Crisis Talks

Josh Hawes is the Principal Psychologist and Technical Director of Critical Components. He formerly served as a Clinical Psychologist in the Army with the Australian SAS and specialises in critical incident response and recovery. I have used Josh and his team in support of a number of workplace crises. In this episode we talk about psychological resilience, high performing teams and how to prepare, respond and recover from workplace crises.

I had the honour of serving under Major General Field 20 years ago when we deployed to East Timor. At that time, he was the Operations Officer of our Battalion.  Now, he is the Forces Commander of the Australian Army, in charge of thousands of men and women. We talk about his experiences in different theatres overseas or at home leading the recovery to the 2017 cyclone or the 2011 floods in Queensland. He is a meticulous planner, an erudite professional and a humble and empathetic leader who always places team success above personal achievement.

Steve Bell is the Crisis Management and Workplace Health and Safety Partner for Herbert Smith Freehills in Melbourne. Steve’s insights on crisis response challenge the legal archetypes and break down some of the common misperceptions about the primacy of legal response during a crisis. His points about empathy, values and pace when making decisions in the heat of the moment are extremely refreshing and demonstrate his experience advising organisations affected by crisis.

Cameron Schwab, the youngest ever CEO of an AFL Club shares his leadership insights. He talks candidly about leadership, creativity, crisis and fatherhood. This interview is raw, authentic, insightful and inspiring. 

If necessity is the mother of invention, then a crisis is the perfect time to look at innovative ways to solve complex problems. Human Centred Design Thinking (HCD) is an approach to problem solving that places stakeholders in the centre of the process, and helps organisations shape novel or unique solutions to their problems.  

In this breakout session of Crisis Talks, I talk with James Merchant, an expert in design thinking to look at ways that HCD can be applied in a crisis. 

Bill Bestic and Dan Cooney each espoused the importance of debriefing during or immediately after a crisis to ensure we capture the lessons learnt for our own improvement. In this Video, I take the opportunity to debrief the first series and reflect on some of the key lessons and themes drawn from the first 11 episodes of Crisis Talks. With a great head for Podcasts, this is my first fireside debrief by video. Let me know what you think at grant@leftofboom.com.au. More To Follow. Over!

Its March 2018 in South Africa and the Australian Cricket Team are caught in a ball tampering scandal which causes all Australians to question their love of the game. In this Episode of Crisis Talks, I interview Earl Eddings, the Chairman of Cricket Australia. We talk about Cricket Australia’s response to the crisis, the role boards play in leading the culture of an organisation and the importance of assurance after an event in restoring trust.

Jim Molan AO DSC has led a distinguished life of service, firstly as a highly decorated General in the Australian Army, and more recently as a Liberal Party Senator. Jim gives a frank assessment on the state of leadership in Australia from the lens of a person who has worked as an Attache in Indonesia during the East Timor crisis; as a General running time critical targeting of terrorists in Iraq; and as a Liberal Party Senator in NSW. 

In Part 2 of Get the Gringo, with the rescue mission well under way, we explore how Kelvin picked himself and his team up from the initial despair of their first unsuccessful hole and how he and his team drew inspiration from the families of the trapped miners to go on and find them all alive. Kelvin’s story about his experience and the life-changing effect it has had on him is an inspiration. 

Eps 8 & 9 - "Get the Gringo". We go back to August 5, 2010 to Copiapo in Chile, where an underground collapse trapped 33 Miners sparking an international rescue. I speak to Kelvin Brown, the Aussie Drilling Expert, flown in on the direct request of the Chilean President, who told the pilot “Please do not spare the fuel”. Kelvin’s life-changing story of his technical execution under the watchful eyes of the world is a story you cant miss.