Why Amazon is not “just another competitor”

Many words have been written about the timing of Amazon’s Australian launch, with constant speculation and misinformation about the date. In coming years, the launch date will be nothing but a footnote. What really matters is how to respond to Amazon and, on this, there is much well-intentioned but unhelpful advice. Unhelpful because many commentators are now downplaying Amazon as “just another competitor” – when in fact the retail marketplace is about to be transformed. Following that advice could be the modern-day equivalent of launching a cavalry charge towards soldiers armed with machine...

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Overcoming Safety Challenges in the Current Threat Environment

In response to a heightened safety and security threat environment, venue security and procedures also need to be heightened while still balanced with ensuring an optimal customer experience – increased collaboration between all stakeholders, plus the target hardening of venues themselves, has never been more urgent. In this article, I share details of comprehensive risk management strategies employed to overcome safety challenges at some of Australia’s biggest and most high profile events, with a specific look into recent major events. Minimising Risk Overcoming Challenges with Comprehensive Risk...

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The skill every EA should be including on their resume

Whether you’re an Executive Assistant actively looking for a new role or just open to new opportunities, it’s important to keep your resume and LinkedIn profile up-to-date with the skills and traits potential employees are searching for. Whilst it may seem organisations prioritise different skillsets, there are many traits which all companies are begging for. We analysed a cross-section of job ads from across public and private sectors to identify the most common traits executives were looking for in their assistants. So what’s the trait in highest demand? A positive, can-do attitude.  Most,...

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Improving NDIS Service Delivery Outcomes: one speaker’s thoughts on unlocking innovation for providers

For providers operating in a NDIS environment the way one deals with an age of consumer choice and control is an innovation opportunity. 1. Selecting the lane for your innovation ambition To survive and thrive you need to develop and adopt a clear and conscious strategy. In some parts of your organisation and operations you may select to be in a certain lane:    fast lane: being a leader of change    middle lane: being a fast follower that adopts innovation from others; or    slow lane: choose incremental continuous improvements and drive...

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The gruesome reality inside Australia’s youth detention centres

Dylan Voller in a spit hood and shackled into chair. Photo: ABC ABC’s Four Corners shook the country last year when it revealed the abuses inside the Northern Territory’s Don Dale Youth Detention Centre. Investigative reporter Caro Meldrum-Hanna exposed to Australia’s population how children and youth were abused by detention staff. The image of 15-year-old Dylan Voller in a spit hood and shackled into chair has become an iconic image of the gruesome truth that’s been happening behind closed doors. Within 36 hours from that the show broadcast, Prime...

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The role of social media in contemporary emergency management

Information sharing between communities and public emergency services agencies is absolutely critical in times of a disaster, especially during large-scale events such as terror acts, bushfires, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. This is a fairly novel channel of communication between citizens and government emergency services agencies and it is a two-way road. In recent years, social media and collaborative tech have become key ingredients of emergency preparedness, response, and recovery. It is through the use of social media that members of the public who are in the impact area have...

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Risk management in the digital age

It’s no secret that new and emerging threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated, widespread and complex globally; As old-world and new-world challenges collide in today’s digital environment, it’s critical that organisations understand how to digitize their existing frameworks and transform current risk practices to reflect new threats. Although organisations have become reasonably good at managing predictable, lower-level risks, many have a false sense of security about their ability to anticipate and deal with more hazardous fraud threats that evolve rapidly in a digitally-connected...

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Antidote to Community Fear

We live in a globally connected world where extremism, in many forms (ideological, political, economic, social, and personal) is a constant threat to community safety.  This is why community safety is a key priority for all levels of Government, especially when major public events occur, such as the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, the Australia Open in Melbourne, and so on.  All forms of contemporary extremism begin with extreme views by people who, in the main, fall within the bell curve of psychologically ‘normal’ individuals.  This profile fits for right &...

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CCTV and Privacy

There are cameras all around us. ATMs, lifts, shops, traffic lights, parking stations all have cameras. Most of us even have a camera we regularly use on our phones. Everywhere we go there is potential that our movements are being recorded and monitored. Most people accept this as being part of living in today’s world. We surrender some of our privacy in exchange for being able to conduct our lives without needing to go to extraordinary lengths to avoid this level of surveillance. However, the information being recorded is our personal information and for those public authorities owning...

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