Peter Baines

Peter Baines has road-tested leadership the hard way...

During a police career spanning over two decades, he has come up against some of the most confronting natural disasters and acts of terrorism the world has seen.  In recent times, Peter has been instrumental in managing the response to events such as the Bali bombings, Waterfall train disaster and the Boxing Day Tsunami in Thailand.  He has also worked in Saudi Arabia at the request of the Saudi government following deadly floods in Jeddah.  In 2011, following the tsunami that struck off the Japanese coast he was requested and deployed to Japan to offer is skills and expertise once more. 

Considered one of Australia’s most experienced disaster management specialists, Peter is an expert in authentic leadership, building powerful teams and creating the right results, even when starting from nothing – no time, no money, no staff -  as Peter says “No worries”.

As a Detective Inspector of Operations within the Forensic Services Group of the NSW Police, Peter has led both National and International crisis teams far from home and in the worst of circumstances.

Through his experiences, Peter offers a rare insight into what it takes to lead powerfully and with compassion, taking audiences into a world of crisis leadership and forensic science that many would never get to witness.

Prior to resigining from the NSW Police in 2009, Peter led an international counter terrorism project on behalf of Interpol in Lyon, France.  Here he focused his work on the threats and trends concerning chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism.  Following this he his seconded was exteneded and he spent time with the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime looking at leadership and capacity building in developing countries. 

In addition to his first hand stories of what it really takes to stay focused in the midst of unrelenting change, Peter’s messages highlight the role of authentic communication in building effective teams, often despite intense environmental and political pressure.

After his experiences in Thailand, Peter founded and remains current chariman of Hands Across the Water (HATW), a charity established to support children orphaned as a result of the Tsunami. HATW completed its first project to fund the construction of an orphanage that provides a home for 32 children in 2007.  Since inception Hands has grown to support seven different projects across Thailand and has raised inexcess of $8million AUD without spending a cent of donors money on admistration or fundraising.  Hands now in addition to the tsunami projects supports a HIV orphanage and is currently building six new homes in the north for children who have been trafficked in the sex industry. 

At the core of Peter’s presentations is the idea that there is no shortage of challenges in today's increasingly uncertain world. However, once we fully accept that the only constant is change, there are only two possible courses of action… become paralysed and fail to respond to the challenges we face, or take command and realise that Leadership Matters.

PRESENTATION TOPICS

Leadership Matters (60 minute Keynote)

In times of crisis, leaders are defined both by their actions and by their ability to make decisions without deliberation - to act with confidence but without recklessness. One of the most positive things about working in disasters is that True Leaders are quickly identified. Without the constraints of an organisation chart or imposed management structure, authentic leaders will rise. How many true leaders lie dormant in your organisation, just waiting for the opportunity to rise? What if they were given that opportunity?  Peter’s keynote presentation takes audiences through the importance of leaving an indelible impression, making decisions without deliberation and focusing on results and not excuses. He explores the 3 platforms of leadership and how they impact on the individuals, team and direction of your business. 

Experiences Matter  (60 minute Keynote)

How do you reverse AIDS within children suffering from HIV? How do you change the lives of young girls who have been trafficked into a life of forced child prostitution? The same way you build deep engagement with your business, your team and your family. You create experiences. It’s the power of experiences, that make us who we are and help us shape what we want to become as individuals, families, leaders and successful teams. Peter says he stumbled across the deep value of creating experiences for people whilst trying to raise money and create hope and opportunities for children.  What he found was that if he concentrated on giving rich experiences for those he was working with then it became easy to achieve the end result. And the end result for him was providing the simplest of opportunities for children who lived without the most basic of rights and privileges.What he came to realise was that the more rewarding, the more engaging the experience was, the easier it was to build growth, sustainability and success in what he was trying to achieve.

What modern family, team or organistion would benefit from a shared expereince?  It's the respponsibility of leaders to engineer these shared expereinces and during this one hour keynote Baines shares his secrets to that success. 

Leadership Matters Workshop (1-2 hours)

Off the back of either of Peter’s keynotes, he is available to facilitate a 1-2 hour workshop to further elaborate on the ideas discussed in his presentations.  These practical, interactive sessions provide opportunities for delegates to ask questions, obtain more detailed information and begin the process of implementing some of the concepts that Peter introduces in his keynotes, which further embeds the learning outcomes for his audiences. 

As an introduction to Leadership Matters Training sessions, these workshops provide an ideal addition to any conference program, providing variety, interaction and a deeper learning experience for delegates.