Greetings ,

This week’s Interview is with Mike Bennetts, Executive Coach at Taumata Advisory and former CEO of Z Energy.

Mike Bennetts - Executive Coach, Taumata Advisory

Mike’s smile is infectious. He’s seen and done a heck of lot through his career and is now working with Executives and leaders across the world to better themselves and their businesses.

He talks about thinking in decades, the power of self-reflection and working cross-culturally.

The Interview

Some of the talking points we cover include:

• Making things happen - Every leader will have respond to circumstances and market forces out of their control. But as Mike discusses - as a leader, it’s really important to make things happen and drive your organisation towards something. This involves thinking ahead, setting a vision and working towards that

• M&A Activity - Understanding and considering Culture when merging is absolutely key to a successful merger. Mike talks about the Caltex - Z merger and how they realised the benefits in the half the time

• Infrastructure planning - the Energy Industry thinks in decades. You can’t forecast your way to a future, but there are a range of pathways and strategies to enable you to successfully achieve the goals

• Power of reflection - You can do this anytime, anywhere. One of the most under-utilised practices that leaders have at their disposal is the act of reflecting.

• Working cross-culturally - Through his career, Mike has worked at an Executive level in Africa, Asia and Australasia heading up Sales, Infrastructure

Business books starting with the word - “How”

There are so many books and podcasts out there these days.

Some of our 2024 favourites include -

Thanks for reading!