Members of The CEO Institute are invited to a number of events throughout the year.  These events may be hosted by The CEO Institute, or in conjunction with strategic partners. 

Below is a snapshot of some of the latest events enjoyed by our members:

Queensland’s best business minds gather to share and learn

More than 70 Queensland CEOs gathered recently for The CEO Institute’s Fresh Insights and Best Practice for 2010 conference. Award winning Journalist, Ellen Fanning carried out the MC role for us, bringing her highly attuned investigative and facilitative skills, with candour and humour to each session.

The conference was opened by Queensland Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations, Hon Cameron Dick MP, who spoke optimistically about Access Economic’s outlook for Queensland, and detailed the importance of the Queensland Government’s massive commitment to investment in infrastructure.

A highlight was the opportunity for CEOs to question Andrew Penn, the CEO and director of AXA Asia-Pacific Holdings, on diverse topics including the economy, the future for the insurance and superannuation sectors and issues around doing business in China.

Mr Penn also spoke about the importance of keeping your people focused on the day-to-day business and not letting them be distracted by major events (such as the global financial crisis or potential takeover and merger activity).

An interactive session with Dr Neil Carrington had the CEO audience buzzing with conversation and ideas to take back to their own workplaces. Dr Carrington is the Foundation National Director of the Leadership Centre for the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).

His presentation, on leading and sustaining a performance culture, urged CEOs not to get trapped into an “event-mentality” focus in their business. He suggested that they spend more time on big picture vision for their business, and that they try “deep listening” to their people rather than “listening with a view to how they can ‘fix’ the problem their staff is telling them about”.

Dr Carrington also spoke about successful ways to get honest staff feedback, by removing fear from the situation, embedding feedback into the company culture and linking it to KPIs.

Over lunch, members were treated to the “Wotif story” from their CEO, Robbie Cooke. His presentation was candid and entertaining, and drew some surprising insights about the company’s success during the GFC.

The conference, sponsored by National Australia Bank, had to change venues at the last minute because of the overwhelming number of CEOs wanting to attend.

National Australia Bank’s Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking Queensland, Tony Keane, said NAB was delighted to sponsor The CEO Institute’s event series, as the bank was seeking to align itself with partners who recognise the importance of fostering the professional development of senior executives and their businesses.

Graham Young, pollster and founder of politics site On Line Opinion, reported the results of the inaugural CEO Financial Index, explaining to CEOs how the Index would be both predictive and reflexive. The CEO Financial Index is a commissioned quarterly survey of The CEO Institute’s Queensland members that will track expectations for the future of business and the economy.

The CEO of The CEO Institute (Qld), Sue Forrester, said the event had provided a great opportunity for leaders to share best practice and take away new ideas and strategies that would benefit their workplaces and people.

“We are delighted with the value we were able to provide to our members, in terms of peer support and best practice ideas, during the tough year that was 2009, and we are determined to continue providing this in 2010 and beyond. Fresh Insights and Best Practice for 2010 was a great starting point to this,” she said.

Green Shoots

Sydney members and guests gathered at the stunning Sergeants Mess on Chowder Bay, Mosman on 21 January to launch 2010 in style, for what many have said was their best CEO Institute event ever.

Prominent business leaders on panel sessions included Maurice Newman, Chairman ABC and former chairman ASX. Mark Bouris well known as the founder of the former Wizard Home Loans and Founder of Yellow Brick Road; Marin Burela, President and CEO of FORD Australia and Giam Swiegers, CEO of Deloitte Australia. The day’s mood was one of high energy and optimism - tempered by concern about the staggering levels of global debt, and future implications for this.

Industry perspectives were provided by Institute members Martin Camp, Downer EDI Rail; Sheridan Dudley, KU Children’s Services and David Kindl, Noni B.

Kurt Fearnley, Young Australian of the Year for 2009 and an elite disabled athlete, moved us with his life story over lunch. In 2009 he claimed many victories including crawling the Kokoda Trail.

The CEO BlackBerry Lounge after lunch provided networking with golf putting and a giant chess game courtesy of sponsor BlackBerry ...

The Next Decade

The theme for the Victorian ‘All Member Event’ delivered on its theme of ‘The Next Decade - What’s Coming and How To Be Prepared For It’

Held at the wonderfully refurbished ‘Leonda By The Yarra’ over 360 members, guests and sponsors enjoyed hearing the latest thinking on economic, social and environmental conditions facing us.

The renowned Dave Staughton facilitated the event with speakers ranging from The Honorable Lindsay Tanner over breakfast, through to representatives from Swinburne University, Drake International, Alan Oster from NAB, Dan Atkins on sustainability, Michael McQueen on leadership succession and finished with the “re-invented” Max Walker over lunch.

Exciting prizes generously provided from Holloway Diamonds; Long Gully Estate and Mercedes Benz Toorak added to the successful day.

Barossa Bonanza

On January 20, South Australian members and invited guests participated in The CEO Institute's "Barossa Bonanza" - a day of some work, some education and lots of fun and relaxation!  

Leaving Adelaide by chartered coach, the group travelled to 'The Farm' - Maggie Beer's Barossa Function Centre - a delightful oasis in the heart of the Barossa Valley.  The balance of the morning was actually spent in work mode with an interactive workshop presentation on "Protecting Brand Value".  The thought-provoking presentation was led by James Rickard, Creative Director of kwp! - SA's highest profile and most innovative advertising group, and encompassed the 'do's and don'ts' of building and protecting brand value - not just by good advertising practice but, essentially, by also ensuring that all related market activity remains loyal to the company/product ethos being projected.  Samples of key international advertising campaigns provoked lively discussion.

No visit to the Barossa is complete without wine tasting ... so, pre-lunch featured a presentation by Artisans of Barossa, a group of innovative boutique wine producers whose superb products were evaluated and enjoyed by all.  It was then on to a Long Lazy Lunch featuring superb Barossa cuisine complemented by a selection of prestige wines from Barossa Valley Estate.   The luncheon speaker was Barbara Storey, a recently inducted Baron of Barossa who not only spoke on the unique culture, cuisine and heritage of the Barossa, but also of the illustrious history and contemporary work of the Barons.

The late afternoon coach journey back to Adelaide was a relaxed and quiet affair!

Celebrations and Congratulations in WA

The CEO Institute (WA) hosted their end of year ‘Celebrations and Congratulations’ event this month. Held at the charming FORM Gallery Perth, members and associates found themselves surrounded by an array of unique art work.  Everyone in attendance had a brilliant night enjoying a sumptuous spread of delectable food all washed down with terrific wines.

End of Year Qld Members' Drinks

The Members' Drinks held on 26 November was a great success with 80 Queensland members and guests celebrating the end of a challenging year. The Brisbane Club was an elegant venue and members enjoyed the cool jazz sounds of Roby Wren and his Trio.

It was a wonderful evening with a great bunch of people. Thank you for making me feel welcomed.

Sue, just a note to say how much I enjoyed the Christmas Party.

Very classy and a nice atmosphere.

Thank you also for the invitation to drinks on Thursday night. Unfortunately I had my national board here Thursday and Friday, and was hosting a dinner. So I could only stay for a short time, but I find these sessions fantastic in terms of business of the day as people are generally more relaxed.

Sichuan Hot!

To heat up the winter calendar, The CEO Institute in Brisbane recently held Sichuan Hot!, a social evening for their members at the Queensland College of Art Gallery. Members enjoyed great conversation warmly complimented by fine wine, flavourful Sichuan cuisine, and the hottest art from China. After an engaging and insightful commentary on the burgeoning contemporary art market in China delivered by Simon Wright, Director of Griffith Artworks + Qld College of Art Gallery, members were led on a private view of Sichuan Hot!:The Next Generation, the gallery’s travelling exhibition of recent artworks by a new wave of painters from Chongqing; an exciting new hotbed of contemporary Chinese art. Attendees appreciated the opportunity to catch up with their fellow colleagues and to warmly welcome new members and Syndicate Chairman David Gray to the Institute. The night was claimed a hot success by all!  

A New Era In IR - Breakfast Briefing - 8 July 2009

The 8 July Breakfast Briefing ‘A New Era in IR’, hosted jointly by The CEO Institute (NSW) and Harmers Workplace Lawyers at Sydney’s Shangri-La Hotel, was very well received. It reviewed the Rudd Government’s “Fair Work Act”, effective 1 July and its impact on workplaces.

Joydeep Hor, Managing Partner, Harmers Workplace Lawyers, gave a comprehensive keynote presentation followed by an interactive panel discussion chaired by Peter Jollie AM, (Syndicate Chairman, The CEO Institute); Joydeep Hor; Michael Harmer (Chairman, Harmers Workplace Lawyers), and Schon Condon (Managing Principal, Condon Associates member of The CEO Institute).

The key message was the strong need to urgently acknowledge and address these new changes, as they apply to all employers and employees. Schon Condon spoke about ‘SODIT’- ‘The School of Doing it the Hard Way’. He said that getting the right advice and having a process in place before employing staff is essential.

Thank you to Harmers Workplace Lawyers for their sponsorship of this event.

The CEO Winter Sleepout

200 CEOs - including members of The CEO Institute & Yvonne Howie (Chief Executive - NSW) - shivered overnight at Sydney's Luna Park on 18 June ... but all for a good cause, raising well over $0.5M to ease homelessness!  A very big thank you to all who participated.

New Way Of Thinking About Organisation: Internationally Acclaimed Speaker - Meg Wheatley

On 16 June 2009, the Queensland chapter welcomed Meg Wheatley - an international expert in management, founder of the Berkana Institute, and the author of several books on leadership.

Pressures on leaders have increased dramatically.  They no longer have time or flexibility. They feel caged, oppressed, exhausted.

60 members and guests enjoyed Meg’s morning presentation on fearlessness: the last organisational change strategy and her message that leaders must take time out with their top teams to think and reflect.

There is pressure to get projects done faster with quicker turnaround times and unreasonable deadlines. We’ve entered the era of believing that a client or boss can just ask for things sooner, without losing any quality. The thinking today is that you don’t have to worry about how a decision will affect long-term success – just think short-term and somehow it will work itself out. Employees are now evaluated on short-term results; these don’t really measure anything of value for the longevity of the company. These measures get tied to incentives and rewards and start to transform behaviour in a negative way. All this leads to worse performance in the end.

If leaders took the time to engage people instead of clamping down on them, not only would employees perform better, they’d also be more innovative and focused. It would lead to less stress, less illness, and more productivity. All the actions right now are pushing the workforce toward increasing levels of disengagement. If you’re a leader, you have to be thoughtful about this. Even a senior leader from a major corporation, someone who is extremely successful and uses very high engagement strategies, probably won’t be able to convert the whole company. I’ve given up on large-scale transformation, but smaller measures can still effect change – for example, helping a few people realise their competence, value, talents, or creativity.

But it’s difficult for leaders to accept this kind of thinking. For once you accept that, you open yourself to accepting other ideas, such as the belief that human beings aren’t the masters of the universe; that we can’t make our own rules, no matter how powerful our technology is. That’s not how the planet works. Or recognising the ways in which the pursuit of material goods and consumer comforts, even as this pursuit makes people healthier and live longer, can also deaden people in other ways. This destroys the essence of culture, community, and family.

It’s not a pretty world right now. Inside and outside organizations, things people thought were protected are falling apart. Within organisations, many people are left to their own resources. To break away from this situation, fearlessness is called for.