A Rich Palette of Success

Investment banker, philanthropist, art collector and self-made millionaire Simon Mordant AM discusses his views on leadership, management and the valuable role art plays in the mix. Story by Anthony O’Brien and photo by Daniel Boud.

SIMON MORDANT needs little by way of introduction. Renowned as one of Australia’s most successful investment bankers, he has a powerful reputation in business advisory, having co-founded Caliburn Partnership – the firm that successfully navigated some of Australia’s biggest mergers including Westpac’s $18 billion move on St George Bank in 2008, a merger that many thought would never pass muster with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

In 2010, Mordant and his partners sold Caliburn to Greenhill & Co in a deal valued at about $200 million. But just five years later, hungry to repeat his success, he teamed up with former business partners Ron Malek and Jamie Garis to launch Luminis Partners.

Despite his undoubted mastery of the deal, Mordant is perhaps best known for his passion for the creative arts. A visit to Luminis is a visual feast, providing an opportunity to view the impressive collection of artworks Mordant has acquired over the past four decades.

Indeed, it was their philanthropic support of the arts community that thrust Mordant and his wife Catriona into the public eye. In 2010, the couple donated an incredibly generous $15 million to Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), to help to fund a new wing. As a leader of the funding campaign Mordant couldn’t make the donation anonymously, yet he admits
to being wary of the scrutiny that would inevitably follow.

Mordant recalls, “We were incredibly nervous about what the community would say. I was nervous about what my team would think. I was nervous about what my clients would think.”

The donation was critical to garnering government support and getting the project over the line. “It was a game of poker,” says Mordant. “We were both so invested in that project that we thought we’d roll the dice.”

Mordant had the winning hand. His donation sparked a $26 million contribution from the federal and NSW governments, and the new wing – the aptly named Mordant Wing — was completed in 2012, extending the size of the MCA by 50 per cent and leading to over a million visitors each year. In that same year, Mordant was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his service to the arts and cultural community.

It’s a far cry from the young man who arrived in Australia “with nothing”. Nothing material perhaps, but Mordant had plenty to offer the business community. He started his career in accounting – and to a large extent still works in a numbers game. However, he doesn’t see a head for figures as critical to success. Indeed, Mordant believes good leadership comes down to three key attributes.

First and foremost is the ability to distil information quickly. “There is so much information thrown at you,” he says. “Understanding what that information is, what is important and being able to interpret it is key.”

Mordant’s most critical skill is his ability to listen. “Being able to listen is very important,” he explains. “I’ve often thought that an advisor is like a corporate psychiatrist. We can’t claim to be experts in our clients’ industries, and when a client comes to us to help them through a problem, they invariably already have the answer. They may not have confidence that they have the answer, or evidence that it’s the solution they’re looking for, but they often have an intuitive sense of what will work because it’s their business.

“Where the advisor comes in is to listen, probe intelligently, ask the right questions to draw out the client in explaining what the issue is, and then brainstorm. You can’t do that if you talk all the time.”

For Mordant, the third valuable attribute is having the confidence to make decisions. He notes, “I’ve seen people who are very strong at the first and second qualities but fall at the third. And at the end of the day you’ve got to be able to make a decision. Not all your decisions are going to be perfect in hindsight, but a leader has to be able to make a decision.”
Describing his leadership style, Mordant says, “I’m a very caring person; I’ve learnt to be empathetic. I wasn’t when I first started out, but I’ve learnt that that’s very important.” He may fine-tune his style according to the situation but he believes the same skills apply.

“When I run the business I obviously have to make decisions. When I sit on the board of a not-for-profit, I’m there to challenge and support the chief executive.
So my style is a little bit different but the skills I employ are very similar. I listen, I draw out, I probe.”

NOURISHING THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN

For Mordant, engagement with the creative arts goes beyond a personal interest: it plays a noteworthy role in his business success. “Creativity and leadership are very intertwined,” he says. “In a business like ours, every problem is new and different and can’t be cookie cut. We need to provide bespoke solutions, and creativity is vital.”
This need for creativity goes a long way to explaining the pageant of artworks on display at Luminis’s offices. “I want the team to be challenged by works of art, and I want our clients to be challenged.”

Clearly, Mordant is delighted when the artworks have their desired effect. He recalls how a client waiting to speak with Mordant went missing. “I came in to welcome him and he wasn’t in the meeting room,” explains Mordant. “The door was open, and I couldn’t work out whether he’d gone to the bathroom or whatever. In fact, he was wandering around the office, just immersed in the paintings. It was fantastic.”

The ability for art and business to feed both sides of the brain matters to Mordant. “Emotional intelligence and empathy are deeply connected with leadership.” He adds, “I’ve seen incredibly smart leaders who have no emotional intelligence. And invariably those businesses are impacted by that.”

Mordant believes “all business leaders should engage with something creative outside of their business.” He says, “At the MCA, we now run a corporate program, and we’ve had a number of leadership teams hold part of their planning days in one of the creative spaces. It just takes you into a different place.”

RESILIENCE IS VITAL

Mordant’s diverse interests, and his unwavering commitment to each of them, could exact a high personal toll. It’s an area where he says resilience plays a valuable role. “The demands on leaders today are 24/7,” notes Mordant. “The way technology works, you’re accessible the whole time and that does require a high degree of resilience.”

His personal resilience is also vital to the success of his team. “In our business, transactions have a very long lead time,” explains Mordant. “If you get a project completed in nine months, that’s fast. Projects can come on and off the boil over many years, and at the end of the day, sometimes they’re not successful, they just peter out.”

“The ability to hang in there and motivate your team, who are doing the work through the ups and downs of a transaction, is really key.”

Resilience has served Mordant well in the arts community also. In late 2017 he pulled out of funding Australia’s next exhibition at the Venice Biennale when the Australia Council failed to consult major donors about changes to the arts commissioning model.

It was a very public stoush, but Mordant felt compelled to speak out.

“When you are used to being forthright in the advice you give, you need to have the same values in your personal life,” he says. “If I didn’t say something publicly, everyone would assume I was comfortable with the arrangements. I felt I had a duty to the people who had partnered with us to make my views known.”

COMMITTED TO PERSONAL WELLBEING

Mordant may have just left the board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation but his schedule hasn’t eased. He’s chair of the MCA and on the board of numerous not-for-profit organisations including the Garvan Research Foundation, MoMA PS1 in New York and the American Academy in Rome, to name a few. He also chairs the Barangaroo Lend Lease Public Art Program, with a $40 million budget to put public art at Barangaroo.

Such commitments can often involve a smorgasbord of social engagement. Down the years, that caught up with Mordant.

“Sitting down at 9pm at a function, if there were bread rolls there, I’d eat them,” he recalls. “If there was bad wine there, I’d drink it.”

With his weight topping 120 kilograms, Mordant admits, “I couldn’t buy any clothes from a shop; everything had to be made.”

The lightbulb moment came when he left Caliburn, and headed to Italy for a year. “When I was in Sydney, I was out every night. I couldn’t control my environment, whereas sitting on the top of a mountain in Italy, I was in a completely controlled environment and I thought I’d try and lose 20 kilos.”

The basis of Mordant’s weight loss success was simple.

He explains, “I just reprogrammed my brain. I cut out carbs, bread, rice, sugar, potatoes and pasta. It didn’t mean I didn’t put bad things in my mouth occasionally, but it became a conscious decision. I cut out wine too, and as a partner in a winery that was pretty challenging.”

Mordant didn’t just lose 20 kilos: he lost 60 – half his original body weight. And his best tip for managing well-being as a business professional is: “Think about what you put in your mouth. It’s a pretty simple thing to do, but for 55 years of my life, I never thought about it.”

Leadership in 60 seconds

EARLY IN YOUR CAREER WHAT IS THE BEST PIECE OF LEADERSHIP ADVICE YOU WERE GIVEN?

Listen, don’t talk.

WHICH LEADER HAVE YOU LEARNT FROM MOST DURING YOUR CAREER?

Let me answer that in two ways. The leader I learnt the most from during my career would have to be Giles Kryger, who was the Managing Partner of Ord Minnett, when I was there in the early 1980s. The business leader I have admired most during my career is Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas.

NAME THREE LEADERS IN THE ARTS AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES WHO YOU ADMIRE?

The first one has to be Liz Ann Macgregor, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. The second would be Justin Milne, Chair of the ABC. Third would be Glyn Davis, outgoing Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.

WHICH LEADERSHIP BOOK DO YOU MOST RECOMMEND?

That’s a no-brainer for me, Good to Great by Jim Collins. The way Collins contrasted the best performing companies in their sectors with the worst performing companies, to draw out a set of characteristics around leadership in the successful companies versus leadership in the unsuccessful companies was fascinating. I’ve applied some of those learnings to Australian companies, and it’s very illuminating.

NAME THREE QUALITIES THAT A LEADER CAN’T SUCCEED WITHOUT?

Empathy. Listening skills. Decisiveness.

COMPLETE THE SENTENCE. LEADERSHIP MATTERS BECAUSE…

Everything is changing rapidly and you must be able to lead your organisation through change, in order to meet its ambitions.

Leading Well by Making the Unconscious Conscious

By Clare Edwards

Let me start by getting you thinking with a little puzzle.

A bat and ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

Did you arrive at 10c? Then you’re a fast thinker. Answer to the puzzle at the end of this article.

If only I had more time…..

As leaders, we have myriad tasks to perform, goals to achieve and people to develop, yet there are only so many hours in the day and sometimes, something’s have to give. When it comes to leading and developing our people, it is rarely or never our intention to compromise but compromise we do, often without conscious awareness. This is what we are going to explore.

Thinking Fast and Slow  

In his book, Psychologist Professor Daniel Kahneman ‘Thinking Fast and Slow’ invites us to consider the metaphor of 2 systems of thinking. System 1 is reflexive, fast, automatic and largely unconscious. System 2 is reflective, analytical, deliberate and conscious.

Think about a drive that you do regularly, maybe it’s a commute – have you ever arrived home unsure as to how you got there? System 1 at its best. However, choose to drive in a European country, or in a city that you’ve never visited before, and system 2 will kick in. You know you’re grinding the gears and you wish that your passenger would just shut up so you can concentrate.

To illustrate another way, let me ask you – what is 2 X 2?, 4 X 4? and 5 X 5? Easy right? System 1.

Now what is 13 X 19? 17 X 24? and 16 X 32? System 2.

One set of calculations comes to us instinctively, the other, unless you’re a maths genius, requires use of conscious consideration (or a calculator!).

Systems 1 and 2 operate in different parts of our brain. System 1 resides in an older part of our brain called the limbic system and this also houses the seat of our habits, the Basal Ganglia. It’s great because we can do things ‘without thinking’ and the brain loves to conserve energy and take the path of least resistance. It does though mean that in our fast world of fast thinking, things and people get left out.

System 2 resides primarily in our prefrontal cortex (PFC), the CEO of our brain that sits just behind our forehead and the newest part of our brain to develop. The PFC is energy hungry and tires easily so it’s handy to let it become a little lazy and revert back to system 1…with consequences.

Leadership Habits that Hinder  

Back to our role as leaders. Much as we like to think that we are there equally for all of our people, we have evolved to be biased in order to stay safe, and to save time and energy. It is those unconscious biases, driven by system 1, that, if we bring to our conscious attention, we can address – resulting in us leading even better.

For example, do we tend to give our best projects to our brightest people? Do we mean to involve everyone in important decisions, but actually decide for them to save time? Do we ensure that once we’ve empowered someone, that we avoid checking in on them frequently?

Our Core SOCIAL Needs

Neuroscientist Evian Gordon and Professor Roy Baumeister of the University of Florida identified that the primary function of our brain is to move us away from danger and threat and towards safety and reward. We do this on a scale of 5:1; we have 5 times more neurons dedicated to sensing danger than we do to looking for pleasure. This plays out in subtle ways every day at work.

There are 6 core social needs that we all have that, when not met, can leave us feeling threatened and insecure. The following are examples of often unconscious leadership behaviours that can result in our people feeling under threat, becoming stressed and under-performing.

I have adapted models from Evian Gordon and David Rock of the Neuroleadership Institute to create the SOCIAL® model of core needs.

Safety – the need to feel physically and psychologically safe at work

Objectivity – being treated fairly and with equity

Certainty – a need to know what’s going to happen next

Importance – a sense of value and status in the system

Autonomy – a perception of being at choice

Love (Connection) – belonging to the tribe

All of these core needs we have developed from our earliest of days. For example, if we weren’t considered Important, no one wanted to procreate with us and we didn’t carry on the lineage. If we were cast out of the tribe, unwanted and unLoved, we would soon become lunch. If we weren’t Certain where the lion had its lair, or the enemy tribe were lurking, we were in real danger.

Where might we unconsciously create Threat and Bias?

I would like to invite you to reflect on some questions and consider if you have or do now, sometimes default to system 1 and not lead as well as you possibly could.

Safety – how do I deal with someone’s mistakes? Do I create an environment where they feel safe to ‘fess up’ and I coach them on the learnings or do I do something else?

Objectivity – does everyone have equal voice in our meetings? Do I distribute work equally or do I resort to the same people because I know they’ll get the job done?

Certainty – how well and how quickly do I cascade information from my management meetings ensuring that everyone gets to hear the important points at the same time?

Importance – how often do I consciously praise my people for something they did well, being specific about why it was good and the difference that it made, or am I just too busy for this?

Autonomy – how much energy and time do I invest in delegation, giving my people the best opportunity to grow and develop and freeing me up to do the important stuff? Have I ever been considered a micro manager?

Love (Connection) – how do I foster team spirit and morale? How do I grow the tribe and let each and every individual know that I care deeply about them? How much do I know about my people outside of their work persona?

Summary

In my management career I had one goal and one goal only – to be a great people manager. It was one of the most difficult goals to achieve and I realised that it was aspirational and would never be ticked off on the ‘done’ list.

Over time, however, I learnt how to step back and engage system 2; to make my actions deliberate, conscious and fair, especially after reflecting on the havoc I would sometimes wreak when I let system 1 be in charge of system 2 jobs!

We know from the research that Gallup did over 25 years that people don’t leave their companies, they leave their managers. How might stepping back and engaging system 2 help make you one of those managers who people want to stay and grow with?

The Bat and Ball Answer

I know – I’ve teased you for too long!

A bat and ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

If the ball cost 10c as many of you might have guessed, then the bat would have to cost $1.10 to be a dollar more than the ball, so together they would cost $1.20.

The answer is the ball costs 5c and the bat costs $1.05c making them a total of $1.10.

If you guessed 5c at the beginning of this article, congratulations, you engaged system 2!

 

About the author:
 Throughout her management career Clare Edwards had one goal that she relentlessly pursued and that was to be a great people manager – a goal she found the most rewarding and frustrating at the same time and one that could never be ticked off on the ‘done and dusted’ list.
Clare’s passion for people development continued after her corporate career where her insatiable curiosity for understanding why we do what we do and how to change what isn’t working, led her to the study of the Neuroscience of Leadership – how knowledge of our brains can help us to be more emotionally intelligent and effective leaders and managers.
Clare consults to organisations internationally in a variety of industry sectors helping people to manage and lead themselves and others more effectively in complex and uncertain business environments.

 

Clare Edwards will be speaking at the The IML Conference 2018. The series explores the topic of Leading Well, and this Melbourne event will focus on how to develop and build high performing teams that drive financial success and ROI. This conference will be an interactive day including keynote presentations, panel sessions, case studies and Q&A’s. Join us for the third-year running to uncover the latest management and leadership thinking.

 

Book now

 

 

Are You A Leader By Position Or A Leader By Respect?

Written by Joe Hoolahan Founding CEO of JESI

 

Any journey worth taking often comes with its own level of risk vs reward.  Ups and downs.  The JESI journey has certainly had plenty of both. One of the greatest assets we rely on is our people.  After all – JESI to its core is about people.  Making sure they are ok.

We all hear corporations throw around lines such as; “People are our greatest assets, Without our people, we would be nothing, Our people and success go hand in hand.”

Now if this is the case, how do we maintain a successful culture and a successful business?

I would like to add the added complexity…

What if you have no idea about what path it is you need your team to take? What if you are working in an environment that has few proven rules, paths or formulas?

How do you keep your team focused, engaged and willing to walk – or -run into the greatest unknown of their working lives!

 

For me (and I would hope for my team) this is all about respect.  Respect touches many aspects of any business growth.  But when this is the starting point – the core – it allows you to start on the right foot, the same page and all be rowing in the same direction. (I think I covered most of the metaphors there.)

One of the greatest beliefs I personally hold closest is that ‘people don’t wake up in the morning and set out to piss someone off’.  If I hold this value as a truth, I can also look at nearly every challenge, error, missed the deadline, oversight- yes, stuff up… as a genuine mistake.  Ones we must learn from and reduce the likelihood of it re-occurring.

 

Respect is knowing that people will always do the best they can.  Knowing when a culture that is right, will allow people to work independently and/or remotely or anyway they need to deliver great results.

For example, I have never been a big believer in sick days or clock watching.  I have always trusted that people will demonstrate and respect the rules of the game, and not to game the system.  If a person is not at work, I respect they must have a great reason.

 

By providing a culture where people take ownership, can and do stuff up… or maybe not get it right the first time, but at the same time be accountable – this relies totally on respecting each team member.

 

I have been fortunate throughout my career and personal life where I have seen many demonstrations of where someone’s ability to ‘own it’ has earned a lifetime of respect.

As an amateur football coach, I have seen players push themselves to the point of breaking, to play as hard as they could ever imagine.  I love that some of the greatest demonstrations of true leadership have come from my involvement in sport.

For a player to admit they are no longer up to it… absolute respect. Or the player who puts his hand up to take on the toughest opposition player – respect. Or the player who sacrifices his own game for the betterment of the team – respect.  Or the player who ‘owns it’ when things don’t go right – respect.

 

Captain Gavin Cooper riles his boys up after the Cowboys win over the Roosters to reach the grand final.

Recently the sporting world was abuzz with the Cowboys Captain Gavin Cooper taking the stage to make a heartfelt speech. After losing to the Melbourne Storm in the 2017 Grand Final, Cooper went out of his way to congratulate their opponents with grace and style. For a team who was considered to be on a fairytale trip, with many outside of North Queensland not giving them much chance of winning’, they sure were the fan favourites, just going to show the amount of respect they have earned from the rugby league community and their fans.

 

This isn’t the first time the team have been in the spotlight for showing acts of kindness and respect, not long ago we saw an injured Captain Johnathon Thurston cleaning up the locker room.  Again – an amazing demonstration – instant respect.  This is not his role or job – but a great example of respect and doing the right thing.  Not just for his team – but more importantly, those who come after him

 

Respect is something that can be earned – admired.  As we know, It can also be given or lost in an instant.

 

No sporting fan, employer or workmate can ever deny all they would ask from anyone is to give their best.

So as an employer, manager, mentor or a coach, we must continually respect our people. Respect that not all jobs are equal – but all jobs need to be respected and valued.

At JESI, we have a number of key roles from Developers to Sales & Marketing.  What I admire is the ever-increasing level of respect.  Respecting that Sales without product is for nothing.  And without Sales, the product is nothing.

Our team everyday rides a number of different waves.  What I know is the level of respect is now built on some common beliefs – some unwritten team rules;
-We are all giving it our best.
-We will put our hand up when we don’t know… or we are struggling.. or need a hand.
-We all share the lows and all celebrate the wins!
-We are all having a crack!

In my mind – that is respect.

 

Joe Hoolahan is a speaker at IML Leadership Matters Conference: 7 attributes of very successful leaders at Rydges Southbank Townsville on Tuesday the 17th October 2017.

 Book tickets here.

 

 

A Battle Worth Fighting

 

Creating a resilient corporate culture takes time and effort, but you won’t regret it.

 

By Stuart Taylor, CEO Springfox

 

Stress. We all experience it. We all talk about it. Even seeing the word in print stirs at least a little discomfort in most.

Removing stress from the workplace sounds like a great idea in theory. In reality, though, a certain amount of stress can be beneficial and, in some cases, necessary to drive individuals and corporations to higher levels of performance. However, there is a tipping point at which pressure to perform has counterproductive effects.

The focus of modern cultural change programs shouldn’t be on removing stress, but rather on creating an environment where people are able to process, rationalise and view pressure as opportunity.

Employers don’t need to create stress-free organisations, they need to create resilient organisations.

Organisations exist for people and through people. It is true that modern organisations are increasingly characterised by technology, systems, processes and rules, but at the core they remain much like any other group of people or tribe. And just like any other tribe, members look to the chief to rally them in times of trouble.

A resilient corporate culture is one that is able to balance the drive for high performance with a focus on maintaining the safety, well-being and effectiveness of its people.

Resilient organisations understand that high performance is very different to sustainable high performance. And it all starts at the top.

Disruption, resulting from technological advances and geo-political shifts, personifies the modern corporate battle ground. This places people under increasing pressure and strain. The persistent change in the world and the pressures on us to transform and adapt require agility.

 

‘In a volatile, uncertain and complex world, resilience is a strategic asset’

 

To thrive in this environment, organisations must commit to a systemic approach to fostering a resilient culture where people feel respected, trusted and supported. Leaders must be role models. When they fail to engage, the tribe loses trust in its chief.

Our organisation’s study of 26,099 professionals over a six-year period revealed confronting insights about our modern workforce. More than half of those surveyed (55 per cent) worry excessively, 50 per cent are hyper vigilant, 45 per cent experience distress symptoms, and 30 per cent experience excessive work intensity, and/or have impulse control problems.

The research clearly demonstrated that the workforce is anxious and overloaded, contributing to a prevalence of absenteeism, presenteeism, conflict and attention loss in the workplace. The effect of absenteeism alone costs the Australian economy more than $44 billion a year.

Here are some simple steps leaders can can take:

Lead with compassion
 Resilient organisations are possible when you lead with deep care and the ‘greater good’ in mind. Sometimes this requires tough love, however, it will build trust and respect.

Show vulnerability
A powerful way to demonstrate your trust, compassion and respect for your people is to ask the same of them. Leaders who aren’t ashamed to show their shortcomings demonstrate that what is expected is commitment and effort, not perfection. This breeds a culture of accountability, where people are willing to admit they need help or have made a mistake.

Talk to your people
People perform best when they understand what’s expected of them. Make your strategic priorities clear and resist the urge to use corporate jargon.

Find out what people are good at
We all do best when we play to our strengths. A concerted effort should be made to help people understand what their natural strengths are. This can contribute to an organisation’s strategic priorities.

Consider diversity
Does your organisation accurately reflect the world outside? It is critical that people feel comfortable to be themselves at work, regardless of age, gender, sexuality or cultural beliefs. A considered diversity strategy is critical for any modern organisation.

 

A Bank of Knowledge

What makes Shayne Elliott and his trusted team tick?
The ANZ boss tells all

Self-acknowledged introvert Shayne Elliott seems one of the least likely big-bank chiefs, but his career has followed a path that is familiar to his fellow bankers. The ANZ CEO is a bank ‘lifer’, joining Citibank New Zealand as a management trainee in 1985. Within seven years he was the head of derivative sales in London. And after spells in the US and Egypt, he found himself in Australia in 2001, as the chief executive of Citibank, Corporate Bank. In 2009, he joined ANZ, becoming CFO in 2012. And in early 2016, he was appointed to the top spot at ANZ, where he leads a team of about 50,000 employees. CEO of the Institute of Managers and Leaders, David Pich, interviewed Shayne Elliott at a recent Outstanding Leaders event.

David Pich: How would you describe your own leadership style?
Shayne Elliott: Well, I think I’m probably an introvert. I’m actually quite shy although, funnily enough, I’m actually reasonably comfortable speaking to 500 people. I’d probably rather do that than speak to two, because there’s more distance when you’re speaking to a room [of people]. When I was CFO my team made fun of me – it was suggested that I do performance appraisals in a 500-seat auditorium, [as] that was a much more engaging conversation than having a one-on-one [with me]. I think there is a shift away from that big, charismatic, loud leadership style to one that is probably – and again, I’m not saying that’s wrong – to a more grounded, humble leader. I think good leaders are able to shift. Sometimes you do need to be really directive about what you’re doing, depending on what the crisis might be at the time, or the team. But at other times you need to be more visionary. So I think, actually, good leaders are able to change their style for the moment and the objective. But in general, my preferred style is to be quite consultative. I lead more by example and by describing what we’re trying to achieve.

DP: Talk us through some of the different styles in your leadership team, and how you interact with them.
SE: Over the last 18 months I had the opportunity to build my team. There are 12 of us on my direct team, and of that, a third came from outside the organisation, including two of them this calendar year. We have a couple of people we’ve promoted from within, and only one of the team has the same job they had a year ago. So I’ve got people who’ve been around a long time and really know what they’re doing, who don’t need a lot of hand holding or direction, and it’s more about just being clear about expectations. Then I’ve got some people who have never worked in a bank before so they need a lot more coaching and time. I have people with big opinions, and they think differently and challenge us all the time, and my job there is to actually give them space to be creative and listen to what they say. And then there are others who are naturally reserved, who need time, who digest a lot and are really thoughtful and quiet, and take time to come to a conclusion. I need to give them time and space, and not rush them, or rush the overall team to a decision without allowing them the benefit of that time to digest.

DP: There is an elephant in the room we need to get to: the bank levy. [Announced in the federal budget in May, it applies to ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth and Macquarie. The policy was introduced on 1 July and is expected to raise $1.6 billion in the first year.] I’ve read much of what you said about the federal bank levy, and you seemed relatively fair about how you approached that. Your comments were very measured. The South Australian bank levy, when it was announced, raised some hackles. You’ve just used the word “immoral”. Or was it “unethical”? Would you like to explain that, and why you shot off the fence?
SE: I think the federal bank levy is wrong. I don’t think it’s good policy. I think it’s unfair to pick on an industry because they’re successful and say, “because people don’t like you, because you make a lot of money, we’ll tax it”. I don’t think that’s right. But, on the other hand, it has the support of all sides of politics. The people are represented by the parliament, and the parliament, across all parties, have agreed and support this. And so, our approach was to use our efforts to really have private conversations with the treasury and the government, to just talk through the implementation. We thought that was more effective than just banging the table. Actually, in my opinion, banging the table and shouting loudly would just reinforce people’s views that the banks are out of touch. Bringing in the state levy is different. Not everybody agrees with it. What is happening there is a wealth transfer underway from the rest of Australia to South Australia. I don’t think that’s right. And so what we said was, 94 per cent of our shareholders and customers do not live in South Australia [yet] they are being asked to absorb this. Because when people say, “Oh, you should absorb it,” that means the shareholders and the customers pay. It’s not a huge number. It’s not the money. It’s the principle. So we have to stand up for those stakeholders. That’s why we felt strongly about it, and felt we had to say something.

DP: One of the roles of a leader is to explain things in relatively simple terms for those who might not necessarily understand it. What do you think a few attributes of successful leaders are?
SE: Being able to listen and take feedback. I don’t just mean personal feedback. Yes, that’s important, but also ‘listen’ to what’s happening in the environment around you. One of the areas where leaders fail is in locking into a strategy or a view. The worst thing you can do is fall in love with your own strategy, because you rationalise staying the course when maybe you should listen and maybe you should change. Another [attribute of successful leaders] is having people who are very good at being self-aware, who understand their own weaknesses and mitigate that by hiring the right people in the team.

DP: Who are the leaders you have admired over your career?
SE: I’m not one of those people who has a big hero. I look at companies that I admire, and they tend to be those companies that I see as being talent factories. The obvious candidates are Procter & Gamble, GE and Hewlett-Packard. You could go there and learn how to be a manager and leader, and then go on to other companies. That’s extraordinary. The number of CEOs who’ve come out of those companies, Procter & Gamble and GE in particular, is extraordinary. At ANZ we want to be known for a number of things, but one of them is as a talent factory, and a company that creates great leaders. I think it’s a huge opportunity for us, actually, because I don’t think enough companies do pay attention to it.

ANZ board chairman David Gonski

DP: Quite often I think that leaders, when they get into leadership positions, they forget or they overlook the importance of managing upwards. What’s your relationship like with the ANZ board and the chair David Gonski? How do you manage upwards?
SE: I think, unfortunately, that term ‘managing upwards’ has a really bad connotation. It sounds manipulative. And maybe there’s a better way of stating it. [As a leader] you actually have to manage all your stakeholders, and they’re [the board and chair] just an important one. The reason I stepped out earlier [during the interview] was because my chairman was on the phone. So I think answering their phone calls is a good start. You have to build a really strong working relationship. I’m really lucky with David [Gonski]. He is very open and transparent. He always answers his phone. We speak formally once a week. And there are weeks where we speak once a day and many times a day, like this week. So I think it’s just about having openness. I have really worked hard with my board. I’ve actually never had a board before [so] I asked some people for advice. The advice was that it’s better to over-communicate, keep people aware of what you’re doing and thinking. Make sure that, with the board in particular that you don’t get into a transactional relationship. [Make sure] there is time for reflection and discussion, and open dialogue.

“I’m really lucky with David Gonski. He is very open and transparent. I think it’s just about having openness. I have really worked hard with my board.”

DP:  You’ve talked about the importance of embracing social media. What do you see as the pitfalls of social media for leaders?
SE: Our business is digital. Money has actually been digital for a long time and all we’re doing today, when we talk about digital, is giving people the tools to be able to see , manage and move their money on their phones or in another digital way. So I think it’s important that our people are interested in technology. We’re not a technology company, we’re a bank. But a big chunk of what we do is about technology. You cannot be successful in banking today if you’re not interested in technology. I don’t think it’s acceptable to be a senior executive in a bank today and say, “I’m not on Twitter. I don’t use social media”. You’ve got to be there, because that’s the way that people live today, and that gives you all sorts of insights into people’s experience of life, and what they want. And more and more, our customers’ expectations of us are set by their experiences on social media. What are the pitfalls? Well, Donald Trump can probably tell you more about this than me, but the pitfalls are that it’s in real time. It’s really hard to retract. It’s fraught with danger.

DP:  How would you describe the culture at ANZ?
SE: It’s a learning culture, a culture that is interested in technology, and a culture that is, ultimately, diverse and welcoming and team-based. Banks historically have very compliant cultures. There’s a pretty good reason for that, because of what we do for a living. We’re good at following rules and, you know, that can sometimes get in the way of being a learning company and an innovative and technology-focused company. So that’s part of our challenge, getting the balance right.

Freedom Fighter

 

In the Institute of Leaders and Managers new book, Leadership Matters, Transparency International boss Cobus de Swardt explains why he’s just as passionate now about combatting corruption as he was fighting the scourge of apartheid in the 1980s.

Transparency International is a global movement that brings together companies, governments and business to fight corruption on a worldwide scale. Operating in more than 100 countries, its headquarters are in Berlin. Managing director Cobus de Swardt was born and raised in South Africa, where he was jailed for refusing to undertake compulsory army service. He eventually fled South Africa for Australia under significant personal danger. He has headed Transparency International since 2007.

David Pich: I think in future years people will look back on this decade and the word corruption will be commonly used. What do you define as corruption?
Cobus de Swardt: I view corruption as the abuse of entrusted power for private and personal gain. This comes in many forms. One of the most significant ways to fight corruption is to fight for greater transparency – that’s why we’re called Transparency International.

DP: What do you define as transparency?
CDS: Definitions of concepts such as transparency, corruption, accountability and integrity are actually dynamic and evolving. It comes back to your opening question really. The last few years have seen definitions shift and transparency [as a concept] is developing faster than all the others. Some people [now] refer to a much more radical transparency. I believe that in five to 10 years’ time from now, this will, again, move quite dramatically. Five years ago, little attention was being paid to things like statutes of limitations, so governments could relatively easily do deals on arms or whatever [in the knowledge that] the statute of limitation would last for 30 years or more. But if that statute of limitation is five or 10 years, it becomes a very different issue even at a government level. So transparency is about making things much more difficult to hide and bringing things out into the light. In South Africa, as young [anti-apartheid] activists in the 1970s and 1980s we always wanted to have the right to speak the truth to those people in power, but now I think that [situation] is being reversed. We now want those in power to speak the truth to us! The notion of transparency being much more instant, much more direct, and dramatically more open. For example, if you look at corporate reporting, even four or five years ago companies didn’t want to report on their activities on a country-by-country basis. They would say, “Here’s our overall global financial statement”. It was very difficult to tell what was happening at a country level. That debate about transparency now seems like it happened two decades ago, but it didn’t, it was only five years ago. And now country-by-country reporting has become project-by-project reporting.

DP: What do you think can be done to see ethics and integrity placed at the heart of decision-making in leadership?
CDS: I think that it starts with the leader. Regulation and rules need to be in place of course, but leaders must constantly think about the values they want to promote. This question is at the heart of sound leadership. It’s much easier for a leader to think about the outcomes they want to deliver, but leaders need to constantly think about the underpinning values to these outcomes. If you think about social policy in general, I would argue that most social policies are often quite devoid of a strong value-driven framework. It’s often the same with leadership. Many leaders are driven by outcomes rather than values. That needs to change.

DP: I agree that many organisations are focused on outcome and output. A lot of a leader’s decision-making is linked to output, not to value. I think that ethical leadership is about a much stronger link between outcome and value. Decision-making is such an important part of successful leadership, don’t you think?
CDS: I do think there’s a very strong element that whatever you do you should at all times feel comfortable with that decision. If, for whatever reason, your decisions were to become public knowledge, would you feel comfortable with that? That’s the test of sound decision-making. In my role at Transparency International, I often have companies say to me, “Oh, this corruption thing, it’s so complicated, our people don’t know what to do because the laws are so . . . ” And I typically say, “Just use common sense”. I recommend using ‘The New York Times test!’ Ask yourself, if the decision I make were to appear on the front page of The New York Times, would I still do it? Probably 99 per cent of times you would say yes, but it’s the other one per cent that you need to think about. Being an ethical leader is about passing The New York Times test 100 per cent of the time.

How to use buy-in to build strong and productive teams

Welcome to the age of buy-in. Any company serious about keeping pace with a market that’s evolving faster than ever must create an environment where ideas can truly thrive. They must let go of slow and cumbersome models of leadership born in the industrial age. Managers must loosen the reins and ask people to think for themselves, generate ideas and find ways of bringing them to life, without waiting for someone higher up to tell them what to do.

This means exiting the world of leading by decree (top-down managing) and entering the world of ‘win me’ (using a collaborative approach), where people collaborate across teams and influence without authority.

Aside from its strategic importance, the emphasis on generating buy-in is something employees expect. Companies are asking more than ever of their people: more of their creative genius, more hours, more ownership, more initiative, more flexibility, more tolerance of ambiguity, change and chaos. In return, employees in this creative economy need and expect more – and that doesn’t just mean money. It means more autonomy and more freedom.

People who give more expect to have a voice. They expect to be heard and to be able to shape decisions about their work. They expect leaders to earn their support, not take it as a given. We want to work in organisations that match our own values; we want to be part of, and to initiate, company projects and initiatives.

We’re seeing a generation of people who are making decisions about where to work based on how their personal values map to company values.

David Noël, who heads internal communications at audio sharing service SoundCloud, sums it up perfectly: “We’re seeing a generation of people who are making decisions about where to work based on how their personal values map to company values. Today, more than twice as many employees are motivated by work passion than career ambition.”

It’s one thing to talk about the importance of getting people’s buy-in; it’s another to achieve it. In my own work, I regularly come across managers who are struggling to let go and give their team members the space to experiment, create and even (gasp!) fail. Often, these practices are at odds with the diet of management on which they themselves have been raised. It makes them feel uncomfortable. It seems chaotic and risky. At the same time, managers still need to manage, so how do they do that without managing by decree?

Some teams also struggle to embrace the degree of autonomy and entrepreneurship that is offered to them. Suddenly faced with a multitude of people they need to work with, and without a clear instruction manual from management, their mindset and skills are put to the test.

This is where teams and organisations can easily fall over: by failing to create a culture where people are able to influence and lead others, even when they’re not in a position of authority, and by failing to equip them with the skills to do so.

Well, there’s a new kind of power in town. It’s the power that comes to those who are able to cut through all of these challenges by engaging others and building buy-in. This is a skill that comes more naturally to some than others, but the good news is: it can be learned.

The gentle art of buy-in

To master the gentle art of buy-in you need a blend of the right skills, attributes and mindset. I use the term ‘gentle art’ because it requires patience, empathy and careful thinking. You need to know when to yield control in order to maintain it. You need a healthy dose of emotional intelligence. You need to be willing to go slow in order to go fast.

But even the best ideas in the world can languish in the hands of someone who doesn’t know how to engage and influence others – or worse, someone who simply puts people off.

Equally, buy-in shouldn’t equate to paralysis. Many of us have worked in a team or a company where there was so much consultation and committee-style decision-making that nothing ever happened. If that’s the case, your relationship with the idea of building buy-in might be a tad strained.

You need to know when buy-in is a function of gentle persuasion and dialogue, and when it’s a function of getting your train moving and asking others to jump on board.

The culture you’ve grown up in has a big part to play in whether you relate more to the ‘decree’ or ‘win me’ approach. For example, certain countries operate to a very formal, hierarchical norm, while others have a far more informal, egalitarian norm. Cultural norms can also come from your family upbringing, or your previous workplaces. All will shape your assumptions about the roles of authority and autonomy in the workplace.

Jim Collins: What the best leaders have in common

Jim Collins, leadership expert and author of the bestselling book Good to Great, is surprised by the findings of his latest research into what makes great companies successful, a topic he has studied for 25 years.

“To me it’s the most delightful bit of new research that we’ve done,” he says, joie de vivre crackling down the line from Boulder Colorado. That Collins and his long-time collaborator Morten Hansen found that luck does not distinguish the winners from the “others” was a huge surprise for him. “Our most successful leaders credit luck as helping them along the way. But luck itself doesn’t distinguish, it’s what you do with it. The big swing variable is return on luck. When luck hits you, whether it’s good or bad, it’s how the best leaders recognise it and are able to pivot on it in such a way that they get more out of that luck than anyone else would.”

CLIMBING MOUNTAINS

Collins is now “puzzling on this delicious idea” and wants to know the “alchemy of the ability to get a higher return on luck”. He’s also getting ready to head to this country for a series of presentations in Sydney and Melbourne and the long-time climber also wants “to test his hands on some Australian rock”. He sees close parallels with the approach he brings to his research and the vertiginous world of rock climbing – where he has scaled frankly scary edifices such as the 914-metre south face of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. The trick is to approach each challenge as if for the very first time. He declares: “I love to be a beginner and be pushed to expand my capabilities. The research journey has never been about finding what we expected to find. It was being open-minded and childlike about what the data would show.

The research journey has never been about finding what we expected to find

“In rock climbing I like picking the kind of climbs I’m not good at. I’ve been climbing for over 40 years, but every year or two I identify my two or three deficiencies as a climber. If I just did the sorts of climbing that suits me well, well that’s relatively dull.” Recently he’s been practising “off-widths”, a type of hold that’s apparently horrifying for a climber. “It’s a crack that is a really bad size – not big enough to get inside of, but it’s not small enough to wedge your hand in – it’s an in-between space. You feel like a victim of drowning when you try to climb up one of these spaces,” he adds quite gleefully.

To be able to lay down the foundations of mastering this hold Collins will have to go back to climbing basics. “There’s so much pressure, especially in the world that I walk, to always be an expert and I kind of like being a beginner and I hope I have that until the day I die.”

A GOOD LEADER ASKS QUESTIONS

Collins reads widely outside the business discipline and takes courses in esoteric subjects and believes managers can benefit from letting the outside in. “If you are a manager why not understand the history of China or biochemistry, you have the joy of learning which never ends.” Another tip a former Stanford professor gave him is to “rather than try and be interesting, be interested in others”. “It was a life-changing moment, you never know who you might be sitting next to at a dinner party or on an aeroplane, discover their passion or their inner life or specialist field.

“One of the things we learned way back in Good to Great was that these great leaders had a somewhat Socratic style. They were humble enough to know that they may not have the answers, but what they were really good at was asking the questions,” says Collins, who also rates detachment as a quality of a great leader.

“I think people confuse empowerment with detachment. The best executives that I’ve studied really know the details of what their people are doing. That doesn’t mean they are directing them but they are hyper aware because they are really curious. That doesn’t mean they jump in and are micro managers, it means they are micro aware.” He cites a former student’s experience of being a product manager at Microsoft in the early 1990s. He told Collins that when he was putting the packaging information on Windows 95 together, the person most interested in the process was Bill Gates. “In the early 1990s Microsoft was already a juggernaut and he was really engaged in this particular detail. He wasn’t telling, he was asking. If he could do that while running Microsoft then we could all do that,” he says.

 

PASSION AND DETERMINATION

Celebrity CEOs is another hot button issue for Collins. He’s adamant that his research shows no correlation between personality and leadership. “People confuse charisma and leadership. Being charismatic or not is as relevant as having blonde hair or brown hair. It’s about whether you are fundamentally ambitious for the company and willing to make the hard decisions. You have an incredible passion and determination for an organisation’s long-term role in the world. And it’s about your ability to get people to do what must be done rather than it being about you.”

But then what about the late and mercurial Steve Jobs, who was considered the messiah by Apple fanatics worldwide? “Steve Jobs was dedicated to doing everything he could to make Apple an enduringly great company. If he was a genius with 1000 helpers how do you explain Tim Cook or the designers or software writers? He is someone whose great successes were pretty boring – it was about getting the right people in to build the systems and organise them into an incredible culture. He was focused on building a great company that would last beyond him. And towards the end he was racing against the clock to do that.”

Collins believes that middle managers in not-so-great-companies can even make a difference with this attitude. He says take a leaf out of the military and focus on your “unit and troops”. “If you make it a pocket of greatness you are more likely to die of indigestion of too much opportunity for responsibility, than starvation for too little. Even if you don’t, fundamentally you owe it to your people to create a great place to work, if you manage six or 20 people, it doesn’t matter.”

JIM COLLINS’ LEADERSHIP GLOSSARY

Level 5 Leaders:

Level 5 is about really relentless extreme ambition but it’s channelled outside yourself. That’s the essence of level 5 – it’s ambition channelled into something that’s bigger and more enduring than you are – that often shows up in more self-effacing people but it doesn’t have to.

The bus:

To illustrate how people-smart leaders work, Collins uses the analogy of the bus driver. He says most assume that these “bus drivers” start the journey by announcing to the passengers where they are going, by setting a new direction or articulating a fresh corporate vision. Not so. Great leaders start not from “where” but with “who”. “They start by getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus and the right people in the right seats. And they stick with that discipline – first the people, then the direction – no matter how dire the circumstances.”

Hedgehogs:

“What being a hedgehog means is that you are doing something so distinctive and with sheer excellence that if your company disappeared it would leave a hole that could not be easily filled by any other institution. In an uncertain global business environment being a hedgehog is even more important not less. Push yourself to the next big thing rather than worrying about what others might do. You still need to be hyper vigilant about outside market forces and changing consumer tastes, but to truly be a great hedgehog, you are not asking ‘what’s the next big thing’, you are asking ‘what’s the next big thing we are going to do?’”