On the lighter side of things , we ask the industry experts what makes them tick . . . .

Adrian tells us what time in tech has taught him since his first PC in 1983 .

It ’ s leading a team and being able to watch other people ’ s careers develop because of their work in the business and with you . Over the past 10 years , I ’ ve seen people who started out in entry level roles going on to lead businesses in their own right . It ’ s rewarding to feel you ’ ve played a part in their journeys and especially so when things move full circle and you end up working with them again in a new organisation .

What first made you think of a career in technology ?

I always had an interest in computers : I got my first PC in 1983 when mass uptake was just beginning . After completing university , I became an officer in the Royal Australian Navy . Military technology is highly complex – the investment is in the hundreds of millions , if not billions , of dollars – and the military has the capacity to build systems you don ’ t see anywhere else . Having that exposure allowed me to segue into the ICT industry in 1998 when I took up a role with Sun Microsystems .

What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position ?

I believe getting the right people into the right jobs and giving them the right tools to do those jobs is the

core function of a leader . And then my management philosophy is one of participative management . Everyone has the opportunity to provide an opinion and contribute to the decision . Ultimately though , someone has to make the decision , particularly if there ’ s a range of opinions that aren ’ t consistent , and that ’ s the role of the leader . It ’ s also important to foster a culture of commitment to the decision that ’ s been taken – so you can move forward as a cohesive unit .

What do you think is the current hot technology talking point ?

Without question , AI . It ’ s on everyone ’ s lips at the moment . That ’ s an outcome of people thinking about the untapped value in all the data that ’ s sitting within their organisations . AI is providing the capability to monetise or extract value from that data . There isn ’ t a conversation with a customer where this doesn ’ t come up – how they ’ re thinking about it , what their strategy will be and what impact it may have . Not just on their company but on their industry and on society at large . People really are thinking about this on multiple levels .

How do you deal with stress and unwind outside the office ?

Mostly via sporting activities . I swim a lot and play tennis . For the past 14 months I ’ ve been living in Singapore but back in Sydney I ’ m a member of the Coogee Surf Lifesaving Club and my summers used

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