1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?

As a second generation Australian family that produces wrist watches here in Brisbane the toughest thing I faced in my 26 years was certainly the COVID crisis. We saw our revenue disappear overnight and our retailers faced closure. I knew without anyone to sell our watches we would also be faced with an uncertain future. We saw the solution to be super positive in our support of our retailers whilst all of our competitors had gone into hibernation. The result was very loyal retailers who were much more inclined to spend their money with us. The other result was motivated staff who were keen to see us succeed to ensure their ongoing employment.

2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?

I started as a sales rep in our family business before progressing through the ranks into my role now.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

I always get up at 5am and as a father of four, the family plays a large part of my "before" work getting them to sport etc but only living 5 minutes walk from the factory does give me some leeway to squeeze in a ride a few mornings a week. Once at work I religiously go through all our work spaces greeting each of the team and chat lightly about what is going. It always takes about 15mins but well worth the effort. I try to schedule all meetings for the morning to leave my afternoons free to deal with what unravels through the day. From 5 I will catch up on emails until heading home about 630- 7pm, always having dinner as a family and catching up on everyone's day. After the kids have gone to bed my and I will discuss the day and I will take care of our socials that need any urgent attention. Always very keen to be in bed by 10pm. A good night's sleep is imperative to be effective across a busy day.

4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?

Through COVID there was no other way but to lead from the front!

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

My reading generally speaking is to relax so is fiction but where i take inspiration usually is watching other leaders perform in a crisis. Best example I could give was watching how Alan Joyce handled COVID. He was extremely communicative to the 1000s of QANTAS employees with support from his executive to convey what QANTAS was doing and going to do to survive then action those plans. As a result I kept my people well informed (better than usual) of everything we were doing to ensure our survival

6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?

Delegating tasks with expectation but leaving the individual tools to succeed. If they don't succeed, review what went wrong and how it could have been done differently without micromanaging.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?

One person can make a difference so never discount the power of one for bad and for good. If it is for bad, get rid of them before it spreads. If it is for good celebrate it as the good will become infectious!!