For today’s episode, we’re joined by Dirk Dobbs. Dirk is the Head of Strategy and Product at HESTA, an Australian industry superannuation fund for workers in health and community service sectors. In this episode, we’re talking about finding opportunities during crisis and tuning out the noise, and Dirk shares his learning from emergency situations, both in a professional context as well as a very unique and time-sensitive fatherhood challenge. Dirk also talks about the importance of remaining flexible and adapting to changing circumstances, creating a window of calm in the chaos, and maintaining explicit and transparent communication. We discuss making process changes and taking action without hesitating, and Dirk also has some great advice about seeing positive opportunities in challenging times and tuning out the noise to remain focused on the task at hand in emergency situations. Tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

Dirk shares a bit about himself, both professionally and personally.
The financial crisis of 2008 and how Dirk managed it by staying flexible.
Creating a window of calm in the chaos by increasing communication and being transparent.
How Dirk remains flexible at HESTA during COVID-19, thanks to technology.
Working from home and how Dirk’s team has adapted to daily check-ins and start times.
How Dirk creates a flexible work environment for his team by having explicit conversations.
Something that Dirk learned from dealing with the financial crisis in Hong Kong that he is applying to his work now is to look out for positive opportunities.
Making process changes, like moving from print to digital, which save time and money.
Dirk talks about his wife’s home birth as a personal emergency that he has experienced.
Taking action and not hesitating thanks to adrenaline and the expert guidance from 000.
Some commonalities between Dirk’s professional and personal crises, including adapting to circumstances as they change, and distinguishing the signal from the noise.
Dirk’s personal experience of COVID-19 and how he has adapted to functioning well.
Having a dedicated workspace has been helpful for Dirk, after working from home for an extended period of time now.
How Dirk has kept his team connected, motivated, and productive through the pandemic and as they move back to the office, including daily check-ins and transparent communication.