He usually sees the problem first.
Two decades as a general counsel and company secretary. Now on the audit and risk committees where seeing it early is most of the job.
The person in the room whose job was to read a decision for the risk inside it.
Julian spent two decades as a general counsel and company secretary, most recently for an ASX-listed group. His work was to see what a decision exposed the organisation to, and to say so plainly while it could still be changed.
He joins audit and risk committees because that habit is the whole point of them, and because he would rather raise the awkward question early than explain later why nobody did.
“Most disasters were once a small clause that someone decided not to worry about.”
Governance, in practice
Not the framework on the wall, but what a board actually has to do when the obligation and the commercial pressure point in different directions.
Risk you can name
Turning a vague sense of unease into the specific thing that could go wrong, so a board can decide what to do about it rather than worry about it.
The awkward conversation
Someone has to raise the uncomfortable point before it becomes a problem. He has spent a career being that person, and doing it without souring the room.
Illustrative. Julian is a fictional director created to show the work; a real Dossier is written from your actual record.
Clear notes on governance, plainly put.
A short, regular view on the obligations, risks and judgement calls a board carries, written with him and published here, so a committee reads how he reasons, not just where he has sat.