Category: Leadership Q&A

Mariam Issa and her family fled Somalia when civil war broke out in 1991, and spent the next seven years in Kenyan refugee camps. A family reunion visa brought them to Australia in 1998 when Issa was pregnant with her fifth child. Early on, life in Melbourne was tough for the Somalian family of seven. […]

Karen Jacobsen is the voice of millions of GPS units as well as Siri on Australian iPhones. ‘The GPS Girl’ has transitioned from directing drivers on the road to become a motivational speaker helping leaders navigate business and life challenges. By Marina Williams   Leadership matters to Karen Jacobsen. From setting her own goal of […]

The next time you consider squashing an ant, spare a thought for Tanya Latty. An entomologist with a special interest in insect behaviour and ecology, Latty spends the bulk of her days studying how these tiny organisms band together to solve complex problems. A postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Sydney, Latty grew up […]

Boyne Smelters Limited, where Joe Rea AFAIM is general manager, is definitely not old-school manufacturing. Forklifts zip efficiently around the expansive site. Slick conveyor belts transport components across a meticulously maintained plant. Rea, the face of Australia’s largest aluminium smelter, moves easily among the workers discussing one of his many passions – for sustainability, recycling, […]

Nick Mellow AFAIM, HR manager at Taylors Wines in South Australia, is a wine lover with a passion for people management. He says he has the perfect job. Nick Mellow explains his career journey for Leadership Matters. On the job I’ve been with Taylors Wines for five years. There are 160 employees across the organisation and about […]

Nick Xenophon is one of the most influential people in Australian politics. Once a lawyer with a practice dealing with workers’ compensation and private injury claims, the senator sees himself as a politician of the centre. Certainly his voting record in the Senate has been split between the two major parties. His foray into politics […]

THE COMEDIAN Rachel Berger Comedian, MC and author. We have no control over our politicians, the environment or the deputy commissioner of taxation. Reality is tough. Humour offers a manageable middle ground because it gives us the opportunity to laugh at reality; one Leunig cartoon generally has a more potent message than the entire newspaper. A manager who […]

Would you pay to see your boss jump out of a plane? Stephanie Lorenzo AIMe is counting on it. As the founder and chief executive of Project Futures, a not-for-profit organisation devoted to ending slavery and human trafficking in Cambodia and Australia, her high-energy approach to fundraising is paying dividends. Around the world, an estimated […]

Dawna Wright is a good person to have on side in a crisis. Her CV details a decade as an expert witness in fraud and litigation cases and 20 years as a forensic accounting specialist delving underneath the accounts for the numbers that count in tricky disputes. I am quite a competitive person generally so […]