We love to share a bit about ourselves with our community and clients. Take a moment to get to know our Managing Director Joel as he answers five quick questions.
What do you think is the single biggest challenge facing engagement professionals right now?
With the growing use and reliance on online tools and AI, it's so important to find ways to ensure we keep the human connection at the centre of the practise. I'm writing a blog about the impact of AI on engagement practise right now, actually!
What one professional experience made you think differently about the world?
It would have to be visiting ‘The Block’ in Redfern NSW with members of the Aboriginal Community to talk about the impacts of the Stolen Generation. We were sitting in a circle talking and one of the participant's children crawled over to me, climbed onto my lap and fell asleep! As a result, we kept talking and the level of tension in the group dropped away. When we drop the projected divides, the things that make us feel heard, trusted and safe are all the same.
What is one of the best projects you've ever worked on?
Working with the UN (see photo gallery below) firstly supporting them in their regional head office in Thailand to bring together different countries, and then working alongside the UN in countries like Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan. While they each had their own and very different content, the fundamentals of working with people remains the same – even in different languages!
If you could travel back in time to the early days of your career, what lesson would you give your younger self?
All the methods in the world, while useful, make less of difference than your authenticity and how you are with people.