Message from the CEO

I am optimistic that most ILF scholars will eventually look back on 2022 as a year that brought great success - yet right now there are many reasons to feel uncertainty over the year ahead. Uncertainty brings opportunity and who better to grasp an opportunity than an ILF scholar? You are leaders who have exhibited the same leadership characteristics as a Rhodes Scholar, led successful businesses, studied at leading business schools and are able to access arguably the most powerful business network in SA. In my view, there are five uncertainties casting doubt over 2022: 

1. Inflation is starting to rise and interest rate hikes are looming.
2. We already know there will be two elections this year.
3. Just as the Covid genie seems to be retreating, we are being warned it could easily pop out again. To add to potential health woes, the effectively dormant flu will supposedly return in full force.
4. Labour turnover is forecast to rise. Some are worried about the big resign. Others see it as the best recruiting opportunity for years.
5. Then we have Vladimir Putin, so eloquently described by 5AA’s Jon Blake as a “democratically elected corrupt tyrant” trampling over Ukraine and numerous undertakings and agreements with consequences hard to fathom. The most obvious potential effects are rising oil prices and disruption. The Russians are experts at cyber so expect this. Counter measures you can take include: minimise work from home; if you have equipment that can be monitored or controlled online consider isolating it from the web; ensure software is up-to-date with all patches uploaded; increase cyber security, including taking advice from experts (several scholars offer this service) and reinforce staff vigilance; and look for backup sales avenues if online becomes unreliable. Could we see call centres and snail-mail make a comeback?

Robert Gottliebsen reported in The Australian that Russia could retaliate against sanctions by restricting oil exports (10% or the world’s supply); natural gas which will crimp European production; C4F6 gas for etching node logic devices; neon which is essential for chip making; and palladium for computer memory. Remember these key points:

• Geo-political instability is likely to increase as small country leaders and despots become emboldened. Increased caution might be advisable if you are doing business overseas.
• Australia is far removed from the action and less likely to suffer significant direct effects. That could make us an attractive option for refugees and potential immigrants. An answer to skills shortages?   
• More sanctions on both sides will likely lead to more supply chain disruption, potentially creating a greater desire for sovereign manufacturing capability here in Australia.

2022 grants now up for grabs

Applications for our 2022 grants have officially opened. If you know of any business leaders who would make successful scholarship candidates, please forward this bulletin to them. We are always looking for quality applicants to strengthen the scholar network and to build the SA economy.  There are already several potential applicants who have expressed an interest which is good – but, disappointingly, very few women. As such, I am asking scholars to encourage quality female applicants to come forward. I also encourage all applicants to call me (0457 900 202) before applying to confirm their likelihood of success, and so that I can pass on tips to ensure they are competitive.  

More information, including the link to apply online, is outlined in this edition.

ILF update

The ILF has been operating for 12 years and systems and processes have been built ad hoc over time. In February the board decided to review our administrative arrangements and, as a first step, has held strategy review sessions to ensure the purpose and approach of the ILF is best practice. The board has appointed Eric van Ryswyk (ILF2021) of Codium to recommend better approaches and to assist the board to select system solutions.     

Scholar success

From an exciting career developing global marketing campaigns for some of the world’s leading brands, Mary Hamilton is now in charge of the family heritage at Hugh Hamilton Wines. Find out how she rose to the challenge of the global pandemic in this month’s Scholar in the Spotlight.

Diary dates

Don't forget to mark these key dates into your diary:

• an evening seminar on 22 March on all things environmental, social, and governance (ESG), hosted by new sponsor DMAW Lawyers
• a mentoring mid-term event on 4 April from 5.30pm-7pm at Deloitte
• cultural training on 16 May from 12.30pm-6.30pm with a focus on managing labour shortages, hosted by Grant Thornton
• a breakfast seminar in June on wealth creation, sponsored by William Buck
• a fundraising food and wine festival in July, arranged by ILF social network committee members Tania Jolley, David Hart, David Evans and Emilio De Stefano. This will be an opportunity to socialise while tasting top quality products produced and donated by scholar businesses. If you are a food or wine producer or would like to support the evening in another way and have not been approached, please email Tania Jolley
• an afternoon training session on 14 November from 12.30pm-6.30pm on government and business, following Federal and State elections.

Website upgrade

The new website went live on 1 February with positive feedback. One issue has been spotted by an alert scholar and a fix is being arranged. If you see anything please advise us.

Scholars in the media

Codan, Beach Energy, Cooper Energy and Maggie Beer announced significant profit increases. Discount Party Supplies (Australia) and Container Deposit Systems took out Telstra Best of Business Awards and will represent SA at the national awards in April. There are also lots of new initiatives from scholar businesses including a desalination plant near Port Augusta backed by Oz Minerals, a new offshore office for Fleet Space and a new console game by Mighty Kingdom. Plenty more exciting initiatives have been publicised, which can you read about in this edition.

Readings

I've come across the following readings over the past month which you might find relevant:

• 2021's top 10 cyber-attacks. In view of Russian aggression, this is a timely reminder about the cunning ways that these bad guys can give unsuspecting businesses hell.
• Weighing in on the immigration debate. If you think more immigration is necessary to overcome skilled labour scarcity, you need to do something about it. Perhaps Putin is helping?
• Business leaders' views from around the world on Covid and inflation. This offers insightful background.
• Leading CBA economist projects interest rates peak. A sage with a strong track record predicts the peak will be 1.25% in the current upwards cycle. That’s not so bad.

Beyond business

Socially I went to a boys' lunch at a private house in Crafers West. In a brilliant garden with views to the gulf and beyond, they even have a water trough to ensure the kangaroos on their property do not go dry. It was a wonderfully sunny day with great food, brilliant wines and lots of laughs on a new deck fitted out with remote control Ziptrack blinds by Country Blinds (very welcome protection from the hot afternoon sun).

Lisa and I went to an annual reunion with a work colleague from the Adelaide Steamship Company and three bankers to Adsteam and all our wives. The evening barbeque involved more wonderful wine, excellent food and heaps of laughter and reminiscing. 

We also went to a “Remember the Beatles” dinner music event with friends. I have always enjoyed Beatles' songs, but I found this was the first time I could actually understand the words to many of them.     

February has been home maintenance month at our house and the houses of our daughter Allison and son Marcus. There were little jobs at our place in preparation for my significant birthday in March. At Ally’s house I helped our son-in-law, Peter, to remove an untidy garden bed ready for an extra drive and carport to protect their original Herbie style VW and a well-restored, classic metallic blue 1970 two-door V8 Valiant.

With most of the mechanical and restoration work self-done by Peter, they are his pride and joy. I helped Marcus lay some pavers and split some firewood ready for the Mount Barker winter at his house.

My years of army service and extensive time on rifle ranges have finally caught up with me, at least in the hearing department, or perhaps I should say I finally recognised the obvious! At a recent function at least one observant ILF honorary board member commented that he had noticed my new hearing aids. They are supposed to be almost invisible and I think he might have been looking for bragging rights about his eagle eyesight. It is such a pleasure to be able to hear all those sounds I had forgotten about and to not struggle to understand people with soft voices. The only downside with hearing aids is they get caught in the loops of Covid face masks and can flick away into oblivion easily, and replacements are very expensive. 

I hope you've enjoyed my summary of this month's news and views, please continue scrolling for more detail. 

Geoff Vogt

Scholar in the Spotlight

Mary Hamilton (ILF 2014)
CEO, Hugh Hamilton Wines
Executive Program for Growing Companies, Stanford University, 2018

Mary Hamilton is the CEO of Hugh Hamilton Wines and the 6^th generation of Australia’s oldest wine family. She is the great, great, great granddaughter of Richard Hamilton, who planted the first grape vines in South Australia and made the first wine in the fledgling colony after discovering his new homeland was devoid of wine.

Mary describes Hugh Hamilton Wines as "a heritage wine brand with attitude!" Makers of wines with personality, their luxury level products stand out from the flock with irreverent names, quirky varietals, bizarre blends, stunning packaging and charismatic stories. Their moniker is not a coat of arms, but a wild black sheep, which is a nod to the family DNA of making their own footprints, rather than following others.

Here's how Mary used the ideas from her fortnight at Stanford University to navigate a pathway through two challenging years that are transforming their family business. 

"In March 2020, descending into a whirlpool, the question on my mind was ‘how do we not fail?’

Tip #1: DEFINE THE GAME YOU WANT TO WIN

We had done this years earlier, where other wine businesses were all zigging down the same pathway to retail sales, we had zagged with a vision to be the best direct to consumer (DtC) wine brand in the county, underpinned by our Black Sheep wine subscription club. Our big concern was that our DtC model was reliant on face-to-face interactions for growth, and with visitation off the table we needed a new way to be relevant. We re-imagined the vision without bricks-and-mortar underpinning the model.

Tip #2: HOW STRATEGY COMPLIMENTS INTUITION AND VISION

Intuition → Vision → Works? → Why? → Luck or Competence? → Learning = the basis of strategy (Robert Burgelman, Stanford Graduate School of Business)

Intuition shouldn’t be discounted as part of business strategy. Our vision was to sprinkle a little magic into the lives of customers during the difficult period caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The DtC vision was tweaked to Our Flock – Isolated Together. We would understand their fears, frustrations and loneliness, and be with them, despite being locked away. Using our understanding of our customers and their mood around being trapped at home, we designed a range of care packages and gift boxes (the Iso Pack, Stimulus Package, Shack Pack) to keep people entertained. This quickly got taken up by customers wanting to nurture others. That left us with an execution issue – both systems and people. At that point we had a weak online capacity to reach existing customers and generate new leads. We were also not geared up to be a fulfilment business. Overnight we had to become an e-commerce business. Our team were unprepared for what was coming and had not been tested with rapid change. It showed that strategy and culture need to both be in play.  

Tip #3: STRATEGY WITHOUT CULTURE IS POWERLESS, BUT CULTURE WITHOUT STRATEGY IS AIMLESS (Robert Burgelman, Stanford Graduate School of Business)

We were forced to rapidly change the culture in some areas: from a long sales cycle to a short one; from a slower, detailed approach to a faster approach; from a longer format communication tone to a pitchy transactional tone; from a set structure to a flexible one. This required strategic leadership and some of our employees didn’t like change or pressure, so it was going to be an interesting ride. Most of them soon got the drift that they were going to like unemployment a lot less. People often nod their heads and get on with things, but what’s below the waterline of the iceberg is more significant than what is seen on the surface.

Tip #4: WE ARE GOING TO CHANGE THE PEOPLE OR WE ARE GOING TO CHANGE THE PEOPLE (Mary Barra, CEO General Motors)

It has changed the way we recruit and enabled us to gain a clear perspective of the personal characteristics our business requires – a premise that now appears on all recruitment briefs and job descriptions. Some of our people rose to the challenge and advanced their careers in ways that would not have been possible without the pressure, and others buckled and ultimately left.

On a side note, no trip to a major US university would be complete without acquiring some varsity merchandise. We repurposed the traditional logo into our own little university – The Black Sheep Uni. This was part of our Isolated Together initiative to find a way of sharing our expertise from a distance and included weekly online live tastings and education, as well as the sweater!

2022 study grants now open

High-achieving South Australian business leaders and aspiring executives can apply for up to $50,000 to develop their professional acumen, with applications now open for our 2022 funding round.

For the first time, scholars will have the opportunity to win the lucrative Seeley International Imagineering Award,  to be awarded to the scholar with an innovative engineering approach to manufacturing business.

It joins the David B McNeil Award which boosts the base grant for the scholar attending the University of Adelaide’s Transformative Leadership Program in any year who also shows the most potential to contribute to employment and wealth generation in SA, and the Colin J Peters Memorial Award for the most outstanding scholar.

This year, easing Covid restrictions will allow international travel for up to 60 scholars who have delayed their study since 2019 to such institutions as Harvard Business School, INSEAD Singapore, Oxford’s Said Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business and MIT.

Now in its 13th year, the ILF program has awarded 237 grants totalling $2.86m. Successful recipients join an influential 237-member network which has collectively created 2,954 SA jobs since the scheme began in 2010 at an average grant dollar cost of $700, down from $800 last year.

An equal record number of women represented 38 per cent of scholars in 2021, with more women leaders encouraged to apply for grants this year.

2021 scholars (pictured) are: Christie Bailey (Brown Falconer); Aaron Bain (Ahrens Group) Navtej Bal (Ironwood Institute); Kirsty Chapman-Smith (Discount Party Supplies); Tim Chopping (SRA Information Technology); Ricardo Conti (Peregrine Corporation); Cain Cooke (LogicPlus); Gosia Davis (BAE Systems); Adrien Doucet (Nuemann Space); Sean Ebert (International Fashion Labels Group); Chad Elson (Gibson Wines); Kylee Harry (Hickinbotham Group); James Higgins (Master Butchers Cooperative); Bianca Hoffman (Phil Hoffman Travel); Dean Johnson (Cooper Energy); Richard Jones (MaxMine); Ben Klason (LEADER); George Korniotakis (Thomas Foods International);  Theo Kristoris (LEADER Systems); Mark Krstic (The Australian Wine Research Institute); Shane Laidlaw (CABN); Tamara Leclercq (Adelaide BioMed City Innovation District); David Malovka (ElectraNet); Ennio Mercuri (Ennio International); Paul Moore (SAGE Group); Beau Murfitt (Camms); Stephanie Panait (Eat Me Patisserie); Lozanne Pretorius (Mitsubishi Motors Australia); Todd Shipway (B L Shipway & Co); Emma Stone (Kelly Engineering); Suzannah Toop (Virtual Agent/Lululiv); Yvette Van Eenennaam (Adelaide BioMed City Innovation District); Eric van Ryswyk (Codium); Marion Vigot (Mister RYE and Compostable Alternatives); Andrew Warner (Fyfe); Michaela Webster (G’Day Group); Emily Welyhorskyj (HenderCare); Judson Wheatley (De Bruin Engineering); and Ellen Wundersitz (Space Craft Joinery).

Upcoming events

Environment, Social Responsibility and Governance (ESG) Seminar

Have you registered for our upcoming networking event?

Sponsored by DMAW Lawyers on 22 March, the seminar will address such issues as: climate change; circular economy; social licence; data privacy; cyber security; biodiversity; and modern slavery. Guest speakers include:

• Zoe Detmold (ILF2016), Founder and General Manager of Cup and Carry and General Manager, Detmold Ventures. Detmold initiatives, such as making some of the first recyclable coffee cups and responding to the pandemic with a mask factory, have built the firm's strong ESG credentials. 
• Nicole Mead, Senior Associate at DMAW Lawyers. Nicole has a special interest in environmental law, ESG and corporate social responsibility. DMAW Lawyers is a leading SA commercial law firm providing services throughout Australia.
• Burkhard Seifert (ILF2020), Transformation Entrepreneur, Oz Minerals. Oz Minerals operates in remote environmentally sensitive areas of Australia and elsewhere. It has to navigate a range of issues, from Indigenous land rights to environmental concerns, to maintain its social licence to operate.

Where: DMAW Lawyers, Level 10, 81 Flinders Street, Adelaide
When: Tuesday, 22 March, from 5pm to 7pm

Attendees will be required to check-in and show proof of double vaccination. 

Culture Day Training Seminar

In an age of skill shortages, this seminar will give you new ideas to retain staff, motivate them and remove obstacles to maximise their contribution to your objectives. Rather than compete in a bidding war for skills, you will be encouraged to think about alternative sources of skilled labour.

The seminar will feature a keynote speech by James Begley, CEO of Pickstar, winner of the Innovator Award at the 2021 MYOB Smart Company Awards. James will explain the business of Pickstar and the challenges it has faced. He will outline how he has set the tone from the top and managed culture to ensure optimal outcomes in a fast paced environment.

Sponsored by Grant Thornton, with Andrew Downs as MC, the event will feature the following panel discussions:

1. Managing culture in a multi-location business with Adrian Fahey (Sage), Mark Nykiel (Aliaxis Asia Pacific), and Kelly Keates (Zonge Engineering)
2. Managing culture in a manufacturing environment with Chantale Millard (Maggie Beer), David Heaslip (Century Engineering), and Anne Hinton (TGR BioSciences)
3. Managing culture in service industries with Hollie Coleman (Grant Thornton), Dale Roberts (Kojo), and Alexei Fey (Comunet)
4. B to C considerations. Differences between bricks-and-mortar and online retail with David Evans (Spendless Shoes), Kirsty Chapman-Smith (Discount Party Supplies), and Kelly Baker-Jamieson (Edible Blooms)
5. Recruiting horizon expansion with Andrew Ramsey (Mobo), Ennio Mercuri (Ennio International), Mike Runge, and Gavin Wanganeen (Murra Partners)
6. Improve morale and productivity with Ben Smit (Teamgage), Shaun Westcott (Mitsubishi Motors) and Katrina Webb OAM (Be Well Co).

Where: TBA
When: 16 May from 12.30pm to 6.30pm

Congratulations Telstra business awardees!

Congratulations to 2021 scholar Kirsty Chapman-Smith (pictured), whose business Discount Party Supplies (Australia) has won the South Australian 2022 Telstra Best of Business Outstanding Growth Award. Congratulations also to 2013 scholar Andrew Downs who is on the Board of Directors for Container Deposit Systems, state winner of the Embracing Innovation Award.

We wish you both the best for the national awards in April! 

Business in Brief

2021's Top 10 cyber attacks

With Covid, rising inflation and interest rates taking all the attention, you could be forgiven for forgetting about the very real threat of cyber crime. This short read from Gallagher Re lists 10 major cyber incidents in 2021 and details police action on two software gangs. It's a timely reminder to be vigilant.  

Read the Tokio Marine HCC article here.

Weighing in on the immigration debate

This Macks Advisory article explains why the success of our economy relies upon more migrants. It then goes on to explain why it might not happen and what can be done about it.

Read the Macks Advisory article here.

Business leaders' views on Covid and inflation

Business leaders across the globe have different perceptions of the biggest business threats. This Macks Advisory article sheds light on these differences and explains why. If you trade internationally or rely upon offshore supplies, these insights will be valuable.   

Read the Macks Advisory article here.   

Leading CBA economist projects interest rates peak

Worried interest rates could go through the roof and demolish asset prices? According to CBA's head of Australian economics, Gareth Aird, who is arguably one of the most accurate economic forecasters in recent times, interest rates will peak at 1.25% and house prices will drop by 10%.

Read the Livewire article here.

George the farmer visits MiniJumbuk!

Have you met George the Farmer? 

In his ‘Wool from Sheep’ episode, George visited a local farmer before taking a VIP tour of the MiniJumbuk Mill to see how wool is used to create MiniJumbuk's cosy quilts and mattress toppers. Watch the episode here.

Darren Turner (pictured second from left) is the Managing Director of MiniJumbuk. He used his 2015 ILF scholarship to undertake a Global CEO program, enabling him to lead MiniJumbuk’s expansion into overseas markets and continue its strong local growth.

Scholars in the Media