The Inspirational Lee Hunter

You know those people who you come across in life sometimes that make you feel like you can do anything? Today I had the opportunity to meet someone just like that. At an Old Wesleyan Collegian Association (OWCA) business breakfast, we heard from College ‘Old Boy’ Lee Hunter. Lee is the Head of Marketing and Innovation at Google (Asia Pacific), and shared his story of how he became the man he his today with the job he has today.

Throughout his presentation, he shared some amazing inventions Google is in the process of creating – such as a spoon that can balance itself out for people with Parkinson’s disease. He had three main messages to share with us, that can be used to motivate oneself through life:

1. No ideas are pointless – just because your idea doesn’t work out, it could trigger someone else’s idea.

2. Always embrace your creativity – that’s what makes life interesting.

3. Do not be afraid to make mistakes – but when you do, learn from them.

While my only task for this breakfast was to take pictures, I am so grateful to have been there. Hearing Lee’s speech was a fantastic experience for me, but to then get to meet him afterwards and network with someone so respected and experienced in the field was an added bonus. He has inspired me to aim even higher and believe that I can do whatever I set my heart on.

Insightful and Innovative Landgate Visit

After a few weeks at Main Roads WA I got the chance to shift to a different area of communication which was Innovation and Development. Innovation and development at Main Roads is about allowing all employees to be able to express their ideas, and are encouraged to share their ideas on an online forum. This forum creates 2-way communication during the initial idea stage.

On my first day with the innovation and development team I got to visit the Innovation team at Landgate and have a meeting with them about the initiatives they had in place. Landgate is a statutory authority known as Western Australian Land Information Authority that operates under the business name of Landgate. Their offices are located in Midland and getting to visit another office and meet with their innovation team was a privilege and a great opportunity. 

The three of us that went out to meet them were enthused by the spirit and creative ideas that their innovation team had. Their love for their workplace and colleagues was infectious and showed why they had so many great innovative initiatives.

From the meeting it was understood that the most crucial thing for innovation is employee engagement and how well delivered internal communication is in the business. From Main Roads point of view we learnt so much and took away a lot of great ideas. The Landgate team were extremely welcoming and showed a great relationship between the two public sector agencies.

Being a part of this visit and learning from another agency was very beneficial to my internship and gave me a different perspective on the role of communication in business. I look forward to expressing my ideas and helping to promote innovation at Main Roads.

All comments of similar experiences are welcome as well as any tips to help improve innovation.

Here is a link to Landgate’s innovation web page if anyone is interested.

http://innovation.landgate.wa.gov.au/