Ken Robertson is the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chief of Defence Force Australia and is on the podcast this week sharing his journey from a disciplined military background to realising the importance of authenticity in leadership. He reflects on how his competitive nature and ego initially hindered his relationships and career, and how an intervention by friends and family prompted him to change. 

In this episode Andrew, Angela Poon and Ken discuss:

3:30 Ken growing up just outside of Perth, Joining the military after watching Top Gun and Ken’s 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 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 militaries 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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