Evelyn Moolenburgh has found her niche in life as an expert in leadership. This part-time fire brigade volunteer studied biochemistry at university but found more fulfilment in starting her own consultancy, helping others to become better leaders. She stays in front of the curve when it comes to leadership, tailoring her skills to suit Generations X, Y and Z.

When asked about career choice, like many people, Evelyn had no idea about her ultimate vocation. “I think that I’ve lurched towards things as I’ve gone along. And from school, it was exactly the same. When I was in high school, the trend was to stream women into the sciences, because there were no women in those fields at that time. So I was streamed into all the science courses, and did really, really well at that.”

Evelyn then studied biochemistry at University, but “it wasn’t a profession that entertained me in the slightest bit. So I just got myself a job as a secretary. No qualifications for that, I couldn’t even type.”

Noting that she actually quite liked learning, Evelyn comments that “this is probably why I’m in the learning profession now. I like the whole exercise of learning new things and I read widely too”.

As many people do when unsure of their desired career path, Evelyn undertook a range of roles, and then, in her late 20s, Evelyn worked with a management consultant company. “I was bright enough to get through the door even though I didn’t have the skills and from then on it’s always been a business career. From management consulting through to leadership development and managing people.”

Evelyn’s ‘light bulb moment’ occurred whilst working for another organisation and feeling sure she could do it better herself. “The independence doing it on your own gives you, together with the capacity to be creative, do different things and drive your own ship has been an eye-opener for me. It’s been really good” she adds.

“At Learning Ventures we’re in the business of developing leaders in other corporations so, in a nutshell, we help organisations build up their leadership skills. These skills are really critical for driving a business forward. If we talk about a large corporate, top 200 or thereabouts, they might have 300 or 400 leaders in the business. Some of them will perform well, and some of them will perform poorly. Our role is to help that organisation ensure that all of their leaders are performing to their maximum capability, and also driving the people below them.”

It’s a changing market now “because our younger generations don’t want to be told what to do and that’s not the way to be a decent leader anyway” as Evelyn notes. “I do think though that a whole style of leadership which is more collective and collaborative is going to come to the fore. So, the businesses we work with are businesses that want to start being more collective. We’ll drive that collective or collaborative leadership much more than trying to get organisations to run in a hierarchy” she adds.

“People get much better enjoyment and engagement in their work and they have a lot more fun if it’s a trusting collective rather than just being told what to do.”

Reflecting on her time in business Evelyn comments that “you jump into business with so much optimism and it doesn’t always work out the way that you would like it to. If you lose a big client, that really hurts. And sometimes it’s got nothing to do with you. A new CEO comes in, changes the landscape and you have to move on from that. So, I think there are challenges on a daily basis. When we’re dealing with people, humans aren’t predictable. And that’s not just the leaders or the clients. I think it’s ups and downs in terms of driving a business.”

She adds “there are always lows, and you don’t appreciate the highs unless you have the lows. I am optimistic anyway and I enjoy the ride, whether it’s high or low. And if today is a bad day, tomorrow will be better. You go home, try to escape the negativity and get up the next day possibly unemployed or new, refreshed and off you go.”

Evelyn walks every morning. “It’s the best time of the day because it clears my head; 45 minutes of just complete clarity. And in that time I just re-think the strategy for the day and off I go. You can’t let it get you down. And I think that’s the fun part of it.”

In order to build your business “you have to push your marketing, you have to ensure you build a name for yourself and you’ve got to work really hard at that,” Evelyn says. “If we deliver great work and we change people’s behaviours, and we influence the numbers or the levers of any business we’re working in, then we are successful.”

Is making money a goal that drives Evelyn? “I think you make money if you do good work and if you make sure revenue always exceeds your costs. You know, it’s simple. You’ve got to have basic business understanding of a P&L to be able to run a business and you need to make sure bottom line happens. So, when times are tough, reduce your costs. When times are going well, put something away. I’m interested in making money but that’s not the primary driver. It’s about keeping the business going and building something that will have a legacy.”

On the subject of risk, Evelyn’s view is “if you want to hang your shingle on being a creative and innovative business, then you need to take a lot of risks. I think we take a lot of risks with our creativity. I think sometimes we push boundaries that clients aren’t ready for, so we have to pull back from that, so that’s really important.”

Learning and growth come from failure according to Evelyn. “It wouldn’t be as much fun if you didn’t learn and refine your product or the way you did things, and without failure you can’t do that. You can’t just have an easy ride because then you don’t get the kind of critical feedback that will make everything you do better.”

Growth can have its downsides too and so Evelyn is mindful of managing that process. “I would much prefer to have a high-touch consulting company than something that’s too big” she says.

Evelyn has worked for organisations which have grown very, very quickly. “It’s almost like they’re the Incredible Hulk. They tend to bust at the seams. And when I started this, I didn’t want to make the mistake of growing too quickly. When you grow too quickly you don’t have the opportunity to really care for your staff because you’re too busy, doing everything under the sun.”

In this high-tech age, Evelyn thinks that, “in many corporates as well as in our business, a lot of disruption is coming in terms of technology which is going to take some of the high-touch aspects of our business away. So, in five years, I think we’ll still be here, but what we’ll do is going to be quite different, because technology is just changing a lot of the ways we do things.”

When asked about motivating her staff, Evelyn said: “I think you have to care about them personally and you have to care about their development. I think you need to give them something challenging to do every day. And in a small business that’s sometimes quite difficult but if you don’t develop the people and give them something challenging to do every day, then I don’t think you’re a good leader or business owner. I keep them motivated and hopefully we win exciting work which challenges them in how we do it.”

With respect to hiring staff, given it’s not a level playing field with the large corporate organisations Evelyn is confident she “can offer people mostly challenging work with a wide variety of clients. In a consulting company like ours, they would get the opportunity to work in probably half-a-dozen diverse sectors. They’re not going to get the opportunity to do that if they pick a Telstra or other large corporate with whom to work. We can give them a great deal of challenge and I think that that trumps money.”

Outside of work and family, Evelyn became the leader of the local fire brigade. “We live on a peninsula with a lot of bushland around us. I attended diligently with enthusiasm and when the time came to select a leader, all hands pointed to me. It’s now been 15 years. We’re what’s called a community fire unit, meaning we’re a city unit. We do some back burning and similar activities. The suit has actually been dirtied ‘in action’ once.”

Evelyn sees the role of women in the corporate world changing. “I think women haven’t necessarily done themselves any favours in trying to be so assertive in how they work in the corporate world. I’ve worked with women in corporate with whom I didn’t like working. I think you just have to be honest and true to yourself, and, if you’re selected on your merits, I think it will work eventually.”

“Women don’t like to play politics and I think that’s why they leave corporate and set up their own businesses,” says Evelyn. “Why would you want to put up with that sort of garbage and the games that go with it? What you see is what you get, and I think that’s a much easier way to work, so that’s why I think women leave corporate and don’t get onto boards because of the politics of it.”

Client are drawn to working with Learning Ventures because “we are innovative and understand that business is changing very rapidly. We’ve got our eye on the future.” Evelyn notes. “Implementing and changing people’s leadership behaviours in the current paradigm is not going to get them what they need to be really successful two, or even three or four years down the track. The world is changing, our workforces are changing, and an organisation like Learning Ventures stays ahead of that curve and is able to help companies move and change more rapidly, giving them the skills for the future.”

Furthermore, there is the benefit of “a high care factor, high-touch factor which is one of the other benefits they’ll get from an organisation like ours. That’s really important when you’re changing people’s behaviour and working intimately with people in a business. We care a lot about our clients, we care to make a difference, we care to change their behaviour, and we care to deliver value at the end of the day. That care that’s one of our core values, and it’s a value we not only hold for our clients, but also internally in terms of our internal people and resources. So, it’s all about a high care factor, great results and an eye on the future and what’s changing.”

When it comes to advice for someone starting out, Evelyn ranks optimism as paramount. “I think you just have to go for it if you have a business idea. There is so much support around these days whether it’s incubators or the internet which are full of advice or you can read books or get mentors. There’s every opportunity to start your own business and I think if you’re optimistic about the future and set good plans then you have every chance of being successful.”

Evelyn’s definition of success is about not worrying so much about the outcome, but how you achieve it. “If you have your eye on the main game and you enjoy the process of being in business, of serving or helping others, of consulting and talking to people then I think that’s the enjoyment of being in business. And success will come. So, I think it’s more about the process than it is about the endgame, but success is doing the process well.”

The person Evelyn respects most is Dr Charlie Teo. “Some years back, my mum had a brain tumour and he was one of the only doctors prepared to operate on it. I then started to investigate Charlie, and what I really admire about him is his maverick quality and the fact he’s prepared to take risks, and step out of the boundaries. I think that’s a lesson that we can all learn in business; to not be afraid. He’s taken a lot of criticism in his life, and yet he still continues with honour doing his mission is in life and I really love that ethos.”