The CEO Fishbowl – Friday 25th November 9-10:30am
Held on the 3rd and final day of the Story Conference, the CEO Fishbowl will provide participants the opportunity to join an interactive discussion with experienced executives and their stories of influencing cultural change. Drawing from the Corporate, Not-for-Profit, Public sector and Healthcare environments, the CEO Forum will help to open up and explore the realities of what influencing cultural change really entails. We’re excited to welcome the following executives to the fishbowl:
 Mary Barry – CEO of Our Watch
Mary Barry was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Our Watch, the national organisation to prevent violence against women and their children in January 2016. Our Watch was established by government in 2013 to drive nation-wide change in the culture, behaviours and attitudes that underpin and create violence against women and children. Its mandate is to stop violence before it happens. Prior to this Mary was the CEO of the National Heart Foundation of Australia for two years, CEO of the Victoria State Emergency Service for eight years and; CEO of the Victorian Association of Health and Extended Care for six years.
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 Adam Fennessy – Secretary of Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) Adam Fennessy is Secretary of the Victorian Government’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP). Adam leads DELWP in creating liveable, inclusive and sustainable communities across Victoria while maintaining our world class liveability and protecting heritage for future generations. Adam is passionate about leading a high-performing, positive culture based on DELWP’s values that delivers for Victorians and makes DELWP a great place to work. Adam is leading and building a culture of service excellence at DELWP with the community at the centre of everything we do. Living in Bendigo with his partner and young family, gives Adam a unique perspective of the work DELWP does across regional and metropolitan areas of Victoria.
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 Herman Verhofstadt – CEO Sabco Born in the Flemish part of Belgium, Herman worked for almost 20 years in FMCG marketing and sales functions in Europe before coming to Australia to breathe new life into the South Australian Brushware Company, better known as Sabco. More than 100 years old, the iconic Australian Cleaning Brand was in urgent need of new energy. Herman brings a story of how enthusiasm and business instinct, changed the company for good. A big part of the success came from the leverage of culture differences between a continental European mentality of “grounded, do normal” and a “no worries” mentality Australian team. Herman brings to the fishbowl some enlivening perspectives on how a culture clash led to the development of a multi-cultural winning team, almost doubling Sabco’s business since his arrival.
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 Peter Ruzyla – CEO EACH Peter has a background in education and psychology before joining the community health sector which has become his passion. Peter’s view is that this sector has an essential role to play within a broader population health approach, but has been underestimated in terms of its potential to deliver significant health and well-being benefits to the broader community – particularly for those with significant disadvantages. Peter has worked at organisational levels to gear agencies to maximise their potential, at system levels to develop partnerships for better service integration and at policy levels to influence change at a sector level. As the CEO of EACH , Peter has been able to steer the business through several mergers to achieve a high level of organisational credibility and sustainability.
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 Dr Anthony Bell– Director of Emergency Medicine, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Fifteen years as an Emergency Physician has given Anthony a unique perspective or people, processes and healthcare systems. Working as a clinician and researcher he has a keen interest in quality improvement, clinical redesign and policy development at a State-wide level. With leadership experience of emergency departments, project teams, hospitals and clinical networks he has unique cross sectional healthcare experience in delivering, influencing and improving healthcare delivery.
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 Michelle Loader – Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Chandler Macleod Group Raised on a rural farming property Michelle built her work ethic from a young age. She recently led the Chandler Macleod business through integration with global Japanese staffing company, Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. With over 20 years experience in the service sector she leads a team of 40,000 people across 5 countries. The 7 companies that make up Chandler Macleod Group are responsible for delivering HR services and products including connecting 7% of Australia’s working population to work. Michelle is a visionary leader whose passionate and authentic style has been adapted to many operational staffing companies across multiple sectors, she is a strong believer in collective intelligence and unleashing potential. She recently graduated from Harvard Business Schools global CEO program, is a mum of 2 little girls and a founding director on the Australian board for The International Women’s Forum. |
Creative Storying — A free ebook
As part of this years Story Conference I’m committed to producing and publishing a book titled – “100 Story-based Activities to Influence Cultural Change”. This book will be published in 2017. In the meanwhile, I thought I’d share something to whet the appetite.A great selection of pre-conference workshops!
No better way to help get you warmed up and ready for all the action that will be part of this years Story Conference then by attending one of the pre-conference workshops running on the morning of Wednesday 23rd November from 8:30–12 noon.
The options available are:
- Bob Dick: Exploring beneath the surface – Eliciting stories for cultural change hear Bob share more about his pre-conference workshop here on our video interview.
- Dr Tom Verghese: How does your culture influence your story? hear Tom share more about his pre-conference workshop here in our video interview.
- Russell Deal OAM: The City of Lost Stories-In culture change, memory is everything hear Russell share more about his pre-conference workshop here in our video interview.
- Kym Arthur: Unlocking your story
- Dr David Drake: An experiential introduction to narrative coaching hear Dr David Drake share more about his pre-conference workshop here in our video interview.
Russell Deal talks about his pre-conference workshop “The City of Lost Stories”
Stimulating Story-based Social Entrepreneurship — Opportunity to Pitch
Are you or your organisation passionate about a particular social issue?
Do you have a social issue you are passionate about doing something about? Does your organisation have a focus or interest in addressing any key social issues such as homelessness, poverty, social isolation, mental health and well-being?
At this year’s Story Conference we are seeking to provide an opportunity for people and organisations to pitch about particular social issues that they would like to get behind and do something about. The stimulating story-based social entrepreneurship stream running on Thursday 24th November 2016 from 4:30-6pm will provide the time and space for emergent discussions and action planning around tackling the difficult and challenging problems put forward.
The vision is that this session will provide the opportunity to connect individuals and organisations together with interested budding social entrepreneurs at the conference and through the flow of good will from the conference look to address some of the contemporary social challenges our society is currently facing.
What is story-based social entrepreneurship?
The Story Conference is a unique and innovative conference founded 8 years ago in Melbourne, Australia, and seeks to provide a place for exploration and learning around the many different applications of story and narrative techniques for individuals, organisations and communities. With story and narrative techniques being a humanistic and compassionate approach to change, the conference is looking to provide a connection for those attending to go forth and be involved in contributing to some good in the world. This becomes something that lives on beyond the conference.
How can you get involved?
If you are serious about putting forward and addressing a social issue and also have the ability to provide some support by way of time, money, grants or people, please contact the convenor of the conference: Andrew Rixon by email: andrew@babelfishgroup.com
Interested in learning more? See Michael Porter – world famous strategy guru share his perspective on why business now needs to focus on solving social issues
Dr David Drake talks about his pre-conference workshop on “An experiential introduction to narrative coaching”
Bob Dick talks about his upcoming pre-conference workshop on “Exploring below the surface”
Dr Tom Verghese talks about his pre-conference workshop on “How does your culture influence your story?”
Profiling this years Story Workshop Presenters
We’ve got a great line up of workshop presenters at this years conference as you can see here.
And – we asked them to share on their favourite quote, book and YouTube/ted-talk.
Click here to peruse and learn more about this years Story Workshop Presenters favourites
Kate Lawrence – Make Meaning Craft Your Stories
Workshop Title:
Make Meaning, Craft Your Stories
Workshop Description:
A crafted, well told story is part gift, part message. In this workshop participants will learn how to find, craft and tell stories from their life experience. You will learn story structure, how to look for story worthy memories and the crafting process that turns the clay of life into story. Participants will develop a list of possible story memories, choose one to develop, work in small groups to practice, and depending on numbers, a few or all participants will tell and receive feedback.
If people got the best of the session what would they leave with?
A great understanding of how to find, craft and tell personal stories, an appreciation of story structure and the secret gift of memoir storytelling – personal understanding and a more meaningful life. They will have a list of possible story memories, a draft story, and a chance to practice their story and hear other personal stories, fun.
How is this session connected to the conference theme?
When we understand each other through experience and lived emotion, which is the vehicle of personal story, then we can connect, explain, and know each other, eye to eye, heart to heart.
About the Workshop Presenter:
Kate Lawrence has a passion and purpose for personal storytelling. She is an experienced and trained facilitator, teacher and storytelling coach, with sense of fun. She has a deep and abiding faith in human stories and never tires of hearing them. She takes her craft seriously and as well as telling and teaching, she regularly reads, reflects and writes about storytelling. Kate is particularly good at creating safe and respectful spaces for people to explore their stories.