Innovating in Uncertainty with David Thodey
In our latest episode, we catch up with David Thodey, Chair of Xero, Chair of Ramsay Health Care, and Chancellor of The University of Sydney, to discuss the concept of "Innovating in Uncertainty." Together, we discuss the continued importance of driving innovation in a rapidly changing world that brings uncertainty with it and how great leaders are those who can adapt to the ambiguity that surrounds them.
We are thrilled to present our exclusive broadcast with David Thodey, who joins our podcast to discuss Innovating in Uncertainty. David is a Business Leader with a career active in business, healthcare, public policy, innovation, tertiary education, the environment, and corporate governance. He has over 30 years of experience, including previously being the CEO of Telstra and IBM Australia and New Zealand.
Listen to episode fifteen:
Also available through Apple Podcasts and Spotify:
David is currently Chair of Xero, Chair of Ramsay Health Care, and was appointed the 19th Chancellor of the University of Sydney in July 2024. He is also co-chair of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and was recently announced as a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia Governance Board. For the public sector specifically, David's review of the APS in 2019, dubbed "The Thodey Review," is synonymous with the APS Reform, which builds on the recommendations from this review.
In our latest episode, we catch up with David to discuss the concept of "Innovating in Uncertainty." Together, we discuss the continued importance of driving innovation in a rapidly changing world that brings uncertainty with it and how great leaders are those who can adapt to the ambiguity that surrounds them.
David has the unique ability to provide pragmatic advice intertwined with examples throughout his career, spanning industries. Through his experience and knowledge of the APS, he also offers specific perspectives for the public sector, acknowledging the unique and strong position that APS leaders have in their ability to lead in ambiguity.
There's much to unpack from our conversation with David as he reflects on the APS Review. He also discusses how innovation takes discipline, rigour, and accountability comes with trust. Together, we talk about the role of technology in enabling an authorising environment for innovation and the importance of leaning into that going forward. David also shares his unique views on reframing failure into a learning opportunity and how critical it is for leaders to keep focussing on the agility and flexibility of their workforce to adapt and change now and in the future.
Listening to David inspires you to approach things new and differently, not just because you should, but because you feel compelled to do so to make a difference.
Find out more about this Trailblazer:
David Thodey AO
Business Leader
Chair, Xero and Ramsay Healthcare
Chancellor, The University of Sydney
Co-chair, Great Barrier Reef Foundation
Member, The Reserve Bank of Australia Governance Board
David Thodey is a business leader with a career active in business, healthcare, public policy, innovation, tertiary education, the environment and corporate governance.
He is currently Chair of Xero, a global cloud-based accounting solution and Ramsay Health Care, a global hospital group.
He was appointed as the 19th Chancellor of the University of Sydney in July 2024.
Mr Thodey also co-chairs the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, an Australian non-profit established to help preserve the Great Barrier Reef and was recently announced as a member of the Reserve Bank of Australia Governance Board.
Previously, Mr Thodey was Chair of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and Tyro, Australia’s largest independent payments company.
Active in public policy, he led an Independent Review of the Australian Public Service (APS). He also chaired an NSW Government appointed Panel to lead an independent review of Federal Financial Relations and led a user audit of the myGov government services digital portal.
In 2020, Mr Thodey was Deputy Chair of the Federal Government’s National COVID-19 Coordination Commission (NCC) Advisory Board, supporting the Government to navigate the challenges faced during the early stages of the pandemic.
Prior to his non-executive career, he had a successful career as CEO of Telstra, and before that, CEO of IBM Australia and New Zealand.
Mr Thodey was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Science and Technology from Deakin University and Honorary Doctor of Business from both University of Technology Sydney and the University of Sydney.
He was made an Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia for ethical business leadership.
Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.
Series three – Solving the Capability Gap – episode three
Sandra Lerch, Executive Director of Strategic Workforce Futures at the Public Sector Commission for the Queensland Government, joins Andy in this latest episode to explain how organisations can create workforce agility. She shares her experiences and learned lessons from her direct involvement in the recently released Even Better Public Sector for Queensland Strategy for 2024-2028.
Listen in to hear Sandra explain how organisational agility is a change process and how, by putting people at the centre, you can achieve the agility you need to be fit for the future. Sandra also shares the three important ingredients for being purposeful and holistic in your approach to developing and embedding workforce agility in the way you work.
Over the past two episodes, we’ve discussed critical dimensions of capability building, including adopting continuous learning models and using skills-based approaches in your talent strategy. A resonating sentiment from both these episodes has been the concept of future readiness, equipping and preparing workforces to meet future challenges.
In today’s episode, we unpack this further, discussing the role that skills play in workforce agility and how leaders can be purposeful and holistic in their approach to achieving organisational agility.
So far in our series, we’ve spoken to two highly experienced trailblazers who have given their insights into critical success factors of creating high-performing teams. These have included the importance of becoming a learning organisation and the need to be comfortable in ambiguity.
Sandra Lerch, Executive Director of Strategic Workforce Futures at the Public Sector Commission for the Queensland Government, joins Andy in this latest episode to explain how organisations can create workforce agility. She shares her experiences and learned lessons from her direct involvement in the recently released Even Better Public Sector for Queensland Strategy for 2024-2028.
Listen in to hear Sandra explain how organisational agility is a change process and how, by putting people at the centre, you can achieve the agility you need to be fit for the future. Sandra also shares the three important ingredients for being purposeful and holistic in your approach to developing and embedding workforce agility in the way you work.
Listen to episode three:
Also available through Apple Podcasts and Spotify:
Download the full transcript of episode three:
Find out more about this Trailblazer:
Sandra Lerch is the Executive Director, Strategic Workforce Futures at the Queensland Public Sector Commission. In this role, she has responsibility for a suite of initiatives that help create a workforce that is agile, inclusive and fit for the future.
Sandra has worked in both the state and federal public sectors, in a wide variety of roles, spanning strategic policy, organisational performance, and service delivery. Much of her experience is in central agencies during periods of significant workforce change.
Sandra and her team played a major role in bringing the Even better public sector for Queensland strategy 2024-2028 to fruition. The strategy’s first two-year action plan sets out 18 actions that aim to inspire trust in government, build a workforce that is ready to meet any challenge, and create workplaces that support employees to serve their community.
Sandra holds a Masters degree in Public Policy and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She has a long-standing interest in public sector reform, having contributed to a number of independent reviews in this area. Other areas of interest include employee engagement and how the Queensland public sector can position itself as an employer of choice.
Please tune in next week as we talk with James Christie, Director of Artificial Workflow, as he joins us to discuss developing AI skills in the public sector in our fourth episode in the Solving the Capability Gap series.
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Trailblazing with CorbettPrice Podcast - Episode 2
Welcome back to our second episode in the Trailblazing with CorbettPrice series on organisational health. This episode will explore the 2nd dimension of organisational health: Mental – organisational agility and resilience.
Listen to episode two:
Also available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts:
The past few years have been tough on organisations with constant uncertainty. As these shocks grow in numbers and complexity, organisations must focus beyond crisis responses to build resilience to survive now and into the future.
Scott Johnston, Deputy Secretary of Revenue, New South Wales, Chief Commissioner of State Revenue, and Commissioner of Fines Administration, joins Andy in this episode to discuss how Revenue NSW has applied agile principles to transform their organisation to become adaptive and responsive now and in the future. Hear how Scott manages to be a regulator while also delivering excellent customer service to Revenue’s three-and-a-half-million customers, his thoughts on empowering the whole organisation to innovate, his top tips for how leaders can respond to changing customer priorities, and much more.
Download the full transcript of episode two:
Find out more about this Trailblazer:
Scott Johnston is a highly experienced senior leader with a career spanning the Australian and United Kingdom public sectors.
An internationally recognised statistician specialising in economic analysis, his work at the UK Office of National Statistics guided key decision making for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and European Union.
Scott joined the Public Service Commission in June 2014 where he held the roles of Director Workforce Information Branch and Assistant Commissioner, Performance and Analytics Division.
He then moved on to the NSW Public Service Commission as Acting Public Service Commissioner, leading the NSW Government’s agenda - driving diversity, work of the future and reform across the sector. In April 2020, Scott was appointed to his current role of Deputy Secretary, Revenue NSW, Chief Commissioner of State Revenue and Commissioner of Fines Administration.
Since joining Revenue NSW, Scott has focused on providing flexibility and an improved customer experience for Revenue’s 3.5 million annual customers, with a focus on digital transformation and supporting the State’s most vulnerable customers. Over the past two years Revenue NSW has become sought after for its automation achievements, collaboration skills, innovation, and customer centred design.
Scott is passionate about shaping future workforce strategy through evidence-based decision making, innovation, diversity, and inclusion, and building digital capability.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/scott-johnston222/