Meet the team member - Justin

Meet the team member - Justin

Tell us a bit about yourself, your education and background.

I grew up in a small country town called Colac, about an hour from Geelong in Victoria. After high school, I worked in a cheese factory for 12 months before heading to university to study a Law & Commerce double degree. After two successful years of studying law, I realised that I had no desire to pursue law as a career. So I finished off my degree with a Bachelors in Commerce, majoring in Economics and Finance.

A little while after graduating, I took up a Post Graduate degree in teaching. I took a temporary hiatus from this in 2015 to take on the role of Project Manager for Cabinets by Computer. This new (and temporary) role was over the time while a new product was being finalised and launched. What was intended to be a one year break in between study, evolved into a permanent stay at CBC. It has seen me take on board a wide array of roles during my tenure including, Office Manager, Sales & Business Development and more recently in the position of General Manager.

I’ve been lucky enough to see the business in its infancy, when there was just four of us working (all wearing many different hats), right up to now when we’ve got 26 people in the team across five departments. I’ve worked with some wonderful people and also got to see our office go through three separate renovations to accommodate our growing team.

Outside of work, my main enjoyment is in spending time with my wife, Steph, and one year old son, Teddy, and going for coastal walks or on trips to sightsee and visit wine regions. I enjoy fine wines and craft beers, and also brew my own beer – including kegging most of the beer for our beer taps in the office – in whatever spare time I have!

What do you think the most important leadership trait is and why?

That is a tough one! I don’t think there is one defining leadership trait which sets a good leader apart from a great leader, but rather a combination of different ideals. Personally, I like to follow the TRAM acronym which I put together to sum up how I want to approach leadership: Trust/Transparency, Respect, Acknowledgement & Mentoring.

Transparency/Trust is about having the faith of your team. Involving them in decisions, letting them know about outcomes and generally them having visibility of the direction of the business and how their contributions work towards that. If you’re open and honest with your team, then inevitably trust will ensue. Trust is powerful, as it means that your team will back your decisions and will ‘fight from the trenches’ with you.

Respect is earned, not gained. It is also a two-way street – you can’t expect for your team to respect you, if you don’t also show it back towards them. We spend about the same (if not more) number of waking hours with our colleagues than we do our partners/family, so respect is critical to ensure a happy, cohesive and productive work environment.

Acknowledgement is all about providing regular recognition to your team for the work that they are doing. Whether it be big or small, sometimes just some form of acknowledgement of the work that they are doing, and reinforcing how what they are doing is contributing to the overall company goals, can go a long way towards making someone know that they are appreciated for what they do.

And lastly, Mentoring. This is about giving everyone an opportunity to grow their skills, learn from each other and provide guidance on how to approach situations and deal with challenges. We never stop learning, and giving guidance can help others grow in their role and as people.

There are mixed outlooks for 2023. What is your outlook for the coming year and how do you think people should approach it?

I think we’ve certainly got interesting times on the horizon. With interest rates climbing, building sector slowing and overall consumer spending being uncertain - most industries are in for a challenge ahead. I think now more than ever, businesses can’t afford to be one-dimensional and have all eggs in one basket. Diversification of either your product offering, or the markets that you service, is critical to sail through rocky times and come out unscathed on the other side.

One thing that resonates with me is a quote from businessman and investor, Warren Buffett:

“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”

I think you can read into this that there are opportunities to take risks and grow when a market is contracting and your competitors are scaling back or bunkering down. Use fear in the market to take those opportunities that others can’t see.

What do you consider to be the most exciting recent development in the cabinetry/software industry?

Without a doubt, automation. Seeing factories become less reliant on people power to run them, and ultimately becoming more efficient and streamlined in the process is great. These efficiencies will ensure that Australian manufactured products can remain competitive and hold off imported rivals. Outside of cabinetry, the advancements of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in software recently has been truly incredible, and I think that will be the largest area of growth in the coming years.

If you had a dinner party with any three people (historical figures included), who would you choose and why?

Jack Black – just a funny guy who I think would make it a memorable dinner party, with plenty of singing and laughs.

Elon Musk – so I could pick the brains of a man whose mind just doesn’t stop thinking and innovating.

Anthony Bourdain – it would have been fascinating to hear his travel and food stories, and I’m sure he would have also prepared something delicious for us all.