On 20 June the LIP attended BlueScope for a tour of the Steelworks, expertly guided by Inside Industry tour guides Rick Bonnor and John Stewart. We were impressed with the steel making operations and the opportunity to witness the many activities taking place at Port Kembla and hear more about those planned for the future. Following the tour, we heard from Tania Archibald, BlueScope’s Chief Executive Australian Steel Products. Tania generously shared her leadership advice and experiences and answered questions from the group. Some of Tania’s invaluable leadership advice is captured below:
Following the leadership session, Leela Kempton, a former BlueScope Technology and Development Engineer, delivered a vote of thanks on behalf of the LIP. Thanking Tania for hosting our visit and expanding our knowledge of the scale of BlueScope’s global operations and its impact in the Illawarra and national economy.
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The LIP 2023 Mentoring Program launched this week with a briefing and networking session at SmartSpace, UOW Innovation Campus where the LIP came together and met their mentor for the first time. Each LIP member has been matched with one of Illawarra’s experienced leaders who will be mentoring them over the next four months.
Previous participants have said that the mentoring part of the LIP is one of the highlights of the program - having someone to bounce ideas off, guide them, offer advice, new perspectives and motivation and support is invaluable in enabling further career and personal growth. A previous LIP participant shared that “one of the richest learnings gained from the program was through my mentor. He was someone who brought extraordinary experience and insights into personal growth and development, and gave me a great boost in confidence around my personal attributes”. We wish the LIP every success with their mentor journey and look forward to their updates on what they have learned. Thank you to our generous mentors for making this possible! The LIP attended the first of three UOW Masterclasses on Saturday 1 April, presented by Associate Professor Michael Mehmet on Marketing. Michael is an expert in Marketing, Digital Communication and Digital Research and took the LIP through a fast-paced overview of marketing. We covered marketing basics, marketing’s role in an organisation, customer value, strategic planning through to top trends in marketing: social media; video; influencer, personalisation and the hot right now topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and its uses in marketing. Acknowledging the future of marketing will increasingly involve more AI and automation, the LIP worked through a number of group exercises centred around market segmentation, positioning, branding and utilised AI to create and refine a marketing communication strategy. Participants enjoyed Michael's engaging and entertaining delivery style, and the masterclass format that supported networking and knowledge sharing. They said it was a great opportunity to learn more about artificial intelligence for marketing, brand voice and customer value - all in under six hours. The LIP were encouraged to try out the latest AI tools on offer after the Masterclass like Copilot, Jasper AI, Copy.ai and QuillBot AI to explore AI further and apply to their own organisation’s product or service. On 8 March, Easy Agile hosted a site visit at their Regent Street Wollongong Head Office. We were warmly welcomed by Co-CEOs, Dave Elkan and Nick Muldoon, Engineering Manager Maysa Safadi, and Partner Manager and LIP Alumni Hayley Rodd.
After a tour of the Easy Agile offices, we heard from the Co-CEOs on what Easy Agile does and learned about their rapid business growth, leadership journey and lessons learned. Put simply, Easy Agile writes software to help developers write software. They’re proud to support over 150,000 users in over 40 countries and have a diverse range of customers across different industries like Adobe, Amazon, Adidas, Cisco, Ubisoft and Vodafone. Dave and Nick have deliberately founded their business on balance, balancing self, family, community, and work. They explained that if you and the team can work close to home and “don’t have an hour commute to work, you’ve got the flexibility to craft the life that works for you”. By supporting their staff well, they are then able to support the customer and exceed their expectations. Engineering Manager, Maysa Safadi shared what it’s like to be in a leadership role at Easy Agile, where she has been acknowledged and supported. She also supports UOW students to gain skills and experience through a graduate and internship program. Maysa also explained the features of Agile project management, the methodology adopted by Easy Agile, where Agile teams work on phases of projects concurrently and use Agile ceremonies to organise their ever-changing work. These were new concepts to understand, as many of the LIP are accustomed to the Waterfall project management method (more linear, less flexible and the end results are established at the beginning of a project). The LIP had the opportunity to learn more in a question and answer session that included topics like: - what it’s like to be a Co-CEO - how to balance flexibility for staff with output - how to move from a software engineering background to leadership - collecting and using customer feedback - support and communication tools for staff who work remotely - taking the brave leap to grow the business Mitch Bell delivered a vote of thanks on behalf of the LIP, thanking Dave, Nick, Maysa and Hayley for hosting our visit, for sharing their leadership journeys, and highlighting the many benefits of adopting an empathetic leadership style and flexible work practices. The 2023-24 LIP commenced on 31 January 2023 with a launch event at Utopia Café Bar, Wollongong. The event was hosted by Program Partners RDA Illawarra, Sydney Business School, University of Wollongong and The Illawarra Connection and was a great opportunity to welcome and induct the new cohort.
The twenty-eight participants are from a diverse range of Illawarra businesses and industries, from small business through to large corporates. RDA Illawarra CEO Debra Murphy, outlined the history, objectives, structure and success factors of the program. The LIP then worked in groups to discuss their expectations and personal goals, what they hope to get out of the program and their suggestions for events to include over the next two years. There was an abundance of ideas and new perspectives shared and we look forward to getting started! Images by Brad Chilby The Leadership Illawarra Program graduates were sparkling in red as we congratulated them on their graduation from the two-year program at The Illawarra Connection December 2022 dinner.
Their achievement, and 10 Years of the Leadership Illawarra Program was celebrated in style with LIP Alumni, Program Partners and mentors in attendance. Congratulations to the class of 2021-2022, we wish you well in your continuing leadership journey! Images by Brad Chilby |
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