In this keynote, the speaker critiques common networking habits and offers a practical framework for more effective networking, emphasizing the need to actively work the room and engage with new contacts. He introduces the concept of structured mastermind groups—drawing on Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich—and outlines the criteria, frequency, and facilitation needed for such groups to serve as a high‑quality professional development (PD) platform. The talk stresses the importance of asking deeper, business‑focused questions at both networking events and within mastermind sessions to uncover challenges and opportunities. Finally, the speaker discusses the distinction between managerial and leadership roles, urging leaders to be consciously aware of which “hat” they are wearing at any moment and to communicate that clearly to their teams. He concludes by offering resource sheets and further materials to help attendees implement these practices.
Chapters
So it's a really good example, that one, but there's so many other issues that there are answers to your questions in this room. You've just got to find them. So that means you need to do a few things. When you go to networking, this is what most people do. Well, you tell me what most people do when they go to a networking function. Who do they go and talk to? The people they already know. The people they already know. They go and talk to people they already know, which is fine at the beginning. But the problem is, I was doing a networking function only last week. They stayed with the people they know and it was a corporate business networking thing to do business. I was the MC and I said, you're not going to do— some of them stood with their own colleagues. Here's the Macquarie Bank guy and here's the Macquarie Bank guy. They're not going to do business with each other, are they? So sit at a different table. Do think different things. What most people do at networking functions is they don't run it the right way for themselves. They don't work the room. Networking functions get a really bad rap and they get a really bad rap because people don't know how to network. I'll show you how to network in a moment and just what I mean specifically. The second thing is this: join or form a mastermind group. I was talking to Monica earlier. Monica said she's reading a book at the moment, rereading the book probably for the 50th time. What's the book, Monica? Think and Grow Rich. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. In 1929, Napoleon Hill wrote that book and there's a chapter in it and it's called Mastermind Groups. The business world has well and truly embraced mastermind groups but your sector hasn't. You may have individually but as I said, this is number 8 of these presentations. It wasn't until about number 4 that I realised that your sector doesn't know what mastermind groups are. The business sector knows exactly. As a matter of interest, who does know what a mastermind group is? 4 or 5 of you, 6. Mastermind group is this. I'll do it really quickly and I will send you a sheet on how to form and how to run a mastermind group. It's not meeting over red wine and it's not meeting over a coffee. It might be that, but it's a structured meeting. It's the same group of people who fulfill these 3 requirements. One, they have to roughly get on. Secondly, they have to have roughly the same role. Thirdly, they have to be at roughly the same level in the organization. They meet monthly and it's a very structured meeting and the sheet that I'll send you will tell you exactly how to run it. I run mastermind groups for people and organisations and I mediate the groups. You need a mediator and you need someone who runs it and it all comes down to this. You have to ask questions. But this is what you have to do with those questions. Lift the quality of the questions you ask and that's what you need to do at networking functions as well. It amazes me even at corporate networking how people end up talking about the football and the football is not gonna generate $1 of business for them. They don't ask questions like, what's the biggest challenge facing you at the moment in your organisation? What's the most difficult task you have to do this week and how are you doing it? Lift the quality of the questions. That's how you do your PD because you people are unlikely to go to courses like you'd send your staff on. Your PD comes from interacting with like-minded people in like-minded organisations and roughly the same level as you. You can orchestrate that in a mastermind group. Now, this is the ideal environment to find those groups, but AusAID is also the ideal environment to find people who you may find are perfect for a mastermind group for you. So that leads us to this. The ball is well and truly in your court now. You can do what you like. You can go now and say we had a nice lunch. The speaker was okay. Or you can think, okay, I'm gonna do something with that. So my deal with you is you give me the sheet and I will send you a pile of resources that will help you to look after your PD. In management and leadership, your challenge is time because you can't be manager on a Monday and leader on a Tuesday, can you? Then manager again on a Wednesday. It simply doesn't work like that. Things happen. You get emails. You get phone calls. Things just happen. But you do need to know at any point in time whether you're wearing the manager's hat or whether you're wearing the leader's hat. The problem for your staff is they need to know when you're wearing the manager's hat and when you're wearing the leader's hat. You have to know that absolutely. So the ball is in your court. What you do with it is up to you. So you made a choice today and I thank you for making the choice to come today. Now I'd like you to do something with it. Thank you.
