2 minute read
From the war room to the boardroom
Garth Callender has travelled a remarkable road. The first Australian seriously wounded in the war in Iraq when his armoured vehicle was targeted by an insurgent bomb attack, Garth overcame both physical and mental trauma to be redeployed. He completed an MBA while in the army and is giving back to the veteran community.
For Garth, the link between the military and the business world is clear.
"In the military, you get given a problem and the resources to achieve the required end state. Then you build a plan around it, usually working backwards to engineer the best solution. There are so many parallels with the business world – strategy, project management, managing people. "I saw those parallels and was looking for professional development, so the online MBA through Charles Sturt made sense. I completed my studies while posted all over the country and while deployed to Afghanistan, so online education worked for me.
"I graduated just as I stepped out of the army. Like most military people, it took me a while to find my feet, but I always had in my back pocket a business plan based on the premise that the military is good at teaching people how to make decisions. In Australia over the last 18 months, we have faced fires, floods and a pandemic, all perfect examples of why we need comprehensive solutions to often chaotic problems. I've been able to build a business around that thinking." Garth is the managing director of Trebuchet Pivot, a consultancy practice specialising in risk advisory and crisis management. Now an accomplished company director, he provided compliance and governance advice to the Australian Student Veterans Association and is on the board of the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust. In October 2020, Garth was appointed Chair of Bravery Trust, a nationally operated charity that assists veterans to recover from financial hardship. "I didn't ever see myself being a leader in the veteran community. I've just fallen into that space. I was injured in Iraq in 2004 and my life was saved by the group of fellow soldiers. I've been lucky. I've got a few scars, but none that slow me down. Importantly, I feel an obligation to make sure I look after people, particularly fellow soldiers, to who I owe so much. Garth also hopes to encourage and promote veterans by paving the way for others to transition into civilian working life. "I think there are a lot of stereotypes about people from the military, some negative. Often employers don't necessarily make connections between military skills and the jobs they're offering. I hope the work I do with boards and executive teams across the country is helping break down some of those stereotypes." After leaving the full-time army, Garth wrote After the Blast, which chronicled the events in his deployments and won the Nib Military History Literary Prize in 2016.
Garth Callender Graduate Certificate in Commerce 2007 Master of Business Administration 2011
