What do you think of this portrayal of how to treat different generations? As a Gen X Man, I’m pretty confident that if you give me freedom to work the way I like with a sprinkle of autonomy, I’ll do just about anything for you. I actually use this a bit at work due to the fact that 80% of the workforce are millennials and Gen Z. Having said that, there’s something about young people that join the military that sets them apart from these normal stereotypes. What’s your workforce like in comparison?

If your organisation has toxic stars, you don't just have a culture problem. You also have a broken reward system. In healthy organisations, the impact people have on others is a key factor in their pay, performance and promotions. If you're an asshole, you're not a success. This quote by Adam Grant calls out organisations that reward and promote people who get stuff done, but leave a trail of broken people. They're burnt out, they're treated poorly, they would leave tomorrow if given another job opportunity. How about a culture where a leader is rewarded and promoted for positive impact on people (360 feedback, team retention and team output) + results. That’s where I want to work.

A few awesome tips I took away from the last day of our senior enlisted leadership symposium. 1. Take ownership of your wellbeing. Build resilience into yourself that can carry you all the way through life. Ensure everyone on your team is doing the same. 2. Your workplace culture is measurable. What we think, what we say, what we do. Deliberately go out of your way to ensure your workplace culture empower people and lift them up. 3. Lead with humanity to ensure you are the best in your profession. Work and fight as a team. If we harm someone our effect falls to zero. Refer to points 1 and 2 to ensure no one ever gets harmed. 4. Be ready to fail. Accept failure, learn and move on fast.

The opportunity to meet so many senior leaders in one day brings me so much gratitude. @Daniel Halls you may feature in tonight’s episode of Easty adventures. In short, every senior leader I have come across has bucket loads of emotional intelligence, empathy, kindness, listening skills, just being an awesome person. Communities like yours that highlight the importance of human skills and actually teach them is such an under utilised arena.

What a huge day. Chief of Defence Force and Secretary of Defence talked about the strategic picture for Australia. Lots of China, Ukraine, Southeast Asia, south-west Pacific and what it means for our beautiful country and defence force My primary takeaway - just because we’re senior enlisted leaders, doesn’t mean we know everything that’s going on. There’s always plenty to learn. Never stopped learning, never stop working to understand your people and what your contribution can do for the wider organisation. Today’s about Operations and what the defence force contribute to globally. Tomorrow is about the people, which I’m really looking forward to.