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BEN ROBERTSSMITH: FROM SAS TROOPER TO CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY Ben Roberts-Smith has crammed two all-consuming careers into one lifetime. And he is not yet 40. ––– Words by Emma Macdonald Photography by Martin Ollman It was always on the cards that Ben Roberts-Smith would follow family tradition and enlist in the Army. But few could have predicted his next tour of duty would be in the media. Australia’s most decorated soldier from the war in Afghanistan is now the General Manager of the Seven Network, Queensland. He finds an immediate irony in that transformation given part of the reason he gave up the military career he adored was to “give myself back to my family.” “Well, that’s probably backfired a little, but at least they know I am not in harm’s way.” The reference to danger barely touches the sides. Indeed, Roberts‑Smith's service record and military career puts him at the pinnacle of the country’s most elite soldiers. Now he is in a physically safer position—ratings wars aside—in the boardrooms and studios of one of the country’s major broadcaster. But the hours are long, the travel arduous, and the responsibilities to staff and shareholders acute. Roberts-Smith still feels the leadership skills he honed in the Army—and his ability to take a team with him—are as necessary today as they were in the theatre of battle. In fact, war prepared him well for business.
CPL Ben Robert Smith. Photo supplied by Australian Government Department of Defence.
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