One of the most formative experiences of my personal and professional journey has been working for Malcolm Turnbull. I still recall our first meeting in mid-2003 as if it were yesterday, and I'm immensely grateful for the invaluable experience and subsequent lessons gleaned working for him. Fast forward more than a decade, he is now one of Australia's most notable political leaders, the nation's 29th Prime Minister and widely respected across the aisle in academia, public policy and business.
In the spirit of the significance of this week in Australian history, I wanted to share something personal about Malcolm and specifically the six most profound traits that have shaped my life so powerfully.
1. Never Stop Learning: Malcolm's career began as a journalist, moving on to become a lawyer, prominent merchant banker, successful venture capitalist, politician and now Prime Minister. It is rare for a career adviser in this day and age to encourage a similar path, but the depth and breadth of experience enhanced his understanding of each pursuit by providing appropriate macro context. He always was hungry to be continuously learning about anything and everything, to gain an understanding how things worked. The lesson is we're always learning.
2. Entrepreneurship Is An Attitude: It is relatively simple to understanding how things work, but the challenge is being able to know what to do when things don't work. Moreover, it is the ability to innovate a solution that may not already exist to make things work even better. Malcolm demonstrated to me that entrepreneurship is an attitude, a state of mind. He repeatedly challenges status quo thinking to either confirm or enhance his perspective. In fact, some of the best ideas come from the strangest places. The lesson is you can be an entrepreneur with innovative new ideas anywhere - in parliament, on the trading floor, a technology hub or courtroom.
3. View Yourself As A Library: Malcolm demonstrated his unique ability to genuinely connect with anyone regardless of rank, status or title. His ability to seamlessly work his way through a room of complete strangers or best friends is legendary. I once heard him describe this ability as being like a library, and every person you meet is like a new book in your library. Having a diverse network is just as exciting as having a diverse library, making for fascinating and interesting conversations, connections and life experiences to be shared. The key lesson is sharing the experiences, like a good book, and connecting people to become better, stronger and more successful.
4. Be Generous, Always: Sharing is by nature, being generous. Scarcely have I met another human being as generous as Malcolm. Be generous with your time, your wise counsel, advice, connections and financial resources if you're so blessed. The lesson from Malcolm is to be generous, always.
5. Embrace Change: The world moves rapidly and change is constant. Malcolm has been able to successfully adapt to the various changes that have occurred by embracing them as an opportunity not a threat. In 2004, I recall collecting email addresses from eager voters right across the country willing to have a two-way conversation with Malcolm. In so doing, pioneering one of Australia's most comprehensive communication databases enabling a more efficient, expeditious and effective method to regularly connect with constituents and interested observers. Today, we take email communication for granted but at the time there was no shortage of competitive skepticism and disparagement. Indeed, the same can be said at how swiftly Malcolm became an early adopter of Facebook and Twitter as core communication channels. This early adoption led the way for other politicians around the world to follow suit. It is not surprising in the least that Malcolm's entrepreneurial mindset enabled him to recognize the value of tools that can enhance our existence. The lesson is to be well ahead of the curve and embrace changes that improve the way we live our lives.
6. Tenacity: It is much easier to talk about being tenacious than actually making it to the finish line sporting the battle scars and bruises. Malcolm's whole life has been driven to prove the critics wrong in the law, politics and business, in equal determination to demonstrating the superiority of his ideas. I liken him to being an intellectual athlete always battling until the final whistle sounds. Malcolm has repeatedly shown his tenacity throughout his successful career. These traits have served me well as a professional, as much as marathon runner, because the lesson is to never give up.
Malcolm Turnbull, thanks for everything!
Jeremy K. Balkin
Author, Investing with Impact: Why Finance is a Force for Good
This article is an adaptation of a piece written for LinkedIn Pulse #ThankYourMentor series that first appeared on 6 August 2015 titled 6 Lessons Learned Working For Malcolm Turnbull.