Five steps to a touch system that grows sales

Don't give up until you've touched prospects nine times.  Are you being unseen, unheard, unsold? A touch is any way you reach out and say "Hey, I'm out here" and US-based expert sales trainer Jack Daly says most salespeople and organisations quit at five or fewer touches. But, he says in his book Hyper S...

Blue Sky appoints third CFO in seven months

Embattled investment group Blue Sky Alternative Investments (ASX: BLA) is attempting to right the ship with its third CFO in seven months.  Justine Henwood has been appointed as the new chief financial officer just months after the sudden resignation of her predecessor Elizabeth Walker. Walker resigned for personal reasons just t...

Pippa Hallas' decade of bold moves as CEO of Ella Bache

In the ten years that Pippa Hallas has been CEO of Ella Baché she has steered the iconic company through uncharted waters. While newer brands have had the advantage of youth to see them survive and thrive the beginnings of social media, the 83-year-old skincare company has had to make a complete overhaul. When Hallas took over ...

Meet the young CEO of a leading international cyber security firm

For most people, the age of 19 usually indicates the first year of University, and the beginning of a career, perhaps an unpaid internship. For Sam Crowther (pictured), CEO of cyber security firm Kasada, 19 is the year he founded a company that would go on to become a major international player. I know, I gasped too. With cybersec...

Female board appointments stall for ASX 200 companies

The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) has called the failure to reach an equality target "disappointing" with fewer than expected females appointed to ASX 200 boards in 2019. AICD today released the latest gender diversity statistics of Australia's ASX 200 companies, and progress appears to have stalled. F...

SEEK nabs former CommBank CEO Ian Narev

Former Commonwealth Bank boss Ian Narev, who left Australia's biggest bank in the wake of its 2018 money laundering scandal, has joined jobs site SEEK (ASX: SEK) in the newly created role of group chief operating officer and Asia Pacific and Americas CEO. Narev will work in partnership with SEEK Group CEO and co-founder Andrew Bassat ...

Zuckerberg calls for more regulation over the Internet

Facebook has clearly grown bigger than founder Mark Zuckerberg ever imagined. In just a few short years he's gone from Silicon Valley darling to the scapegoat for the world's ills. He copped the brunt of the blame for Brexit and Trump, and more recently has received a fair share of criticism for Facebook's handling of the ...

Blackmores heir takes over as CEO of the company

The son of the late founder of Blackmores (ASX:BKL) will take over the health company as interim CEO. Executive director Marcus Blackmore (pictured) will step in as interim CEO from 1 April. The appointment of Marcus comes following the shock resignation of Richard Henfry in late February after just 18 months in the role. Henfry s...

Merino Country woollen undies strike the right baa-lance

For many small businesses a high-profile defence contract would be like hitting the jackpot, but for woollen apparel manufacturer Merino Country it was a stepping stone to greater things.  With 20,000 customers worldwide, the Brisbane-based company celebrated 25 years in business last year and has come a long way from its o...

Village Roadshow legacy CEO Graham Burke to retire amid feud reports

Graham Burke has announced that he will retire from the top job at Village Roadshow (ASX: VRL) after having spent more than 30 years as its inaugural CEO. Burke first joined Village Roadshow at age 14 as a ticket collector and floor sweeper before becoming managing director of Village Drive-In Limited at 23. When Village Roadshow list...

Virgin Australia names Paul Scurrah as John Borghetti's successor

The replacement for long-time Virgin Australia CEO and MD John Borghetti has been found to lead Australia's second largest carrier. Paul Scurrah will replace John Borghetti who announced his intention to step down in June 2018 after a decade of working for the airline. Borghetti joined the airline in 2010, when it was called Virgi...

Female board representation hits an all-time high

Gender diversity on ASX 200 boards has hit an all-time high at the end of 2018, with nearly 30 per cent of board positions filled by women. This is a huge milestone for Australian companies who have hit this target without any regulatory intervention or quotas. The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) says the 29.7 per cen...

Super Retail Group draws from within to appoint new chief

Super Retail Group Limited (ASX: SUP) has appointed its current outdoor retailing managing director Anthony Heraghty to replace the long-serving Peter Birtles as chief executive and managing director of the company. Heraghty, who joined the retail giant's leadership team in 2015, was responsible for initiating and directing the acquis...

Staying ahead of the competition as a CFO

The role of the CFO in modern business is facing more pressure thanks to the increased importance of data collection, fierce competition from rivals and the need to modernise workplaces, according to a leading Australian analytics consultancy. Brisbane-based Bistech has released a report which shows there may be no position under more pre...

Ex-Macquarie exec takes top job at Yellow Brick Road

Yellow Brick Road (ASX: YBR) has appointed an ex-Macquarie board member to its helm, just weeks after a wild ride which included an unsolicited takeover offer of the company and a collapsed $300 million credit facility. Frank Ganis, former executive director at Macquarie Group, has joined the mortgage broker as CEO and is expected to help...

Crucial lessons from the C-suite: Grow yourself to grow your company

It took three years of building a successful medical device startup company before Nina Quinn was headhunted to become the CEO of Neurosensory. Quinn's transition in taking Neurosensory from a South East Queensland business turning over $5 million, to a multi-clinic enterprise now spanning three states wasn't an easy one. Had ...

How you can harness 'instability' to advance your career

Although it may have been a touch dramatic, Albert Einstein hit the nail on the head when he said, "once you stop learning, you start dying". In a fast-paced business landscape defined almost entirely by uncertainty and emerging technologies, learning new skills is virtually inseparable from success. According to innovation ...

Confidence in crisis: Overcoming collateral damage after strawberry needle disaster

The Scurr family and their company Piñata Farms have invested substantial sums to develop some of Australia's most advanced strawberry operations, including high-tech hydroponic substrate farming, new varieties and even metal detectors in the packhouse. But the latter was done to avoid stray rocks or jewellery, not needles like...

Why emotions are the secret weapon for successful leadership

In business there is a saying- 'it's more important to think with your head than your heart'.

But, as modern research shows, this statement couldn't be further from the truth.

Professor Neal Ashkanasy of The University of Queensland Business School has built an academic career in the field of organisational beha...

Saturated market? Opportunities abound, just ask former Swisse boss Radek Sali

It has now been almost three years since vitamins company Swisse Wellness was sold for $1.67 billion to a Hong Kong company, giving entrepreneur Radek Sali a healthy supplement of around $250 million from the sale. It's enough money to make time the Australian businessman's most precious asset as he looks for new opportunities thr...