Careers in Accounting (Wealth Creation and Management) - Careers in Business

Famous Faces

Keith Bradshaw – CEO, Lords, London, BCom, University of Tasmania, 1990

Keith Bradshaw

"If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough."

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Keith Bradshaw, the new Secretary and CEO of Lords, the world's oldest cricket club, graduated in 1990 from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He is the first non-Briton to head Lords in 120 years. Lords is the headquarters of the Marylebone Cricket Club, the governing body of cricket and England 's premier ground for domestic and international matches. A former first class cricketer in Tasmania, Keith retired from competitive cricket to complete his studies at UTAS and then went on to forge a career as an accountant and administrator in Tasmania, with Price Waterhouse and Deloitte, where he rose to become a partner. Now he is responsible for running a club with an annual turnover of more than 23 million pounds and over 200 staff. This is what Keith had to say about his career.

Where it all began.

"Growing up, I had no idea of the future. My goal was to play test cricket for Tasmania ." Keith played cricket professionally for over three years. He played county cricket in the UK and represented Tasmania . Keith also captained the state side whenever David Boon was playing internationally. However, "When I realised I wasn't going to make it to the next level in cricket I decided to focus on a career in business and completed my Commerce degree at UTAS."

Studying a BCom and majoring in Accounting.

"When I started, I had no fixed plans, but during my course of study became interested in accounting and aspired to become a Chartered Accountant." Keith kicked off his career as an Auditor. Through auditing, "I developed a range of business skills, worked with many different types of clients and got to understand businesses. This provided a solid foundation on which to base my future career in IT project management and management consulting."

Influences while at uni.

"Bruce Felmingham, one of my lecturers, was fantastic. He was incredibly intelligent, incredibly motivated, he motivated me in terms of my work and taught me not to take myself too seriously."." The big lesson learnt from Bruce was that you can work hard, you can achieve, but you can have fun at the same time."

Expectations following graduation.

"I was relieved at having passed and [that I] got through working and studying part-time in the final years of my degree. It was a point in my life of feeling pride and satisfaction. I knew I was moving onto my professional year to become a Chartered Accountant. It was really the first step on another path that was just beginning." Keith continued to move up in his career and after three years of auditing, worked in IT project management with Price Waterhouse followed by further success as a management consultant and becoming a partner at Deloitte.

Career plans.

"When working for Deloitte and Price Waterhouse, we had a formal career plan - a 12 month plan, a 3 year plan and a 5 year plan." "I have been fortunate in having steady employment and have stayed on for quite a period of time because I've had challenging work and have enjoyed what I've been doing and felt it's advanced me. However, I have approached my own career in 6 - 12 month blocks." "In having a career plan it's important to understand where it will lead and especially how to get to the next step." Keith has changed his own career plan in response to the market: "You need to be flexible and willing to change as opportunities present themselves." Keith's advice on making a career move: "If you're not being challenged and learning new things, then it's time to move on."

Attributes and experiences that helped Keith achieve success.

Leadership skills and being a team player helped Keith get to where he is today. "The skills you gain from playing sport and being part of a team are skills that can be applied in the business environment: "Being a leader; playing to your strengths; motivating people; bringing a team together with everyone contributing; and letting people do things they are good at." Networking was also important, as it was through a friend Keith learnt about the CEO role at Lords!

What I learnt from my first employment experiences.

"My first job was pulling beers, washing turf and stacking bricks to support my way through uni. The skills I gained contributed to my first 'real' job. In any job you need to interact with people at all levels. I learnt this early on when working in a factory, stacking bricks on a conveyor belt." Through this experience, Keith acquired "an understanding of working relationships and learning to get on with different kinds of people." "In my first 'real' job [as an auditor], I was doing low level work but gained an understanding of how businesses operated, and the value of networking. Over the years, through my work, I have come into contact with a range of people with fantastic skills. The lesson learnt from this was to surround myself with good people - mentors, colleagues, friends, people I could learn from. In those formative years, people who helped me impacted on where I went with my life."

The attributes Keith regards as important to undertake the kind of work he is engaged in.

Being able to work in a team in a collaborative manner
Being able to listen to people and learn from them - drawing on the intellectual capital available to you within the business and using this collective brainpower to achieve strategic goals
Being a leader and someone who works with people - not making decisions without consultation
Being available to people when they need you
Having clear performance indicators
Letting people do their job
Being flexible and open
Finding a balance between the business and what the organisation is all about

Regarding ambition.

"I'm ambitious but realistic, you need to focus on what you want and understand what you need to do to get what you want." Keith admits he is results driven. He also confessed to working significant additional hours at times to get the job done and remain within the budget, but believed the effort he put into a job was rewarded by what he got out of it. "Sometimes it's good to put in the extra time to get a job done to achieve results but you need to make sure that the results [obtained by putting in extra time] are recognised by managers." Keith also issued a word of caution: "You need to achieve a balance of life and should strive for that balance. You will be more productive ..."

Keith's advice for managing the job application process.

Believe in yourself, own the room when you go for an interview, you are good, you can do it, be true to yourself.
Rely on mentors - their advice can be invaluable. During the recruitment process for the CEO position, Keith regularly sought the advice of Dennis Rogers, former Chairman of the Australian Cricket Board. He contacted Chief Executives who were running AFL football teams, and spoke with Heads of FIFA to get their advice.
Research the organisation. When Keith was headhunted for the role of CEO at Lords, he also researched the people he was going to be working with, those conducting the interview to discover their views, background, thoughts on different issues related to the position (e.g., the laws of the game), even quoting back their quotes to them during the interviews which demonstrated he had done the research.

Finding out about the role at Lords (and the importance of networking).

"I was very happy as a partner of Deloitte. It was a Thursday evening, I was about to watch the 1 st day of the 4 th Ashes test when a friend, who runs a recruiting firm in Sydney, rang to tell me their affiliate firm had won the job of recruiting the next CEO for the MCC and would I be interested." "I thought to myself, here's an opportunity, grab it with both hands and see if you can make it happen."

The recruitment process for the role of CEO, Lords.

There were over 300 applicants for the job. Keith made it through to the last cut of 4 candidates. "The whole process took 5 months. (The position was advertised in the national press in England .) Then it was a combination of submitting a CV, facing up to a formal selection panel and numerous formal interviews including 4 or 5 telephone interviews. For one of these interviews, Keith flew to Sydney to meet with the current President of the MCC. "This was a very different kind of interview, it was very personal and unlike any other interview I had done." Keith was asked questions about his family, how he would cope with living in London , why he would want to leave Tasmania . "A 30 minute interview ended up being 6 - 7 hours. It was an amazing and enjoyable experience." In the final stages, Keith flew to England under a veil of secrecy because of press reports about potential candidates. Job interviews were all conducted off site and "it was a very exciting time."

How Keith felt on finding out he was the successful candidate.

"I was ecstatic. It was a feeling I hadn't experienced in a long time. Amazing! I remember getting the phone call and thinking, I'm not ready for them to say no, I've lived with this for 5 months, gee don't ring up and tell me, no."