My first permanent role was in the late 1970's when I was appointed as the Industrial Relations Clerk in the corporate office of Trans Australia Airways, the then domestic arm of Qantas. In those days negotiations were conducted on an industry basis whereby I would be involved in massive meetings with the Pilots Association, the Flight Attendants, or the Flight Engineers. It was a fantastic experience, planes have been in my blood ever since.From TAA I went to work in the HR Department at Ford Motor Company's manufacturing plant at Broadmeadows where 5,000 employees pumped out more than 300 cars per day. From cars I went to trucks, joining International Harvester at Dandenong in my first HR Manager's position, where we pumped out 12 big-rigs per day.From there it was off to Perth as the inaugural HR Director at the brand-new casino and resort. When I arrived my office (located under the casino floor) contained a light bulb and a chair! When I left we had over 2,000 people on the payroll.Eventually, I returned to Melbourne where I was appointed as General Manager Employee Relations for Coles Supermarkets, which as I recall, at that time operated more than 600 stores and employed in excess of 50,000 staff.Five years later, ironically I was made redundant, and my corporate life was over. I had, had enough! So it was time to hang out the shingle and open my own consulting practice way back in 1995....hard to believe it is more than 29 years ago.For the past thirty years I have worked primarily as an Employee Relations consultant, which over time expanded out to incorporate people performance analytics and planning that seek out ways and means to improve workforce performance, efficiency, engagement and sustainability.This led to me working across eleven different countries where I was a regular guest speaker, panellist, thought-starter and workshop facilitator. It was here that I honed my craft in persuasive advocacy, by progressively developing my public speaking skills, business case presentation, audience leveraging and buy -in, not to forget staff engagement and cooperation.