As a global business leader, I create an environment for change and emergence of true Safety Governance.

My whole working career in Risk Management has been successful on one factor – the ability to influence purposely and consciously.

This process began when I worked for a business where safety was not a cost of doing business it was a true cost and noted as “the dark side”, quite literally as it was seen as a hinderance to commercial savvy.

During my five years in that business I realised the value of damage.

I realised that unless you could converse with your audience and decision makers via their language, money, you were speaking in a language they did not understand.

Whilst primary safety ideals have been born from compassion or influence of it – I knew that this did not speak to all listeners and primarily the ones whom make key business decisions.

The first evolution was to make safety a business case and commence a conversation about damage costs and the costs of damage via Risk Dollarisation®, the next conversation is about Safety Governance and Safety getting its seat at the Board Room table globally to ensure less damage and increased quality of life.

Safety-Trust^TM & Safety Governance will be a feature of Non-Financial Risk ^TM.

This are all words, phrases, aspects & acumen that I have brought to the business and safety tables – these are specific terms I have coined and used first for the industry.

Now it is time to join them (Safety People & Business People) in the Board Rooms around the globe; as I have in past in the first ever Safety Governance Conference led by me for Australian Institute of Company Directors, prior to this they have only completed some very minor (out of date) WHS Duties Training and was made a feature in their magazine – having them speak about safety for the first time publicly with Manage Damage (my company), The Global Workers Compensation Advisor from United Nations & Australian Institute of Health and Safety.

As a business owner in advisory and consultancy, it is critical to my business success that I be known as an expert, agent, a go-to, elite, guru and person who can provide straight, honest, ethical and practical advice to my customers.

In my career I have set a path from the very beginning to be the very best person in every room I can be.

I made sure I knew my topics and only when I had had years of working in businesses of various sizes did I think I was qualified enough to provide advice and consult to other businesses.

My ethos and mindset has always been focused upon goal setting and directional ideation.

When I decide I want to go somewhere, I make that proclamation, I then make a plan and then take the desired steps to achieve this.

Being known as an elite expert is essential to our business revenue.

I was able to export Risk Dollarisation.

I chose to patent the idea as “my doctorate”; as a self-funded business owner, I could not afford the time to complete my doctorate at this stage but I had a unique and key idea that has emerged as brand new and in our safety world of file save as I had to mark it as my own.

I wanted to make sure that my theory of safety relativity was known, marked and measured as I did it first!

This approach has had much challenge within the safety community as I did not do it under another university professor, this ruffled a few feathers, but also, I made a connection of safety, risk and business.

A crevasse which has mere been crossed in the past and for most safety professionals without a business or financial acumen this has really placed some confused parties at varying levels.

The applications meant that Safety Governance or “Non-Financial Risk” as I coined it, for safety, gets a seat at the Board Room.

Safety for years has struggled the key part required to sit at a Board Room Table with confidence due to lacking in influence – “influence” at board levels, primarily as safety professionals often fail to take a full risk view and have even lesser understanding of macro-economic and micro-economic factors and drivers which push and mould a business, which in turn means a safety professional speaks in a different language to business leaders and board people.

The emergence of my work has paved the way to export this process of non-financial risk management and applications in many nations of the world.

I am seen as a futurist as I am predicting outcomes and suggesting future workplace risk management.

• I am a key expert in this area globally
• I am acknowledged as a key expert globally

1.How do you Make your product/solutions more creative and innovative to appeal your target audience?

The Safety Governance Institute (SGI) commenced shortly after MD partnered with the leading governance agency for Australia, the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) to produce a conference How is Your Board Managing Damage? focusing on Safety Governance.

Post event they approached the AICD to partner in Safety Governance, however they declined, as did the Governance Institute; their appetites for non-financial risk was low, hence the SGI was formed.

The SGI is a trading name of MD; which is operating as a social enterprise with aims for non-profit status in years to come.

The SGI delivers experts in Safety Governance globally and is the only exclusive Global Safety Governance association for boards, chief executive officers, safety professionals, governance professionals, directors and risk managers in the world.

Membership is open to professionals who seek or hold qualifications and experience in the field of safety governance.

In business in the past and due to the valuation of companies and drivers of performance measurements the Safety Profession has had very little influence on Board business decisions.

To change this, MD released the first evolution to make safety a business case and commence a conversation about damage costs and the costs of damage via Risk Dollarisation®, the next conversation is about Safety Governance and the institutes goal; safety getting its seat at the Board Room table globally to ensure less damage and increased quality of life.

The SGI provides the exclusive Certificate in Safety Governance in Practice and is a business advocate for safety getting a seat at the boardroom table.

Within the SGI business is the newly formed “Global Framework Project Team” dedicated to development of a Global Framework of Safety Governance that will be accepted by businesses, nations and regulators globally for the governance of non-financial risks.

Groups Main Role: Safety Governance / Non-Financial Risk Elevation

The Global Framework Project Team’s main goal is the development of a Safety Governance Global Framework that will be accepted by businesses, nations and regulators globally for the governance of non-financial risks.

Global Framework Project Team was formed in July 2020 as part of a new budget allocation for the 2021 financial year growth in the SGI.

While the current Covid-19 pandemic has impacts on the activities projected, budgeted and scheduled for MD and Jillian founder, the crisis provided an opportunity to focus on this part of the business and ensure an expedited and expanded launch of this product and service offering as part of the business group.

Safety-Trust^TM has become key vital and revisiting Maslow’s hierarchy of needs sees people focusing more on core lower-order needs for safety of service and product more than person ideations (self-actualisation) of success, trends and excitement and adventure further to this end Edelman found 90% of customers want to see brands “protect the well-being and financial security of their employees and their suppliers, even if it means suffering big financial losses until the pandemic ends” (Edelman & Reis 2020).

SGI will assist companies to achieve these product goals and organisational survival of stakeholder capitalism and to drive this contribution throughout the global community.

 

2.how do you strategize to tackle the competitors in the market ?

I am methodical everything is marked measured and planned For example, before my first business Manage Damage – I completed this white board in 2014 before the business was commenced in 2016 and almost all post notes are true!

In 2014 this board was completed – I started my business in 2016.

The intention was for elevation of the safety profession to make safety relevant to business owners and board members.

3.Describe some of the Important attributes that every transformational leader should have.

Consistency; Honesty; Ethics and a firm handle on finance

3.Kindly mention some of the Important challenges that you faced during the initial phase of your journey.

Roadblocks are challenge signs for me

I think if any Managing Director doesn’t let you know that they overcome roadblocks daily; they are maybe not close enough to the road!

The greatest challenge at the moment is really remaining in touch with your people – in touch with time; in touch with the speed of data that you and your customers have to divulge daily; stay hungry!

I often face the speed of change in chunks – I have dedicated specific time daily to keep in touch with macro and micro economic impacts and opportunities as they present themselves – remaining in touch with this is key but being realistic on the amount you can swallow is key.

4.Have you in any ways contributed towards the cause of women empowerment.  

I believe in equality

I work with people from all walks of life men and women.

I make sure that the people I work with all have the best chances for moving forward.

I assist anyone who has a deep interest in bettering themselves and share my view on how you can stand in any room you choose to.

You just have to choose and be willing to do the things it takes to get there.

5.What kind of support was required and received by you, while emerging as a business Leader?

To be really honest; I am my greatest driver – I used to assign my hard work to my mother but one day she caught me.. “blaming” her for slave driving me when I was at school – saying – “my mother used to push me to work really hard and study after school hours” but later she corrected me and said that I was the person pushing and driving myself – not her!

I was the person who set the deadlines and drove the activity.

From a business perspective and risk approach I am on constant readiness to be inspired by another view and aspect that helps solve problems.

I really found a love to eat elephants – if you had a problem, I wanted it to solve it for you and for me!

I have to honour certain people who put air in my parachute from time to time;

• Rick Molloy – a worldly project manager who gave me my whole career direction – when I stepped on that construction site to do that accounts job, I never knew that a few years later I would be standing in Geneva in the ILO and ISSA offices have a conversation with people who I now call my friends and business colleagues.
• Andy Forgan – who once said to me “I don’t know anyone who can hold a candle to you as a safety advisor” – at the time I was disappointed for not being selected for a key project by my company – at I had to say I’m sorry what do you mean and he explained the concept… later on I was offered the role after I had left and went to another company in another state – they even flew me there to discuss it – I said no…

He and Petie Walker also honoured me by asking me to apply to a job in Macau – I even picked out an apartment and began learning mandarin – I flew there, did a walk around the job and was so in awe of them both running and working this signature project! I didn’t take those paths but damn it was so fun to tell my boss at my current gig – I’m just taking a Friday off and I flew to Hong Kong took a ferry to Macau, saw the coolest project met some amazing local team members, picked out my new home drank a few beers and then flew back on the Monday and ready for work – no one knew!

• Col Lindschau – what an operator – I worked with Col in the Wild West and he was the man about town – he had respect honour and he didn’t care who he annoyed to get the right outcomes – him and Bobby Picton ran a sharp ship and had the respect of the workforce – if you wanted a team, get these men to put the call out – I still know and respect and lord the power of the workforce who defined the most signature projects – the best Project Managers, the best Supervisors, the Final Trim Graders who could turn “shit into chocolate” and the best engineers and contract administrators who made or broke gigantic projects. I watched these leaders and watch them respect me and how I helped them achieve quality projects within time and budget.
• Gerard Forlin – literally the world’s greatest safety barrister – a man I know I can call on – who boasts experience in cases such as Grenfell Tower, MH370, Shoreham Air Disaster and over 300 fatality enquiries – he got me to see risk further deeper and from the legal eye and opened my eyes to safety governance.
• Tom Strachan – who’s fierce entrepreneurial spirit you could love or hate – taught me more than he would ever know and gave me a resilience and tenacity and constant frustration on status quo – damn you! He also made me learn the key to risk management – proving value and worth – why should I spend this money – he spoke so frankly about his thoughts on risk, the costs, the costs of business and the need for proving value that he exposed me to thoughts and processes that other businesses either hid or didn’t speak their minds on – it was his almost turrets-like, primarily inappropriate statements that led me to really see how things work upstairs! So cheers Tom (a maniac you cannot be unimpressed by)!
• Tom Reardon – taught me to Hussle – I watched him Hussle, rhythm and network.  He showed me that relationship building was that we should never eat alone and always remain connected not knowing when you might be able to help each other. His tenacity showed true drive and results that inspired me to keep moving in these directions
• Cameron Dart – who taught me if you can’t deliver the most complex thing on 1 page and then get it down to ½ a page you’re can’t come back into my office –and later I know that that he was the reason that I framed everything even smaller – to – if you can’t say it on an iPhone screen don’t bother!

6.What are your future endeavours/objectives and where do you see yourself in the near future?

I am committed to promoting safety governance and the safety governance institute

• I will be releasing my book Safety Governance in Practice later this year
• Safety Governance is a new space which needs more attention that I will drive to reduce deaths globally.
  • I realised the quality and style of teaching in this area is some of the key reasons for errors in understanding and action in this area.
  • I commit to repairing this area of Safety Governance education gap
  • I commit to creating a framework and guideline for international use
  • I aspire to being able to work with and influence the World Economic Forum in this area.
  • I have created all of my own opportunities – I have done this intentionally and
  • I will continue to drive the path for Safety Governance globally and to help grow and develop Board Leaders, Leadership and Safety Professionals to deliver safety trust at work and best outcomes for society by eliminating loss from work processes, no matter the stage of work.

Safety Governance vs Governance

Understanding the governance aspects of non-financial risk is critical and there are currently gaps in existing training approaches.

We believe the Safety Governance Book and Frameworks will give businesses guidance, tools and a framework so they can know their duties and responsibilities with the mandate to reduce and eliminate deaths at work of workers or third-party persons.

Safety Governance Institute Global Framework

The book is dedicated to development of a Global Framework of Safety Governance that will be accepted by businesses, nations and regulators globally for the governance of non-financial risks. Below is the planned Institute business activities.

Release of the Safety Governance in Practice book will elevate the position of Safety, to ensure it gets a regular seat at the Board Room Table.

Safety-Trust^TM will be demanded by all shareholders and stakeholders; safety governance will have a direct impact on business valuations and hence safety governance will be given appropriate attention.

1. Provide one line quote (15-20 words) that best describes your approach to business and your vision?

We get up early

We’re constantly restless

We can not settle

Mediocrity is ordinarity

Extraordinary is standard and almost not enough

We are trechourosly exploring the great ever unknown which is the now century and tomorrow’s already redundant

Get ready for a big ride it’s going to be wild…

Also read:Carol Fitzgerald