PEOPLE I LEARN FROM
Mentors & Influences – The People Who Shaped My Leadership
Every meaningful shift in my thinking can be traced back to a person, a conversation, or a room I was lucky enough to be in. These are some of the people who shaped how I lead, think, and show up.
The power of accountability
One of the most valuable things I have learned is that growth does not happen in isolation. It happens in relationship. The most transformative moments of my career have come not from books or conferences, but from sitting across the table from someone who cared enough to tell me the truth.
Through Entrepreneurs' Organization, I discovered the power of accountability groups, Forum, and structured peer learning. These are not networking events. They are spaces where entrepreneurs share openly, challenge honestly, and hold each other to the commitments that matter most.
I have been both the mentee and the mentor. Both roles have taught me the same lesson: the quality of your thinking is determined by the quality of your relationships.
Kim Liddell
Kim is one of my closest friends. She is the person who reminds me that leadership starts with self-awareness, not strategy. Kim has an extraordinary ability to see through the noise and ask the one question that changes everything. She holds me accountable with fierce love and zero tolerance for excuses. Some of the most significant decisions I have made were shaped by a conversation with Kim.
Jack Daly
Jack Daly is the person who showed me that sales is not a dirty word – it is the heartbeat of a healthy business. His energy is relentless, his frameworks are practical, and his commitment to culture as a growth lever changed the way I think about scaling. Meeting Jack through Entrepreneurs’ Organization was a turning point. He taught me that systems beat willpower, and that a great culture is the best sales strategy you will ever build.
Verne Harnish
Verne Harnish founded the organisation that changed my life – Entrepreneurs’ Organization – and his Scaling Up methodology became the operating system for how I think about business growth. His clarity on the four decisions every company must get right (People, Strategy, Execution, Cash) gave me a framework I still use every day. Verne is proof that the best teachers are the ones who simplify complexity, not add to it.
Peter Schwartz
Peter Schwartz, the futurist and scenario planning pioneer, expanded my thinking in ways I did not expect. His work on long-range strategic planning – not predicting the future, but preparing for multiple futures – fundamentally changed how I approach business strategy. Meeting him through EO reinforced something I now teach my own clients: the most dangerous assumption is that tomorrow will look like today.
Greg Crabtree
Greg Crabtree, author of Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits, gave me the financial clarity that most entrepreneurs avoid. His approach to understanding labour efficiency, profitability, and cash flow through simple metrics transformed how I read my own business. Greg taught me that you cannot coach what you cannot measure – and that the numbers always tell the truth, even when the narrative does not.
Ross Jurisich & Bond University
Ross Jurisich was a standout speaker at Bond University’s executive education programs. His ability to combine academic rigour with real-world application left a lasting impression. The Family Business program at Bond gave me language and frameworks for the unique challenges of building a business with your life partner. It was at Bond that I first articulated many of the principles I now share with the leaders I coach.
Professor Justin Craig
Professor Justin Craig created the Family Business program at Bond University – one of the world’s leading authorities on family enterprise. His research and teaching gave me frameworks for navigating the intersection of family and business – the governance structures, the communication patterns, the role clarity that makes the difference between a partnership that thrives and one that fractures under pressure. What Justin built at Bond has shaped how I work with business partners and couples to this day.
MIT ENTREPRENEURIAL MASTERS
The room that changed everything
Being accepted into the MIT Entrepreneurial Masters Program was one of the defining moments of my career. This is not a standard MBA. It is a three-year immersive program for high-impact entrepreneurs – the kind of people who have built real businesses through real adversity.
The calibre of the people in that room was extraordinary. Founders from every continent, every industry, every stage of growth – all committed to becoming better leaders, not just bigger operators. The program challenged every assumption I had about strategy, scale, and what it means to lead with purpose.
MIT taught me that the most powerful competitive advantage is not your product or your market – it is how quickly you can learn and adapt. The relationships I built there continue to shape my thinking today.
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