PETER STOKES

Living by the values you expect of others is the secret to good leadership, the Barminco chief executive tells Peter Williams.

Biggest or best career break?

Back in the 1980s I joined Andersen Consulting, which ultimately became Accenture. The 11 years I had in that business gave me the opportunity to see many different industries across the world and really drive projects from strategy through to operations and driving improvement and supply chain. One of the great things in the Accenture role was that I’d always stayed close to the resources sector where I started my career.

Describe your leadership/management style.

The most important leadership quality is people who are authentic. You’ve got to have a strong set of values of your own and you’ve got to live them. That’s how you lead a company. You need to live by the values that you expect of others and you should have your own to benchmark yourself against.

Most memorable board or executive moment?

Being appointed chief executive of Barminco last year. Only three months into that role we successfully refinanced the company with a high-yield bond in the US. It was one of the biggest ever by a private company in Australia. It’s a real turning point for Barminco. It’s enabled a company that had been somewhat constrained by the syndicated debt that we’d previously had to really go and do what we need to do. So we have a clear run of five years to really drive this business to make the investments that we know we need to make.

Are executive remuneration levels excessive?

I don’t think so. In the end, the market sets what is a realistic remuneration. As Australia becomes more and more global, the salaries are benchmarked against global roles. You see that with some of the executives who come into the Australian market who seem to be at a significantly different level to where a lot of the Australian executives are. There are certainly some significant pressures on senior executives in businesses, particularly those that are listed, to deliver month in, month out. They are held accountable for every quarter’s result. So there’s unrelenting pressure in all of those senior roles.

Best way to improve workplace productivity

Every employee needs to understand the role they play in the business. If people don’t understand what they’re supposed to be doing it’s very hard for individuals to be accountable for how they improve. The Lean Six Sigma program that we have in our business gives people a framework to work in and also to measure where they were and where they’re going. That’s the important part. There’s that classic saying of what gets measured gets done. You need to set a benchmark, you need to set the targets and then you need to drive the business to get to those points and put a structured plan to get there.

Do you use social media? If so, how?

I do use LinkedIn. It’s a great way to keep in touch, whether it’s ex-classmates or colleagues I’ve worked with previously. LinkedIn is also a great way to get a bit of background on people. We often use that when we’re doing reference checking. It’s a good way to say, ‘do you know this person’. They’re often contacts, particularly in this space — it’s such a small sector.

What do you do in your spare time?

I have three boys so I tend to spend most of my weekends and spare time with them and my wife doing various things, whether it’s sport or spending time in the ocean. Other things I do are just a few things to keep fit: running, going to the gym and I do like stand-up paddle boarding when there’s a bit of surf.

Best Australian holiday destination?

Skiing in the Snowy Mountains. It’s such a unique environment in Australia. The scenery is just spectacular. These huge, expansive snow-covered caps, while they’re not really high enough for great skiing, it’s a fantastic place to go.

Last book you read?

QF32 by Richard de Crespigny (the pilot in a 2010 emergency landing in Singapore). The book’s an incredible read about how, despite all the technology that exists on an A380, in the end it came down to the experience of the crew that managed to bring that plane down safely without any injuries. Also, how that team worked together.

What brought you to underground mining?

I started in geology and then I went to the School of Mines and was offered a scholarship for a masters in mining and mineral technology. My project was all based underground in what’s now the Super Pit. My career started in underground 20 something years ago. It was pretty exciting to come back into this sort of role.