I first joined in 2001, I was 29yrs and I saw my pics from my back packing year of me running into the sea in the antarctic in a bikini (2 degree water), I was so proud of the person who did that, but horrified of the body waves & wondered how I avoided the whaling ships. Over 20 weeks I lost 30% body weight, re-discovered 'Gail', energy regained, re started the sports I used to do and put a stop to the focus on work.( I take full responsibility of all decisions, as my fir

I have the honour of hosting an amazing group of ladies (The G8 Ladies), we meet each month to share knowledge, learnings from events and support each other. In July 2017 our fabulous member Mary-Leigh Scheerhoorn shared her experiences of burning out, tell-tale signs to look out for to avoid burnout & move from exhausted to energised. Another name for Burn out is Adrenal exhaustion, It's multi-factorial & many things can affect the adrenal glands Trauma Major infection Work

Governance Institute of Australia hosts an quarterly Not for Profit discussion group. I attended on the 23rd May and thoroughly enjoyed this excellent and robust discussion. Nicole Rasmussen and Geoff Walshaw expertly facilitated the discussion where we looked at 3 topics, below are the key takeaways and strategies from each: Human capital Strategy Get all team members to document what they do and why? If you were to win the lotto and leave, how do we very simply let people s

Governance Institute of Australia hosts an quarterly Risk management discussion group. I attended on the 24th May and thoroughly enjoyed this excellent and robust discussion. Joel Miller expertly facilitated the discussion: Principle 1 of the risk management principles ISO3100 states “Risk Management should create & protect value”. To get something of value, you need to take risk otherwise, everyone would have it already. Value is adding & not taking away. It needs to be ackn

I attended the fantastic event hosted by Dr Diane Harner & Frank Donohoe at AIM on 26th May 2017. Diane spoke about "Impact of cognitive load and uncertainty on your ability to collaborate" We receive more data today than we have ever, therefore we must filter & assess greater volumes. The problem arises when we take on too much information which leads to cognitive overload, the normal human reaction is to either: Opt out & give up Reduce the amount of information (reduce the

Leadership under pressure by Andrew Fox, Commandant at the Army command school at New Zealand Defence Force. Excellent learnings thanks to @ReconExecutive quarterly leadership breakfast. Leadership is a journey and you never stop learning In 2010 Andrew was appointed Commanding Officer of the Provincial Reconstruction Team, Afghanistan, they were fortunate that they had time for pre-deployment training in advance of being sent to Afghanistan, this allowed for reconnaissance u

Strong Risk management & strong Stakeholder engagement approach to ensure security success for the G20 in Brisbane. I was fortunate to hear Commissioner Katarina Carroll (Commissioner at Queensland Fire and Emergency Services) speak at the Women in Governance Luncheon Governance Institute of Australia in March 2017. Katarina Carroll grew up surrounded by strong women and when she joined the police force in 1983 there were only 4% women in the service, in fact it was the norm

With the increasing moves to outsource and engage with Strategic partners, organisations commonly enter partnerships as clinical agreements with both parties considering their own gains in the first instance. Wouldn’t it be more pleasant all round if the agreements were first established with the common values and goals in mind? When entering a partnership in your own life, you look for people who will inspire you, challenge you, respect you and discuss options with you. Once

2016 has been a huge year of change for me. I left my job as an employee and started 2 businesses (Rhapsodate Consulting and Picnic & Co) and a networking group (The G8 Ladies). I resigned as Chair from 1 Board and 1 Committee, retained 1 Non Exec Director position and applied for another. I have authored a chapter in a book (launching soon & called The Gumption Trigger). As a family we finally made that long overdue trip back to Ireland, Wales and Spain to see family and fri