"You need to live through the board meetings and the committee meetings and the annual cycle." - Julie Coates

Julie Coates, Director of Wesfarmers and former CEO and Managing Director of CSR, discusses what successful director onboarding actually looks like in practice. From pre-joining meetings with each existing director to understanding board dynamics, from coordinating with business unit leaders to leveraging the company secretary's support, Julie provides a comprehensive playbook for new directors joining complex organisations. She discusses why onboarding should start before the first board meeting, how to be purposeful about timing, and the importance of patience in contributing effectively during your first year on the board.

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Note: Julie Coates was interviewed in September 2025. Since this interview, Julie has ceased to be a director of the Green Building Council of Australia and been appointed as a director of Scentre Group.

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"I find when I talk about these two organisations which prima facie comparable in revenue terms, that the inclination of people is to put more emphasis on Kogan in terms of complexity and scale. When in fact, I think the reverse is true, and substantially so." - Greg Ridder

Greg Ridder, Chair of Kogan.com and Life Without Barriers, discusses where governance complexity truly lies when comparing listed and NFP organisations. Drawing from his experience chairing both a $500M listed e-commerce platform and a $1B not-for-profit human services organisation, Greg explains why Life Without Barriers' 12,000 distributed workforce serving 25,000 vulnerable clients presents far greater governance challenges than Kogan's algorithmically-driven retail operation.

Greg explores how NFP governance demands unique approaches including two-way governance with Indigenous communities, applying governance at operational frontiers, and managing stakeholders who cannot represent themselves. He discusses director remuneration differences between sectors, why values alignment becomes essential for NFP boards, and which governance skills transfer successfully across both domains.

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"Purpose and profit collide. Now in a beautiful world, they work together. But they require a series of choices and trade-offs, and they require enormous integrity." - Audette Exel AO

Audette Exel, Chair and Founder of Adara Group and former Director of Westpac and Suncorp, explains how to build a purpose-driven business model where purpose and profit coexist. Drawing from her experience creating Adara's structure where an investment banking business funds international development work, Audette explains why traditional not-for-profit funding models create asset-liability mismatches and how she designed an alternative that's survived nearly three decades. She discusses the practical challenges of balancing commercial and development priorities, why purpose must trump profit when they conflict, and how to avoid the trap where purpose becomes marketing rather than operational reality.

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"The perfect decision is rarely the right decision" - Catherine Livingstone AC

Catherine Livingstone AC, former Chair of the Commonwealth Bank and Telstra, discusses why seeking perfect information can be a director's worst enemy.

In this episode, Catherine explains how boards navigate ambiguity, when to stop asking for more information, and why judgement - not process - sits at the centre of effective governance.

With practical insights from chairing some of Australia's most significant organisations, Catherine explains what separates directors who can make tough calls from those who avoid them.

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"Value created to time used is the most important metric." - Phil Morle

Phil Morle, Chair of v2 Food, Samsara Eco, Eden Brew and Nourish Ingredients, and Partner at Main Sequence Ventures, discusses how boards can govern companies where being unprofitable is the strategy for years. He explains the concept of "binary companies" where revenue doesn't gradually increase but literally turns on after years of investment, and why traditional governance approaches fail in these environments.

Phil shares practical frameworks including burn-down charts that track cash runway and the "slam dunk financing" slide that defines what must be delivered before the money runs out. He discusses why directors need elasticity and imagination rather than rigid metrics, how to create psychological safety when bad news is routine, and why boards must get into the swamp rather than passively reviewing reports.

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"The objectives are not necessarily monetary related - but how do we add more value to what those members do in their jobs?" - Anthony Wright

Anthony Wright, Independent Director of CPA Australia and Chair of Hanlon Industries, explains the governance challenges that arise for organisations that exist to serve members rather than shareholders.

Drawing from his experience with CPA Australia's 170,000 members across 50 countries, Anthony explores how such boards measure success through member satisfaction and educational outcomes rather than financial metrics alone as well as the the sophisticated governance architecture required to ensure that members are appropriate represented on the board, while also ensuring the right skills are available and that there's independence and diversity of thought.

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"In smaller organisations, I prefer a board director on my board who will err towards being more hands-on than hands-off." - Mike Gonski

Mike Gonski, Chair of ReachOut Australia and Carriageworks and partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, challenges conventional governance wisdom about board size and director involvement. He explains why he prefers larger boards where directors actively contribute their expertise rather than maintaining strict separation between board and management. Mike shares practical approaches for preventing director overreach, knowing when to move conversations offline, and why smaller NFPs genuinely need hands-on board contributions to fill capability gaps.

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"Technology and the business are almost one and the same." - Peter James

Peter James, Chair of MYOB, Macquarie Technology Group and DroneShield, and former Chair of Nearmap and Ansarada, explains why boards must stop treating technology as separate from business strategy, how to establish frameworks for evaluating major technology investments, and the critical importance of post-implementation reviews to drive continuous improvement.

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"There shouldn't be two lists. There should just be the list of things that need to be done." - Julie Coates

Julie Coates, Director of Wesfarmers and former CEO and Managing Director of CSR, shares practical guidance for managing board actions/matters arising effectively. Drawing from experience on both sides of the boardroom table, Julie explains why action items without context can be unhelpful and how company secretaries can apply disciplined thinking to distinguish between actions that add value and those that don't.

She discusses the importance of post-meeting conversations between the chair, CEO, and company secretary to refine action lists, why management often already has the information boards request, and techniques for dealing with unrealistic or unfocused board requests during meetings.

This episode provides company secretaries and governance professionals with concrete strategies for making board actions more effective whilst maintaining credibility with both boards and management teams.

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"It's simply attract and retain... but once you deconstruct that, it's all about how do you get the right talent, the right incentive, the right people in place." - Greg Ridder

Greg Ridder, Chair of Kogan.com and Life Without Barriers, shares the practical realities of executive remuneration decision making. From navigating proxy advisor resistance to managing shareholder strikes, Greg discusses how boards can maintain fairness principles while handling market pressures.

This episode tackles the challenging balance between attracting top talent, satisfying stakeholders, and creating incentive structures that actually drive value creation.

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