PAUL RAFTERY

I must admit as a child that I was spoiled in some ways. If I did not make my bed before I went to school my mother would make it for me. Clearly that is something that did not continue after I left home. I am married to a woman whose mother insisted she made her bed every day even though they had domestic staff. My mother in law thought this was important for each of her children. It is that it is only in the last couple of years that I have realised the significance of committing to make the bed each day before you leave the house. My wife is currently overseas and I’ve committed to her that each day before I leave the house, I will make the bed. The significance in making the bed each day lies in the fact we are creatures which need ritual and habit. My work day habit is I get up and go to the gym, return and have breakfast get myself ready and go. Getting ready means leaving the house as I will find when I return - this is not a trite statement I want to come

Projects RH is currently working with two tech companies. This has drawn me into the world of incubators. It is a world which mirrors life. It has imagination, courage, initiative, self-sacrifice and determination. Our new business “squires” are not dressed in the fineries of future knights but have the qualities to be a future leader. I vividly remember a discussion with my mother when I was in year 11. Her hope for me was a couple of degrees a good job with the bank or oil company, meet a nice girl and get married. Oh, has the world changed. Our world demands flexibility, authenticity, courage and belief in self. I have learned that the tech world is not just filled with idealistic 20 year old’s. Projects RH in both its tech assignments is working agree qualified entrepreneurs who have at least 20 years practical experience. They have shown real courage in putting all on the line in the belief that they can commercialise their vision. Fortunately for me, Projects

Today the Australian Minister for resources, Matt Canavan, spoke openly about his vision and concerns about the price of energy in Australia. Canavan was clear the price was not just what consumers pay for electricity but the cost measured in jobs lost if Australia continued its state-based existing policy. Canavan, is a Senator representing the State of Queensland and hails from Rockhampton, coal country. In speaking to Sky Television’s Outsiders program today he remarked that the BP Energy Outlook 2019 Edition advised some 30 new coal-fired power stations were in construction in Asia and that some 700 the drawing board. Canavan, reflected that it was better to build new generation coal-fired power stations and to continue to see more than a billion people burn coal and other materials in the open-air. He added that using Australian coal in these new generation coal-fired power stations that the quality of local air should improve. He went on to remark, that

Tonight well-known Australian entrepreneur, David Thomas, on behalf the Australia China SME Association, hosted a special event with Bo Ji, Assistant Dean, Cheung Hong Graduate School of Business delivering a wonderfully researched paper entitled “Win in China: How to tap into the Chinese market for Growth”. The venue was Sydney’s Haymarket HQ - an incubator focused on helping entrepreneurs build the bridges between Australia and Asia with a particular focus on China. Bo Ji told his audience whilst Chinese may be a little different they are a people to. He reminded us we need to do business with people you at least know. It is critical for new Australian companies wanting to forge relationships with businesses in China to go and sit, have normal business relations with their counterparts. He told us that Chinese think more in community than Westerners and that meals are more than just eating. For most of the room it was clear that they had worked internationally and accept

The 21 st century is clearly going to be a time of human progress but we need to decide what price we are prepared to pay for this. The essence of liberalism is freedom of thought. This freedom of thought manifests itself as freedom to express that thought - generally referred to as free speech. In Australia, we do not have a written constitutional guarantee to free speech, however, is generally accepted that this form is one of the inalienable rights of man which in our British legal tradition can be traced back to Magna Carta and the English Constitutional Law system. In an age where we can all express our views and many more of us are getting our news not from newspapers or television stations but from the Internet, we are now seeing global pressure to censor expressions of thought on the Internet and in our community more generally. For me, it does not matter whether we agree with what Israel Falou thinks or says is that we are saying that as a public f

One of the things we remember from our school days is being told to do the best job possible. When it comes to writing generally, we have a time limit, however, this does not limit the amount of time we can spend reviewing our work.  As a consultant, I know my clients are conscious of the amount of time I spend on their projects, they know we charge by time. What I have had to do is to learn to produce documents which are fit for purpose. At first, that may sound trite. For me it was not. I am conscious that blogs are read by people who do not necessarily know me and have the right to expect that they are written well. For some time I have been hesitant to write a blog without treating it like a piece of prose. I am currently reading Mark Hodgson’s “Time to shine”, (Sydney, 2017). I met Mark in June when he gave a presentation to the Directors Institute. He gave each attendee a copy of this book. Naturally his book covers much more than his 45 minute presentatio