A real leader and leadership theme in this episode of the Experts Podcast looking at what it takes to be a CEO these days and what employees are looking for in their leader. Leadership looks vastly different in the corporate world today than it did a decade ago. There is more need for the executive to get out from behind the desk and get in front of their audiences. This new age leader does just this and we ask him the questions on why and how he does this.

James Curtis is the CEO of Element a planning and advisory business that is behind an abundance of key projects here in Western Australia. James is the former CEO of Football West and has never been shy when it comes to working with the media. This is not a natural attribute for the majority of leading executives when it comes to working with media. Most business leaders would prefer not to engage but James celebrates the opportunity and is the best asset that the business has.

One of first things you will note that James is a great storyteller and extremely comfortable giving his point of view with a sense of humour and clarity that is easy to understand. That is a skill that James has been working on across his time in stakeholder engagement or as an executive of a major sporting code. This has taken time, but James does more than that he invests and provides opportunity with the people in the business. Providing media training and communications strategies for the young footballers as they are the future.

“Create a space that people feel they are valued and that they get the skills and support to thrive.”

So many great messages for business owners from all sizes on empowering people around you to make your people ready for anything. Empower them to be the best that they can be and make them an asset for the business. This makes so much sense as theory but in practice it can prove to be difficult to do. There is no doubt that James is a new generation leader and certainly one to watch as he takes Element to new levels of success.

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