The First Day

I started as CEO on Monday, 8 June 2026.

The next day I emailed my DXC case manager because she had asked me to confirm when I commenced new employment.

Her reply began: congratulations on starting your new job.

Then the workers compensation administration changed around the fact that I was earning again.

There was something quietly significant in that.

For nearly two years, paperwork had measured incapacity, treatment and recovery.

Now the system needed my weekly earnings because I had returned to employment.

I was back.

Perry Lakes had also created a detailed CEO Onboarding Framework with a commencement date of 8 June and a review date set for the 90-day mark.

The framework was designed to create clarity upward to the Board and downward to the General Manager. It defined authority boundaries, 30, 60 and 90-day expectations, Board approval thresholds and the intended separation between CEO strategy and GM operations.

It even referred to supporting my personal transition to Perth.

On paper, it was excellent.

I took it seriously.

The framework said the first phase was about listening, learning and establishing relationships.

That suited me.

I did not arrive believing everything needed to change on Monday morning.

But listening only has value if you are prepared to respond to what you hear.

And within days I was hearing enough to make me concerned about whether the organisation itself was ready for the new structure it had created.