Dr. Terryel Hu

Dean's Award
University of Rochester
January 08, 2012

Learn to Lead with UNSW 2024
University of New South Wales
October 29, 2024

Graduate Certificate in Educational Research
Monash University
May 18, 2015

Master of Education (Leadership, Policy and Change Management)
Monash University
May 02, 2013

Hong Kong Baptist University
University of Canberra
July 10, 2017

Lectured course topics in management and marketing at Hong Kong Baptist University.

University of Canberra
University of Canberra
February 13, 2017

Lecturer at Canberra Business School and managed courses across its national partnerships. Delivered courses in marketing, management and planning.

The SECI model and external sources of knowledge: a field study on the distribution of search routines
Doctoral Thesis/ UNSWorks
April 20, 2020

The SECI model is one of most popular and systemic models of knowledge creation. However, its main application is in a set of routines (socialization, externalization, combination and internalization) that emphasizes internal sources of knowledge. This thesis explores how and when organizations locate external sources of knowledge. It uses routines as the main unit of analysis for understanding how each stage of the SECI model is impacted by different sources of knowledge. It argues that external sources of knowledge can be discovered and represented by a search routine. A search routine helps us understand, theoretically, why only certain rules (tacit knowledge) and products (explicit knowledge) are reinforced amongst organizational members. This thesis shows how routines are modified by these search routines when organizations take on the risk of acquiring external sources of knowledge, which involves technology unrelated to their own. The SECI model is explored in two stages: the first stage of the methodology explores the search routine outcomes of SECI using 20 small technology companies; and the second stage replicates those findings onto eight large consulting firms. The field study provided insight into the external sources of knowledge in the SECI model by classifying when its search routines arise under different competitive pressures. Findings suggest that organizations began with internal sources of knowledge, but search routines determined which external sources of knowledge should be distributed for SECI: socialization externalization, combination and internalization. The thesis explains what conditions make some search routines more prevalent than others when locating internal and external sources of knowledge. The author recommends that each stage of the SECI model still be explored, but under a different competitive environment. Building on these classifications of search routines would add to the explanation of why the search for knowledge beyond the organization is more necessary for some industries than others.

Rethinking the Value of an MBA
Linkedin
April 07, 2025

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) was originally created to help engineers and technical professionals transition into management. It offered foundational training in finance, economics, operations, and leadership. While enrolments have declined over the past decade, the professional landscape remains saturated with MBAs. So outside of specific finance and consulting careers, what is the real value of an MBA today?

Avoiding Digital Chaos: How to Prevent Complexity from Killing Transformation
The Process Excellence Network
April 02, 2025

The excitement around artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation can lead to the belief that success lies in adding more features – especially if they are sophisticated. It’s natural to be drawn by the latest tools, templates and workflows that promise our teams greater efficiency.

However, they can also introduce unnecessary complexity. When transformation efforts don’t go as planned, organizations tend to react by layering on even more outdated inefficiencies, expecting that all the sophistication will help to simplify the process.

HR's Credibility Crisis: Preaching Leadership while Drowning in Paperwork
Linkedin
March 31, 2025

Here are a few harsh truths about HR’s credibility crisis.

Saying “humans are the most valuable asset” and “I love working with people” makes HR sound like we're part of a cult. HR’s love of Homo sapiens makes us wonder if they worked with aliens before. If they have a true passion for working with people, then they should consider a career in sales. Otherwise, they are always welcome to join product teams and interact with users.
HR wants to preach leadership. By leadership, they mean printing out a 300-page rule book. And by ‘more leadership’, they usually mean adding another 300 pages to that employee rule. Their credibility was lost somewhere between the print shop and their preaching about leadership. Until HR shifts from manual processes and paperwork, to real business impact that can scale, it will remain a department that preaches leadership rather than being one. HR needs to go back to basics. Does HR know “What business problem are they solving?” How does HR improve the company’s top or core products? What percentage of their daily activities contribute to the sale, quality or distribution of these products? HR should discover when compliance tasks add value to the business and when it doesn’t.



We don’t need a patent analysis to tell us that HR are latecomers to innovation. The many claims about growth mindsets may have been deeply personal because they certainly haven’t translated into anything productive for the business. If a growth mindset does produce outdated manual processes and distrust from employees, then it's time to find another mindset. Maybe avoid the idea of mindsets altogether. You could accept your fate, or you could seek inspiration from the most innovative people in your industry.

Gain a Competitive Edge: Strengthening Critical Thinking for High Performance
Linkedin
March 26, 2025

While many of these techniques originate from educational settings, they are just as vital for leadership in the workplace. My experience as an educator and consultant has shown that many professionals prefer structured learning environments, such as university programs (e.g. MBA, short courses) or executive coaching (e.g. Motivational speakers, mentorships), to improve their thinking. However, if critical thinking is about producing a “yes-no” response, then such education programs will be superficial and counterproductive. Mark Twain’s famous words capture this sentiment well:

“I have never let schooling interfere with my education.”
In that, the best leaders are those who never stop questioning, never stop learning and never take their own conclusions for granted.

Stop Using Excel for Everything: A Leadership Wake-Up Call
Medium
March 21, 2025

True leadership is about enabling innovation, not maintaining outdated habits. Instead of forcing Excel to handle tasks it wasn’t designed for, forward-thinking leaders recognize that change is needed and that it’s time to invest in their tools. A first step would be to stop using Excel for everything.

On Motivating Employees
Quora
March 21, 2025

Motivating employees must go beyond the benefits. It must recognize the demographic of the employees, which happens to be Gen Z and Millennials. The advice around leading high-performance bases takes after the life-coach movements of the 90s. Simon Sinek, Sheryl Sandberg and Angela Duckworth are amongst the many who have emphasized grit. That won’t cut it for Gen Z and millennials. While it is fact that previous generations had it harder, a message that conveys “toughen up” and “work through the pain” will not cut it. Leaders have to stop using race and ethnicity categories and explore the sub-communities that have formed amongst the crowd. Marketers do this well. Startup entrepreneurs also excel in finding out the unique motivations of their users. It may be time to stop treating employees in terms of salaries and benefits, but as users with problems to be solved.

We often hear about the “War for Talent”, which comes with its own set of challenges. The most challenging is the supply and demand aspect. Top talent in a high-demand area will call for a mix of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Top talents are motivated by the remuneration and a sense of personal achievement. An example of companies who have appealed to this mix would be the FAANG companies. The managed to attract top performers by targeting their extrinsic (top compensation packages) and intrinsic (belonging to the world's most innovative workers) motivations.

Leadership and Disruption: Can Elon Musk Run Government Like a Startup?
Medium
March 18, 2025

Elon Musk is no stranger to disruptive innovation. Musk has been an innovative leader in payment technology, electric cars and space travel. He has consistently pushed boundaries and often with a “move fast and break things” approach. Those who have worked in the tech sector would surely recognize this leadership. However, it will be more typical of a startup than a government department. One of the earlier initiatives from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has turned toward the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, a key agency responsible for federal employees and HR data.

Readiness Tracker - Product Hunt
Product Hunt
March 18, 2025

Introducing the Readiness Tracker—a tool for department leaders to track and visualize change readiness. This is a simple tool to replace all excel sheets that consultants use to track day-to-day performance.

Review on Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/products/readiness-tracker?utm_source=other&utm_medium=social

Visualize change readiness gaps before execution.

Make better go/no-go decisions.

Improve strategy, people, and technology processes


Who is it for?
Enterprise Transformation Leaders
Strategy & Operations Teams
Change Management Professionals
Personal Productivity

Join the MVP Test Drive!

The Strategic Gamble: Ukraine’s Future Amid War and Peace
Linkedin
March 17, 2025

At the heart of Ukraine’s ongoing struggle, President Zelensky remains surprisingly calm and collected. He represents the Ukrainian people—at least in the public eye. The famous meeting between Zelensky and Trump would show an unwillingness to submit to external pressure.

However, the question remains: Will Zelensky accept a peace plan? Given his actions so far, there’s a real possibility that he won’t concede so easily, and for good reason, despite the immense challenges Ukraine faces. Trump isn’t entirely wrong in stating that Zelensky “doesn’t have the cards”. Ukraine's survival largely depends on continued US and NATO support. According to NATO:

Ukraine is not a NATO member. Ukraine is a NATO partner country, which means that it cooperates closely with NATO but it is not covered by the security guarantee in the Alliance’s founding treaty
Despite Ukraine’s dependence on other parties, there has been a surprising development in this conflict. Its economy has displayed resilience and recovery. The country’s GDP plummeted by 30% between 2022 and 2023 but rebounded with a 3.8% growth rate in 2024. This suggests that with the right conditions—such as a negotiated peace—Ukraine could be on a path to economic recovery.

Meanwhile, geopolitical interests are just around the corner. Russia possesses the world’s fifth-largest reserves of rare earth metals, a crucial resource for global industries. These deposits may play a vital role in upcoming peace negotiations with Russia.

The longer the war drags on, the more costly Ukraine’s reconstruction will be. Whether through diplomacy or continued conflict, the stakes are immense—not just for Ukraine but for the broader global order.

A Surprising Leadership Lesson
The war has revealed that resilience is also about strategic positioning. President Zelensky’s leadership is being tested not just by external threats but by the internal demands of a war-weary population. Resilient leadership means balancing immediate survival with long-term national interests, including negotiating a peace deal that secures Ukraine’s future without compromising its sovereignty.

Resilience is not just about withstanding pressure; it’s about using adversity as a catalyst for growth. Ukraine's military has demonstrated resilience by sustaining its defence despite being outmatched in raw military power. For Ukraine, the real test is not just surviving this physical war but identifying the sources of power that can be leveraged. The US, NATO, and even Russia are making calculations about resource control, including rare earth metals, which could shape future alliances and economic policies.

The crisis led Ukraine from "Can we survive this?" to "How can we turn this challenge into long-term strength?" The same applies to organizations and their leaders: resilience is not just enduring setbacks day after day but developing the capacity to absorb crises and reposition the team for a brighter future.

From AI excitement to alignment: Making digital adoption work
Process Excellence Network
March 11, 2025

has been the topic of discussion among leadership teams. Many will be familiar with ChatGPT. In early 2023, it became the fastest-growing web tool in history, having surpassed 100 million active users in two months. With such popularity, it was only a matter of time before businesses wanted the latest AI capability.

AI is Impressive but Misguided
Linkedin
March 05, 2025

We might say that AI is impressive but still misguided. AI may surpass human intelligence in the traditional sense and yet comes across as being functionally illiterate. Others would argue that AI's current limitations—such as reasoning errors, hallucinations, and data issues —suggest that true superintelligence is further away than we think.

Is hustle culture detrimental to American society?
Quora
February 24, 2025

The hustle culture began way before the pandemic. It mostly applies to US corporate culture and the desire to make it. The common stereotype is that the US wants to be number 1 at everything. But there were historical reasons for this. The US was founded by Eastern European immigrants who carried a protestant way of working. Economic growth was a means and the ends to salvation. The Protestant work ethic came to be known as the American dream or the pursuit of happiness. It’s only recently been called hustle culture. It attracted further waves of migration, each embracing the hustle (Asian, Arabe and South Asian communities) in various industries.

In the current era of remote work, freelancing and gigs, hustling has become a response to the pressures of offshoring and geopolitics. This is a repeated talking point amongst all political parties. Workers in a large company had to hustle due to emerging economies in LATAM and Asia.

However, tech jobs have made hustling questionable, since IT skills get commoditized quickly. Suddenly, everyone is a data scientist and digital marketer. Some skills might not be worth pursuing if AI is only going to replace them. With no end in sight, many American workers are hustling in an attempt to beat AI, doing the same task faster, or trying to cut costs to compete with outsourced workers. All these approaches don’t offer any real competitive advantage.

If there should be a hustle culture, it should focus on productive outcomes rather than efficiencies, headcounts and hours worked. That’s not hustling. That’s called ‘living on borrowed time’. Unexpectantly, one way to make hustle culture accountable to performance is through health and safety regulations. It's possible to be highly productive without causing physical and mental damage. EU countries already have laws that limit working hours and rest periods. Limiting their employee hours pressures them to become more effective and efficient. Of course, there will be plenty of arguments against these labor laws. Even countries such as China and Japan, which have a reputation (996 and Karoshi) for intense hours, have decided to implement similar labor laws.

The Government Policy and Innovation Gap
Quora
February 24, 2025

It happens that Musk is extremely vocal about Government efficiencies. Governments want to improve. The Office of Personnel Management is an example. They have a policy on innovation, which mentions "learning from the outside and experimentation" and their IT policy mentions they strive for cloud solutions and AI. Despite the Office of Personnel Management listing a whole page of initiatives for modernizing their workforce (AI innovation), it turns out they're still using a mine to store all their records.

Where DOGE has received criticism is in the planning. You’ll often hear that DOGE lack oversight. This was always Elon Musk's approach - 'move fast and break things'. He executes from principle rather than catering to the exceptions. And when you move at this speed, you're guaranteed to break things. DOGE is an iterative process. He'll soon realize that government is a completely different world and that removing these processes, manual or not, can bring some amount of risk.

Trump and the Silent Majority: A Surprising Lesson about Management
Quora
February 21, 2025

Some of the latest polls on Trump suggest that his approval ratings are improving and has become more favorable since taking office[1]. The trend may be an indicator but is by no means conclusive. Polls have been accurate at predicting Donald Trump. The polls predicted that Hilary Clinton was set to win the 2016 elections. That clearly didn’t happen. While there are limitations to surveys (margin of error, generalizability, sampling biases), I believe his situation is different. Trump has gained approval because he’s targeting the silent majority. This is a group that endorses his views but chooses to remain silent for various reasons. They may feel awkward, disenfranchised or fear retaliation.

The ‘silent majority’ is a fast-growing demographic that hasn’t been addressed, even by business leaders. The silent majority would explain the Great Resignation during the Covid lockdowns[2]. The event made employees reevaluate their careers. Companies are still stuck with sorting their workforce into age categories. Managers try to adjust their style to suit boomers, millennials and Gen Z. The other way that’s become trivial is to manage by race and culture. While age, race and nationality are distinct enough for product marketing, that doesn't do much to improve company-wide performance.

For instance, this tight segmentation leads to a narrow view: top vs bottom performers, majority vs minority ethnicities and boomers vs Gen Z. Should leaders create many versions of their campaign for each group? Not only is that inconsistent, but it undermines their own values. If business leaders want higher engagement with their workforce, they should consider how they manage the ‘silent majority’. Trump’s populist approach had inadvertently shown American voters that there were shared values beyond their demographic differences.

Footnotes

[1] Donald Trump approval tracker
[2] The Great Resignation: How employers drove workers to quit

Belief and Control
Quora
February 17, 2025

What you can or cannot control is a belief system - the degree to which you believe that you’re in control. High performers tend to have a strong belief in their ability to influence the environment. Some may even say this is an exaggerated belief. Think of your entrepreneurs, politicians and other leaders. They believe in that they are always in control, and that they can achieve anything regardless of the constraints. They know there are boundaries, but they choose to adopt this mindset.

On the other end would be fate or determinism. People from this group believe they have limited control over life circumstances. They live by the statement “Everything happens for a reason”, implying that we cannot and should not alter our destiny.

How do you know if your decision is right or wrong?
Quora
February 17, 2025

At the decision-making level, a decision is “right” if it meets your expectations. When making a decision, we set expectations, evaluate alternatives (or recognize patterns) and select an outcome. That outcome is an approximation of what we believe fits into our expectations. The decision is considered to be “right” because it matches the mental representation of what you designed for that decision.

The criteria of “right or wrong” is an added interpretation of what you believe to have matched or mismatched your expectations. Because expectations are subjective and change all the time, the essence of an effective decision goes beyond the traditional fields of behavioral sciences, economics or business management. A decision that leads to an economic outcome is not necessarily the “right” decision because of the unintended consequence that it produces. Only time can tell whether you’ve made the right decision or not.

Groupthink, Hype and AI
Quora
February 17, 2025

The group think comes from clever AI marketing. The AI marketers are doing what they set out to do – marketing. The hype around AI hype is useful for igniting innovation. Nothing wrong with following trends and considering the possibilities.

It’s only dangerous if a business invests in “AI” due to its hype rather than its practical realities. You won’t need to discourage groupthink because they will come to realize their capabilities when it comes to execution. A Cisco survey of 2,500 CEOs found that most companies don’t have the infrastructure for AI. That is, 97% wanted to integrate AI, but only 1.7% were prepared[1]. This should not be a surprise to those who actually work in the field.


Footnotes

[1] Cisco Study: CEOs Embrace AI, But Knowledge Gaps Threaten Strategic Decisions and Growth

Lessons are Hard to Learn
Quora
February 15, 2025

There’s a belief that it’s easy to learn from lessons. The gurus tell you to always ask “why?” but that’s no guarantee that you’ll find the root cause and successfully learn from it.

Toyota popularized asking “Five Whys” to find out the cause-and-effect. But this doesn’t work as well as it should in practice. To successfully learn from an event, and draw lessons from it, you’d have to identify the error and its exact cause. Let’s say a car broke down. The driver could ask “Why?” 1000 times and get no closer to the underlying cause of the breakdown. Was it the engine? Was it the sparkplug? The only observation made was the car broke down. No causation can be assigned to anything else since they lacked the details.

Unless the driver was a mechanic, he wouldn’t be able to diagnose what went wrong. After reflecting on the lesson, he realises that “the car broke down and I made a mistake”. Trying to draw lessons from the car break ends up in circular logic. The driver is trying to learn a lesson, but they lack the knowledge to piece together the fault. Most struggle to learn lessons because they don’t know what caused it in the first place. Unless they had enough knowledge, learning from a lesson through reflecting and asking “why?” would only take them in circles like the chicken and the egg problem.

What are the chances of Elon Musk and Donald Trump parting ways in 2025?
Quora
February 15, 2025

There’s always a chance of that happening. Trump had plenty of fallouts with those who don’t agree with him. He’s consistent with his approach. You’re either with him or against him. He’ll fight back whether they are Democrats like Joe Biden and Hilary Clinton or Republicans like Dick Cheney, Mike Pence and John McCain. Elon Musk is not a career politician and he’s known for pursuing objective facts over politics. There’s nothing objective about politics. I expect there to be tension.

Tips to improve decision-making
Quora
February 13, 2025

In the heat of the moment, you won’t know how you made that decision since they were made intuitively. Instead, focus on decisions you’ve made in the past. Perform a post-mortem on that decision and look for any valuable lessons.

Concentrate on one decision at a time. If you’re having trouble isolating that decision, then choose a decision that’s most memorable to you.

What events triggered the decision? What were the positive and negative outcomes?

Were there any alternatives at the time? Can you think of other alternatives now?

Can you learn from other people who had to make similar decisions? You can gain valuable lessons by observing those who have gone through similar decisions. You can use their decision as a case study.
Although you can’t get rid of the mental shortcuts (heuristics) from decision-making, you can still improve your knowledge base. Focus on knowledge and expertise and become better prepared when need to make a decision. Knowledge improves pattern recognition, which is how experts come to make decisions.

Can AI surpass human intelligence in a meaningful way?
Quora
February 12, 2025

At its current stage, it can’t be described as a ‘game-changer’ or as a meaningful solution for businesses. The hype starts to fade away if we look closely at its capabilities and what it claims to do. I’ll talk about two reasons why we should adjust our expectations.


First, AI can’t predict the future. Businesses love the idea of being able to predict the future. It gives a sense of certainty in an uncertain world. If they truly had predictive capabilities, wouldn’t they just go to the stock market and go all-in? They could also start betting on soccer matches.

There is no existential threat here because the ‘ability to predict the future’ does not even exist in the real world. The polls also predicted that Hilary Cliton’s chance of winning the 2016 election to be over 70%[1]. If you go ask 10 economists, and you’ll get 10 different answers. Companies claim to use AI to predict outcomes and yet the statisticians behind the US presidential election, quants on Wall Street quants, and economists at the Federal Reserve cannot. Businesses still use AI, but not in the way you’d expect. It's more in the form of auto-complete functions in Excel.

Second, there are meaningful use cases for generative AI. There are plenty of AI-based tools to create content. We’ve all seen how fast it can generate a video clip[2], song, or graphic from a single prompt. While these are creative use cases, making art is not core to businesses.

Another claim is that AI will replace or improve jobs that involve repetitive tasks. The reality is that jobs have been automated since the days of the industrial revolution[3].This has been happening for decades in the US, with car manufacturers replacing human workers with

Footnotes

[1] Why 2016 election polls missed their mark
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX-uKDsHUVk&pp=ygUfYXZlbmdlcnMgYWkgZ2VucmVhdGUgYmFsYW5jaWFnYQ%3D%3D
[3] A short history of jobs and automation

Despite U.S. sanctions aimed at restricting China’s access to advanced chips, China has still managed to develop AI models like DeepSeek. What additional measures could the U.S. implement to further limit China's technological advancements?
Quora
February 11, 2025

The heavy-handed approach would be to block governments and civilians from DeepSeek. The United States, South Korea, Australia and Italy have imposed some form of ban on DeepSeek[1]. China already has a censorship policy which blocks Google, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Reddit, Netflix, Spotify, Steam, Linkedin, X (Twitter) and Skype. Major news media sites are also blocked.


Western countries are not banning it due to racism, nor is it an arms race. The reality is that the adoption of AI depends on how well we can regulate it. It involves understanding the benefits and risks. Does data privacy, storage and handling align with the security standards of our nation? What is its social and economic impact? Do the benefits outweigh the costs? These are questions that policymakers normally ask. However, the capabilities of AI have outpaced our ability to address these questions. There are too many unknowns, and that is where the AI hype meets reality.

One of the barriers that will stop DeepSeek, or any foreign technology, will be the security risks that it imposes. It so happens that DeepSeek is from China, a global superpower, that is in direct competition with the US. But if we look at the other AI competitors, it’s only a matter of time before other countries release their version of Open AI. It won’t be a race to limit each other’s progress, but a race to create “rules of the game”. They need proper AI policies and frameworks to compete.

How do you know if your gut feeling is right?
Quora
February 11, 2025

It’s good to consider intuition as well. Your gut feeling can sometimes be correct. However, it can come across as being less convincing because we can’t explain how the decision was made. There’s been heaps of research on how experts make decisions. Gary Klein and his research team specialize in a field called naturalistic decision-making[1]. They mainly traced the decisions of experts in high-stakes environments. They found that expert firefighters, military members and other safety professionals do not make decisions by evaluating their options one by one, as conventional psychology had suggested. They rely more on intuition and pattern recognition. This is not to say that ‘gut feeling’ is the way to go for everything. Using intuition over analysis depends on your expertise in that area and the accuracy of your previous decisions.

Are our expectations for AI too high?
Quora
February 11, 2025

The media loves to hype AI. Saying you use AI is like saying you have the internet. As far as AI capabilities, we all use it to some extent. It can range from everyday data entry to facial pattern recognition. The auto-complete on your phone is also AI and so is spellcheck. Because we don’t have a baseline for ‘what AI is’, we struggle with ‘what it should do’.

Every company wants to be associated with AI in fear of being left behind. The reality is that many industries still rely on pen-and-paper processes. They are government, banks, insurance companies, construction companies and hospitals. They could benefit from modernization, but currently, these are the same processes that keep our society functioning. When we hear that a company rely on pen-and-paper, there is an expectation that they should replace it with an AI solution, but that’s not going to happen overnight. It will involve a planned process. There are too many legal, compliance and a list of ethical challenges to address.

Cutting through the AI Hype
Linkedin
January 25, 2025

Nearly every company has included some wording around AI on their roadmap, even if they don’t have it. All this messaging around “adapt or die” may leave you wondering: How can they be so sure?...The reality with capabilities is that their value is only realized after acquisition. We can’t predict their worth in advance.

Case study: Rewarding Innovation
Employment Relations 2nd/ Cengage Australia
January 03, 2018

This is the second edition of the well-regarded local text, Employment Relations. This new edition takes an even more practical approach to a complex area, considering both the industrial regulation and human resources dimensions of the employment relationship. As well as providing a comprehensive guide to employment relations in Australia, the text also offers a selective international comparative view on the management of the employment relationship. The text explains and emphasises the real-world connections between the important theories of industrial relations and human resources, which are key components of the employment relations discipline. The overarching aim is for students to gain a deeper understanding of the 'World of Work', through the discipline of Employment Relations.

RMIT Business Feature
Royal Melbourne Institute of College
January 20, 2025

From cheese to ceramics, and everything in between – The RMIT Alumni Business Directory showcases alumni-owned business and services.

Discover your new favorite small business, independent-maker or entrepreneur, and access exclusive discounts and offers just for RMIT alumni.

Readiness Tracker
Insight Bay
February 20, 2025

Whether you're launching new initiatives, a digital transformation strategy, or preparing for a new way of working, tracking tasks is not enough.
Introducing the Readiness Tracker—a tool to track and visualize your change readiness.

Visualize change readiness gaps before execution.
Make better go/no-go decisions.
Improve strategy, people, and technology processes

Who is it for?
Digital Transformation Leaders
Strategy & Operations Teams
Change Management Professionals
Personal Productivity

Number 2 Product of the Week
Favikon
April 01, 2025

TinyLaunch is a platform for indie developers, makers, and entrepreneurs.

Readiness Tracker - Featured on AlternativeTo
AlternativeTo
March 19, 2025

Indie Hackers - Product Feature
Indie Hackers
March 18, 2025

Change Management Tool - Readiness Tracker - featured on a leading indie developer site.

Readiness Tracker launched on Product Hunt
Product Hunt
March 18, 2025

SaaSHub
SaaShub
February 20, 2025

Readiness Tracker verified on SaaSHub as a top alternative to WalkMe, Whatfix, and Pendo.

Prince 2 Project Management
Prince 2
August 31, 2023

Associate
The Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology
June 13, 2018

The Society can trace its roots to the founding of the (APA) in 1892, and by 1982, Division 14 of the APA incorporated as the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Council Member - Expert Advisor
Gerson Lehrman Group
February 09, 2024

As a GLG Network Member, I bring over 10 years’ of experience in the training, research and consulting industries to help clients solve some of their toughest business challenges around strategy and transformation.

GLG is the world’s insight network. It connects decision makers to the right experts so they can act with the confidence that comes from true clarity and have what it takes to get ahead. Its network of experts is the world’s largest and most varied source of first-hand expertise.

Top 50 (#45) Creators - Banking & Consulting Industry - LinkedIn - Australia
Favikon
March 18, 2025

Top 50 (#24) Creator – Project Management – Australia
Favikon
March 18, 2025

Top 100 (#53) Creator – Behavioral Science – Linkedin Worldwide
Favikon
March 18, 2025

Top 50 (#46) Creators – Political Science – Linkedin Worldwide
Favikon
March 18, 2025

Top 50 (#17) Creators - Productivity & Personal Growth - Linkedin - Australia
Favikon
March 17, 2025

Top 200 (#186) Creator - Leadership and Management – Australia
Favikon
March 17, 2025

AI is Impressive but Misguided
Thinkers360 Weekly Digest #94
March 15, 2025

Cutting through the AI Hype: Focus on Capabilities That Truly Matter
Thinkers360 Weekly Digest #92
February 03, 2025

Taught strategy, leadership and management at the Australia Defence Force Academy
University of New South Wales
June 13, 2016

This course explores the ways that organisations set their strategic objectives (strategy), organise themselves to achieve those objectives (management) and secure the willing support of people who can effect mission accomplishment (leadership). During their careers, ADF officers can expect to play important roles in the management of Defence, but they will also have to interact with business firms, government departments and volunteer organisations. This multi-sector 'mini-MBA' course prepares them for doing so, by developing a broad understanding of strategy, management and leadership in military, business, government and volunteer organisations.

Organizational strategy meets ecology: How agency and determinism can be brought together to improve organizational success
Strategic Direction
January 08, 2018

Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

Design/methodology/approach
This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Findings
This review suggests the potential benefits of synthesizing the research concepts of organizational strategy and ecology through socio-ecological level analysis.

Originality/value
The briefing saves busy executives, strategists, and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Strategy and Ecology
International Journal of Organizational Analysis
July 10, 2017

Abstract
TranslateLearn more about Translate
Purpose

This article aims to synthesize the tension between agency notions inherent in strategy and deterministic notions inherent in ecology, and in doing so, develop a research agenda.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, emerging themes around the strategy-ecology literature will be analyzed and synthesized from a socio-ecological perspective.

Findings

The following propositions can be synthesized. First, the socio-ecological level of analysis is useful, because from this level, strategy and ecology are mutually exclusive, enabling resource-based views of competitive advantage. Second, the order of strategy and ecology is found to be changeable, given they are mutually exclusive. Here, ecological mechanisms and relationships in the ecosystem can provide information on a strategic choice.

Research limitations/implications

These propositions contribute toward a research agenda. Nevertheless, evolutionary mechanisms will need to be more specific in addressing what is being selected.

Originality/value

By introducing the socio-ecological perspective as the way of synthesizing organizational strategy and ecology, new research ideas can foster

The opportunities and limits of organizational learning
Proceedings of the 17th European Conference on Knowledge Management
September 16, 2016

This paper serves as a platform to encourage researchers and scholars to build upon triple-loop learning both as a concept and research program. The implications and limitations of double-loop learning are explored. From its notion of error detection and correction, double-loop learning represents a functional model that assumes that individuals already possess the knowledge and competency to deal with the problem at hand. However, not all problems have clear right or wrong answers. Learners do not always have the right knowledge bases to identify and solve the problem. Triple-loop learning is therefore seen to offer value since it deals with the question of" How do we decide what is right?" It provides an integrated awareness of the previous learning loops by recognizing the need for problem reframing.

Radio Feature on 92.3FM
3ZZZ
November 11, 2010

Earlier research project on behavioral science featured on radio.

Member
https://www.fintechaustralia.org.au/
March 08, 2025

Member
Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances
March 03, 2025

Responsible AI Institute
Responsible AI Hub
March 02, 2025

UNSW Alumni Connect
University of New South Wales
October 30, 2024

Dissertation listed in top 250 most downloaded items of all time
UNSWorks
February 22, 2025

Ranked in the top 1% of the most downloaded research theses of all time at UNSW in 2023 (71st out of 161,922).

Contributor - Innovation, Leadership and Adoption
Product Hunt
March 18, 2025

Quora Writer
Quora
February 11, 2025

I write about organizational strategy, decision making and performance.

Firm offers a variety of services, including e-learning packages and ergonomic assessments
Insurance Business
March 25, 2020

The Gallagher workplace risk team has revealed a number of ways it can help organisations keep their employees safe as the world grapples with the ongoing threat of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Gallagher is offering the following services to guide organisations during this difficult time:

e-learning packages. A range of modules has been developed to help organisations maintain engagement and productivity for work-at-home staff during the COVID-19 outbreak, with information on how to establish and maintain a routine, maximise their work from home set-up, and monitor their own mental health.

Ergonomic assessments. The team’s occupational therapists offer 30-minute tele-health assessments to help businesses manage new risks from work-from-home environments as well as mental-health screening.

Workers’ compensation. Specialists are available to answer any questions businesses may have regarding COVID-19 and its implications on workers’ compensation policies.

People insurances. Gallagher brokers can provide the latest advice and information to help organisations understand how their insurance can protect them during COVID-19.

“We also act as your advocate if you do need to claim and can help you get the best outcome for your business,” Gallagher said.

Global Business College of Australia
Global Business Collage of Australia
February 11, 2018

Knowledge Creation and Innovation
UNSW
September 01, 2017

Guest lecture for ZGEN2801 Strategy, Leadership and Management at the University of New South Wales.

Music Industry Roadshow
The Push
October 08, 2009

Presented workshops covering performance, sound engineering, recording, technical production, event and tour management, music business, band management, media, communications, marketing and publicity.

AI washing will continue to rise as companies use the AI label to promote their products. A lack of strategy and understanding will see AI become a checklist for marketing departments.

The Real AI Race: Rules, Not Tech
Thinkers360
April 02, 2025

The heavy-handed approach would be to block governments and civilians from DeepSeek. The United States, South Korea, Australia and Italy have imposed some form of ban on DeepSeek. China already has a censorship policy which blocks Google, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Reddit, Netflix, Spotify, Steam, Linkedin, X (Twitter) and Skype. Major news media sites are also blocked.

Western countries are not banning it due to racism, nor a full-blown arms race. The reality is that the adoption of AI depends on how well we can regulate it. It involves understanding the benefits and risks. Does data privacy, storage and handling align with the security standards of our nation? What is its social and economic impact? Do the benefits outweigh the costs? These are questions that policymakers normally ask. However, the capabilities of AI have outpaced our ability to address these questions. There are too many unknowns, and that is where the AI hype meets reality.

One of the barriers that will stop DeepSeek, or any foreign technology, will be the security risks that it imposes. It so happens that DeepSeek is from China, a global superpower, that is in direct competition with the US. But if we look at the other AI competitors, it’s only a matter of time before other countries release their version of Open AI. It won’t be a race to limit each other’s progress, but a race to create “rules of the game”. They need proper AI policies and frameworks to compete.

Beyond the Plan: Why Strategy Is a Continuous Learning Process
Thinkers360
March 31, 2025

Strategy is often seen as a static roadmap, but in reality, it is a continuous learning process. The best organizations don’t expect their plans to stay fixed. They move forward by learning and discovering new ways to improve business performance. In practice, no one implements a plan without expecting it to change. Although many agile practices have become faddish, it has one principle that remains relevant today: It’s naïve to expect the world to stay still while you write up a plan.

Having a fixed plan is wishful thinking. Top innovators will know that, by the time they finish writing a plan, the variables will have changed. To use a sports analogy, strategy can be considered the gameplay. Like any competitive sport, that gameplay evolves as the team gain new insights, tests ideas, and adapts to unexpected moves from the opposition.  

The Myth of Strategy as a Fixed Plan

Traditional strategy still conjures images of boardroom meetings, long-term plans, and rigid frameworks. Organizations that cling to outdated strategies risk irrelevance in fast-moving industries and will see their favorite tools become obsolete. The classic red, yellow and green risk chart doesn’t seem to respond well to the changes in AI capability. How would they assess the impact of AI, if we are unsure of its capabilities? Should Agentic AI be medium or high risk? How will they assess the risk of LLMs when it never existed in their industry? In such cases, strategy should not be a fixed blueprint but instead a dynamic process of discovery and refinement.

A strategy around ‘discovery and refinement’ is still very intentional. For example, some companies launch pilot programs or prototypes to test market responses before committing to full-scale implementation. Others prefer iterative processes, where small teams experiment with different solutions, gather user feedback, and adjust their products. Maintaining this cycle of discovery and refinement is also called organizational learning.

The Learning Organization

Senge’s learning organization emphasizes five traits that companies should cultivate and where continuous learning is embedded into the culture.

• Personal Mastery. While mastery often relates to the 10,000-hour rule, this estimate doesn’t do much to motivate learners. What does motivate them to build mastery is the opportunity to experiment. Businesses that prioritize experimentation and feedback tend to develop new products and services that align more closely with evolving customer expectations. To improve mastery, employees require an environment where they can test ideas, refine approaches, and implement new insights.
• Mental models. Our way of thinking is ingrained in assumptions about the world. They are so taken for granted that simple reflection is not enough. The assumptions behind our reasoning must be challenged. Leaders must shake the habit of correcting errors with “yes or no”, and engage in evaluating the assumptions driving the error. Suppose we had a product defect. Would need to cause that product defect? What design, policy, or management decisions led to that defect?
• Shared Vision. Capabilities may be different, but what brings a group together is the vision they share. Unfortunately, this is also why cross-collaborations fall short of expectations. Employees from IT and employees from marketing strive to hold a different vision of success. For that, we must avoid looking that stereotypes and focus on how they have evolved. We must be curious and ask questions like “Where have IT and marketing teams succeeded together?” A close look at the tech industry will see a fusion of the two – product managers, adoption specialists and technology marketing specialists. Focus on the practices, cultures and activities that enable cross-collaborations.
• Team Learning. Companies that encourage diverse teams to work together generate richer insights and innovative solutions. Bringing together different perspectives enhances problem-solving and strategy development. However, this doesn’t happen by putting random employees into a room and asking them to learn from each other. Employees must feel safe before they share insights, challenge assumptions, and take risks without fear of punishment.
• Systems Thinking. It can be easy to get lost in a large company. It’s built on systems that don’t ‘speak to each other’. Let’s say a company has acquired two distinct software: a customer tool and an employee tool. They may not produce the same data, but they are interrelated. Workers can still leverage insights from both tools, linking employee performance and customer sales. The messiness of a system can provide leaders with a chance to form new connections, insight and strategies.

Effective leaders understand that strategy is not a one-time event but a continuous journey of learning and adaptation. The smartest strategy is the one that keeps evolving. As business environments grow increasingly complex, the ability to learn faster than competitors will define the winners.