ITB Sep 2026 Final Book_rev - Flipbook - Page 16
MEMBER PROFILE
LESSONS LEARNED
1. Seek out what genuinely interests and motivates you:
One of the reasons I left banking early in my career was because,
despite the financial rewards, I was not satisfied. I knew I needed
a career that offered more diversity and broader challenges.
Looking back, that decision shaped everything that followed.
2. Do not narrow the view of what your role can become:
If you do that, there is a good chance you will narrow your
opportunities as well. Throughout my career, I have always
been interested in understanding different parts of the business
and developing a breadth of knowledge. That is one of the
reasons I have pursued studies in accounting, law, marketing
and business, and it is also one of the reasons I have enjoyed
a role that extends far beyond finance.
3. Be prepared to invest in your career: Opportunities do not
simply arrive because you want them to. You need to actively
seek them out, put in the work and be prepared to develop
the skills to take advantage of them when they arise.
I have certainly been fortunate that
opportunities have come my way
throughout my career, but I do not
think that happens without hard
work. If you are prepared to be
proactive and invest in yourself,
the rewards do come.
4. Do not be afraid of
a challenge: The professional
projects I have enjoyed
most have been the ones
that involved change,
complexity and
improvement. Those are
often the experiences that
teach you the most and
have the biggest impact
on both your career and the
businesses you are helping
build. I have always found
challenges more enlivening
than concerning. It makes you
sit up and take notice, and if the
goal is improving the business,
it is one of the most rewarding
parts of the job.
16 INTHEBLACK September 2026
Each initiative is about improving the business,
and that is what makes the role rewarding.
It is much more motivating to spend your
day helping to make something better, rather
than simply solving problems — although
that is always part of any senior role.
GAME CHANGERS
Diverse activities
I started my career in merchant banking.
It was a lucrative career path, but I found
that it was not rewarding or fulfilling enough
for me. It was quite repetitive and I did not
feel like I was adding much value. I wanted
something broader and more diverse, so
I went back to university and completed
a commercial law course before moving to
KPMG in Sydney. When I look back on my
career, that was the biggest turning point.
At the time, a lot of people thought I was
making the wrong choice, but I knew I wanted
to be motivated by diversity of activity and
give myself the best opportunity to build
a broad career.
At KPMG, I worked in corporate taxation
and management consulting, although by
the end of my time there the vast majority
of my work was in consulting. It gave me
exposure to a much wider range of legal,
commercial and strategic issues that
I would not have encountered otherwise.
The training was exceptional and the
experience helped build the foundations
for everything that followed.
After KPMG, I moved to the UK
for two and a half years. I was originally
going to transfer with KPMG, but before
starting I explored other opportunities
and ended up taking a consulting role with
what is now AstraZeneca. Upon my return
to Australia in 1999, I joined Fairfax Media
as strategy manager.
That proved to be another formative
experience. I arrived at a time when the
media industry was going through enormous
disruption. Fairfax was right in the middle of
the transition to digital publishing, and I had
a front-row seat to the impact technology
could have on an established business.
