Beyond The Obvious

In this conversation, I had the great pleasure of chatting with Brook Monahan, Founder and Managing Director of Mosaic Property Group, one of Queensland’s most awarded and respected residential property developers.

I’ve known Brook for 15 years and have watched him evolve and grow as a businessperson over that time. He is forever pushing himself and his team to standards that are uncommonly high. During our chat, we talk about the drivers that have fuelled his intensity and some of the lessons that he has learned over his 20 years in business.

What is remarkable is that Brook is only 43. With his relentless focus and drive, he has managed to squeeze more than one lifetime of business experience into the past 20 years. Given his youth and energy and his genuine reflective perspective, I think his next 20 years will be very exciting to watch.

I hope you find the conversation as invigorating and inspiring as I did. Enjoy.

Brook Monahan can be found at:

Web: https://www.mosaicproperty.com.au/

Podcast Music: The Spiel by Flag Duty. Copyright 2019. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/flag-duty/1473761192

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In this conversation, I had the pleasure of chatting with Marcus Burns, Portfolio Manager for Spheria Asset Management, a fundamental-based small cap equity manager, based in Sydney.

Marcus’s investment background includes a stint working for GLG Partners in London, one of Europe’s largest Hedge Funds, as a portfolio manager for their global consumer focused fund. Investing in illiquid and emerging markets, both from the long and short side during his time at GLG, has given Marcus a unique perspective on how to manage risk, which is critical when investing in small cap Australian equities.

One of the important character traits to successful investing over the long term is humility. When you’ve been doing it long enough, owning your fallibility helps you reduce your poor decision rate and keeps you motivated to do the work required to sniff out opportunity. It was so clear from our conversation, that Marcus’s humility is central to his success.

As an investor in small cap Aussie equities myself, I found this conversation most helpful, particularly regarding what pitfalls to avoid and how to find value in a market segment that often sells more dreams than reality. I hope you find as much value in the chat as I did. Enjoy.

Marcus Burns can be found at:

Web:  https://spheria.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-burns-8484061/

Podcast Music: The Spiel by Flag Duty. Copyright 2019. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/flag-duty/1473761192

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In this conversation, I had the pleasure of chatting with Pat Howard, ex-Wallaby, ex-Head Coach for the Leicester Tigers Rugby Club, ex-Manager of Team Performance for Cricket Australia, and current-CEO of MPower MSL Ltd, an ASX-listed sports software business.

During our chat, we talked about Pat’s transition from player to coach, coach to sports administrator and administrator to CEO and many of the challenges he faced along the way.

There is so much contradiction inside leadership. It requires courage and sensitivity; boldness, yet humility; and respect, while at times, the strength to be unpopular.

It was so clear from our chat that Pat has grown into a leader with all of these qualities in spades. To be able to learn from him, even for a moment, was a gift.

I hope you learn as much from our chat as I did. Enjoy.

Pat Howard can be found at:

Web:  https://mpowermsl.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pat-howard-3009a415/

Email: [email protected]

Podcast Music: The Spiel by Flag Duty. Copyright 2019. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/flag-duty/1473761192

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In this conversation, I had the pleasure of chatting with Chris Tate; trader, trader mentor and director of Trading Game, a Melbourne based trader mentoring business which has been mentoring traders for the past 21 years.

Having personally been a trader since 1994, I’ve had a few too many moments where I thought I knew it all.  And while I was looking forward to having a chat with Chris, given his success as a trading mentor, truthfully, I didn’t really expect to learn a whole lot. To my surprise and delight, I found myself genuinely engaged in Chris’s perspectives. Simple insights such as how to remove compulsion from trading decisions and the idea that the markets are not a competition. Chris left me energized regarding the opportunities available in markets.

It’s refreshing to hear a trader mentor who has built a highly visible and successful online business, speak truth to what it takes to be a successful trader. There was no spruik, no embellishment, just some simple takeaways that are valuable for any self-directed trader or investor.

I hope you enjoy the chat as much as I did.

Chris Tate can be found at:

Web:  https://www.tradinggame.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TradingGame/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/game_trading/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christatetrader/

Email: [email protected]

Podcast Music: The Spiel by Flag Duty. Copyright 2019. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/flag-duty/1473761192

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In this conversation, I had the pleasure of chatting with John Deniz, the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Paragon Funds Management, a fundamental, high conviction, long-short equity manager, based in Melbourne.

John is a mechanical engineer by training, so it was fascinating drawing out his process driven edge and also talking about Paragon’s investment in Gold related equities in the current environment.

It should be noted of course, that none of this conversation should be considered advice. Before you run off and load up on gold equities or anything else that we discuss, please do your own research or seek your own advice.

Managing money is not all beer and skittles. One of the hardest things as a fund manager is managing all that comes with a performance drawdown. The personal stresses, the external expectations, the mechanics of handling liquidity and redemptions. While Paragon has had stellar returns since its inception in 2013, they experienced a difficult drawdown in 2018. It’s always great to hear with candour how managers handle challenges as well as successes and I’m grateful for being able to chat with John about how he handled this experience and what he learned.

I hope you find the chat as valuable as I did. Enjoy.

John Deniz can be found at:

Website: https://www.paragonfunds.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-deniz-04448a19/

Podcast Music: The Spiel by Flag Duty. Copyright 2019. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/flag-duty/1473761192

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In this conversation, I have a chat with Chris Gordon. Chris is a Director of Australian recruitment company – Profusion Group, which specialises in the banking and financial services sector. As well as being a career coach, Chris manages a broad range of client relationships, working with small businesses through to the big four banks and industry superfunds.

Chris reached out to me to have this conversation as a simple way of contributing to jobseekers at an obviously challenging time in the job market. Chris wanted to provide some useful content to give jobseekers the best chance of getting placed.

I thought it was great idea and obviously very timely. During our chat, we talk about the state of the current jobs market, how to best prepare your CV and LinkedIn profile, how employers are managing the recruitment process remotely and how to best engage with recruitment agencies to maximise your opportunity set.

It’s been some years since I was in the job market, but I know plenty of people who are. While Chris was under no illusions that the current jobs market is tough, there are definitely strategies to maximise your chances of getting a job.

If you’re currently looking in the job market, I hope you find our chat of value. If you know of someone that might find value in Chris’s insights, please pass it on. Enjoy.

Chris Gordon can be found at:

Website: https://profusiongroup.com/

Email: [email protected]

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophergordon1/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/christopher.gordon_?igshid=1j2vs1mg5qt8c

Podcast Music: The Spiel by Flag Duty. Copyright 2019. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/flag-duty/1473761192  

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In this conversation, I had the pleasure of chatting with Tom King, the Chief Investment Officer of Nanuk Asset Management, an award winning sustainable investment manager, based in Sydney.

Tom’s also an Olympic gold medalist, having won gold in sailing at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Tom has such a high-performance focus. It was fascinating talking about what it takes in terms of mindset to become the best in the world. I found the skills crossover between sailing and investing surprising, but once I understood it, it was no surprise that Tom has become so good at managing risk and uncertainty.

The chat with Tom was a treat for me. We talked about investment and high-performance all in the one conversation. I hope you find it as valuable as I did. Enjoy.

Tom King can be found at:

Work: https://www.nanukasset.com/

Podcast Music: The Spiel by Flag Duty. Copyright 2019. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/flag-duty/1473761192

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In this episode, I had a chat with Stephen Moore, ex-captain of the Wallabies; the Australian Rugby Union team. It was an enlightening chat around high performance culture and the balancing of high-performance imperatives with the values of respect and humility.

Interestingly, Steve’s drivers for success are framed by his team’s success. I found this both unusual and refreshing, for many high-performance focused people have a more self-focused perspective.

For those familiar with Steve’s rugby journey, you’ll remember his injury in his first Test as Wallaby Captain, which sat him on the injury bench for a year. Hearing how Steve coped with that setback was instructive and inspiring.

Steve now works for the North Australia Pastoral Company or NAPCo as their General Manager of Corporate and Commercial. When you listen to Steve through this episode, you’ll understand how his unique perspective from all that he has learned, is serving him well in his transition to corporate life.

It was a great pleasure chatting with Steve and I hope you enjoy the chat as much as I did.

Stephen Moore can be found at:

Work: https://napco.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenmoorerugby/

Podcast Music: The Spiel by Flag Duty. Copyright 2019. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/flag-duty/1473761192

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In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Kathryn Young, the Head of Investments for Cambooya Pty Ltd, the Fairfax Family Office.

Kathryn’s had an interesting investment career having previously worked for Mutual Trust and the Myer Family office as Director of Investment research and for Morningstar as Director of Manager Research. This puts Kathryn in a unique position in having met and interviewed many of Australia’s top fund managers across all asset classes. Despite the informational barrage in the world of investments, Kathryn’s focus on clarity and simplicity cuts through the overwhelm to find managers that generate repeatable returns.

By the end of our conversation, Kathryn left me feeling at ease in a world of complexity, which speaks firstly to her depth of understanding and perspective, but also to her humility. I really enjoyed our chat. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

Kathryn Young can be found at:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-young-cfa-8323766/

Podcast Music: The Spiel by Flag Duty. Copyright 2019. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/flag-duty/1473761192

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