Whether you are standing beneath a wedding arch or centre stage at a prestigious club, the old rhyme carries a certain kind of power.

Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.

I usually associate this with a walk down the aisle. Last week, those four pillars supported a very different moment in my journey as a speaker.

Stepping on the Carindale Probus Club stage to address a room of mostly septuagenarians and octogenarians, was a brand new experience for me. These were men and women who had lived storied lives and seen it all, which naturally raises the stakes for anyone holding a microphone.

To meet the moment, I leaned on four grounding elements.

Something Old
The audience themselves. A lifetime of history sat in those chairs along with high expectations, so I made the session deeply interactive and entertaining, rather than purely motivational.

Something New
The Probus Club setting placed me in front of my oldest audience to date. It stretched me in ...

This morning one of my favourite clients explained the challenges she is facing in supporting one of her own clients. She has been called into to help fix and support a dysfunctional team.

As I listened, I noted this team has low trust and an absence of real collaboration. Despite strong technical capability in the leader, the team is not functioning well and the strain is showing up in both performance and morale.

Three patterns stood out.

Despite appearances, the first was a lack of authenticity from the business owner. The owner leads in a tough, boss-like way and rarely shows any genuine vulnerability. While this may feel protective or necessary to her, it means the team never truly trusts her. People comply with instructions, but they don’t commit emotionally or intellectually. Without authenticity, trust never takes root.

The second pattern appeared to be a lack of empathy. This leader, through no fault of her own, has had to protect herself from the world for much of her lif...

The Next Evolutionary Leap won’t be Biological

At a recent event at the Pullman Reef Hotel in Cairns, I met Jacob Perrett from Great Energy.

When I asked for a volunteer from an audience of hundred and fifty people, Jacob put his hand up and joined me on stage. Together we explored the difference between the shape of a Neanderthal skull and a modern human skull.

Neanderthals were exceptional at sensing and perceiving their environment. Homo sapiens evolved differently, with a larger frontal cortex that enabled social organisation, collaboration and shared strategy. That difference explains why Neanderthals became extinct and why Homo sapiens dominated.

With modern sensory technologies and the rise of Artificial General Intelligence, these evolutionary patterns are worth paying attention to.

AGI will increasingly perform functions once central to human identity; sensing, predicting, thinking, writing, planning, remembering and creating. Over time, our doubting AI may feel inefficie...

Strategy that is truly timeless often looks radically simple. You only experience the true benefits of strategy when you practise it repeatedly until it becomes second nature.

Over the past five months I’ve been applying the same framework I use when facilitating strategy for organisations to an unexpected personal project: recovering my knee and avoiding surgery.

My strategy framework is simple:

Q1. What is really going on here?

Q2. What are our options?

Q3. What will we do?

What is really going on here?

This step is about confronting reality honestly, not avoiding it, not minimising it. It means spending the time and effort to understand the situation and gaining clarity for creating options.

After my post-marathon sprinting strain, I did the usual rest, lengthen and strengthen work: swimming, cycling, VMO and glute strengthening, backwards walking and run/walk protocols, slowly sharpening the picture.

Then the time came, as the Walrus once said, “To talk of other things. Of...

I'm thrilled to be invited back to Cairns to speak at a Remembrance Day luncheon at the Pullman Reef Hotel Casino about something every organisation strives to be in increasingly unpredictable times: resilient.

Here’s the reality:

> Around 70% of businesses are fragile, lasting no more than five years.
> About 20% survive between five and twenty years and are robust.
> Only 10% are truly resilient and last beyond twenty years because they consistently make great strategic choices.

In a world where customers adapt fast, resilience isn’t luck, it’s strategy.

I’ll be unpacking the Five Horsemen of Strategic Resilience:

1. Beach Heads – Win small scale big
2. Resource Reallocation – Feed the future starve the past
3. Mergers and Acquisitions – Merge for capability not just size
4. Brand Extension – Stretch without snapping
5. Shift the Efficiency Frontier – Rebuild the engine while you’re still driving

If you’re leading a business in FNQ or simply care about building something that lasts, join us for ...

Second Chapter Men starts in October

Do you know a man who needs support for their second chapter?

Many men reach their 40s, 50s, and 60s carrying a quiet burden. They’ve worked hard, sacrificed for family, given to their careers, communities and countries. 

Noble as that is, the cost is often high: exhaustion, disconnection from intimacy, lack of purpose, declining health or a slow retreat from life.

Second Chapter Man is about changing that story.

WHY IT MATTERS?

When men grow, families grow. When men connect, communities strengthen. When men heal, the next generation benefits.

If you’re a man 40+ looking for deeper self-care, clarity and connection, this is for you.

If you love a man in this season of his life; your partner, father, brother, colleague, son or friend, consider encouraging him to enrol.

Sometimes a gentle nudge from someone who cares can make all the difference.

WHAT IS IT?

A program over three Sundays for men 40+ who are ready to:

> Care for their health,...

Most of us need a better brain chemistry plan.

We’re living in the golden age of scrolling.

Flick swipe refresh repeat. A quick hit of dopamine the brain’s “motivation and joy” molecule lights up only to fade seconds later.

So we do it again. And again. And again...

Here’s the problem: those tiny spikes are like giving your brain teaspoons of sugar.

Pleasant in the moment but the cost is dopamine insensitivity. Eventually your chemical baseline for motivation and joy flatline over time.

Think about that: the very chemical that’s meant to fuel your ambition creativity and drive is being quietly drained by mindless habits.

The Good News

Dopamine receptors are trainable. Not all dopamine hits are created equal.

Quick dopamine hits

• Scrolling social media: +50% short lived addictive (think nicotine lite)
• A delicious meal: +100% gone in three minutes
• Winning a game: +200% but it evaporates in 15 minutes

Sustainable dopamine hits

• Meditation: +100% sustained for six hours
...

After 35 years as a professional educator, this week I was reminded of something simple yet meaningful: it’s okay to pause and quietly acknowledge when you’ve arrived.

ICMI is now one of three trusted bureaus that champion me as a speaker. 

For those who’ve joined me in the lecture theatre, on stage, in the boardroom or beside a flip chart, you’ll know I love to customise every session, blending participation and insight with humour and heart.

You may also know this: my own ethic of continuous learning has been nourished by you, in those very moments.

Communication is always a two-way process, even when nothing is being said. 

Every time I walk into a room, my goal is to help surface and shine a light on the untapped and often unspoken wisdom that already exists within the group.

My ICMI listing is just another affirmation that my years spent sharing ideas, coaching leaders, teaching students and navigating complexity have added up to something valuable. 

Something that resonates.

I am gratefu...

SPRING

When I was a young man in the springtime of my life, I routinely lived beyond my edge through exhausting athletic pursuits. In my twenties, I leaned beyond my edge again, diving into professional leadership roles.

SUMMER

In my thirties, my summertime arrived. I leaned beyond my edge with big-wave surfing. I remember a huge offshore day when 20-foot sets rolled across the coast. Tow-in surfers were the only ones out. I dropped my 11-foot gun into the nearby river mouth and paddled out for 20 minutes into the deep ocean. Eventually, I picked off a monster 400m off the headland and carved my way the entire length of the beach.

AUTUMN

In my mid-forties, autumn beckoned. I leaned beyond my edge again, this time racing sports bikes. On race days, we signed waiver forms linked to additional disclaimers displayed on six trestle tables. Three ambulances waited patiently at the center of the track to collect the day’s fallout.

Why lean beyond your edge?

Because real growth lives on...

One of the things I enjoy most about keynote speaking is solving the puzzle every organiser faces: "How do we deliver content that truly lands with our audience?"

It’s a challenge that lights me up. Here’s what I’ve learned - and why I love designing talks that rise to the moment:

RELEVANCE
We’re all navigating volatility, AI disruption, and global shifts. I enjoy the challenge of making complex change feel navigable. My talks help leaders spot patterns, stay centered and move with intent rather than panic.

SUBSTANCE
I get a buzz from bridging inspiration with implementation. My job isn’t just to lift the room - it’s to leave people with tools and frameworks they’ll actually use. I love watching the penny drop when a leader sees a better way forward.

RESONANCE
Whether it’s a first-time leader or a seasoned CEO, I relish crafting messages that resonate across the organisation. Strategy is a universal conversation - but how do you frame it? That’s the art. That’s the joy.

STICKINESS
There’s nothi...