A Few More Thoughts about Leadership

As you undoubtedly would know by now, the person who had the biggest influence on my career as an executive was the late Dr Pill Harker. Whilst Phil helped me understand the basic psychology of human beings, he was sometimes naïve about the politics of organisations. Nevertheless I will be eternally grateful to him for […]

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The Dualism Quandary

Having studied physics, chemistry and mathematics, I have always been intrigued by what is the nature of the natural world. Conventional science would have us believe that science is about “discovering” the Laws of Nature that have governed the Universe since its creation. If you are religious you probably believe that God laid down these […]

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Guarding Our National Values

I am now in my eightieth year and remain a loyal and grateful Australian. As others have rightfully said, “To be born Australian is akin to winning the Lotto”. But being Australian has become more problematic in recent decades. As a young man, I and my peers were unabashedly patriotic. Sometimes our beliefs might have […]

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How the Middle East Succumbed to the Enigmatic Donald Trump!

As I write, Hamas seems to have agreed to a peace deal brokered by Donald Trump. This is a great achievement for Trump and, although many things could still go wrong in prosecuting the peace plan, we should give credit where credit is due. The struggle between Israel and Hamas was a seemingly intransigent problem […]

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Global Warming – The New Religion


The question that is inevitably asked of us these days is, “Do you believe in global warming?” Now for most of us this is indeed a question of faith because very few of us have sufficiently interrogated the science on the matter as to be sufficiently informed to be able to objectively make a rational […]

May 26, 2021

Our Limited Perspective of Others


I was flicking through the Review section of the Weekend Australian the other day and I came across an article by Stan Grant titled World of Difference. The article was a critique by Grant of Tom Keneally’s novel, The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith. I was most intrigued by the byline to the article which read: […]

May 4, 2021

Some Plain Speaking About Indigenous Deaths in Custody


I have often written about my dismay about indigenous disadvantage. Despite the fact that many indigenous people are prospering and contributing positively to Australian society, there is still a significant cohort experiencing undue hardship including domestic violence, poor educational outcomes, significant health issues and high levels of incarceration. An emblematic issue for indigenous people has […]

April 17, 2021

The Politics of Sexual Assault


The news these last few weeks has been dominated by various sexual indiscretions allegedly committed by politicians and those close to politics in Canberra. There are many decent men and women in politics and being a politician is a demanding and testing career for both men and women. And it is easy, but wrong, to […]

April 4, 2021

Live Not BY Lies


Live Not By Lies Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a famous Russian dissident and author. His Gulag Archipelago exposed the depravity of Soviet totalitarianism and made him a global hero. The Russians finally expelled Solzhenitsyn and he took up residence in the United States. On the eve of his forced exile he published a final message to […]

March 10, 2021

Fanning the Flames of Fear


Risk management is a relatively recent field of study. The boards of most major companies now have risk management committees charged with the responsibility of ensuring organisations are not exposed to risks that might be fatal to the company or at the very least seriously impede the company’s operation. Our propensity to deal with risk […]

February 26, 2021

Celebrating Our Commonality


Human beings always have contradictory aspirations: their will to assert their individuality conflicts with their desire to belong. And both tendencies bring inherent problems. Those who seek to emphasise their individuality and specialness develop conflated egos that hinder their ability to relate to others. The Vedantic sages understood this human flaw millennia ago. They differentiated […]

February 12, 2021

Jumping for Joe


After his inauguration as US President Joe Biden took little time to signal a reversal of many of Donald Trump’s policies. There has been a virtual hurricane of activity to affirm the left-wing policies of the Democrats. As I write the incoming President has already signed off on fifty executive orders to signal his opposition […]

February 1, 2021

Where Have All The Adults Gone?


A major stage of human development is the passage from childhood to adulthood. In many traditions this important transition is celebrated by significant rites of passage that signify that the child has matured and must now take on the responsibility of adulthood. In modern Western societies those rites of passage are no longer, or at […]

January 21, 2021

Anthem Antics


Much is being made of the Government’s decision to change the words of the national anthem to appease the loud voices of black victimhood. Like much else that has occurred in this space, this is a politically correct gesture which will have no impact on improving the lot of disadvantaged indigenous people, Will it help […]

January 5, 2021