In this episode of the Watermark Search International Agile Leadership Lessons Podcast, host Robert Atkinson, Partner in our Executive Search Professional Services practice, welcomes guests Rory Channer, founding partner of DCM Insights and Pat Spenner, APAC Managing Director for DCM Insights. Together, they delve into the evolving landscape of client loyalty in professional services.
The discussion centres around the emerging challenges faced by professional services leaders, in particular the decline in client loyalty, what underpins this decline and how to adjust to stem the rising tide of procurement and consensus decision making.
Rory and Pat share the research insights (off the back of 2,941 interviews across Professional Services - Law, Consulting, Accounting, Executive Search, Public Relations and Investment Banking), which combined formed the basis of their new book, The Activator Advantage. They also introduce the "Activator" profile, a key driver of higher performance in business development.
Listeners will gain valuable perspectives on the five types of professionals in the industry: the Expert, the Confidant, the Activator, the Realist, and the Debater. The episode explores how Activators, with their proactive and collaborative approach, can significantly enhance client engagement and drive growth.
Tune in to learn about the impact of consensus decision-making, the importance of consistent value creation, and the role of technology in supporting business development. Whether you're a seasoned professional or new to the field, this episode offers actionable strategies to adapt to the changing dynamics of client relationships in professional services.
In this episode of the Watermark Search International Agile Leadership Lessons podcast, host Donna Burr dives into the world of career coaching for executives.
Joined by Renata Bernarde, Career Coach and host of The Job Hunting Podcast, and Peta Granger, Commercial Director at QBD Books and Non-Executive Director at the Women’s Circus, this episode demystifies career coaching and its pivotal role in executive job searches and leadership transitions.
Renata and Peta share their insights on why leaders often struggle with job searches and transitions, the unique value of career coaching, and how it differs from other forms of professional development. Through real-life experiences and practical advice, listeners will learn how career coaching can help them navigate their career paths, overcome stagnation, and develop leadership agility.
Whether you're in a career rut or considering professional development options, this episode offers valuable takeaways to help you move forward with confidence.
In our first episode for 2025, we delve into the essential aspects of maintaining mental and physical strength as a leader. Join Watermark’s Chris Grant, Partner in our Health and Human Services practices and guest speaker, Peter Dijkema. Peter is a separation coach, and seasoned leadership and executive coach with decades of experience across diverse settings, cultures and countries. As an ICF-certified coach and a Thrive-accredited practitioner, Peter brings a unique perspective to the intersection of personal and professional growth.
The episode starts with Peter’s top three takeaways to stay mentally strong and then we explore the significant link between job satisfaction and overall health, discussing how both enjoying your work and engaging in meaningful work can positively impact both your physical and mental wellbeing. Our guest also opens up about his personal fitness routine and the best advice he’s received for staying fit and healthy.
The conversation then moves to the role of mateship and relationships in wellbeing and how this contributes to you being a leader as well as key advice for executives on what to focus on for sustained wellbeing and longevity.
To wrap up, Peter shares his motivational mottos and discusses the importance of mental and physical wellbeing, meaningful work, strong relationships, and continuous personal growth for leadership agility. Peter also suggests some great podcasts and books to further your thinking and action on this topic.
If you are a leader looking to build resilience and foster a healthy relationship with yourself and those around you, you will take a lot away from this episode.
Renee Burkinshaw, Founder and Director of Originate Coaching and Consulting unlocks the hidden treasures that lie beyond the payslip and speaks about:
Prosperity: The essential ingredients for organisational prosperity. She delves into the fascinating intersection of culture, wellbeing, inclusion, productivity, and sustainability.
Belonging and Meaning: Is it enough to clock in and collect a payslip? We think not! Renee explores the profound difference between merely being and true belonging at work. In today’s competitive landscape, attracting and retaining top talent hinges on understanding this distinction.
Purpose: Ever wondered about your life’s purpose? We’ve got you covered! Renee introduces her research on purpose-led inclusion. Learn how to be intentional in realising your purpose, both personally and professionally.
Actionable Tips: Ready to infuse your work with purpose? Renee gives practical strategies to kickstart your journey toward a more meaningful professional life.
Join Watermark for the first episode in our Masterclass Series, where we turn our highly regarded interim webinars into podcast episodes.
This episode features futurist and author, Diana Wu David, and she unveils the exciting landscape of tomorrow.
Diana guides us through envisioning what lies ahead and offers insights on how these changes will impact each of us as individuals and as leaders within our organisations. With captivating real-world examples, she sheds light on the personal and professional applications.
An opportunity to expand your horizons and rethink your approach to the future.
In the highly anticipated Part 2 of "Mastering Leadership Agility: Lessons from a CEO and Board Director in Hospital, Health and Aged Care" your host, Jocelyn Santosa, Partner at Watermark Search International, is joined once again by the remarkable CEO, Chair, and Board Director in the healthcare, hospital, and aged care sectors, Toby Hall.
This episode dives deep into different aspects of leadership in these critical fields. Together, they tackle essential questions such as:
Join Jocelyn Santosa and Toby Hall for a conversation for those navigating the ever-evolving healthcare landscape and the importance of leadership agility.
In this podcast episode, Jocelyn Santosa, Partner at Watermark Search specialising in health, human services and life sciences interviews Toby Hall. Toby is the former CEO of St. Vincent's Health Australia and Mission Australia as well as having a wide portfolio of Chair and Board roles including For Purpose Aged Care, Sana Health, UNICEF, Sterihealth, Working Links and Goodstart Early Learning.
Jocelyn and Toby have an engaging conversation covering topics including:
Listen to the full podcast below to gain insights and advice for current and future leaders.
Have you ever wondered about private equity and the experience of working with private equity? What do private equity firms look for in businesses? What do they look for in leaders? What is their operating rhythm?
David Evans, Managing Partner at Watermark Search, has extensive experience in this area and in this episode he chats to Mark Baldassarre, a highly accomplished leader in Private Equity. Mark brings over 25 years of private equity and international banking experience. He is deeply experienced in acquiring, integrating, and growing businesses, as well as providing strategic direction to company boards and management teams. Mark has looked at hundreds of private equity deals and has invested and exited in dozens.
David and Mark have a great chat explaining what private equity is and how it works. Mark then answers some interesting questions such as:
Listen to the full podcast below to gain insights and advice for current and future leaders.
At Watermark Search, we believe that those with higher leadership agility have higher performance. We are passionate about supporting leaders reach this, helping them learn and giving them the opportunity to change, influence and increase their leadership agility. So how do we get we get data and science behind our philosophy and how can leaders use this data to enhance their own leadership journey?
To discuss this, we invited Peter Berry, Managing Director of Peter Berry Consultancy and Ryne Sherman, Chief Science Officer at Hogan Assessment Systems to join us on this episode. Peter is a keynote speaker, facilitator and executive coach who specialises in leadership development, coaching, change management and business performance. Ryne is an expert on personality assessment, leadership and organisational effectiveness.
Our speakers defined leadership agility and answered some important questions:
As we enter different stages of this pandemic, we are seeing it effect individuals and businesses in different ways. Transformations are increasing and priorities have evolved. What was urgent and important at the start may no longer be as urgent and all of a sudden there are more pressing priorities. As a leadership cohort, how do we adapt, how do we lead and how do we engage with our teams in this fast-moving world?
Joining Watermark Search International's Managing Partner, David Evans, in our third episode is Natasha Moore, Partner in Charge of Transformational Program Management at KPMG, Amanda Cattermole, CEO of the Australian Digital Health Agency, and Kieran Duck a published author on transformation. All three leaders have led through major transformations recently; Amanda was at the forefront of changing a health system to respond to a pandemic, Kieran went through a four-year transformation at Essential Energy and had to constantly adapt and rework the program due to the changing market environment, and Natasha had to rethink how they engaged with risk and amend collaboration tools to deal with the new virtual world.
Our speakers discuss their organisation’s purpose, how their priorities evolved, how they, along with their teams, got through the transformational journeys by adapting, and about the effective processes and experiences that got leaders on board with the pace of this change. They also highlight what they have done and seen that has worked well to get their people to express an opinion and contribute during this change.
Listen to the full podcast below to gain insights and advice for current and future leaders.
At Watermark, we're advocates of the for purpose sector. Not only do we contribute as a firm, but we also appoint many executives in for purpose entities. In this episode we are joined by three leaders from some of Australia's best known for purpose entities to share some of their experiences.
Hosted by Watermark Search International's Managing Partner, David Evans. In this episode we're joined by; Colin Seery, CEO of Lifeline, who saw an increase of 30% in calls to the main crisis support service through the bushfires crisis and the COVID pandemic, Judy Slatyer, most recently the CEO of the Australian Red Cross, whose team had to quickly adapt from dealing with the devastation of the bushfires in early 2020 to managing COVID and the pandemic and Susannah Le Bron, CEO at the Y in New South Wales, (formerly known as the YMCA), who experienced the pandemic through a different lens, adapting to a crisis environment that directly impacted more than half of her organisation.
Our speakers discuss leadership agility, and how they adapted to an unprecedented crisis situation. Anticipating change, assessing new risks and the importance of setting clear principles to guide their organisations and their people through the crisis. And the day-to-day tactics they implemented to remain connected with their teams, their organisations purpose, and to ensure themselves and their teams were looking after each other from a personal and professional point of view.
Listen to gain their insights and advice for current and future leaders.
How did you react to events in 2020 and how has this affected how you're looking to the future? Philip Holliday, William Cox, and Elizabeth Mildwater share their experiences.
Hosted by Watermark Search International's Managing Partner, David Evans. In this episode we're joined by; Philip Holliday, CEO of the NSW Ports Authority, whose team was deeply impacted by the events of 2020 reacting to the Ruby Princess (the cruise ship at the centre of one of Australia's largest coronavirus outbreaks), William Cox, CEO of Aurecon, who has a different perspective with his team of consultants who have seen all sorts of organisations evaluating their evolving requirements, and consequently how they must adapt their own business to support this changing landscape, and Elizabeth Mildwater, CEO of the Greater Sydney Commission, who has had to deal with changes in not only how we work but also how these events will impact us over the longer term.
Our speakers highlight the changes in opinions on flexible working, how some companies who offered flexible working prior to the pandemic have now actually gone backwards and require staff to be in the office 5 days a week, or companies who have foregone the office all together and have moved to a fully remote workforce. They discuss the 3/2 hybrid working split and their concerns for the more inexperienced employee's learning and development with reduced opportunities for face to face mentoring and guidance from more experienced team members. How will this effect the future workforce?
Listen to gain their insights and advice for current and future leaders.