I’m particularly passionate about the better delivery of public services, and Defence. I have been in business for as long as I was in government, but I was never truly excited by selling another $m of business. I have been very proud about delivering better aged care, health, diplomatic services, border control, education and, particularly my alma mater, Defence.

The public sector is the glue that holds the country together. The safety net for many. It should be a place people aspire to work because it’s good work and they can make a difference. The public sectors, State and Federal, should be extraordinary and world class The nation should look to our public sector as the pinnacle of professionalism, a place to which to aspire. Unfortunately, for many reasons, I don’t think that is what we have today. I want to be part of moving that dial.

I usually find myself in the middle of big change, the urgent, and the failing. Working commercial arrangements across the public-private boundary, or inter-organisational and inter jurisdictional problems. My superpower (everyone has one) seems to be in negotiations, strategic deal making, and challenging the norm. Finding ways to get things done quickly and sensibly applying commercial practices to public sector delivery has been part of that success. Always staying within the rules but not living by the status quo.

Consensus is the pathway to mediocrity, and mediocrity isn’t acceptable.

My first adventure was foundational, twenty plus years in the Australian Army. Traditional advice is ‘don’t volunteer’. It’s poor advice, especially if you are young and have the runway to recover from mistakes. The Army took me around the world, to the SAS, university multiple times including in the UK and Harvard. I ran projects that were super-secret, a few research programs, projects worth billions of dollars, and negotiated with the Khmer Rouge in the jungles of Cambodia. It was pretty full on, very exciting, and not once was I by myself.

I miss what I did – every day. I also miss being 35. I’m not sure I miss what I would have been doing for a further 20+ years though. I decided to leave the Army because its lustre had dulled a little. Maybe I had grown up. I also met a CEO and founder who said, “if you leave now your second adventure could be as long as your first”. So, I left, not sure what I was getting into – but I liked the guy.

My second adventure was in industry. From running a multi-national business across Asia, Pacific and Japan, to a general manager in a local start-up. I’ve been through public listings, board spills, CEO assassinations, and the dot com crash. I learned a lot but didn’t like it much, especially big companies. Too much about self.

Not finding a company I really wanted to work for, I started one. With just one objective – to assist those who have the courage to make a difference be successful. Making money was important, not just for me but for those who worked with me. But it wasn’t the reason for coming to work, it was a by-product.

We focussed on merging the learnings of public and private sector experiences and applying them to deliver better, more affordable, focussed, meaningful social outcomes. We didn’t pursue growth – we wanted the reputation of being extraordinary at getting things done.

We were successful, not huge, maybe 50-60 people at our peak. Our job was getting things done, especially the urgent and unusual. We did IT, infrastructure, aged care, oil and gas, Defence, logistics, COVID recovery, catering in Afghanistan, logistics in Timor to name a few. Big projects, well above our weight.

One day I simply didn’t want to do it anymore, and that’s a story to be told one day perhaps. I was in danger of breaking the cardinal rule: do something else before you start disliking what you are doing.

In the middle of all that, I had a family and a life. Diving instructor, equestrian, built a house, ran a farm, was the chair of an orchestra, and a few national board positions.

I am now on my third adventure. It has taken a while to work out where I want to go, and I have found the transition harder than I would have thought. It’s not a mapped-out business plan this time, because I don’t want to build a business. More freedom, more freedom, more contribution.

I want to leverage and share what I have learned. I want to learn more – formally and informally. From electronics and economics to AI.

I want to contribute. Opinion based on observation an experience but backed by the robustness of research and evidence.

So here we are, a lot to do and I find I am still in a hurry.