106 Leadership Lessons from a Senior Defence Advisor | Warrant Officer Ken Robertson, OAM
Performance Intelligence
Intro
The chapter discusses the significance of trust in effective leadership and teamwork, urging leaders to embrace their roles as followers first. It features personal reflections on competitiveness and the importance of authenticity in professional relationships.
What does it take to shift from a rigid, high performance environment to leading with authenticity and emotional intelligence? Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chief of Defence Force Australia, Ken Robertson, shares his powerful story of personal growth - from chasing success through discipline and ego, to realising the true strength in vulnerability, self-awareness, and human connection.
In this episode, Andrew May, Angela Poon, and Ken unpack the leadership lessons learned over decades in Defence - including how to manage your competitive edge, the role of feedback (even from people who don’t like you), and how the military is evolving to embrace emotional intelligence alongside discipline.
In this episode, they discuss:
3:30 Ken grew up just outside of Perth, joining the military after watching Top Gun and his dad and careers advisor pushing him to join a more disciplined organisation.
08:45 Ken’s advice for anyone wanting to join the military, what it is that makes the military feel like a family and why Ken feels it is important to have a social media presence.
20:00 Ken’s transformation from ego to authenticity, the dangers of white line fever spilling into the rest of your life and the intervention his friends and family staged to challenge his competitive nature.
29:00 Where you can start if you want to make similar changes to Ken, seeking honest feedback from people who don’t like you and doing something uncomfortable to grow.
36:00 Appreciation for the military's evolving focus on emotional intelligence and social mastery, contrasting with its past disregard, the importance of healthy conflict and what Ange thought of Andrew when they first started working together.
48:00 Leaders need to realise they’re not the expert at everything, creating an environment where people can talk openly and the challenge the military has with feedback in a rigid command structure.
54:30 Ken’s thoughts on the concept of leadership vs followership, how Ken strives to control his emotions and his interest in studying health and wellbeing.
1:04:30 Ken’s imposter syndrome, how he manages to balance work and family life and how Ken uses his drive time to practise shifting his state.
1:13:00 finding ways of communicating effectively with younger generations in the workplace, how Andrew and Ange would improve the military's recruitment process, and you have to work hard for the good things.
1:23:40 Combatting loneliness in the military, the military has changed a lot in 30 years, and why Ken believes in giving blood regularly.
You can find Ken at his Twitter: https://x.com/seac_adf
Or at the Defence Website: https://www.defence.gov.au/about/who-we-are/leaders/senior-enlisted-advisor-cdf
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Interested in sharing your story? Email Producer Shannon at support@performanceintelligence.com today with your story and contact details.
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