What Leaders Know

Jacqui Borland is the CEO of ASPECT, Australia's largest Autism Service Provider. Jacqui's early career began after she added a qualification in teaching to her science degree. However, the diagnosis of Autism in her first child honed her focus further, as she began a career-long journey into improving the educational outcomes for Autistic children. Jacqui shares her unique leadership journey where her personal and professional compass drive her to improve opportunities and outcomes for Autistic people. Jacqui is proud to lead a national organisation where the focus is on a culture of high-performance leadership to deliver on the mission: "understanding, engaging, and celebrating the strengths, interests & aspirations of people on the Autism spectrum." Jacqui's leadership career spans decades at a national level, and in this conversation she shares her knowledge and insights into the development and leadership of teams who share her passion and drive for excellence.

In this, the second part of our conversation with Queensland Police Service, Assistant Commissioner, and Operations Commander, COVID-19 Command Shane Chelepy, we get to the nub of leading under pressure.Shane shares the pointy end of his leadership career, and opens up about the complexities, challenges and rewards of Commanding the operations of the COVID19 Command, from its inception at the onset of the pandemic to the ongoing journey.Shane provides people on leadership journeys with tangible insights into his thinking, reflections, insights and takeaways as he navigated and led a pathway for the Operations Command COVID19 of the Queensland Police Service.

Episode 5 of What Leaders Know is Part 1 of a two-part conversation with Assistant Commissioner, Queensland Police Service, Shane Chelepy. Shane is Operations Commander of the COVID-19 Command with QPS. In our two-part conversation, Shane takes us on his journey to becoming an accomplished and successful leader within the Queensland Police Service.Episode 5 is Part 1 of this conversation. Shane talks about his early journey into the adventures of policing, quickly tempered by significant early learning experiences. Shane discusses his exposure to the courageous leadership of some senior police who led the critical cultural change in the wake of the Fitzgerald Inquiry. He shares that this led him to focus on excelling as he grew a leadership career across a diverse range of the organisation’s operations and Commands.Shane shares stories, insights and leadership takeaways gained across the diverse roles including State Coordinator, Queensland Water Police and Superintendent, Counter Terrorism, Strategic Policy Unit. These became the platform for his later promotions into the executive roles as Assistant Commissioner.And finally, in his wrap up of Part 1 of our conversation, Shane speaks candidly about some of his failures, and what he learnt about leadership from these experiences.Across this Episode, Shane shares great takeaways from his own experiences that will resonate for those on their own journeys to leadership.

Mitra Khakbaz, Deputy CEO of Host International believes we must weave diversity through the very fibre of our organisations, across all levels of form and function to meet the growing diversity of our society.Mitra asks how do we begin to hear the diverse voices of people who are refugees or who have been displaced from their countries of origin? Mitra speaks of the role of participatory leadership where all voices are heard through a process that facilitates participation and power-sharing within communities. Apart from her work with Host International, Mitra is on a personal mission to empower and support women and girls going through resettlement in Australia. In her conversation, she shares insights into her emerging conceptual framework for a support network that seeks to address the pressing issues for this cohort of women. Across our conversation, Mitra draws on a rich tapestry of her own unique journey as a young woman, seeking a secure future in Australia.Mitra shares insights about the numerous challenges and barriers women face when they find themselves displaced from their country of origin. She shares insights into participatory protection that is a feature of some of Host International's place-based initiatives across South East Asia.Mitra is generous in sharing her leadership reflections, sharing insights into her own lifelong learning journey to leadership, leaving us with much to reflect on as we move forward in our own journeys.

Accomplished leaders have many traits and tools in their leadership toolkits. One of the leadership tools we all possess, but frequently overlook, is Intent. Intent is a power-tool in the toolkit of anyone building a leadership career. Intent charges up our energy and points us in the direction of our future. However, Intent can also be illusive. When we feel we are losing the traction in our careers, it may be that our career Intent has slipped into idle. Many accomplished leaders include a check on their Career Intent annually to ensure they focussed and injecting energy into the ongoing development of their leadership career.

Zane Ali is now part of a unique alumni. Zane is a young and accomplished leader who took up his first C-Suite role in 2020, just as COVID presented itself on the world stage. As Interim CEO of MS Queensland, a Statewide, For Purpose organisation responding to the needs of people living with Multiple Sclerosis, Zane met COVID19 head on as he navigated the organisation successfully through 2020.In this Episode Zane shares how he took his financial skills into the Corporate sector straight out of uni, however he had intrinsic drivers that pulled him towards the For Purpose Sector.Zane has brought his unique skill-set of financial acumen, business savvy and a deep empathy for people in need into the For Purpose sector, where he has grown in career for the past fifteen years. Zane’s narrative will engage listeners, no matter where they are on their own leadership journey.

What trends are emerging in the leadership of Independent Schools as we move into this decade? This episode will be of interest to those pursuing a leadership career in the Education Sector, and in particular, leadership in the Independent Schooling Sector. David Robertson, Executive Director, Independent Schools Queensland, shares his reflections, insights and takeaways from a lengthy leadership career in the Independent Schooling Sector in two States. David brings a unique lens to the future of leadership in the education sector and its journeyman, technology.

Have you ever asked a group of people the same question, and marvelled at how the unique lens of each individual shapes the answer to that question? I asked eight leaders to answer my question “why does leadership matter?” In this episode of What Leaders Know you can tune into the wisdom derived from eight unique leaders, and reflect on what your own answer would be were I to ask you..”Why does leadership matter?”

This episode takes us on Garth Callender’s leadership journey which is marked by deployments to Iraq in 2004 and 2006 and a final deployment to Afghanistan in 2009 in Command of the Weapons Intelligence Team. In his first deployment, Garth became the first serious Australian casualty of that war. Garth brings 20 years of Military experience with the Australian Armed Forces to his Company, Trebuchet Pivot. Garth works with leadership teams in the Corporate sector to identify, unpack and plan for the complex layers of risk that present in our contemporary business environment. This conversation takes us into a unique journey to leadership, with great insights for people on leadership journeys.

This episode will be a value-add for leaders looking for sustainable growth in their organisations or departments. Leaders who adopt an evidence-based approach to decision-making and professional practice and services are on a winner. Dr Lisa Griffiths shares how she has embedded an evidence base to the processes and practices at OzChild and the sustainable growth this delivers.