“Don’t let your diary dictate what you do – either run your diary or your diary runs you,” CEO and managing director of Woolworths Brad Banducci told the crowd at last night’s Think. event in Sydney.
Banducci joined Melanie Silva, Google Australia and New Zealand managing director, and Didier Elzinga, CEO and co-founder of HR tech firm Culture Amp, on the expert panel at Think. – a thought-leadership event series from Qantas magazine and Travel Insider, in association with Porsche Cars Australia and in collaboration with Open Universities Australia and Penfolds.
The panel, three of Australia’s most prominent business leaders, candidly discussed the series’ first topic, Priorities, strategy, balance: how smart CEOs manage their time – debating the realities of their work/life “blend”.
“Busy does not mean important,” said Silva, who has been in the top job at Google Australia and New Zealand since October 2018.
“I don’t want to be the busiest person; I want to be the most impactful person. Not just for the business but myself as a human being.”
“So much of success comes from being open to opportunity and being open to opportunity means saying yes,” said Elzinga, who co-founded Culture Amp in 2011.
“But if you’re good at it for long enough then you have to flip the other way and have a very vigorous system of saying no because you have too much opportunity and you have to work out what you want to focus on.”
Kirsten Galliott, editor-in-chief of Qantas magazine and Travel Insider, launched the exclusive reader event series at Sydney’s celebrated Quay restaurant. Over a three-course meal curated by acclaimed executive chef Peter Gilmore and paired with Penfolds wines, Galliott led the lively discussion in front of more than 100 guests.
Galliott said: “We’re thrilled to launch Think. for its second year, with the introduction of Porsche as our headline partner across all three national events and the corresponding white-paper content series in Qantas magazine.
Porsche Cars Australia’s director of marketing and motorsport, Toni Andreevski, said: “We’re delighted to establish this partnership with Qantas and Think. Leading the way in performance and innovation is key to the continued success of the Porsche brand and the Think. series allows us to share best business practices from leading Australian industry experts.”
The Think. series, produced by Medium Rare’s branded content studio Rare Creative, will continue in Melbourne in March 2020, followed by a Brisbane event in April, giving Qantas readers around the country the opportunity to access some of the great minds in Australian business.
