Australian native Dr David Rock turned the traits of traditional leadership upside down in 2006 when he coined the term NeuroLeadership and preached its benefits to anybody who’d listen.

Now based in Manhattan, the former Sydney-sider is a highly sought-after speaker with a following that generates massive interest wherever he goes. He spoke to Australian Institute of Management Media and Communications Manager Grant Stockwell AFAIM in preparation for his exclusive presentation at AIM Brisbane on Monday 3 March.

Q: In layman’s terms what is NeuroLeadership?

A: It’s the study of leadership and leadership development from the perspective of what happens in the brain. It’s looking at what happens when we try to i

Gayle Marshall is joint managing director of Big Bridge, a Queensland company that produces TV commercials, audio-visuals, websites, CD-ROMs and DVDs. Marshall is also a director of the Brisbane Powerhouse. She worked in children’s television production at Channel Nine in Brisbane, and reported and presented the news, before starting her own business.

You started out working as a television presenter and in TV production. How did you find the transition to running your own company?

The transition was easy and enjoyable. My last job in television was in news. When you report on news, you find a story, and for the most part it’s over and done on the day with a 30 to 50- second piece. With corporate communications and the kind of work I was doing, and indeed am still doing today, the difference is that you can get on to a story or a program and follow it through. You really get to learn a lot about a lot of different things. You get to meet fabulous people in all sorts of places and visit interesting work sites.

What are the biggest management challen

Jackie Wagstaff is principal of the financial planning and wealth management group Prescott Consultants in Adelaide. She was a founding partner of Penbroke Financial Planners. When 50% of the firm was sold to Ord Minnett, she became a director of Ord Minnett SA. Prescott Consultants was established in 2001 when Ord Minnett SA was sold to the Investor Group. Wagstaff is also on the advisory board of the Bachelor of Banking and International Finance at Flinders University.

How did you move into your area of work?

I didn’t enter the workforce until I was 30, with no skills. I worked for three years for a publishing company, then with accountants and solicitors in the late 1970s promoting tax schemes. The loopholes relating to those were closed, and I was approached by a licensed securities dealer to look at getting into financial planning.

That’s different – how has it shaped your skills?

My skills in relation to dealing with people, and men in particular, have allowed me to get on in what has been very much a man’s world. Only a sm

James Broadbent is the business manager for Centrelink Audit in Canberra, in charge of strategic business planning for the national audit function in Centrelink, managing a panel of contractors providing internal audit services, and developing financial management and audit information systems for a multimillion-dollar annual budget. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Management.

AIM: What attracted you to work in management?

Broadbent: I wasn’t entirely sure after university what I wanted to do and I thought that going into something with a management flavor would cover a number of bases that I could stream into once I had my foot in the door.

AIM: Has it been an issue that at 29 you are young for a manager?

Broadbent: It’s potentially an issue if you let it be one, particularly if you have staff who are much older and have more on-the-job experience. You have to demonstrate that you are able to do the work and do it well, and with that comes respect. Being a good manager means you have to both do the work and manag

Colleen McGann is managing director and company secretary of St Luke’s Private Hospital in Launceston, St Luke’s Health Insurance and the computer processing company QM Services. Among other public positions she is chairwoman of the Health Benefits Council of Tasmania and a member of the Australian Health Insurance Technical Committee. Colleen is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

AIM: The health sector is facing big issues. What specific management challenges does this hold for you?

McGann: It is riddled with challenges. Some are caused by misunderstanding in the minds of the general public because it is a such a political topic. We need to try to demystify some of the misinformation. That’s been our biggest challenge for the past 10 years or so.

AIM: Critics of Medicare say it is unsustainable in its present form. How do you assess its future?

McGann: There will always be a Medicare. I have no doubt the form of it will change. But what was it there for in the first place? If you go back to what Neal Ble

Penni Tastula is the CEO of the Northern Gateway Group, a Darwin-based group of tourism companies. She has had 30 years’ experience in tourism and serves on the board of the Northern Territory Tourist Commission. She has served as a commissioner for the NT Gaming Commission and on the NT Police Promotional Review Board. Penni is a Graduate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

AIM: You started out as a public relations hostess and guide for Kambalda Nickel operations in WA. What attracted you to management?

Tastula: It wasn’t a huge step. It was a natural progression. Our service got so popular I couldn’t cope with the number of tours we were being asked to give. Tour buses were a big deal, as that’s how people had holidays in those days. So we ended up needing a team of guides, and I ended up running them.

AIM: A lot is made of the service culture in regions like the US and Asia. How do managers of Australian tourism outlets compare with their overs

Geoff Bell has been chief executive of Sydney Markets since 1999 after a career in the Australian Army in which he reached the rank of colonel. He served in a series of general management and leadership positions at increasing levels of responsibility, culminating in his appointment as commanding officer (or CEO)of an army unit of 300 people. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

AIM: Running a fresh produce and community market seems light years away from the army. What made you decide to go into the world of business? How have you found the transition?

Bell: The transition was easy. Management systems are management systems, and if you are looking at outcomes, it doesn’t really matter what the outcome might be; you can adjust the system or yourself to seek and achieve it. Then, people are people. There is no difficulty translating a leadership role in one particular area into a leadership role in another. I decided to move into business b

Ted Scott had almost 30 years of management experience in the electricity industry before joining Human Factor Australia, managing thermal and hydro power station operations (achieving a turnaround in the performance of lesser-performing stations)as well as ‘greenfield ‘sites.

He has degrees in electrical engineering and economics and a reputation for a values-based management approach and for innovation. For the past two years he has conducted master classes for the Australian Institute of Management in Queensland and the Northern Territory with Dr Harker.

AIM: How would you rate the employee-management skills of Australian executives?

Scott: I suspect that few of them understand human nature, which means that their styles might not be as effective as they could be for long-term organisational welfare. My thesis is that the long-term welfare of organisations is dependent on treating their people humanely. I have not seen much work done in Australia to verify that, but I have seen at least three overseas stu

Professor Elizabeth More is deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Canberra, having previously been director of the Graduate School of Management, chair of Academic Senate at Macquarie University, and managing director of MGSM Pty Ltd. She is president of the Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management and a past president of the Australian Communication Association. Professor More is also a member of the Australian Institute of Management education committee.

AIM: How would you rate the performance of Australia’s top business schools?

More: There are three dominant players, Macquarie Graduate School of Management, Australian Graduate School of Management and Melbourne Business School. But there are many other very good ones, for example UTS and our very own at the University of Canberra. They look at different markets and student experience. The first three look to the people who are going to end up in executive positions. For many of the others, it is about people who have started out in life as engineers, do

Nathan Stirling is the chief executive of Open Family Australia, the high- profile welfare and outreach agency for street kids. In addition to his qualifications in teaching and educational studies (Asian studies) he has a certificate in association management from Mount Eliza Business School, is a graduate of the leadership course conducted by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and is participating in the Australian Institute of Management’s Masters of Management Program. In 1999, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to disadvantaged youth. Nathan Stirling is an Associate Fellow of AIM.

AIM: What are the management challenges in running a not-for-profit organisation?

Stirling: I imagine they are similar to the management challenges of any enterprise. Non-profits are in the invidious position of having to ask for funds to sustain services. We have to be shopping for support from the community all the time. That is one difference. But a lot of the same drivers that operat