1. Sitting in a very purposely decorated board room in the
contemporary offices of gemba in Southbank, Alex McPhee, says
with conviction and warmth, “ I have been here for nearly 3 years
and I absolutely love my job – it’s challenging, but fun.” Alex
McPhee is the Office Manager and Executive Assistant to the three
Directors of gemba which is a top-tier Sports and Entertainment
Consultancy delivering insight driven business, brand and
sponsorship solutions with enormous expertise in the sports and
entertainment industries.
Alex grew up on a Dairy Farm 30kms south of Echuca. She is a
country girl “born and bred” and her passion, as a young girl, was
dancing. Whilst she was at St Josephs College in Echuca she was
following that path, with dancing dominating her life, until she
unfortunately suffered a back injury. Her “incredibly supportive”
parents, who gave her “every opportunity there was”, encouraged
her to go to the city and at 18 years of age she found herself in
Melbourne with her two older sisters “looking out for her”, studying
for a Diploma in Advertising which she later deferred to embark on a
role at JB Were, where she would remain for 4 years. She
commenced in the mail room during her studies and was responsible
for administrative tasks as well as the 7am delivery of daily stock
market reports. “I was so excited about wearing a business suit and
working in a corporate environment….I learnt so much” are her
recollections of the start of her professional career.
Whilst at JB Were Alex enjoyed several promotions including working
in the Cash Management Department undertaking client services
work and then as Senior Administrator with 4 junior direct reports.
She is notably proud of her contribution to facilitating and creating a
“Nation-wide Term Deposits Procedure Manual” which brought her
immense job satisfaction and gave her credibility.
At the ripe age of 23, Alex decided to move to Perth purely and
simply to embark on a new experience. She did this on her own and
without advance job security. Alex seemed surprised that this choice
was a demonstration of her strength and independence as a young
lady. She admitted it was a huge growing experience. Whilst in Perth
Alex engaged in several contract assignments for various Heads of
Departments of Universities including Personal Assistant to the Head
of Sports Science. Thereafter she worked as Office Manager and
Sales Support for KAZ Technology Services (IT company) where she
thrived on also being the Social Club Coordinator and Corporate
Challenge Coordinator!
A turning point in her career was her appointment as PA to the Legal
Counsel & Co Secretary, Mr Brandon Munro, at Oceana Gold. She
explained that Brandon took her under his wing, included her in all
projects and processes, inspired her confidence and encouraged her
to step up. She spoke very fondly of Brandon describing him as a
significant influence in her professional career. She’s still in touch
with him today.
After 6 months at Oceana Gold and a total of 2 years in Perth, Alex
wanted to return ‘home’ and re-located to Victoria where she took
up a role at Oceana Gold in Melbourne CBD, and referred by
Brandon, and is employed, in the first instance as EA to Brian Kinsella
who is the CFO & Co Secretary for Melbourne.
Vol 5 October 2010
She elaborated on her respect for Brian’s work ethic and the joy she
experienced working for him before being promoted to Executive
Assistant to the CEO, as well as General Counsel Jane Noseworthy
who was also a very inspirational and influential force in her working
life. After a three year tenure at Oceana Gold Ltd in Melbourne, Alex
very decisively resigned to take on something new. She was looking
for a challenge and was ready for a role for which she was passionate
about – sports and entertainment.
Alex applied for the role at gemba (the first and only role she applied
for), which was advertised directly on Seek, and she secured it! “It’s a
dream role” she said as she described her satisfaction working for and
organising three very different men, the three directors of gemba;
Rob Mills (CEO and Director - ex Adidas), Ben Crowe (Sales Director -
ex Nike), and James Hird (Business Development Director ex - AFL
Essendon Champion, Brownlow Medallist and newly appointed Coach
of Essendon Football Club). “Rob, Ben and James are an absolute
joy to work with, as are the whole team at gemba. Sometimes I can’t
believe where I’ve ended up”
Alex, who lives in Queens Road and enjoys keeping fit doing dance
class or running ‘the Tan’ mid-afternoon (to take some time out from
work) is incredibly fond of not only managing the diversity of the
three Directors personalities and working styles but the variety that
the role brings given they all have key functions that are substantially
different and provide her with great insight into the breadth of the
business.
She described her work environment as one which has a great culture
and an upbeat energy. She enjoys autonomy and supporting people.
She loves being able to utilise her problem solving skills and getting
involved in special projects. Gemba currently has a presence in
Australia; New Zealand and Hong Kong. Alex revelled in the challenge
of full responsibility for setting up all the IT systems in Sydney and
Auckland including installing a server and all remotely!
Gemba was established 5 years ago and has approximately 30 staff
and whilst Alex started a couple of years after inception she feels like
she has grown with the business and looks forward to what the future
holds. She particularly drew our attention to the core values
(Empathy, Discipline, Dynamic) and impressed upon us just how
important it is to her that the company she works for not only has
good values but that they are practiced and respected. She has an
excellent rapport with not only her Managers but all the staff at
gemba and is highly respected as the “go to” person by the broader
team and said “I love helping people – and will do whatever I can to
help whoever needs it to promote the brand”.
Quote from James Hird:
“Alex is the pulse check around gemba. In terms of our culture,
empathy is our most important value, and Alex plays one of our most
important roles, reading the play between how people are feeling,
their energy levels and always takes initiative with the little things
that people may need in tough times. That may be a coffee, team
support on a job or just some positive feedback. She’s aligned to how
we think and we trust her implicitly, so it’s easy to empower people
like that to do what she thinks is best in any situation.”