As many of you will already know, Harris Black is a member of the Brentnalls affiliation. The affiliation is a network of like-minded, independent Chartered Accounting firms across Australia with members in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hamilton VIC, Perth and Auckland NZ. Harris Black has been part of this dynamic group of professionals for over 20 years. Each of our firms have a similar passion for improving client service and striving for best practice in all areas of business. In particular we are all very focused on helping our clients achieve their goals, develop their businesses and ultimately grow their wealth. The affiliation meets bi-annually, traditionally in different locations in Australia with recent conferences also being held in Singapore and Queenstown N.Z.
As with many events this year, the second of our 2020 Brentnalls Conference could not proceed as planned with the meeting of all our affiliates in Adelaide due to Covid and a remote solution had to be found. Accordingly, on Thursday 22 October, this particular Brentnall’s Conference, which would have been attended by the Harris Black Directors and Practice Manager, Kimberley Ward became a virtual event via Zoom in the boardroom. This change of play actually afforded us with a brilliant opportunity to involve all staff in the conference and to listen to guest speakers. All staff from all the affiliate firms were able to join the Chairman’s address (Geoff Fitzgerald, Brentnalls NSW). Geoff in particular is extremely passionate about promoting the inclusion of all our team members in the affiliation and all felt this was an enormous success.
The event concluded with guest speaker Gilbert Enoka – All Blacks Manager and Mental Skills Coach. Gilbert Enoka has a long history of success as a mental skills coach with New Zealand’s corporate and sporting elite. He is internationally renowned for his 19 year history with the All Blacks, first as their mental skills coach and now as a manager. The presentation was about building a winning team with a successful mindset and reinforced that your skillset won’t matter if your mindset is wrong.
Overall, a great two days with our Brentnalls Affiliates and as always, a lot of key takeaways.