Episode 36: A growth mindset approach to boosting productivity with Danielle Wood

Danielle Wood, Chair of the Productivity Commission, has had an incredibly busy year, and she took time out of her busy schedule to join me in our latest podcast episode to talk about how we can apply a growth mindset approach to boosting productivity. It’s a fantastic chat that highlights the critical need to boost productivity in Australia, and Danielle provides several approaches on how to turn it around.

Listen to episode thirty-six:

Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify:

References from this episode:

Productivity Commission - Five pillars of productivity inquiries

Jobs and Skills Australia - Skills and jobs of the future - the Four Cs

Ezra Klein Podcast

About this episode:

This episode highlights the critical need to boost productivity in Australia and provides several approaches on how to turn it around. It also leaves you with the encouragement to pursue change, embrace new technology, prepare your workforce for the future, and approach and navigate regulation more thoughtfully.

Danielle shares her perspective on how the attributes of a growth mindset, including being open to new opportunities and ways of doing things, being curious, and being resilient, are also at the heart of driving innovation and productivity.

We also discuss a couple of the five-pillar interim reports and recommendations, including the PC’s report on harnessing data and digital technology, and Danielle shares some interesting and conservative forecasts on the role that AI can play in boosting labour productivity over the next decade.

The second pillar report we cover in our discussion is building a skilled and adaptable workforce, and Danielle shares the skills she believes are essential for developing future-readiness in our workforce now and in the future.

As the co-head of the APS Evaluation Profession, Danielle shares her thoughts on the importance of developing evaluation skills in navigating complexity and her passion for pursuing evidence-based policy by linking data across the system to unlock better outcomes for Australians.

Concluding our conversation, Danielle explains how “regulatory hairballs” are causing many businesses to choke, and how a more thoughtful approach is needed when regulating to consider the impacts it can have on growth, productivity, and living standards. She even shares some different approaches that other countries are taking in tackling the same issue.

Find out more about this Trailblazer:

Danielle Wood

Chair

Productivity Commission

Danielle Wood commenced a 5-year term as Chair of the Productivity Commission on 13 November 2023.

Prior to joining the Commission, she was CEO of the Grattan Institute and Head of its Budgets and Government Program. During her time at Grattan, Danielle also held roles as member of the Australian Government’s Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, the Parliamentary Budget Office Expert Advisory Committee, the Jobs and Skills Australia Consultative Forum and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government Research Committee.

Danielle previously worked in senior roles at the ACCC and at NERA Economic Consulting. She started her career as a graduate at the Productivity Commission.

Danielle holds an Honours degree in Economics from the University of Adelaide and two Masters degrees, one in Economics and one in Competition Law, from the University of Melbourne.

Danielle is an Honorary Fellow and former President of the Economic Society of Australia and a Research Fellow of the Women’s Leadership Institute. She was the co-founder and first Chair of the Women in Economics Network.

She is currently an ex-officio member of the Australian Government’s Competition Review Expert Advisory Panel.

Tune in next time as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.