John said he quickly realised thinking at unit level was swamped by the decisions made in Russell Offices . Canberra talked in terms of Forces Command , Training Command , Capability Development , new combat weapons , uniforms , tanks ... it was a real eye-opener to see how a single infantry battalion was such a small part of all of that . And it reset his ambitions - by the end of the year he wanted to stay in Army , to , hopefully become a general . He realised that ambition and retired on his own terms as a lieutenant general . Drawing on the lessons learned in Army , Civvy John wants to step into the three circles of interest he has defined . The first circle - directorship - opens the door to achieving his primary aim of helping organisations be better . He has been appointed to three boards : ❑ as a director on the Supervisory Board of
Rheinmetall Defence Australia ( RDA ). RDA is the Australian outpost of the German company , one of the world ’ s leading producers of defence systems and equipment for ground , air and naval forces . ❑ as a non-executive director on the board of Deconstruction , Explosives and Remediation Technology ( DERT ), a new company specialising in demolition and remediation of facilities and the environment containing potentially hazardous material . ❑ as a director on the Aspen International Advisory Board . Aspen is well known to Defence personnel as , until recently , it ran most of the medical centres on Defence bases . The second circle - leadership - is less crowded . So far , he has agreed to work for a leadership company established by an Army mate who shed his uniform many years ago . John has already done a bit of work in that role and loves it . He specialises in mentoring CEOs and senior executives .
40 | FEBRUARY 2017