Videos bring sustainability to life BG Australia Chairman ... - QGC

If these proposals were,therefore, designed to protectAustralia’s water resources,they fail on this logic alone.They were clearly notintroduced to deal with anenvironmental problem.They were introduced toappease activists.live in their home towns.That is a measure of whatis at stake when we havedecision making on this basis;when green activists andtheir supporters deliberatelymisinform; and when motivesand charges go unquestionedand unchallenged.how they work, how theytreat people, how they dealwith success, and how theydeal with failure.They work hard at understandingwhat drivespeople; what makes themhappy; what makes them sad;what makes them excited.to change; the capacity tomake a difference. In tappingthat capacity, we have tobelieve in something, tostand for something.With good intentions,courage and authenticity, wecan own and lead the changewe seek.We have not, of course,advocated that agriculturebe included in the Bill. Wehave, instead, asked that theBill be withdrawn.We believe the proposalsare fundamentally flawedbecause they deal witha fabricated perceptionand not with reality, andwill effectively shift theregulatory goal posts forprojects already approvedby a regulatory regime thatalready works.When fully operational, ourbusiness will contribute morethan A$1 billion a year to stateand federal governmentrevenues.That’s equivalent yearlyfunding for more than 20primary schools or about1000 hospital beds.Most importantly, a newspecialised sector has beencreated, diversifying oureconomy, and creatingnew, skilled, well-paid jobsin regional Queenslandcommunities like Gladstone,Chinchilla, Tara and Dalby.Projects like ours are alsorejuvenating the bush,increasing school enrolments,leading to better healthservices, improving roadsand, critically, giving youngpeople a reason to work andLeadershipIn practical terms, the lessonsof leadership that I havefound most helpful over theyears have not come fromtextbooks.They have come fromwonderful mentors and theyhave been deeply personal– that is, they are in all of uswhen we look.In my case, I have learnedthat leadership is “owned”by people who lead.They believe in something;they hold their values dearly.I take great satisfactionfrom being part of anindustry that is helpingpeople to breathecleaner air in some ofthe developing world’smost populated citiesand is providingelectricity so peopledo not have to cookusing firewood,coal or cow dung.They “own” everything theydo – and take responsibilityfor how they behave, howthey speak, how they listen,They refuse to be limited byself-doubt, by what peoplemight think, by their ownsense of worth.They have a go.They are courageous.And, most importantly, theyare authentic.They have good intentions– and by this I don’t meana comparison with badintentions; I mean acomparison with having nointentions at all.They say what they mean;they mean what they say.Whether we talk aboutbusiness, politics, religion,sport, science, education,or community, we seem tohave become a nation thatis crying out for leadership.We commonly hear ourselvestalking about “them” and“they” as those responsiblefor what we sense is a lackof leadership: a failureof “those at the top” tomake difficult decisions, apropensity for them to makeself-interested decisions,and most damning, their lackof intention.It has become easy to“outsource” our ailments.We have within each of us thecapacity to lead; the capacityThis leads me to what Ihave found to be the mostuseful question asked bymy business mentors andapplicable to every problemI have faced in my businessand personal life: So what?I have learned that goodleaders encourage peopleto explain their problems, toconstructively criticise, and tochallenge convention.Early in my career, I found itrelatively easy to explain thedetail of a problem only to beconfronted by much wisermen and women who wouldpatiently listen and then ask:So what do we do about it?This was more difficult; Ihad to be more thoughtful;and the people who askedstand out in my life becausethey were able to createconstructs and environmentswhere people like me wereencouraged to work onsolutions.This often meant fixingsimple things first; notbecause they were simple asin easy but that they weresimple as in obvious, and theyrequired good-intentioned,courageous decisions.As a society, it is not enoughto say things are broken; weneed to ask: “So what do wedo to fix them.”our business JUNE 2013Page 15