SIMON HIGGINS
People delivering results should be rewarded at all levels, the managing director of ECM tells Peter Williams.
Biggest or best career break?
I was appointed general manager of ECM in 2001, several years before I was ready, in hindsight. But Mike Hender, the founder and chairman, saw something in me and persevered. He let me grow with the business, which is a credit to him. That was a bigger opportunity than most people are going to get in their business life so I’m enormously grateful.
Describe your leadership or management style?
A major part of my role is to surround myself with quality people and ensure that they’re happy and they’re equipped and empowered. I had this simple philosophy a while ago just to employ people smarter than you are, which has worked pretty well for me.
Most memorable board or executive moment?
Seeing us deliver major projects successfully. We’ve done just about every major electrical and instrumentation project that Fortescue Metals Group has ever done so we grew at a similar scale and pace to them. It was exciting to be in their growth and their arrival, and it almost mirrored our own. To enter the oil and gas projects that seemed to be just the domain of the multinationals for such a long time and deliver the QCLNG project we’re involved in, the Wheatstone project, and to be able to confidently arrive on those sites is quite a step change in our business.
Are executive remuneration levels excessive?
If they have been, they’re certainly winding back now. I’m a great believer in rewarding success. If you create a circumstance in remuneration where everybody’s winning then I don’t have an issue with that at all. It’s all about performance. If people are delivering results they should be rewarded at all levels.
Best way to improve workplace productivity?
The foundations of companies like this are safety and people and performance. You have great leaders at all levels in your business and then they create energy that creates efficiency. That creates productivity improvements and drives down costs. It does all sorts of things.
Do you use social media? If so, how?
I use Facebook. It’s more of an interaction with old friends. LinkedIn’s a bit of a business viewing tool for me only. Too much happens too quickly in social media for it to be really thoughtful enough as a business tool at the moment, in my eyes. I think businesses are using it better.
What do you do in your spare time?
My wife, Neoma and I have three teenage daughters. We do as much as we can together. I get a fair bit of enjoyment out of just the simple family interactions that remind you of what’s important. We have a place in Cervantes, just north of Perth. We go there as often as we can to a little beach house, and we do some fishing, and there’s plenty of beach — put the business brain in neutral for a while.
Best Australian holiday destination?
I have a huge soft spot for Exmouth. I love that whole Ningaloo Reef area, it’s fantastic. I’ve spent a lot of time there over the years.
Last book you read?
I’ve just read a Khans of Mongolia series, which is a bit of an historical fiction thing. No reflection on my leadership style! It was just an interesting, different look at history. It was a good yarn.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of being in a private company instead of a listed one?
The ability to make medium and longer-term decisions for the strength of your business. Being able to pick and choose your projects, not having to worry about the aesthetics of announcements and how that pads out your year have enabled us to become stronger. I can create a little bit of freedom in there for the team to not have to be so annually deadline-focused. If we get in a situation where access to capital becomes a factor, being listed might be something we’d consider. At the moment, we’re quite happy to be where we are in the private space.
