements in recruiting.

“There was a need for honesty, integrity, values of service, reputation, and quality in the sector. For example, I will send a rates calculator to a client so they can see exactly what we’re making on a candidate,” says Steve. “We come in under budget and give the candidate a little bit more than what they ask for, and it’s all transparent.

“We have no problems with this approach, because at the end of the day the decision is up to them if they want to take it or not. Equally, we are honest if we believe we can provide the best service for a client’s needs. I think you build much more of a bond with a client if you can turn around and say that you don’t think you’re going to be able to provide the very best service and

recommending where they should go. We find that people respect that approach and want to use you when they know they have a need within our specialty.”

With that honesty comes solid networks, meaning that Recon Solutions has little need to advertise, preferring to go out and meet candidates in person.

“The more people you know, the larger your network is. And the more you know about someone, the more you can help them find their dream job. What sets us apart is our network and our reach, the people that we know and the people that we deal with. A number of places out there don’t have the networks, so they don’t attract the best talent. They focus on reading qualifications on a piece of paper and miss the whole story of a candidate.”

Although the figures show extraordinary success, Steve still says his greatest achievement is having very little staff turnover.

“I believe that companies need to hire the best talent – and so I’ve done the same with my team.”

“My team and my people are a huge part of the success,” says Steve. “I believe that companies need to hire the best talent – and so I’ve done the same with my team. I’ve got a team that’s actually a family. We have a culture to provide all the tools for them to be successful and believe in themselves.”

All indications would suggest that there is still significant growth left in Recon Solutions, and with the lessons learned from the past and a commitment to the founding beliefs, you can only see it rising further. BFM

Steve Scanlan, CEO, and Mike Roddy, Managing Director

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BFM | SME

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SME| BFM

TO SHARE OR NOT TO SHARE? SMALL BUSINESSES AND DISCLOSING SALARY IN JOB ADS

Every word in your job advertisement matters writes Saxon Marsden-Huggins.

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he goal of a job ad is to make sure that it is appealing to your specific ideal candidate, using language that makes them excited to work for you and has them say “that’s me – I should apply.”

It is in every business’s best interest to attract as much talent as you can, and to figure out how to write a job description that speaks to that talent. But for some companies things can become complicated when it comes to listing the salary. There are benefits of listing the salary, and also benefits to keeping it off of the advertisement.

BENEFITS OF LISTING THE SALARY · Attract more talent – If you offer a competitive salary, you’re going to get more applicants.

People are looking for companies that show they value their work.

You’ll also increase your likelihood of getting “passive applicants” – applicants that were not necessarily looking for work but would be interested in getting a higher paying career. · Avoid time wasters – You have limited time in the day and if you go through an entire interview and find a great applicant, only www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

to find out that they are unwilling to work for your salary offering, you wasted a great deal of time that would have been better spent trying to find an applicant that was willing to work for the salary you had available. · Increase employee longevity – It’s good to be upfront with your candidates from the get-go because it instills a sense of trust and transparency. When you disclose the salary it’s more likely the candidate will also discuss how the pay structure works and if they can increase it in the future, thus they will begin planning their career with your organisation.

BENEFITS OF OMITTING THE SALARY There are also some valid reasons for employers wanting to keeping their salary off the job advertisement. Some of the potential benefits to excluding salary range include: · Increase flexibility– You don’t yet know which candidates you’re going to attract. You may find you have excellent applications that warrant a higher salary than you originally planned if

they have a stellar work history. Leaving yourself open to be flexible with salary ensures you can capture high quality candidates you may not have originally thought you’d be able to secure. · Highlight your workplace culture – If your organisation simply can’t pay a competitive salary but you know you still have a lot to offer candidates, omitting the salary of your job gives you a chance to sell your organisational culture and work benefits to candidates in an interview phase. There are many candidates, particularly millennials, who are happy to take a pay cut for an incredible workplace culture.

Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to disclose your salary offering in a job ad should be taken on a case by case basis.

Investigate what your competitors are offering, what is highlighted in other job advertisements within your industry, and talk to a recruitment specialist for guidance.

There will be pros and cons either decision you take, but it’s important to be aware of the implications of each and make the best decision for your business. BFM

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Leigh Hartog, Managing Director, JK Williams

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PROFILE| BFM

STEWARDSHIP OF A FAMILY CULTURE Those who have lived and worked around the Penrith area of Western Sydney, will likely be familiar with the dark blue background and bright gold lettering of JK Williams and its extensive collection of civil construction and transport equipment. The company, rich in tradition, and proud of reputation is a respected corporate citizen of the Western Sydney area.

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panning more than 50 years, JKW boasts an enviable body of completed project works in residential / industrial subdivisions, bulk earthworks, concreting, landscaping and infrastructure. In fact, in the Penrith City Council area alone, JK Williams has constructed well in excess of 80% of all housing lots and 42% of all commercial lots.

This extraordinary effort places the business in the top five of its field in New South Wales.

Although significant growth has seen JK Williams extend its work portfolio interstate, its roots and link to the local community remain constant, underpinned by traditional values where the very essence of what the business represents is grounded from its earliest days.

Leigh Hartog commenced at JK Williams in 1972, buying the business in 1992, today he is the Managing Director. Leigh fiercely guards the legacy of the past, embraces the challenges of today, while remaining alert to the future.

“We have our values and we stick with them very religiously,” says Leigh. “They have existed for so long that you would struggle to change them if you tried, we work

hard to maintain them, never lose focus. Every so often something will come up to challenge an idea, but it always comes back to “good ethical family values”.

Half a century is a long time for any business, even more impressive is this in an industry where technological advancements, complex compliance and regulation requirements consistently evolve, multi-nationals encroaching and competition more fiercely contested become routine.

The key, says Leigh, is pacing with technology, yet remaining consistent in the provision of a quality service “We follow the technology advancements, but remain resolute in our focus to work in residential subdivision, industrial subdivisions, and small to medium infrastructure, shopping centres, and alike,” he says. “While we pace with the market, we still hold a ratio of about 70/30, for example, when residential work declines, we have roughly 30% residential and 70% industrial and infrastructure work and then when the market shifts, so do we.

At the moment, we are approximately 70% residential and 30%

SAFETY | QUALITY | INTEGRITY | COMMITMENT | ACCOUNTABILITY

Aus Pits have had a relatively short but successful relationship with JK Williams and in particular their inspiring director, Leigh Hartog. With a common core value of “integrity” it has allowed both companies to share accomplishments and milestones. It has made it a simple process and enabled Aus Pits to execute on our motto of “Solve Develop and Deliver”.

Being a custom precast pit supplier to JK Williams, we hope we can get them in and out of the trenches sooner so they can do what they do best, and they sure have shown they know how to do it. www.auspits.com.au Leigh Holmes, General Manager – Operations, Aus Pits

JK Williams has come a long way from the earthmoving company started by Jack Williams in 1958. Today, we are a diversified civil engineering contractor, providing services to a broad range of private and public sector clients. We bring our extensive skills and experience together to deliver a ‘can-do’ attitude, fast and flexible problem solving and industry leading standards.

In our pursuit for greater efficiency we have assembled one of the most modern and best equipped fleet of equipment in the industry. We continually source and utilise the very latest in technology to enable fast, efficient and accurate project outcomes.

Our expertise includes but not limited to:

• Industrial and residential development • Roadworks and infrastructure • Building solutions

• Environmental rehabilitation • Project management • Bulk earthworks

39 - 53 Jack Williams Drive, Penrith NSW 2750

T 02 4725 3400

www.jkw.com.au

PROFILE| BFM

J & G Excavations & Asphalting Pty Ltd is a reputable Australian owned civil construction company, specialising in asphalting work in Sydney for the past 25 years. During this time we are proud to be associated with Leigh Hartog of JK Williams and working alongside his team in the vast growing Western Sydney precinct. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Leigh on his ongoing success in the industry!

J & G Excavations & Asphalting Pty Ltd specialise in: • Asphalt surfacing • Profiling • Road works and construction Using modern equipment this allows us to complete each job to a high standard. Keeping the main focus on customer satisfaction which is always imperative! www.jandgexcavations.com.au J & G Excavations & Asphalting Pty Ltd

Leigh Hartog, Managing Director, JK Williams industrial and infrastructure.”

Flexibility is our trademark, Leigh says, JKW aim to be strong enough to be known as a “good honest contractor” capable of taking on any project, yet small enough to move with speed in the right direction when required.

At present, the residential market in NSW is booming, with noticeable confidence from developers across the State, this confidence has contributed to JK Williams’ growth seeing it more than double in size in the last five years. Leigh believes that JKW will continue its steady growth when the State Government re-engages with infrastructure.

There will always be a challenge to maintain increasing labour costs for a company in this sector. At JK Williams improvements in technology have assisted in finding the necessary balance.

“The cost of machinery has increased significantly in my time and www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

the wages even more so, yet we’re doing work at the same price, that means that better equipment and technology keep the numbers in line,” says Leigh.

JK Williams has assembled some of the most modern, best-equipped and inspiring earthmoving equipment in the industry. This alone is not the measure of success, rather reputation steeped in decades of quality service and upholding the highest standards of ethical conduct is the measure of JKWs success.

“We just keep talking and living our values; both internally and externally. From newsletters through to management meetings, we are clear about what we do and what we won’t do, we remain true to ourselves , it works, you just have to keep at it”.

“When you get that right, you retain good people and attract good people, we know that “ your company is only as good as your people “This is not just rhetoric for JKW,

it is our truth, if you’ve got good happy people, you’ve got a good company.”

This is the culture that drew Leigh to want to join JK Williams back in 1972, where he worked hard as a Surveyor, bought the company and continues to work hard to uphold and keep that ethos alive.

Most of the company’s employees have been with JKW for over 10 years, evidence that Leigh’s principal philosophy continues to drive business successful. BFM

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MARKETING| BFM

8 Tips On Using Review Sites To Reach Customers For many business owners, digital marketing can be a confusing minefield of jargon, expenses, and time-consuming tasks. You may know that marketing your business online is a great way to reach more customers, but not know how to get started.

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If you are considering how to get more exposure for your business online, then review sites should be front of mind. That’s because 78% of people turn to review sites like Yelp and most users visit review sites when they intend to make a purchase.

Review sites have made the consumer voice stronger than ever, letting customers talk about their experiences with local businesses online. But did you know business owners can also get in on the action?

Most review sites - including Yelp - offer business owners free tools to reach reviewers. Using these free tools can be one of the most cost-effective ways to reach customers and market your business online, so we put together 8 tips to help get your business started using review sites effectively.

1. Claim your free page!

To take advantage of the free tools most review sites offer, you first need to claim your business page.

Chances are your business may already be on a review site, even if you don’t know it! But if it’s not you can add it. Once you’ve claimed your page, you can access all these free tools.

2. Ensure your business info is accurate.

Consumers expect to see upto-date information about your business - especially for things like opening hours, website, address, and contact numbers - so make sure these details are correct.

3. Upload high-quality photos!

Yelp users stay 2.5 times longer on business pages with photos, so include high-quality images of www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

your store or office, best-selling products or services, and staff. Try not to just upload a photo of your logo as it’s not that helpful for customers.

4. Tell potential customers a bit about your business.

Consumers today want to know more than ever about what they purchase. You should tell potential customers about yourself, the history of your business, and your specialties. Our data backs this up - businesses on Yelp that have completed all this information in their profile get 4.5 times as many views per month and also rank better in search results.

5. Respond to reviews.

Responding to reviews is one of the best ways to show existing and future customers you value their business. On Yelp, you can respond to reviews publicly - a powerful tool when used correctly - or message reviewers privately. However you respond, make sure to be polite - thank customers for their feedback and calmly address any issues they raise. Almost 80% of reviews on Yelp are 3 stars or higher (out of 5), so most feedback online is actually positive, but if you do face a negative review, just remember to reply diplomatically.

6. Learn about your customers with free data analytics.

Most review sites offer data that can help you learn about what types of customers find your business online. On Yelp, this includes how many views you get each month, how many of these views are leads, and what action each user took on your page. Make sure to analyse this information to see how you can engage with the customers that find you online.

7. Stay connected on your mobile.

Over 80% of Australians now own a smartphone and over 70% of all searches on Yelp come from mobile devices. We know most consumers are finding information about your business on the go and it’s worth making sure you’re connected on your mobile as well. Take advantage of the specific apps for business owners that most review sites offer so you can get real time notifications about how consumers engage with your page and respond to reviews on the go.

8. Point people to your digital presence.

Instead of incentivising reviews, you should point customers to your business’ presence on review sites. Letting people know where to find you online without directly soliciting reviews will ensure your business’ online reputation grows organically, which is what consumers trust most. Sometimes a simple visual reminder makes the biggest difference, so put up a window sticker or a link on your website if it makes sense for your business. BFM Yelp is an app and website that connects people with all types of great local businesses in 32 countries. Yelp was founded in 2004 in San Francisco and launched in Australia in 2011 and there are thriving Yelp communities in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. With over 100 million reviews, Yelp is the leading source for real word of mouth online.

Nick Lembo is Yelp’s Manager of Local Business Outreach. He works with business owners to help them navigate the world of online reviews. He is @ nicholaslembo. You can claim your Yelp Business Page for free at www.biz.yelp.com.au

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Jandakot City property director Leo Seward

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY It is an ambitious program when you embark on the $1 billion development of a mixed-use commercial and industrial city. Yet the bigger the ambition, the greater the challenge and Jandakot City has presented the city’s management and its tenants with some enormous challenges. Business First looks into what makes Jandakot City tick.

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ituated at the entrance of Jandakot Airport in Perth, WA, Jandakot City is just 15 minutes south of the CBD and initially sprawled over 150 hectares of bespoke, purpose built facilities.

The city drew breath when the developer secured Jandakot Airport Holdings in 2006 and an airport master plan set the stage for a complete overhaul of the Commonwealth leased land.

According to airport managing director John Fraser, the privatisation of the airport (and other airports in Australia) occurred because the government believed that the private sector would be better placed to develop and maintain air-

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ports. A significant portion of the Jandakot Airport land was un-used and not required for aviation.

The airport privatisation was crucial to the survival of the aviation industry in the area and it has also led to the development of one of WA’s largest economic hubs.

Since the purchase of Jandakot Airport Holdings (JAH) in 2006 “there has been a phenomenal amount of development, all based on the approved Jandakot Airport master plan,” John says. “It is a huge achievement in 10 years since we have been in control of JAH.” The development began with infrastructure changes.

John told the West Australian

when the development began: “When we first arrived at the airport ten years ago, the entrance was a level crossing over the railway line, then along a track through bushland and finally over a cattle grate.

We immediately set about upgrading the infrastructure.”

“We upgraded the roads and the entrance to the airport to a four-lane boulevard. We paid for the bridge over the railway line.

We removed the cattle grate and really lifted the infrastructure at the airport to provide not only for the aviation properties but also for the development of the commercial precinct.

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PROFILE| BFM

ments included removal of asbestos water pipes, upgrading of the water supply, construction of a sewer pump station with pressure pipeline, reticulation of gas around the precinct and installation of telecommunication conduits.

This infrastructure laid the foundation for the development of Jandakot City and Jandakot Airport.

Managing the development is Property Director Leo Seward, who previously spent over 20 years with commercial property giant Frank Knight.

Leo’s time with Frank Knight was invaluable experience for the Jandakot City role. Not only did it set him up as a commercial property expert with the skillset to manage a project such as Jandakot City and Jandakot Airport, it also allowed him to develop crucial contacts.

“I think probably the fact that I am local is crucial to this role,” Leo says. “I know how the process works, I am familiar with networks and I understand how these networks fit in with the business community.”

Again, that local knowledge is invaluable when dealing with clients.

Leo reiterates the point of the location when talking about commercial development within the city.

He says there are several key advantages to Jandakot City as a commercial development, not least its ease of access and proximity to major transport routes. These advantages are major drawcards for clients.

As is the continued development of amenities.

Leo says they have built the Spudshed Fresh Food Market, the Liquor Shed, a pharmacy, medical centre, children’s playcentre, Subway and a coffee shop and several other amenities for Jandakot City occupants. The list of amenities continues to grow.

“We will keep adding to the mixed-use facilities as we believe it’s very important that there are amenities on site,” Leo says.

This attitude harks back to the desire to grow and attract tenants.

Today there is in excess of 350,000m2 of construction that has been completed for major international and national tenants, across www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

Purpose-built distribution centre for Kmart completed May 2016

98 hectares.

Tenants include Aldi Distribution Centre, General Electric, Kmart, Reece, Tradelink, Halliburton, Oceaneering and Schlumberger.

There are, in fact, approximately 36 companies in the city all with a variety of needs and on various sized plots residing in purpose built commercial or industrial facilities.

The closeness of Roe Highway is important and will become more significant following its extension further westward.

“Kwinana Freeway and Roe Highway gives us and our tenants not only proximity to the city, but also the port. It means we are strategically placed to meet the needs of the majority of our clients who are in logistics and distribution or oil and gas,” explains Leo. So not only do Jandakot City tenants have locational flexibility, they have purpose built facilities designed to meet their every need.

“Our goal is not to develop and sell, it is to develop and own for the long term,” Leo says of the 100% privately owned city.

“We want to build quality infrastructure to attract quality tenants.

We want to create a precinct feel in a quality well-designed environment.”

Leo expects to finish up with 60-70 different leases; a strong portfolio of property for which Jandakot City owns and manages all infrastructure.

“In a normal development the infrastructure is owned by the local authority, but in our case we own the roads, the infrastructure and the landscaping and we need to maintain it. It gives us integrated ownership which is beneficial for

GE Oil & Gas workshop

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Oceaneering office and workshop

Schlumberger office

the tenants,” Leo says.

“Effectively it gives us control of everything and really does make us a city within a city.”

John confirms that having 100% ownership gives Jandakot City the flexibility on the land to give the tenants what they want.

“We have flexibility in our decision making which means we can act quickly as we don’t have to go through a bureaucratic, long-winded approval process to get things done,” John says.

Crucially Jandakot City takes a long-term approach to its tenants.

John says, “tenants will decide what location in the city they prefer and once that is decided, we can move quickly, give them exactly what they want and be very competitive on rent. We are developing a long-term income stream for our shareholders and our tenants and that means developing good quality, long-term relationships.”

The development is all part of the Master Plan that is revised every five years.

“The Master Plan is always our

strategic guide and every five years we revise the master plan for public comment and approval by the federal government. This plan sets the development parameters, and establishes key goals such as airport infrastructure plans and accessibility improvements to the airport and to the mixed business precinct,” John says.

“We have a good, well located land parcel of flexible sizing and we are able to deliver whatever services a tenant requires.”

The sheer scale of the project is impressive. Initially they had 150 hectares of commercial land before recently receiving approval for another 50 hectares. There has been an uptake of 100 hectares over 10 years and that is growing rapidly, with the current total of 200 hectares expected to be taken up the near future.

Certainly this city within a city has been a roaring success and speaking with John and Leo, you get the feeling that this is just the beginning of a very successful integrated mixed business property portfolio. BFM

Marketing is changing.

Is your Marketing Structure keeping up to date?

Technology is driving rapid change in marketing. The problem is that while your marketing strategy will be adapting to the changes, your marketing structure and your roster of agencies and suppliers will most likely be stuck in the past.

TrinityP3 is a management consultancy that specialises in marketing transformation. We help organisations organise and optimise their marketing resources, inside and out, to maximise your marketing performance. Discover how we can help you at www.trinityp3.com Or better call us on +612 9964 9900 to discuss a Marketing Capability Assessment.

BFM | CYBER SECURITY

YOUR DATA IS PRECIOUS: ARE YOU KEEPING IT PROTECTED? Data has increasingly become the lifeblood for understanding customers, optimising business processes and identifying growth opportunities writes Chris Dickinson, Manager, Pronto Cloud.

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his is particularly true for those businesses with a strong online presence. For them, data is the business.

However, the potential consequences of a data breach or outage are becoming more severe.

According to a global survey by the Ponemon Institute and IBM, the average cost of an Australian data breach is AUD$2.82 million. These figures may be higher when the data stolen or lost can be repurposed for financial gain.

Failure to protect data can reduce customer confidence and have a

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lasting effect on business success.

Alarmingly, a study found that 60 per cent of small businesses fail within six months of a cyber attack.

It’s now critical for businesses to put the right processes and tools in place to make sure data isn’t lost or corrupted. It also means ensuring it can be retrieved quickly in the event of a security breach, data loss event, or natural disaster.

There are three types of data disasters to be aware of: 1. Natural disasters and service outages Power outages, equipment failures,

and natural disasters have taken entire websites and business systems offline—and the consequences can be catastrophic.

The Ponemon Institute’s 2016 Cost of Data Center Outages report identified the most likely consequences of a data outage as damage to mission-critical data, reduced organisational productivity, damage to equipment and other assets, legal and regulatory impacts, loss of confidence and trust among key stakeholders, as well as damage to the affected business’s brand and reputation. The average cost

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CYBER SECURITY| BFM

to businesses of a data outage is approximately AUD$11,851. The old adage that time is money certainly rings true here.

2. Data theft and cybercrime It’s one thing for your business’ data to be temporarily offline, yet it’s quite another for it to be criminally corrupted . Above and beyond the costs associated with a data breach, damage to consumer confidence may have the most severe consequences for an organisation, leading to lost business and negative publicity.

The Cost of Data Centre Outages report found that cybercrime is the fastest growing cause of data service interruptions. In 2014, the Australian Government’s cybercrime division, CERT, dealt with 11,073 cyber security incidents affecting Australian businesses.

Cybercrime also involves viruses, hackers, malware, distributed denial-of-service attacks (which are intended to take websites offline), or ransomware.

On the latter, Cryptolocker is a ransomware program that impacted more than one million organisations globally in 2015, some 60 per cent of which were in Australia.

Cryptolocker is spread via seemingly innocuous emails that appear to come from trusted sources, such as postal services or government agencies. Once ‘released’ (usually by opening an infected attachment), Cryptolocker rapidly encrypts a business’s data, often including its backup files—and the only way to retrieve the data is to pay a ransom to the very criminals who have brought your business to its knees.

It is estimated that the global cost (in ransoms) of Cryptolocker is more than US$100 million—the cost in terms of business service interruptions is difficult to calculate, but undoubtedly much higher.

Fortunately, it’s now possible to ‘decrypt’ locked files without paying a ransom to the Cryptolocker creators, yet the ransomware has spawned many ‘copycat’ programs, meaning businesses must be constantly vigilant.

3. Human error According to IBM’s Cyber Security Intelligence Index, no less than 95 per cent of all security incidents are

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triggered by human error. For instance, last year, a spear phishing attack on the Pentagon compromised about 4,000 military and civilian personnel’s information, just because one of the staff clicked on a dubious email link.

Additionally, with a growing amount of business information being downloaded and stored on staff mobile devices, a lost or misplaced device can place a company’s intellectual property at immediate risk.

Other errors that might affect data integrity include accidentally deleting files or programs, misplacing memory sticks, administrative errors, and the inability to read unknown file formats.

BACKUP VERSUS DISASTER RECOVERY – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? To properly protect your data, there are two main options: a backup solution and a disaster recovery solution. Ideally, you’ll rely on a combination of both, using the backup service to copy data for retrieval, and the disaster recovery service to mirror your whole IT environment in case of an outage.

They both aim to protect your data, but operate in different ways.

Generally, disaster recovery is used by mid to large companies or businesses that rely on their online

platforms to process transactions or customer requests. For example, Mastercard has a disaster recovery facility at an unspecified location on New York’s Long Island. The company, which processes more than US$1 trillion each year, can maintain seamless service even if its primary servers are taken offline.

A backup solution copies your data at periodic intervals to a second data storage device, either on- or off-site. This means that you can restore lost or corrupted data, but only up to a certain point in time, which might be hours or days in the past. Of course, this is only possible if you have a working IT environment into which the backed-up data can be loaded— something that might not be possible if the system has been taken offline.

By contrast, a disaster recovery solution copies an entire IT environment to a remote location in real-time. This means that if your primary IT environment is taken offline, the backup disaster recovery site can be switched on to provide immediate failover without losing data or causing inconvenience to customers.

The best data recovery solutions copy your data to a site that’s designed for optimal security and shielded from natural disasters or hardware failures. BFM

Case Study - AGnVET AGnVET Services is one of the country’s largest retailers of rural merchandise, including agricultural chemicals, fertiliser, seed, animal health and nutrition, grain storage solutions, irrigation products and other services including insurance, real estate, property management, livestock marketing and agronomy advice. The Group has over 60 stores and employs approximately 400 people.

In 2015, the business, as an existing Pronto Software customer, adopted the Pronto Xi Disaster Recovery solution. As a retail business, the company couldn’t afford to be offline, particularly when its customers are heavily reliant on constant data access for their farming inputs at critical times. Not long after implementation, the company experienced a significant hardware failure. Several servers stopped working. Previously, this would have meant days offline and the manual processing of orders. Yet, with the new solution in place, AGnVET was able to failover to a secondary data centre and service interruption only lasted a few minutes. It has boosted staff confidence and customers can trust and rely on the company’s service offering at all store locations.

Choosing a reputable disaster recovery solution is one of the surest steps a business can take toward ensuring its customers are serviced reliably, and the company can continue to grow without interruption.

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HOW SHELSTON IP IS BRINGING ‘MIND TO MARKET’ When holding company Xenith IP Group made its debut on the Australian Stock market in November 2015 [ASX:XIP] it was to a better than expected listing result.

Debuting at $2.75, a valuation 19 times its forecast net profit after tax and with a market capitalisation of almost $90 million, its share price rose to $3.45 at the start of the day before settling at $3.24 at closing.

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he confidence in Xenith, which holds the operating businesses of Shelston IP Pty Ltd, Shelston IP Lawyers Pty Ltd and Xenith IP Services Pty Ltd, was testament to the Group’s standing in the legal and IP communities.

Shelston IP is consistently recognised as one of the leading Australian IP firms, and in 2013 Managing Intellectual Property Magazine (MIP) named it Australian IP Firm of the Year.

Shelston IP was also ranked Tier 1 in Australia by MIP and as a leading firm by Legal 500 in the Asia Pacific region in 2015.

Suffice to say 2015 was a big year for the company and 2016 has continued on trend.

Managing Director Stuart Smith is now fully dedicated to management responsibilities but was previously chairman of the firm and as a principal worked primarily in the mechanical engineering patent practice and has more than 25 years’ experience in this field.

He says Shelston IP’s success is based on a number of factors, most notably reputation built on industry leading technical and legal expertise, strong client focus and commercial orientation.

“Companies come to Shelston IP because of our reputation for bringing together clever business minds and technological subject matter experts. It’s this nexus between innovation, business and technology that sets us apart,” Stuart says.

Shelston IP’s tagline is “mind to market” which Stuart says, “encapsulates the firm’s thorough understanding of the processes involved in converting ideas and innovations into intellectual assets, and a deep appreciation of what it takes to successfully com-

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PROFILE| BFM

mercialise and derive maximum value from those assets.”

Stuart’s own experience is vast and encompasses everything from drafting technical specifications, advice on validity and infringement, examination and opposition proceedings, IP audits and due diligence analysis, as well as intellectual property aspects of litigation and licensing. He has also been actively involved in the strategic dimensions of IP portfolio management and commercialisation for several of the firm’s larger clients.

Shelston IP is the oldest IP firm in Australia, with a rich history dating back to its humble origins in 1859, and a proud reputation for supporting its clients and delivering solutions in almost every industry from retail to nanotechnology. Stuart believes a key driver of success has been the imperative to develop and maintain a high level of knowledge about the clients’ businesses and the industries in which they operate.

The Shelston IP attorneys have accumulated deep experience in all of the “IP-reliant” sectors, meaning virtually all organisations that are innovative, technologically oriented, knowledge-intensive or research-driven. Clients range from small technology start-up companies and SMEs, through to research institutes, and to some of the largest global corporations.

Part of Shelston IP’s ongoing success can also be put down to Australia being an active IP jurisdiction. Approximately 90% of the patent applications filed in Australia are in the name of foreign entities, meaning Australia remains very much an importer of technology and associated IP. From a national perspective, this skew would ideally be less pronounced and we may see more Australian businesses generating and protecting their own IP if the Federal Government’s innovation plans come to fruition.

Shelston IP sees this as a positive development for the firm, the industry and the nation.

“The wheels are certainly in motion for the innovation plan, and we are cautiously optimistic that the government will follow through on its plans,” Stuart says.

“There’s a lot to be excited about; in particular tax incentives that will www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

encourage early-stage investment in start-ups. We’ve seen the local entrepreneurial sector develop significantly in recent years, particularly in terms of education and commercial knowledge. However, we have also observed a drain of talent overseas, due to a lack of local investment. Hopefully the coalition government’s policy framework will help Australia to hold onto more of our home-grown talent, local technological innovations and entrepreneurial business ventures.”

That means more IP generated and remaining in Australia, which can only be a good thing for the business community and the broader economy.

Stuart says more Australian businesses are making use of the patent system. IP Australia reported a 16% increase in standard patent filings by Australian residents in 2015. It is anticipated that the increased local IP activity will develop into increased activity

by Australian innovators patenting in, and exporting their products to, international markets.

Yet it is not all good news.

“Unfortunately, there have been some impediments to patenting in the computer software space, and as a consequence there is a real risk that local technology companies wishing to capitalise on Mr. Turnbull’s innovation plan may not be able to make optimal use of the Australian patent regime. It would be unfortunate if this were to drive those enterprises and the associated investment funding offshore, as that would obviously run counter to the intended policy outcomes.”

It is an unfortunate reality that the majority of ventures in the start-up space fail to gain the traction necessary to become true commercial successes.

Yet despite what may be a high failure rate in that space, Stuart says a culture of risk-taking by entrepreneurs and investors should be encouraged.

“True disruptive technologies rarely result from ‘playing it safe’ or sticking to tried and tested methodologies.”

Like one of Shelston IP’s recently successful clients: the creators of the “Vozz” rear opening motorcycle helmet (www.vozzhelmets.com).

“They have been clients of Shelston IP since 2005, and we were

HERE’S A BRIEF LOOK AT THE COMPANY’S HISTORY 1859

Australia’s first patent agency established by Edward Waters in Melbourne.

1882

Sydney branch of Edward Waters & Sons opened.

1944

Robert C Shelston joined Edward Waters & Sons’ Sydney branch.

1972

Ownership of Sydney practice passed to Sydney partners. Practice renames as Shelston Waters.

1977

Practice of Sturt Griffith acquired.

1983

Practice of Starfield & Taylor acquired.

1999

Shelston IP Lawyers established specialising in IP commercialisation and dispute resolution.

2004

Shelston Waters renamed as Shelston IP.

2012

Auckland branch office opened.

2015

Listed on the ASX as Xenith IP

incredibly excited to finally see their product reach the market last year.

For us, they represent a true success story in Australian innovation.

They came to us with nothing more than a concept and big ideas, and with support of Australian Government initiatives have grown into a modern business with leading edge technology that is both turning heads and destined to save lives.”

The length of time required for Vozz to bring its product to market is telling.

“The ultimate success of a patent protection strategy often isn’t visible for some time,” Stuart says.

However, given the very nature of businesses requiring IP protection, a patent strategy is a must, if only to keep the copycats at bay.

“Copycats tend to only appear once the innovator has become an established success. By that time, often they have been able to develop sufficient branding and business reputation that patents are able to be used as a last resort when dealing with competitors (as is the preference).”

However, there is much more

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BFM | PROFILE to IP strategy than use as a defensive measure to prevent infringement (although that is obviously fundamentally important). Stuart says the success of a patenting strategy is often better measured by reference to success in enticing investment, generating royalty streams through licensing, the impact on value in the context of an exit strategy, or the shaping of an entire industry landscape.

In terms of IP failures, encouragingly Stuart says there are few to cite.

“There is not a great deal of recent examples of initially successful businesses which have subsequently failed due to a failure to protect IP. In spaces where IP is crucial, we tend to find that investors and advisers are savvy enough to pull up prospective targets at an early stage and set them on the right path.

“However, what we do see quite regularly are businesses that initially decided against patents, returning to us after a year or so, trying to find ways to go back and salvage some kind of a position

after a competitor has appeared on the scene, or after investors have declined to provide funding due to the absence of a defensible IP position. Unfortunately, at that stage the ship has usually sailed.”

Another unfortunate scenario often occurs where early-stage companies have attempted a DIY approach to IP protection, typically to save costs. Unfortunately this is often fatal, as in most cases the inevitable defects cannot be remedied retrospectively. Stuart notes that “doing your own IP is a bit like performing your own surgery. It may be possible in some circumstances, but it is certainly not recommended!”

Where Shelston IP succeeds is in the time the company takes to really understand each client’s business and commercial strategy.

“Although many people view the conventional role of patent attorneys as being legal or technology-centric (as we have touched on above – ed), we appreciate that IP rights are commercial tools which have utility only where they make sense in the context of what a busi-

ness is trying to achieve. Once we understand the business goals, we are able to dissect the technology in the context of the market opportunity and develop an IP protection strategy which aligns with and supports the underlying commercial objectives,” Stuart says.

Having adapted to life in a public company, Shelston IP is looking to expand its reach and service-offering through acquisitions in Australia and in Asia.

The listing has given the firm financial flexibility to do so.

“Because of the need for smaller firms to invest in technology and management infrastructure, and to cover a broad spectrum of technologies in order to compete, there are significant attractions in a merger allowing infrastructure and resources to be shared and economies of scale to be realised,” Stuart says.

Should any acquisition occur in future, it would only strengthen Shelston IP’s position in the IP community and this already well-respected company will have even more leverage to bring “mind to market”. BFM

for innovation

Turning your ideas into assets Protect, manage, commercialise and enforce your intellectual property with Australasia’s most trusted IP firm for over 150 years.

We believe and actively support your innovation.

Get started at ShelstonIP.com Patents | Trade Marks | Designs Protection | Commercialisation | Enforcement

As voted by MIP – the global IP Resource

PHILANTHROPY| BFM

Social currency exchange Imagine Foundation takes philanthropy, community involvement and corporate social responsibility to the next level.

I

magine Foundation is disrupting the not-for-profit fundraising space with the launch of a new fundraising and community engagement platform in July 2016, with as much relevance to the notfor-profit sector as the business community. In fact, it provides a powerful conduit between these two separate but related groups.

Imagine Foundation (IF) will provide corporate partners with a powerful new mechanism to retain and grow their customers and employees by enabling them to effortlessly support the causes of their choice.

With the support of leading crowdfunding platform, everydayhero, IF is tapping into a multi-million dollar opportunity that allows people to simply convert their unused loyalty rewards points or air miles to the Causes of their choice, or donate cash.

“By introducing sustainable fundraising revenue streams that don’t detract or divert from traditional charitable sources, we are providing corporate partners an opportunity to help their customers or employees support causes that are meaningful to them,” says Imagine Foundation Managing Director, Ivan Schwartz,.

Backed by corporate partners such as Rebel Sport, Sony, Budget Car Rentals, General Pants and a growing list of well-known brands representing a wide range of industries and services, consumers and employees can now convert their unused and expiring rewards points to cash for their chosen Causes in an online transaction that is simple and tax deductible.

“IF’s model enables individuals to donate their dormant loyalty points and air miles to the nominated causes of their choice, without putting their hands in their pockets. At the same time, IF assists charities to generate greater social awareness of their Causes and as well as a real sense of community and social reciprocity with their supporters,” says Schwartz.

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The IF platform also enables causes and corporate partners to share their stories with a wider audience than traditional advertising channels currently allow.

Corporate partners can provide targeted and unique offers to charitable supporters and, in turn, the individual Causes are exposed to larger databases of potential supporters through their corporate partners.

“We’ve reached the point where connection is key. Mindful individuals want to see where their donations are going, want to follow a story and this is exactly where Imagine Foundation comes in and takes ‘crowd funding’ to that next level,” says Schwartz.

IF is tangibly changing the landscape of ‘old school’ notions of charity.

“Now is the time for charities to get real, to realise that today’s consumers demand a real connection with their Causes, or, charities risk

losing their supporters in droves as they move towards smaller causes with more tangible connections to the beneficiaries. Charities now need to step up to create a sense of real involvement,” adds Schwartz.

The IF platform officially went live in July 2016, launching with the opportunity to convert rewards points from 60 corporate partners, to dollars supporting the consumer’s Cause of choice.

For more information, visit www. imaginefoundation.net.au. BFM IF introduces sustainable fundraising streams that do not detract or divert from traditional charitable sources.

The Foundation acts as a ‘bank’ administering fundraising on behalf of participating Community Organizations. Its mission is to automate cause-related marketing in partnership with commercial enterprise and, in so doing, address identifiable social needs utilising points as the ‘fuel’.

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BFM | PROFILE

Staff status critical If staff is one the greatest assets of any business, then it would follow that recruitment should be considered a critical element of operations. While most business owners would approach recruitment with the best of intentions, many do not have the time or specific knowledge required to approach it in a holistic manner and so naturally turn to recruitment companies.

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PROFILE| BFM

S

ymmetry Human Resources commenced operations in February 2010 although Craig Anderson has been in recruitment since 1994, a time when its importance was no less than it is today, but the way in which clients are matched with candidates was dramatically different.

The question then becomes: does your recruitment company treat its involvement in your business as a critical element of operations?

This is the fundamental starting point for Craig Anderson, founder and Managing Director of Symmetry Human Resources, and his philosophy towards recruiting.

“Businesses often don’t forward plan in terms of recruitment,” Craig explains. “A vacancy will pop up, and they haven’t given any consideration to the fact that might happen.

“It is standard practice to forward plan when it comes to budgets and business plans, so it really isn’t hard to incorporate a recruitment element to it – particularly when it comes to crucial roles.”

When thinking this way, there are responsibilities for both the recruiter and the company. As such, everyone in the recruitment process needs to have a clear understanding of the tasks involved.

From the business perspective, Craig says that too many clients focus on skills, when they should also consider the cultural fit of potential employees.

“Obviously you need someone who has the knowledge and skills to fill the role, but if they are the wrong cultural fit, then it can still not work out in the long term and you’re back looking for another candidate.

“In many jobs you may have a candidate who has 80% of the skill set and is also a very strong cultural fit. If you recognise the importance of cultural fit – and the benefit it could provide – then you may choose to put in place a training program that brings this person up to speed, so you have a candidate with all the relevant skills, as well as the ability to bring something

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additional to the company in energy and enthusiasm.”

This requires the company to consider all aspects of the role, with Craig saying that Symmetry works with clients to establish a documented process where both the skill sets and the personal attributes are included in the job description. Naturally, this requires the recruiter to work with the client to help them better understand their business and needs.

“The ability to intimately understand the employer’s business and work through the type of people they’re looking

look for candidates who are ready to place, rather than waiting for a need to occur. In this sense, says Craig, Symmetry is treating recruitment as a critical component of the business as it’s planning for the future.

“This is undoubtedly an important part of recruiting for both the client and the candidate,” he says. “We want to help our clients get the best staff as soon as possible and we do that by building good relationships with candidates.

“We have a lot of conversations that revolve around touching base and being honest. We are happy to approach someone who we don’t

“The ability to intimately understand the employer’s business and work through the type of people they’re looking for is an important skill that can differentiate one recruiter from another.”

for is an important skill that can differentiate one recruiter from another,” says Craig. “That gets down to the recruitment consultant’s ability to ask the right questions and not just accept a job brief on face value.”

This is an approach that Craig says is important for any business and any role. As an example, he cites an occasion when a factory needed six forklift drivers at short notice for a day’s work, but Symmetry could only find four.

By talking through the job roles completely with the client, Craig was able to determine that some of the roles were part forklift and part store pickers, so he worked with the client to split the role and use the four forklift drivers and two labourers with no disruption to work.

Of course, efficient placement requires a recruiter to proactively

have a position for at the time, but we still take the time to get to know what their skills are, what their personality is and what their goals are for the future.”

In this area, Symmetry has done some interesting work.

They engage with clients through traditional means such as print media and job placements sites (Seek and smaller niche sites) as well as networking sites such as LinkedIn, but they also have utilised social media.

“I think you need to be prepared to do things a bit differently to find the people you want,” says Craig. “We’ve posted YouTube clips and held stalls in shopping malls. It comes back to finding talent and being prepared to push the traditional boundaries to get them.”

Underneath all of these strategies is a sense of employee

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PROFILE| BFM

wellbeing – something that is taking on additional significance in recent years. While Craig and Symmetry work hard to help find the right partnership at both a skills and cultural level, he also notes that there is growing role in physical and mental wellbeing in the workplace and how

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recruitment companies have a part to play.

“The Government has established frameworks where employers will be held more accountable for the wellbeing of their employees, inclusive of outside of work hours,” Craig explains. “Obviously with some health issues it’s difficult to ascertain whether the problem started at work or outside of work.

When there is uncertainty as to the origin of an illness or injury, there is a trend toward making the employer responsible, moving the financial burden from the Government, say Medicare, to the employer.”

While this may sound frightening to an employer, with alarm bells ringing around insurance policies; it is another example about businesses and recruiters working together to understand the needs of all parties and planning accordingly.

By being proactive in learning about employees – or prospective employees – companies can

mitigate risk and provide an appropriate job and workplace, that benefits all parties.

“You might send out a noncompulsory survey to your employees with questions like, ‘Are you having any health issues that we need to be aware of that may be affecting you at work?’

“Someone may reply with, ‘Yes. I hurt my shoulder whilst gardening’ which is a good thing for the employer to know because they’ve identified an issue before it is exacerbated and can make changes to assist that employee at work.

Staff are able to perform at their best, productivity is maintained and the culture remains strong.”

In Craig’s words, the holistic approach can be brought back to three major issues: “Talent identification, productivity and employee wellbeing”, and it starts before an individual is even employed. A good recruiter will work with the client in all of these areas, helping to ensure that hiring staff is seen as the business critical issue that it is. BFM

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BFM | PROPERTY

Hammer Time As we enter one of the traditionally busiest times in the residential property market, known in the industry as “the spring selling season”, real estate author and buyer’s agent Patrick Bright gives his tips for how to buy the right property at the right price.

H Patrick Bright is the Director of EPS Property Search

aving bought hundreds of properties at auction, I can assure you that every one of them is different. When I buy at auction I rely heavily on my experience and intuition. You can only predict your competition to a point but if you understand how sales agents and auctioneers seek to emotionally influence bidders then you will be at an advantage; especially considering most if not all

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the other bidders are doing this for the first or second time. There are a myriad of factors that can influence the outcome on auction day such as: the motivation of the vendor, the number of bidders and their price expectations, the information the selling agent has told potential buyers, and the property market at the time of sale. The following bidding tactics won’t guarantee you’ll win every auction you attend

but using them will give you a far better chance of being the successful bidder within your budget.

SET YOUR LIMIT ON AN ODD NUMBER Setting a well-researched, sensible bidding limit is a fundamental part of buying well at auction. You need to determine two figures to help guide you when setting your bidding limit before auction. Firstly, www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

PROPERTY| BFM

property, register to bid and try to gauge the number of other registered bidders and see how interested they seem in the property. Try to identify the vendors and see if they look nervous or confident. Sometimes you can also spot eye contact, gestures or hand signals between the vendor and a bidder which suggests to me they are a “dummy bidder”.

There is little point bidding before a property is called on the market. If you do and you then suspect there’s something suspicious such as dummy bidding going on then stop bidding until the property is called on the market and let the selling agent know your concerns. From my experience 99% of the time the selling agent doesn’t know about the dummy bidder as it’s something the vendor has done without the agent’s knowledge and they will be almost as concerned about it as you are.

GET A GOOD VIEW I always get a good vantage point where I can see everything that’s going on. One of the best places to stand is up the front to one side of the auctioneer so you can see what they see. From that position you have a clear view of the auctioneer and the other bidders. I always maintain good eye and body language contact with the room and the auctioneer as I want them to know I mean business. If the auction is held in the selling agent’s rooms I don’t sit down because I may need to move around to see who is bidding. the property’s current fair market value and secondly, the figure at which you’d hate to lose the property to someone else.

When buyers set their limit they usually choose a round number e.g. $850,000, $1.4million or $2million.

So if two buyers have the same limit – the first one to get there can buy the property at that price.

That’s why it makes sense to set your limit on an odd number.

ARRIVE EARLY You should aim to arrive at least 30 minutes before the start of an auction if you can. You need this time to do a final walk-through the www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

BE CONFIDENT Calm, consistent and assertive bidding projects confidence to other bidders. You may feel excited and stressed but you have to look confident and give the impression that you will be buying this property today. You have to appear to other buyers as if you have NO LIMIT even if you’re at your limit.

DON’T BID UNTIL THE RESERVE HAS BEEN MET Until the reserve has been met the property is not really for sale so why bid? I will always avoid bidding until the property is called

on the market. However if no bids have been made and they are about to pass the property in I will make a very conservative bid just to see if there is another buyer. This lets me know if there are any other buyers at the auction which only strengthens my negotiation position if the property is passed in.

CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS Emotions can cost money. The number one auction mistake that you will pay for ‘with interest’ is getting carried away and paying too much for the property. The trick is to stay a little detached. Remind yourself that you’re not likely to win every auction, and there’s more than one property out there that will meet your needs.

STICK TO YOUR LIMIT Perhaps the most important rule of them all is to set your limit before the auction and NEVER go over it.

It’s the only bidding rule that applies in all situations. If you blow your limit, your dream home could become your nightmare liability as you struggle to make mortgage repayments that are larger than you budgeted for.

NEVER BID AGAINST YOURSELF It sound obvious but you’d be surprised how often this rule is broken.

If you’re the highest bidder and everyone else has stopped bidding, never increase your bid, no matter how much pressure the auctioneer or selling agent puts you under.

GET A BUYER’S AGENT As I said at the beginning of this article, no two auctions are the same. You need to read the mood, assess the situation and choose your strategies on an auction by auction basis. I know that each of these strategies work. Whether they work for you will depend on the execution. If you doubt your ability to bid confidently and remain calm under pressure then, I highly recommend you consider engaging the services of an experienced buyer’s agent, preferably one who is an ex-selling agent or auctioneer to bid for you as they will give you a real advantage. BFM

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BFM | FINTECH

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FINTECH| BFM

How finance has joined the robo generation Is the Fintech revolution an adversary to ‘old’ players such as accounting firms and financial services, or is it something that the industry must embrace to survive?

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t is a pertinent question in this day and age, but for some there is no clear answer but to say a mix of traditional and new wave financial advice will suit most people.

However, the rise of the socalled ‘robo-advisor’ is scaring a lot of industry players who have traditionally made their bread by advising clients and taking something off the top for their trouble..

On the counter side, scepticism of advisory services, especially towards those who were seen to be giving biased advice, has risen.

Enter Fintech, which has a solution for everything from managing mainstream superannuation options to cutting down the time consumed to manage your own super fund, getting a handle on your various loans, debts, share portfolio, equity, and how it all fits together. myProsperity.com.au, is one tool that pulls data from several sources including RP Data, Carsales, the ASX, live bank feeds, Class super and document storage to give users a comprehensive look at their entire wealth in the one place.

It’s pitching as a one-stop shop for personal financial information – but it’s not looking to cut the financial services sector out of the game.

As we said before, you need a mix of personal advice with the tools to manage your own circumstances.

My Prosperity Managing director Peter McCarthy sees the value in merging the two and sought the help of the financial services industry from day one of building this fintech platrform.

“As an adviser one of the key elements was that in order to give quality advice you need quality data,” McCarthy says.

“Data sits everywhere and we want to bring it all into the one place so the client and advisor can work together in one place.

“That means you can give better quality advice, more timely advice and you can demonstrate real value to the client.”

The way it works is that financial

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services advisories and accounting firms are able to rollout a white label version of the myprosperity. com.au platform, to provide a richer client experience.

“Firms will still tell you that clients comes in with shoeboxes – still!” McCarthy said.

“People who have to process that data are $200 an hour staff and they’re digging through shoeboxes – crazy.”

This particular Fintech website was developed along with chief information officer Stephen Jackel, who is ex-Carsales.

“One of the general frustrations I had even before Carsales was around finances – it just annoyed me that there wasn’t a simple way of managing them.

“As a tech guy, I always think of technology solutions and I couldn’t understand why there just isn’t an easy way of doing that.”

For McCarthy, it was a case of either being a part of providing such a service or just watch somebody else do it.

The data play does have the potential to be disruptive, but he said that it’s not about cutting out the middle men of financial services and accounting.

In fact, they’re pretty integral to the platform scaling up.

“If we look at the accounting and financial planning space they’ve been communicating with their clients exactly the same way for the last 25 years,” Jackel says.

“Real fintech should provide you a platform which increases engagement and helps solve your client problems with access to real time data’.

In a world where traditional financial services is at risk of being disrupted – McCarthy says it sees the best mix as having great technology, powerful analytics with the hand of a financial advisor to plot out a client’s next move.

“Fintech of this nature puts the power back in the hands of the advisor to then look at all that information in order to make

decisions and work with the clients to achieve the best financial outcome,” he said.

The industry is coming around to how it can work better with technology and while accounting firms are traditionally slower to move on the technology, they were increasingly fearful of becoming the disrupted.

“I’ve been to a lot of accounting firms now and it’s quite interesting because you watch them and they move closer and closer in as the presentation goes on, and then you can almost see a light go on in their heads – and it’s very much ‘how can we not be doing this?’.” BFM

THE RISE OF FINTECH According to KPMG, Fintech is a rapidly growing $US3b industry.

Globally, fintech financing has jumped six-fold over the past three years with over US$20 billion estimated to be reached in 2015, a 66% increase on 2014 (US$12 billion).

The KPMG Fintech 100 includes 40 companies from the Americas (40%), 20 companies from the EMEA (20%), 18 companies from the UK (18%), and 22 companies from the Asia-Pacific region 22%), including 10 from Australia and NZ. Featuring among the 50 Established Innovators are Australian peer-to-peer lending platform SocietyOne and online small business lending startup Prospa. An impressive seven start-ups from Australia’s fast growing fintech ecosystem are among the 50 Emerging Stars: Avoka, Equitise, Metamako, Moula, PromisePay, Simply Wall St, and Stockspot.

KPMG’s Top 10 are: 1. ZhongAn (China) 2. Oscar (USA) 3. Wealthfront (USA) 4. Qufenqi (China) 5. Funding Circle (UK) 6. Kreditech (Germany) 7. Avant (USA) 8. Atom Bank (UK) 9. Klarna (Sweden) 10. OurCrowd (Israel)

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BFM | DESTINATION

ISLAND DREAMING

While last issue we travelled all the way to the Napa Valley in California for a taste of their local wine, this issue brings the experience closer to home: Wine Island in Sydney.

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he first annual Wine Island experience started last year, providing a luxury food and wine mini-getaway, offering unique wines in a unique Island setting.

Wine Island was introduced to the Sydney food and wine scene for the first time in November 2015. The inaugural event sold out within just 2 hours, with its success later complimented by being awarded the title of ‘Best New Event 2015’*.

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Following the overwhelming positive response, Wine Island is once more looking forward to transforming Clark Island in Sydney Harbour into the ultimate wine paradise between Friday 11 – Sunday 13 November 2016.

This is a real VIP experience.

Once on the Island, guests can discover all the wine and food huts scattered around this unique National Park and experience some of the world’s most exciting wines (from home and abroad).

Take a walk down ‘Prosecco Road’ to learn more about sparkling wine and new-wave Italian varieties from Friends of the King Valley, or sit a while for one of the island’s popular Masterclasses (hosted by expert winemakers).

This year these Masterclasses will be expanded to also include the highly anticipated ‘Dessert Island Masterclass’ where some of the world’s leading dessert wines will be matched to delicious sweets.

Relaxed seating areas and

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DESTINATION| BFM

hammocks will complement the stunning harbour backdrop, providing deluxe spaces to drink in the atmosphere, whilst refreshing your soul and palate.

For the first time, Wine Island is also opening up its doors to corporate parties, with a specific corporate session to be held on Thursday 10th November.

For businesses looking for a unique client entertaining opportunity, Wine Island could be an experience that wins the hearts and minds of clients.

The 2016 event has been opened up to more people after the success of the inaugural event and promises to be even bigger in more ways than one.

Certainly worth putting on the radar if you enjoy good food and fine wine in one of Australia’s most picturesque settings. BFM

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BFM | HEALTH

The Most Effective Leaders Are Compassionate – But It Can Take a Toll On Health

Aggressive, rigid leadership styles are losing currency in the modern workplace – research shows that effective leaders are kind and empathetic, even nurturing their organisation at the expense of their own health.

A

Jo Formosa Clinical director of Back to Health

s a result of higher than ever demands on company heads, top executives and entrepreneurs, there has been a sharp rise in the number of high-flyers coming in for help to manage their health.

In some instances this is just part and parcel of their insurance policy, but in many cases they are really in need of serious intervention.

An Australian School of Business study found that the single greatest influence on profitability and productivity within an organisation is the ability of the leaders to spend time and effort developing and recognising their staff.

What’s happening though, is they are constantly putting the organisation, and their employees first, leaving little time to take care

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of themselves.

Health is often put on the backburner because they need the constant drive to keep everyone else in the team going.

It also comes with a tendency to absorb the stress of sitting in such a powerful seat and the responsibilities that come with it – making hard decisions and having to hire and fire.

They often hide their discomfort; they don’t want anyone to know the leader is going down.

In our fast-paced lifestyle a lot of people find themselves in the express lane – this group, well, they are literally running. If a change isn’t made they will keep pushing and end up in hospital.

Across the board, execs will go-go-go until something breaks down.

When they come see me it might be a case of seeking help because they are not hitting the same goals and are not feeling as sharp as they once were – or some only come in when everything is falling apart.

Autoimmune and thyroid issues tend to be a result of having to manage such high demands. I’m also seeing a lot more corporates with blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, weight gain, testosterone levels, prostrate and fatty liver.

It’s not all doom and gloom though – those that have a more heightened sense of self-awareness are able to turn their health around. When they finally seek help they tend to be my best patients.

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HEALTH| BFM

have things set up really well and take care of themselves, so it takes a lot to knock them down.

Once they accept something is wrong they generally take an active role in their health and have great discipline.

Often they come to me having already done all their research – even knowing what’s wrong. They just don’t know how to fix it.

What they want is structure and a plan to follow, which they will execute to the highest level.

Here are the five most common first signs that health is entering the danger zone: 1. Mood swings and low energy: Symptoms might be the inability to cope or a general feeling that you’re just not hitting the same goals and performing to the same level as before. www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

2. Chest pain and blood pressure: Chest pain can be one of the first signs of untreated stress; in a chronic case this exposes your body to elevated levels of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.

Studies link stress to changes in the way blood clots, which increases the risk of heart attack.

3. Gut problems: Abdominal pain, bloating, reflux and alternating constipation and diarrhea are signs that something isn’t right – left untreated, gut problems can lead to more severe health issues.

4. Insomnia: Trouble falling, or waking at night, can be a sign of the brain’s ability to switch off – it can cause serious long-term health issues like anxiety, panic attacks and weight gain.

5. Loss of libido: Prolonged anxiety, stress and high-pressure

environments have been proven to decrease sex drive.

It’s one thing to have all the money in the world, but without good health there’s no point to anything else.

Very often at this level, there is no shortage of money to spend on health, the big issue is time – and there’s never enough of that in the day. BFM Clinical director of Back to Health, Jo Formosa specialises in Ayurveda and neuro strategies. Along with a team of highly qualified therapists, she offers a number of modalities to achieve optimal health in high-pressure environments, which include Ayurvedic medicine, acupuncture/ Chinese medicine, remedial massage, neuro strategies and clinical testing. For more information visit www.back2health.net.au

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BF | THE LEADER’S BOOKSHELF

The Leader’s Bookshelf

Evernote For Dummies.

By David E.Y. Sarna.

John Wiley & Sons, 2014.

Do you use the app Evernote as your ‘external brain’?

Almost since iPhones first came onto the market, Evernote has been there to help you take notes and organise all the information you face each day. Now, you can get Evernote on Mac, Windows, and Android, as well as iOS. This book assumes a basic knowledge of how computers and devices work, but it assumes no prior knowledge of Evernote. It guides you through all the basics, leads into some advanced uses of the app, and then finishes with ideas on how you can put Evernote to work.

Even though I’ve been using Evernote for years, and longer than the author, I learned so many tips and tricks that I’ll now be able to take a great app and make it even more useful.

Because of the simple style of the “For Dummies” books, the way the information is presented can get repetitive, but this is a minor point in a book that’s so useful.

The beauty of Evernote is that it’s useful for anyone with a brain. And unlike the brain you’re born with, this one comes with a manual: Evernote For Dummies.

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THE LEADER’S BOOKSHELF | BF

Daniel G. Taylor is a Melbourne-based copywriter. He offers a free webinar course, ‘Discover 5 Ways to Increase Website Conversions Now!’, at danielgtaylor.com.

Crack the Customer Mind Code: Seven Pathways from Head Heart Yes!

Ready to Soar: Turn Your Brilliant Idea into a Business You Love.

By Gary Hennerberg.

Morgan James Publishing, 2016

By Naomi Simson.

Harlequin Nonfiction, 2016.

This is how master copywriter, Bob Bly, described Crack the Customer Mind Code: “It is a rarity in marketing books as it… has original ideas.”

In Crack the Customer Mind Code, Gary Hennerberg uses science to outline seven pathways that help marketers move prospects from ‘interested’ to ‘sold’.

The first of these pathways is to identify the person you’re seeking to persuade. The way to do this is to create a persona for your buyer.

What’s a buyer persona? It’s an archetype that helps you think about a group of people – who share similar characteristics and ways of thinking – as if they’re a single person.

Through the rest of the book, Hennerberg uses 12 buyer personas that he’s created to show how each of them moves along the seven pathways.

Once you understand the ideas, this book will become an essential reference book in your library. It teaches you how to use buyer personas and use them to persuade prospects to buy.

Read Crack the Customer Mind Code and you will see why Bly says it has original ideas. Apply these ideas and more of your prospects will buy from you. Then you will truly understand the power of Hennerberg’s ideas.

That biggest lesson from Ready to Soar is simply this: being a likeable person is a major factor in business success.

Naomi Simson is a likeable woman. She’s the number one influencer on LinkedIn in Australia.

The road to success on social media – even more so than anywhere else – is likeability.

In Ready to Soar, Simpson covers topics that are common to many books on start-up success.

Those topics include having a dream, your suitability for the entrepreneurial path, how to assess the type of funding you need, and how to craft the perfect pitch.

That the second part of the book is devoted to pitching is important. As one of the sharks on the Australian Shark Tank, Simson hears a lot of pitches. Ready to Soar, then, is a manual that teaches you how to pitch your business in a way that will win the investment of one of the sharks.

When you read this book, it’s like you’re sitting down having a chat with a close friend. A close friend who has walked the path you want to take, and wants you to avoid the pitfalls and achieve success.

If you want to increase the chances of your start-up succeeding, then you want to listen to what Simson has to teach you in Ready to Soar.

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DROP-TOP DRIVING PLEASURE: The Ferrari 488 The Ferrari 488 Spider is the latest chapter in Maranello’s ongoing history of open-top V8 sports cars, a story that started with the targa-top version of the 308 GTB - the immortal 308 GTS - and which ultimately resulted in the full convertible Spider architecture.

T

he 488 Spider has been designed to set new technological benchmarks for the sector. The result is a powerful and innovative Ferrari Spider; a car that marries the extraordinary prowess of the 488 GTB coupé’s mid-rear V8 with the joy of tackling even the most challenging roads surrounded by nature’s heady aromas and colours and accompanied by an inimitable Ferrari engine soundtrack.

At the very heart of the car is, of course, the 3902cc turbo-charged V8 which set a new benchmark for this type of architecture. Thanks to a maximum power output of 670 CV and smooth, progressive torque delivery in the higher gears by the Variable Torque Management system, the 488 Spider sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in 3 seconds flat and from 0 to 200 km/h in 8.7 seconds.

The 488 Spider’s dynamic behaviour is exceptional with the accent very much on the ease with which it can be driven on the limit. To achieve this engaging handling balance the mechanical set-up was honed in tandem with the electronic systems which now include the evolved version of Ferrari’s side slip angle control system (Side Slip Control 2 - SSC2). Over all, in fact, response times are 9% more rapid than the previous Spider.

Regardless of the model or its mission, the heart of every Ferrari is its engine which must deliver the classic Ferrari power unit qualities: blistering performance combined with high revs, razor-sharp responsiveness, powerful acceleration at all speeds and an exhilarating soundtrack. The new V8 sported by the 488 Spider is the Maranello engineers’ latest response to the daily challenge to

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constantly set new benchmarks of excellence.

This power unit is the Prancing Horse’s most high performance engine ever with zero turbo lag and a unique, exhilarating soundtrack.

It delivers 670 cv at 8,000 rpm with a specific power output of 172 cv/l, a new record for a road-going Ferrari, maximum torque of 760 Nm in seventh gear and a throttle response time of just 0.8 seconds at 2000 rpm in third gear.

Every Ferrari has its own unique and distinctive soundtrack and the 488 Spider is no exception. The new V8’s soundtrack is seductively full and powerful even at low speeds and increases in volume and clarity as revs rise, underscoring the engine’s exceptional responsiveness, torque and performance.

Seductive but never invasive when the top is down thanks to the exhaust headers with longer, equal-length tubing and the flatplane crankshaft, the sound was further enhanced by an in-depth study of the harmonics and tonality at different engine speeds, another area in which Ferrari has always excelled.

Designed by the Ferrari Design Centre, the 488 Spider features radical new styling honed around its aerodynamic requirements, brilliantly reflecting the drop-top driving pleasure focus of its sportiness and performance.

The 488 has classic Ferrari midrear-engined sports car proportions: a short muscular front wing into which the bumper is wedged which lends the whole front of the car a sense of power and speed, and immediately draws the eye to flanks featuring new side air intakes for the intercoolers. The motif of the subtle crease line that

SPECS

MAXIMUM POWER 670 CV AT 8000 RPM ACCELERATION 3.0 S 0 - 100 KM/H SPECIFIC POWER OUTPUT 172 CV/L

forms the scallops on the door leading to the intakes is a nod to the 308 GTB. The front is characterised by a single grille opening. The bonnet has a pronounced, raised central section and two side channels, which channel air from the two vents in the bumper.

DYNAMIC AND FUNCTIONAL The 488 Spider’s cockpit was designed to underscore Ferrari’s Formula 1-inspired philosophy of creating a seamless relationship between driver and car: the commands not clustered on the steering wheel are on the wraparound satellite pods which are angled directly towards the driver.

The new lighter, horizontally more compact dashboard also curves around the cockpit and features ultra-sporty air vents.

Aside from integrated Apple CarPlay, the 488 Spider also boasts a new Sport infotainment system with the display still part of the instrument cluster in the driver’s line of sight, following the cockpit’s philosophy of ergonomic and aesthetic integration with the various functionalities immediately to hand.

The 488 Spider’s also features keyless start so that the car can be started or turned off by simply pressing the “Start/Stop Engine” button on the steering wheel. BFM www.businessfirstmagazine.com.au

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