00:00:00:03 - 00:00:25:07
Daniel Franco
Everyone. And welcome back to the Creating Synergy Podcast. I'm thrilled today to introduce our guest Control, a returning alumni on the Creating Synergy podcast and also a very, very good friend of mine. Not only is he the co-founder and director of New Newaygo, but he's also been recognized as the 2023 South Australian Entrepreneur of the Year at the Indaily 40 under 40 awards.

00:00:26:08 - 00:00:51:00
Daniel Franco
Now, previous discussions we discussed all things South, and this time Connor shares his journey as an entrepreneur and building newaygo in a 20 plus million dollar business with over 60 staff and the lessons that he's learned along the way. We discussed the role that leadership plays in embracing ambiguity and how we can apply this skill set in being consistently comfortable in discomfort.

00:00:52:03 - 00:01:16:24
Daniel Franco
Conor also opens up about his experience with imposter syndrome and the significance that validation plays in the entrepreneur journey and the emphasis that he puts in focusing on the company values for business success. So without further ado, let's dive into our conversation with Conor O'Rourke. Welcome back to the Creating Synergy Podcast.

00:01:18:27 - 00:01:25:15
Daniel Franco
Today we have a remarkable human being, a very, very dear friend of mine. Conor O'Rourke, welcome to the show, mate.

00:01:25:17 - 00:01:26:18
Connor O'Rourke
Great to be back, buddy.

00:01:27:24 - 00:01:49:01
Daniel Franco
I looked back as you're obviously a two time personal on this, on this podcast and the lucky ones. Yeah, one of the lucky ones. January 27, 2021 was when we released that podcast, I reckon we recorded in late 2020. That's how long ago Feels like forever ago.

00:01:49:05 - 00:01:54:17
Connor O'Rourke
That does seem like an age ago, really. Have we only we only met each other shortly before that.

00:01:54:18 - 00:02:22:28
Daniel Franco
Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't much before that. So I think since then I would say you have played a massive role in my life since then, and especially over the past couple of years. Confided in you sought your advice on almost on a weekly basis. I think I was questioning who we speak to or so. And it's really been around just I think we've developed this relationship on what is the sport of entrepreneurship, isn't it really?

00:02:23:15 - 00:02:26:04
Daniel Franco
So I just wanted to start off the conversation by saying thanks.

00:02:26:06 - 00:02:33:02
Connor O'Rourke
Oh, likewise, man, I'm touched. I you know, it's really a privilege. I think I said to you before, I, you know, I got nervous going.

00:02:33:09 - 00:02:34:06
Daniel Franco
Know, it's.

00:02:34:06 - 00:02:51:01
Connor O'Rourke
Starstruck being around, you know, the journey that you've been on as well. And certainly having, you know, someone to to confide in, to bounce ideas off of how ever crazy they might be, sometimes to help ground you or to help, you know, push you along and spur you along. So the feeling is absolutely mutual, mate.

00:02:52:09 - 00:03:14:29
Daniel Franco
So you're riding a bit of a wave at the moment, which is an exciting one at that. The incredible achievement of being named the South Australian entrepreneur. Can't get my words right. The South Australian Entrepreneur of the Year award for the entirely 40 under 40. So congrats mate. How did it how did it feel being recognized in that way?

00:03:15:16 - 00:03:40:02
Connor O'Rourke
You know, I don't know if I still necessarily believe it's real. It's a lovely accolade to get, but I think is really is a is a reflection on the wonderful people I get to work with every day. And, you know, the customers that we get to serve in those sort of things. So whilst it's a thing, I get to stand up there and accept the award for it, I think it'd be remiss in me to not really kind of throw praise to all the people that make it happen in that regard.

00:03:40:05 - 00:04:04:29
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, so really have tried to just embrace it, you know, try to be in the moment a little bit with it and go and these things don't, you know, last forever. People's memories are short and you know, it just, I think a little bit of validation that, you know, from an entrepreneur standpoint, if I can use that word, you know, it's a tough, tough journey and those things and you do need, I think, a little validations on the way and to celebrate those things.

00:04:04:29 - 00:04:12:26
Connor O'Rourke
And um, yeah, it's been it's been awesome. Not very unexpected, but certainly, you know, trying to sit with it and enjoy it.

00:04:13:21 - 00:04:41:20
Daniel Franco
Absolutely. And stand in few standing cliché answers in that way. So it's no I think there's no there genuinely true right. So I'm staring. Who am I. What does I mean to be awarded entrepreneur of the year is is obviously um like you said, very humbling. But but what does, what does entrepreneurship mean to you? I mean, I said earlier, it's a sport almost in its own right.

00:04:41:21 - 00:04:44:25
Daniel Franco
What does it mean to you?

00:04:45:07 - 00:05:09:17
Connor O'Rourke
You know, I think it can probably have a lot of different definitions. Um, you know, for me, I think it's about being comfortable in discomfort. I think it's almost kind of that it's like a personality archetype that I think that you need to have, that it's okay to sit in ambiguity and to not always have that level of certainty.

00:05:10:01 - 00:05:32:12
Connor O'Rourke
I went to a Tony Robbins unleash the power with them thing. He talked about, you know, those fundamental core things that we need is is certainty and variety. And I think, you know, entrepreneurial ism, if I can say that is a word, has a lot of variety in it. And I've always kind of lived in my life in a lot of variety with, you know, ever since being a little kid from moving around a ton.

00:05:32:12 - 00:05:33:00
Daniel Franco
And yeah.

00:05:33:19 - 00:05:43:16
Connor O'Rourke
You know, having a dad that had businesses that he worked for all over the state of California and then to Texas before ultimately landed me in Australia. So.

00:05:44:07 - 00:05:50:29
Daniel Franco
During your speech on the award, I'm going to have on this award for a while, right. So just before we get into this.

00:05:50:29 - 00:05:51:27
Connor O'Rourke
A few champagnes had.

00:05:52:15 - 00:06:34:03
Daniel Franco
There was it during your speech you alluded to imposter syndrome and how you were suffering from it as you're up on stage being awarded that as a as a sufferer of imposter syndrome myself, I was somewhat surprised. He said, I know a lot about you, but I was somewhat surprised to hear you say that because you have this remarkable confidence, I think about you and so I'm just keen to explore what imposter syndrome means to you and why you felt that in that situation, when you have been remarkably successful.

00:06:35:03 - 00:07:00:21
Connor O'Rourke
Oh, firstly, thank you. You know, I think I even felt it this morning, you know, walking in here to have the podcast. Am I confident? You know, I am a confident human being, but I think, you know, the brain is a complicated thing and at times, you know, we all go through varying degrees of belief because I think imposter syndrome comes down a lot to belief.

00:07:00:21 - 00:07:17:29
Connor O'Rourke
And whether you're fully believing in something or not and at a point in time. And so I was going, what do I say in that walk between my chair and getting to the podium? I'm like, Well, what do you say? I was like, Whatever. Just sit out there and look at the crowd and just see what comes to you in that moment.

00:07:17:29 - 00:07:38:11
Connor O'Rourke
And for whatever reason I said to your I think that's the first thing I said was, You feel like an imposter. Yeah, because I think everybody that I've talked to, I try to surround myself with a lot of people like yourself and, you know, bouncing ideas around to get a better perspective from those that might not be in my direct line of business in terms of what we do as a company.

00:07:39:16 - 00:08:07:16
Connor O'Rourke
And I think in that process, I've I've had numerous conversations with people about, you know, that self-belief thing going into something new, whether it's, you know, they've got to go give a public speech to the company about something or it's just an unfamiliar territory for them. You can be like, I haven't done this before, but I mean, everybody that's gotten to some level of quote unquote success in their life has probably had that series of emotions.

00:08:07:16 - 00:08:08:15
Connor O'Rourke
That's just a natural.

00:08:08:24 - 00:08:10:24
Daniel Franco
I think, human concept.

00:08:10:24 - 00:08:35:08
Connor O'Rourke
And I really like the relating the humanness of being a business person. I think there used to be this, you know, very prim and proper perspective of it. But people want to work with people that's going to continuously be more important as things like AI proliferate and those sort of things. But do take away some of the, you know, more base level skills that we might not enjoy doing.

00:08:35:08 - 00:08:38:25
Connor O'Rourke
That's what I try to think about with that stuff is, you know, how can I help augment some of the stuff?

00:08:39:00 - 00:08:39:08
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:08:40:02 - 00:08:50:07
Connor O'Rourke
But I think the human aspect becomes even more important through that process. So to answer your question around being an imposter, I, I just think we all kind of.

00:08:50:11 - 00:09:08:00
Daniel Franco
Well, I think you, you alluded to earlier when you said living with ambiguity, I think was stepping in as I was listening to you then is stepping into situations that you're uncomfortable all the time and you're often going to question yourself like, why am I here? Like, why would anyone want to listen to me? It doesn't make sense.

00:09:08:03 - 00:09:33:13
Daniel Franco
And but they do. And I think it's funny that being in the crowd when you when you were awarded that and I was listening in, I, you know, and I think it's so funny. It was I know you so well, but did not expect those words come out of your mouth. I don't know why I know you suffer from it, but I just it was it was it was a nice vulnerability touch.

00:09:33:13 - 00:09:46:18
Daniel Franco
So So kudos to that. Your speech was good. It it really I think it had everyone in the room laughing and smiling. You you made mention to Victoria, was it of Victoria. Yeah.

00:09:46:19 - 00:09:49:25
Connor O'Rourke
I might have a little stab at the people out east.

00:09:49:25 - 00:10:03:00
Daniel Franco
Which is really good. And I think that caught the ear of a certain individual. You walked back to your table and there was a human being there waiting for an autograph, I think. Can you, can you explain who that might be?

00:10:04:06 - 00:10:23:12
Connor O'Rourke
Very silly man. No. So I got back to my table and the Honorable Premier Malinauskas was standing there at the table. I think he was heading out from. He had given a speech earlier in the evening, as you as you saw, and was heading out. And I think it walked up to my wife, Megan, while I was on stage and said, oh, is that your your husband up there?

00:10:23:12 - 00:10:33:19
Connor O'Rourke
And she said, Yeah. And then I think he hung around and just enemies business card at the end and said, hey, that was a I enjoyed what you said, perhaps we can continue a conversation.

00:10:33:19 - 00:11:00:15
Daniel Franco
So yeah, so scoping the statement from the site, I'm thank you. Thank you. So for those who haven't picked it and I think you have alluded to it already, there is a slight twang in your accent. And so for us to understand who this perfect specimen is sitting in front of me right now, what do we need to know about your your earliest context?

00:11:00:21 - 00:11:26:22
Connor O'Rourke
I'm so concerned if what I am as perfect in my earliest context. So I'm very I'm the youngest of three kids. Yep. I've got an older brother, Brennan, who's five years older than me or my business partner as well, my sister Cami. She's a couple of years older than me and her husband have a a vet practice. We all grew up kind of as the kind of support network for each other because we did move around a lot.

00:11:27:12 - 00:11:46:15
Connor O'Rourke
So my old man went to school in Northern California at a school called Stanford there. And then I started working for Exxon in Alaska as a drilling engineer and then went back to get his master's in business at Stanford and then, like everybody at that point in time was getting hired into Silicon Valley because I was going that kind of boom started happening around.

00:11:46:15 - 00:11:52:18
Daniel Franco
So it was just a jump in. For those who don't know, Mick O'Rourke is your old man who has been on this out.

00:11:52:18 - 00:11:53:03
Connor O'Rourke
To perhaps.

00:11:53:28 - 00:12:10:27
Daniel Franco
Get I make you well, he's been on the show a couple of times once as an individual and then once as on my 100th podcast. That's right. I love your old man, so keep going. But I just wanted to shout if you want to learn a little bit more about this human being, we've got a couple of episodes.

00:12:10:27 - 00:12:30:05
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, Yeah. So he's you know, my dad's been one of my, my best mates, my mentor and stuff in life. So he's been certainly pivotal and I'll definitely have to talk about that as part of my journey. So we moved around with different jobs that he had. I was born in San Diego, in Southern California, down by the border, Mexico.

00:12:30:05 - 00:12:55:07
Connor O'Rourke
At that point in time, he and my mom both were working professional jobs. My mom was in medical sales, crushing it, and dad was in the the Silicon Valley kind of tech sort of scene and work for different businesses there. So we moved around with the needs of what was happening kind of in jobs, though. So I was used to being able to to change houses and schools and, you know, friendship groups and sport and all that sort of stuff.

00:12:55:22 - 00:13:03:17
Connor O'Rourke
But my siblings were always around, so we were, you know, as tight now, I think, as you can be as siblings. Growing up, we moved to Austin, Texas in 90.

00:13:03:17 - 00:13:04:06
Daniel Franco
Four.

00:13:05:15 - 00:13:28:00
Connor O'Rourke
And during that time I spent a couple of years there. I loved it. Austin was a really cool city, and then mom and dad were saying, Oh, we're going to go visit some friends down in Australia. And at that time they lived in Melbourne and Sydney and they'd started these little print reseller businesses that Hewlett-Packard you could only sell at through the one distributor per state at that point in time.

00:13:28:00 - 00:13:45:14
Connor O'Rourke
And I said, Oh, you should go over and check out this place in Adelaide. It it was 12, the parade at Norwood. There's a guy there that wants to sell the franchise, if you will. I don't know exactly the franchise, but so the license for the region. And so they said, All right, well, while we're here, we go check it out here.

00:13:45:14 - 00:14:03:18
Connor O'Rourke
There's tremendous wine over there. And so they came check it out and then came back to the States while we were in Iowa with my my grandfather, my pappy, my dad's dad, ex-military man, staying out with them in the middle of some cornfields while they were in Australia. But they came back and said, We're moving to Australia. And I was a bit of a shock.

00:14:03:23 - 00:14:04:06
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:14:04:23 - 00:14:05:13
Connor O'Rourke
And they said We want to.

00:14:05:13 - 00:14:07:16
Daniel Franco
How old were you at this stage?

00:14:07:16 - 00:14:09:10
Connor O'Rourke
I would been nine years old, yeah.

00:14:09:10 - 00:14:09:20
Daniel Franco
Okay.

00:14:10:03 - 00:14:24:24
Connor O'Rourke
And they said, Yeah, we're going to move to Australia and do a five year I kind of cultural experience for you. You'll get to know a lot about it. And yeah, I mean it was terrifying at that point in time. But you know, we packed up and as my dad came out a couple of months earlier.

00:14:24:24 - 00:14:49:18
Daniel Franco
Than we, you like, I mean, I talk to my kids about I kind of almost threatened them sometimes. We had to pull you out of a school. They're in a private school, pull you out of private schools and your public school, us and my money, all of the above. And they and they, like, almost cry at the at the idea of being moving away from their friends.

00:14:49:26 - 00:14:54:20
Daniel Franco
How are you as a nine year old being split? Yeah. From your friendship groups.

00:14:54:23 - 00:15:16:16
Connor O'Rourke
You know, it was it was tough. But at the same time, I think I was used to it that, you know, we'd moved around so commonly and typically at that age it's either through sport or through school. You're, you're hanging out with people. So I kind of always had some level of sport and stuff. So I'd meet people relatively quickly wherever we we relocated.

00:15:16:16 - 00:15:35:14
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, But yeah, it was it was pretty sad. I was I think I hadn't finished year three yet, so I got pulled out of school a little bit before that. We moved here in May of 96, I think, and then I went into like middle of year four, I think.

00:15:35:19 - 00:15:35:26
Daniel Franco
Okay.

00:15:36:07 - 00:15:49:25
Connor O'Rourke
At a school here. So I skipped a little bit of time. So trying to make up on that and, you know, get to know whilst everything on the surface looks like Australia, in America, they're super similar. It's like about the only thing that's similar is they speak the same language.

00:15:49:25 - 00:15:55:06
Daniel Franco
Yeah. And so everything else just comes in a packet over there isn't it. Yeah. Yeah.

00:15:55:25 - 00:15:59:11
Connor O'Rourke
Exactly. Exactly. It's delivered to your door within one hour.

00:16:00:00 - 00:16:00:18
Daniel Franco
Amazon Prime.

00:16:02:10 - 00:16:14:13
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah. So it was, it was quite a shock coming over here. I love history. Obviously. I live here now. I've got two children, the third on the way that to live here. But yeah, it was, it was, it was a big period of adjustment.

00:16:14:20 - 00:16:37:19
Daniel Franco
I'm coming over here. So you, you land here in Australia and you know, obviously the influence of the all of your old man in the family and the tight knit group that you are and an entrepreneurial mindset starts kicking in and, and you start building pieces. Is that around that early time or was that a bit later in life?

00:16:37:28 - 00:17:03:01
Connor O'Rourke
No, that was that was absolutely around then because he bought the print resale business, then moved into selling computers and servers and that sort of things at a point in time. And so they had a configuration room and they had a warehouse. And so learning the kind of process in the warehouse of how to do the pre configuration exercises before they go to customers and put the asset tag and little stickers and all these sort of things on it just kind of taught me those sort of skills at each level of the business.

00:17:03:01 - 00:17:06:03
Connor O'Rourke
I got to get exposure to kind of different functions of it.

00:17:06:07 - 00:17:11:10
Daniel Franco
Yeah, yeah, sure. And that's playing out in your life, just having that experience early in that business.

00:17:12:09 - 00:17:13:03
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, I think so.

00:17:13:09 - 00:17:13:28
Daniel Franco
Yeah. Um.

00:17:14:09 - 00:17:22:15
Connor O'Rourke
I've never really thought about whether that directly had an influence, but yeah, I think, you know, we're just, we're just an amalgam of all the things that have happened in our.

00:17:22:15 - 00:17:48:18
Daniel Franco
Lives, right? So now there's a story that you've told me that I absolutely love, and I would love for you to share it on here. It's the story of Mount Kilimanjaro and how you said it played an absolute pivotal part in your development and thinking as a young man. So I'd be keen to for you to share that story if you could.

00:17:48:23 - 00:17:55:11
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, sure. Kilimanjaro. So in 2003.

00:17:55:11 - 00:17:56:24
Daniel Franco
I can't believe that's 20.

00:17:57:13 - 00:17:58:07
Connor O'Rourke
20 years ago.

00:17:58:26 - 00:18:05:16
Daniel Franco
So can you also explain the enormity of Mount Kilimanjaro, if you could, to for those who might not know?

00:18:06:01 - 00:18:08:08
Connor O'Rourke
Oh, in terms of like what is is a mountain.

00:18:08:08 - 00:18:10:07
Daniel Franco
Yeah, well, what I mean, the size.

00:18:10:15 - 00:18:15:25
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, sure. So Mount Kilimanjaro is on the border of Kenya and Tanzania, and you know, Africa is a volcano.

00:18:15:26 - 00:18:16:05
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:18:16:15 - 00:18:24:21
Connor O'Rourke
Previously it's the highest peak in Africa. So it's one of the seven summits of the world. Yep. 5895 meters, I think.

00:18:24:21 - 00:18:25:05
Daniel Franco
Yeah, Well.

00:18:25:06 - 00:18:25:18
Connor O'Rourke
Give or take a.

00:18:25:18 - 00:18:26:02
Daniel Franco
Minute or two.

00:18:26:14 - 00:18:43:24
Connor O'Rourke
Um, and it's, it's, it's a phenomenal thing where they're more where climbing it. You couldn't see the summit for several days because the cloud cover and those sort of things And you go, you start climbing in a rainforest and you end up on a glacier at the top and you go through like four or five or six different climates the whole way up.

00:18:43:25 - 00:19:05:04
Connor O'Rourke
You get above the tree line and there's no vegetation and these sort of things and you're climbing on shale and volcanic kind of interesting surfaces and whatnot. And there's so there's a couple of different ways that you can go up the mountain. But the reason we did it is that I think my dad had just exited the business or was about to that he had previously.

00:19:05:04 - 00:19:11:20
Connor O'Rourke
I might have got that wrong, but I think was around that time. And he said, I want to do something difficult with my sons before I get too old to be able to do it.

00:19:11:21 - 00:19:13:28
Daniel Franco
But difficult enough that it was too safe or.

00:19:14:08 - 00:19:18:19
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, you know, you're not we're not talking 8000 plus, you know.

00:19:18:19 - 00:19:19:01
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:19:19:08 - 00:19:22:19
Connor O'Rourke
Oxygen requirement zones like you get in the Himalayas.

00:19:22:19 - 00:19:23:20
Daniel Franco
Yeah, but.

00:19:23:20 - 00:19:45:05
Connor O'Rourke
You know, it was a great formative experience for me. So there's two different ways you can climb or several different ways. But the two kind of routes they talk about colloquially are the Coca-Cola and the Whiskey route. So that's like we're going into the whiskey round. I'm 16 year old one, they're going to whiskey now. And so we started training for it because you've got to get pack fit and sort of things.

00:19:45:27 - 00:19:54:20
Connor O'Rourke
So we lived in the Adelaide Hills and we'd hike from our place there to the top of Lofty down to Brown Hill Creek, back up and home with packs on a couple of times a week to just.

00:19:54:20 - 00:19:55:02
Daniel Franco
Start to.

00:19:55:12 - 00:20:21:02
Connor O'Rourke
Get the training in and those sort of things. And so then we went out to Africa, got settled in in the town of Arusha, outside of Mount Kilimanjaro area, and then met my dad's best buddies from the state and their son came over and met us there to do it together. And then, yeah, we set about it's four days to the summit, so you go from zero to nearly 6000 meters in four days.

00:20:21:02 - 00:20:25:17
Connor O'Rourke
So it's it's pretty heavy on the, on the lungs and on the, the brain a little bit.

00:20:26:11 - 00:20:27:15
Daniel Franco
Especially for a 16 year old.

00:20:28:01 - 00:20:45:16
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah. You know, I'm glad I did it. Things I think it taught me a little bit more resilience. You know, you think you're a bit unstoppable when you're when you're a young person. So yeah, that was, you know, first few days were not too bad. You know, you're flying along. Oxygen is pretty good. We're reasonably fit, but nothing can prepare you probably for altitude.

00:20:46:06 - 00:21:05:03
Connor O'Rourke
So I think the end of the third day, we we got into Brophy, which is the final camp you hit 40 Summit and it was probably like 6:00 at night. You do, I think, 12 to 15 cases a day, something like that of hiking. And we got the camp all set up and it's on shale, which is like this really thin.

00:21:05:17 - 00:21:08:08
Connor O'Rourke
Shale is. Yeah. And so it slides a little bit when you walk. Yeah.

00:21:08:08 - 00:21:11:05
Daniel Franco
That's why I asked about the safety thing. Yeah. Yeah. So.

00:21:12:04 - 00:21:17:01
Connor O'Rourke
So they said look at your camps, have your, your soup, which is a same taste but different color.

00:21:17:01 - 00:21:17:16
Daniel Franco
You know they.

00:21:18:29 - 00:21:39:01
Connor O'Rourke
And so you know, you get some food in play, some cards and whatever and with some of the guys that we're with and some of the other people that we're hiking with and they said, look, we're going to wake you up around 11 11:30 p.m.. So you only get a very short kind of nap that night, but you put on head torches and hike through the night so that you can summit Kili as the sun's coming up over the glaciers.

00:21:39:06 - 00:22:01:08
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, beautiful, beautiful sight. And so we start hiking and we'd open the tents and there's like a few inches of snow had fallen while we were in there for a little nap. And so that on top of shell, when you take a step, slides edge each time and your head's starting to pound by this stage because you're I think we're up over 5000 meters at that point relatively quickly.

00:22:01:08 - 00:22:22:00
Connor O'Rourke
Usually take, you know, slower rate and allow your body to acclimatize to it and so your breasts are getting shorter. It's it's it's more laborious and those sort of things. And each step was made a lot harder because you're on shale now at this point rather than walking on, you know, firm pack ground. And so I started to feel pretty heavy and started to vomit from the nausea that I was I was feeling with it.

00:22:22:24 - 00:22:38:09
Connor O'Rourke
And so they're checking the head towards to make sure there was no no blood and those sort of things, my vomit, because they need to get you down immediately if that's the case and the sun starts to come up, like slowly around like three or four in the morning and I fell over again. It was just feeling like hell.

00:22:38:09 - 00:22:42:04
Connor O'Rourke
I remember looking over at my dad and he's leaning on his poles, just breathing in pretty heavily.

00:22:42:05 - 00:22:42:29
Daniel Franco
And go, Oh man.

00:22:43:08 - 00:22:58:19
Connor O'Rourke
At one point I thought, this is we're not going to make it up, this bloody thing. And our guide, we had two guys, Eric and Tosha and Eric came over and put his hand on the back of my head and he said, Stop trying to look at the summit. And I was like, he said, if you keep looking at it, you're never going to get there.

00:22:59:09 - 00:23:03:09
Connor O'Rourke
He said, Look at your feet. Just take one of ten more steps.

00:23:03:23 - 00:23:06:24
Daniel Franco
Mm. As a it's yeah.

00:23:07:05 - 00:23:14:26
Connor O'Rourke
It was something that stuck with me for the rest of my life because two or 3 hours later you're on the rooftop of Africa, they call it looking at the.

00:23:14:26 - 00:23:20:03
Daniel Franco
Sunrise and I'd done it together so that's amazing story.

00:23:20:03 - 00:23:20:19
Connor O'Rourke
Oh sorry.

00:23:20:19 - 00:23:40:17
Daniel Franco
A bit of an emotional night and you know, you say that's something that stuck with you. Is it something that you've applied to? I mean, it's such good advice, right, for life. You know, you understand the idea of I'm going to the summit, but it's the concentrating on one step at a time, which is, I think, the most important.

00:23:40:28 - 00:23:42:17
Daniel Franco
It's not to lose sight of the summit. Yes.

00:23:42:17 - 00:23:55:29
Connor O'Rourke
But you've got to know it's there. And I think that's the one that why that's so important to me and why it kind of hits a nerve for me is I do live with that as a principle now in my life. And it was one of those moments that I didn't realize was a moment for me when it happened.

00:23:56:06 - 00:24:15:23
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, but in the fullness of time, when challenges happen in life, I'm going through a rough, rough time in life towards the start of the company. And I remember that thought came into my head. Eric saying to me, Stop looking at the summit. You're never going to get there. So it can be when things get hard to lower the the either something they say in footy a lot, you know, raise the eyes.

00:24:15:23 - 00:24:16:10
Connor O'Rourke
Lower the eyes.

00:24:16:18 - 00:24:16:26
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:24:17:03 - 00:24:38:03
Connor O'Rourke
I think it's good. It's you need to be able to when you're able when you're in a state of mental wellness to be able to look out and plan and do those sort of things and look at all the big things happening in life. But you also then need to be able to take the, the shorter term view if things get hard or if you get into execution mode once you've like if it's in a goal setting context, you're saying I want to do X in five or ten years.

00:24:38:27 - 00:24:47:23
Connor O'Rourke
You then need to shorten it down to those chunks that are okay, then what do I need to be able to do today to execute against what I know is the the summit you there? I know that makes sense.

00:24:47:26 - 00:25:08:26
Daniel Franco
It does well in so I think for me the way I'm interpreting it, if we're going to put it into a business sense, which is I mean this is a business podcast strategies you know five year strategy, three year strategy, whatever it is, this is where we want to be. Then we break it down to a 12 month and then we break it down to a 90 day sprint and then we take it down, you know, week on week.

00:25:08:26 - 00:25:30:14
Daniel Franco
Right? And so it's yeah, it's remarkable advice especially, but I think it's advice for life, not just from a business point of view. You know, it's like understand what you're going where you want to be, where your family, you want your family to be and where your friends are. All right. And then and work on and work on that practice each day.

00:25:30:14 - 00:25:30:26
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:25:31:06 - 00:25:32:03
Connor O'Rourke
I don't separate the two.

00:25:32:17 - 00:25:33:01
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:25:33:07 - 00:25:36:25
Connor O'Rourke
Business in life. I mean, you spend so much time doing.

00:25:37:00 - 00:25:37:07
Daniel Franco
It and.

00:25:37:13 - 00:25:43:15
Connor O'Rourke
Well, I'm going to get it wrong, but I think you spend more time with the people you work with than you do with your own family.

00:25:43:16 - 00:25:44:08
Daniel Franco
Yeah. All right.

00:25:44:11 - 00:25:46:22
Connor O'Rourke
Typical workweek, right? Exclude the hours when you're sleeping.

00:25:46:24 - 00:25:47:22
Daniel Franco
Yeah, right, Right.

00:25:48:23 - 00:25:52:25
Connor O'Rourke
You you might as well get it in alignment with what you like to do.

00:25:53:00 - 00:26:11:24
Daniel Franco
Yeah. I'm Sam. So? So obviously, that's a major impact for you in your life. And then go through your schooling career and then decide, you know what? Actually, I'm going to pack up and go back to the States for a bit. Yeah. Can you tell us about that experience?

00:26:11:24 - 00:26:21:21
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, sure. I started university here. Yeah, I did my first year at University of South Australia, the McGill campus there studying journalism.

00:26:21:27 - 00:26:22:20
Daniel Franco
Yep.

00:26:22:20 - 00:26:41:01
Connor O'Rourke
Because I didn't know what else to study and I was still living at home with my mom and my dad. And for me, growing up, at least with a Yankee accent and having had some exposure in the States, I didn't really have that feeling like I was going to university. It's kind of just like a continuation to go in high school.

00:26:41:03 - 00:26:42:03
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:26:42:03 - 00:26:58:07
Connor O'Rourke
And so I was like, I want to go out and try some, you know, new things, make some mistakes on my own and the new world and, and, you know, have some fun while I'm doing it. I loved playing hockey. I loved outdoors and snowboarding and those sort of things. And so I was able to transfer to like a sister school.

00:26:58:08 - 00:27:14:16
Connor O'Rourke
I don't know exactly what they call it. I think it's their sister schools that are affiliates in other locations. And there's like ten of them in the States and Colorado looked really cool. So I could transfer for up to a year while still being at uni as a student. So I was kind of like international student studying at a sister school.

00:27:14:20 - 00:27:14:28
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:27:15:00 - 00:27:27:28
Connor O'Rourke
Yep. Got to the end of the OR towards the end of that year and was like, Now this is where I want to stay. I'd love to finish out and get my, my bachelors here. So yeah, I hung out there and kept playing hockey. Try to show up to class when I could.

00:27:27:28 - 00:27:30:22
Daniel Franco
Yeah. What were you saying? What, what did you.

00:27:30:22 - 00:27:34:24
Connor O'Rourke
I studied journalism and then I had a minor in psychology as well.

00:27:35:01 - 00:27:51:20
Daniel Franco
Yeah. Wow. So ending up in the tech world is I think. Do you think it's had I mean, the journalistic approach and do you think it's had an impact on your ability to think in a different way than what sort of most other tech people?

00:27:51:20 - 00:27:55:23
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, I like I said earlier, I think you're just an amalgam of all the things.

00:27:56:04 - 00:27:56:19
Daniel Franco
You do in your.

00:27:56:19 - 00:28:20:18
Connor O'Rourke
Life. So I'm sure I could identify a few different things that assisted me from being in journalism or in cyber anthropology classes. It's all about like the world. And overall, yeah, where my teacher looked like Sigourney Weaver or that. But no, it's certainly brought me some elements I think that I utilize to this day from an entrepreneurial standpoint, I'm.

00:28:21:23 - 00:28:31:19
Daniel Franco
Talking about the amalgamation pace of of all the moments in your life. Yeah, you mentioned sport. It was hockey. You played and you played at some pretty high levels.

00:28:31:28 - 00:28:33:26
Connor O'Rourke
Oh, not like you, Mr. Francona.

00:28:35:12 - 00:28:39:14
Daniel Franco
You played in my dorm room. I mean, this is not a focus by me. So you played at some pretty high. We can flip.

00:28:39:14 - 00:28:40:29
Connor O'Rourke
It. Let's do it. I'm a man.

00:28:40:29 - 00:28:44:21
Daniel Franco
And I maybe maybe one other day. We're here for you today.

00:28:44:26 - 00:28:54:08
Connor O'Rourke
So. Yeah, Hockey. I played in, like your roller hockey side of ice hockey. Yeah. And then played a couple seasons of field hockey for the school. I was going.

00:28:54:08 - 00:28:55:07
Daniel Franco
Yeah, okay, great.

00:28:55:15 - 00:29:18:09
Connor O'Rourke
I played so many sports in my life, but inline hockey was the one I played the most up. Yeah, most accessible is on the one ice rink here. So I did play ice, but it can be quite a challenging thing to get to. The only ice rink can get rink time and those sort of things here and in line was a lot easier because there was a lot more people playing it, a lot more locations because, you know, like rec centers could get converted into roller hockey rings and those sort of.

00:29:18:09 - 00:29:18:24
Daniel Franco
Yeah, so.

00:29:19:03 - 00:29:35:25
Connor O'Rourke
A similar game but yeah, transferable skills. So I really enjoyed playing that as a point in time. I think I was playing five games a week, so I'd play ice at six in the morning and then I go play two rec league games in the in the local league and then I'd play at the the kind of state level against the other state clubs here.

00:29:35:25 - 00:30:00:06
Connor O'Rourke
And then yeah, that turned into getting selected for South Australian team. So I was probably 12 or 13 I think I played in my first one and then got selected for the Australian squad a couple of times. So I went and played in the Junior World Olympics and the Junior World Cup over in Detroit, Michigan, in and so it was like 26 or 27.

00:30:00:20 - 00:30:09:27
Connor O'Rourke
So that was good fun. And we got our butts kicked. But it was, it was it was fun to go there and really experience the sport at that level and Yeah.

00:30:10:09 - 00:30:39:03
Daniel Franco
Yep. I'm just going to pause for one second. 11 trouble with this thing. As you can see why it's it just keeps moving away from me. It's never done that before. So not knowing what's actually happening. Sorry, You're not. You're good. Yeah, it just keeps working. That's better. Let's just leave it at that. Go. So on the sport thing, I.

00:30:40:17 - 00:31:03:23
Daniel Franco
I've asked this a lot and I, and I keep, you know, I think the reason why I keep asking questions around like do you think an impact and anything that played out in later in your life is I'm always looking for this formula. I think there's I think there's so many formulas into what makes someone successful or makes what makes someone, you know, the person that they are.

00:31:04:22 - 00:31:47:01
Daniel Franco
And I honestly believe and I'm going to link this back to entrepreneurship and business ownership and even just leadership in general, right? I honestly believe that sport and specifically, I must say, teams sport to more of an extent, but I'm just going to bundle all together in sport has a major impact on someone in their life. And I think for me I've made decisions with my family around getting my children into sport and now they're playing basketball at the moment and it's a team sport working with so many different individuals from all different aspects of life, from all different cultures of the world, coming together and learning how to work together in a team on

00:31:47:01 - 00:32:09:26
Daniel Franco
strategy, on on down to the plays down to like focusing on how are we going to win the championships like this world. I think is is one that provides so much value. Do you think I'm going to ask the same question? Do you think that sport has played a major impact in your life in who you are today?

00:32:10:27 - 00:32:11:16
Connor O'Rourke
Without a doubt.

00:32:11:24 - 00:32:24:23
Daniel Franco
Yeah. Yeah. And and why do you think that? And look, I'm just going to ask question that because this comes from a point of knowing who you are. Why do you think sport is so important in in people's lives.

00:32:26:28 - 00:32:29:02
Connor O'Rourke
In terms of being formative towards.

00:32:29:12 - 00:32:34:28
Daniel Franco
Working well on business in general? Fitness? I mean the whole thing I but yes, informative towards business coach Yeah.

00:32:34:29 - 00:32:35:07
Connor O'Rourke
Okay.

00:32:35:07 - 00:32:37:17
Daniel Franco
So from an an entrepreneur sense okay.

00:32:37:18 - 00:33:12:21
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah look I think that being able to be agile as I spoke about before, is like key to, to doing well in business. And I think I got that exposure early as a kid moving around all the time. Okay, that adaptability, the only constant is change kind of is, you know, that changes the status quo and, and bringing a bunch of people in to a group that are different in in skill level, in their beliefs understands the same thing like when you're playing a team sport or yeah, you played on that many different teams and I've always loved that saying that a champion team beats a team of champions.

00:33:12:22 - 00:33:32:24
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, and I've played with those rough and sort of dudes that I grew up playing hockey with that we weren't the most skillful players, but we went undefeated for, I think almost two years in a row. Yeah, because we played as a team. We worked hard together. So I think there's that really good reliability in the team context.

00:33:33:03 - 00:33:59:00
Connor O'Rourke
Individual sports great takes a lot of discipline and all those things about, you know, and how to go through things and building a process, all those wonderful things. So I like the individual sports as well because I, I play golf, but my exposure's largely been in from a hockey standpoint. And I've, I've found that it really does translate almost exactly to the point where you see now some of the biggest business in the world is sport, like from the wealth that they create and this sort of thing.

00:33:59:07 - 00:34:06:00
Daniel Franco
I heard the other day that one of the biggest franchises, one of the most recognizable, recognizable names in the world is New York Yankees, right?

00:34:06:10 - 00:34:16:18
Connor O'Rourke
It's crazy, right? Yeah. So I think it shows that they can be very good businesses and if that, I guess, validates the concept of does sport translate well to business? Well, I think sports become a business.

00:34:16:18 - 00:34:17:02
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:34:18:11 - 00:34:41:05
Connor O'Rourke
But also I like to to relate it as well a lot because you think about, you know, any AFL, you support a disgusting team, Geelong Cats, but they would review first thing Monday, right? They look at all the stats and those sort of things and how they play the game and they check their GPS trackers and all the other things and they would look to adjust for the week that comes, right?

00:34:41:05 - 00:34:41:12
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:34:41:23 - 00:34:55:19
Connor O'Rourke
So I think it's the same sort of thing in how we could run our businesses. And I think if people took that analogy and applied it to running their business and ran it like a sports team, you'd actually probably end up with a lot more successful businesses.

00:34:56:12 - 00:35:13:23
Daniel Franco
Yeah, I agree. I would go even further down the down the rabbit hole and say that while you're on the field you're getting feedback in oh 100%. Yeah. You're getting feedback from the way you kick the ball. So this is self awareness piece, right? You're getting feedback from the coaches. Yeah, you know this.

00:35:13:29 - 00:35:17:19
Connor O'Rourke
You've got a runner out there, so let's get some feedback, right? I'm not even waiting for the end of the quarter.

00:35:17:19 - 00:35:22:03
Daniel Franco
The other players in your team, if you're not lifting your weight, they're yelling at you and.

00:35:22:21 - 00:35:35:12
Connor O'Rourke
Well, because I think the reason is, is like accountability is great, but that's because coaching in the moment, like as close as you can give the feedback to when what needs to be worked on, corrected or rewarded. Yeah. Is the best thing.

00:35:35:12 - 00:35:35:27
Daniel Franco
That yeah.

00:35:36:05 - 00:35:38:10
Connor O'Rourke
I think you can do from a growth standpoint.

00:35:38:10 - 00:35:47:09
Daniel Franco
So let's let's move into this business world we're talking about your your growth and so you've gone over to the US and you.

00:35:47:09 - 00:35:47:29
Connor O'Rourke
Still make me cry.

00:35:48:16 - 00:35:55:09
Daniel Franco
Yeah. And you've graduated in the middle of the financial crisis.

00:35:55:14 - 00:35:55:26
Connor O'Rourke
Oh yes.

00:35:56:14 - 00:36:00:18
Daniel Franco
And decided that door to door service was the option.

00:36:00:18 - 00:36:21:27
Connor O'Rourke
Wonderful. So glad you know it. Yeah, I guess so. So, yeah, I did. I graduated right as the thin crisis was kind of in full swing. So you know, I. I had some friends move into short sale and flipping houses and those things and trying to make that work. And I didn't have any seed capital to try to go do those sort of things.

00:36:21:27 - 00:36:38:03
Connor O'Rourke
They were done. And so I just went there out of apply for a bunch of different things. And I mean, I graduated in journalism, but I didn't think that that was probably the field I wanted to be in unless it was like sports journalism, those things. And I think everybody in my graduating class wanted to do that stuff at that point in time.

00:36:38:03 - 00:36:54:12
Connor O'Rourke
So I didn't think that that was going to really happen. So I just started applying to random things and there was this really vague article that was about, you know, commission based job and you can, you know, make your own hours, blah, blah, blah. And so I went and I found a suit. I hadn't seen one in like four or five years.

00:36:54:12 - 00:36:54:22
Connor O'Rourke
I was just.

00:36:56:00 - 00:36:59:18
Daniel Franco
Like, you know, it didn't fit me as well, unfortunately.

00:37:00:23 - 00:37:19:07
Connor O'Rourke
And so I went down to this interview and it was like this random rented, like old retail shop, and there's like this couch in there, and it just looked like they just set it up that day. It wasn't like a reputable one I'd gotten into here. I mean, there's three people there interviewing me, and it was it was doors to vacuum sales for for Kirby.

00:37:19:24 - 00:37:27:13
Connor O'Rourke
And I was like, What? And you got to get out there and get some exposure and whatever. And so I tried it for about 8 minutes.

00:37:28:19 - 00:37:29:16
Daniel Franco
Decided it was me.

00:37:29:20 - 00:37:32:13
Connor O'Rourke
That's hard yakka, like door to door. So that's like.

00:37:32:28 - 00:37:34:07
Daniel Franco
How long were you doing it for?

00:37:34:10 - 00:37:36:10
Connor O'Rourke
I literally think I did it for three or four days.

00:37:36:10 - 00:37:37:21
Daniel Franco
Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah.

00:37:37:22 - 00:37:38:05
Connor O'Rourke
It was.

00:37:38:10 - 00:37:40:05
Daniel Franco
It was brutal and not good. Yeah.

00:37:40:17 - 00:37:44:26
Connor O'Rourke
We're talking Colorado. It's wintertime. You don't know people. You know, in the States, people are packing.

00:37:45:18 - 00:37:46:21
Daniel Franco
Yeah, I'm just kidding.

00:37:46:21 - 00:38:06:05
Connor O'Rourke
But no, it wasn't something that resonated with me. And, you know, I think you need to be able to see yourself in it. And I was like, well, you know, I've learned I take a lesson from it. Yeah, absolutely is. You know, you sometimes don't get some doors slammed in your face. Yeah, I forgot you knew about that.

00:38:06:05 - 00:38:10:13
Daniel Franco
So I went like, when did you move back? What happens now? We're like, where where do you go?

00:38:10:23 - 00:38:35:14
Connor O'Rourke
So I came back for Aussie Christmas. So summertime here, I didn't really know what's going on. Vacuum sales was not turning out to be my calling. And so I came back for, I think, a three week visit over that time period, spend the holidays with family. Dad picks me up at the airport. We're driving back and at that point in time, he had he was, I think, chairman of Datacom Systems.

00:38:35:28 - 00:38:52:00
Connor O'Rourke
And so he and some other guys had started that branch locally. And he said, I'll stop in and we'll see some of the old guys I used to work with because like when I was in config, a lot of the same people that in his former companies were were in this business. And so I got there and a couple of the guys that I was, you want to get a coffee?

00:38:52:02 - 00:39:12:04
Connor O'Rourke
I said, Yeah, sure. I could drink coffee in a while. America cannot make coffee. And so we went down the coffee shop and they there asked me what I was doing my career, and I told him about my, you know, meteoric rise and the door to door vacuum sales industry now. And they said, would you consider doing like a sales support role with our with our company?

00:39:12:16 - 00:39:26:04
Connor O'Rourke
And at first I kind of dismissed it and but that had me captive for two or three weeks while I was home. What are you doing with your, you know, X, Y and Z for your life? And, and I thought about it. I was like, well, you know, home is where your family is, where your heart is in those things.

00:39:26:04 - 00:39:43:26
Connor O'Rourke
And living over in the States didn't really feel like I had that family unit and Right. Well I'll head back sell everything I had there in my car and get rid of all my kind of stuff from the place that I was renting there and then move back here like four weeks later, you know, started as an internal account manager doing sales support for some awesome people.

00:39:45:03 - 00:39:53:15
Connor O'Rourke
And then, yeah, that was kind of getting into, I guess, business and, and into it properly at that point in time.

00:39:53:15 - 00:40:10:07
Daniel Franco
And then comes the rise. I think from what I understand, you know, taking on various roles over, over the years and end up managing, uh, managing the whole sales team and running a portfolio of 60 million plus dollars, It's uh, yeah, pretty quick growth.

00:40:10:22 - 00:40:43:11
Connor O'Rourke
Oh, it was, you know, it, it, yeah, it really was. It was pretty breakneck speed. That company was, was growing massively, and they did very well with the company. They were building early days and with growth comes opportunity. And I think through those journeys I tried to continue to push myself to be at least considered in the discussion when those things we had, my old man had exited the business and I wanted to, you know, make it for my own, not feel like, oh, hey, my my old man has, you know, paved the way for completely.

00:40:43:11 - 00:40:43:22
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:40:44:05 - 00:40:54:16
Connor O'Rourke
You walk, you know, the path of other people and yeah I always love that that quote. You know, if I've seen further than others, it's because I stood on the shoulders of giants. It was Isaac Newton or.

00:40:54:16 - 00:40:57:00
Daniel Franco
Something like that.

00:40:57:00 - 00:41:11:10
Connor O'Rourke
And that for me is like, I got to learn from my boss and see the way he went about things. And he didn't necessarily go down the direct sales kind of route in his career. So, um, it was good to be able to learn that as a craft and those things as well. He was largely self-taught with that.

00:41:11:10 - 00:41:16:19
Connor O'Rourke
And yeah, I was able to kind of take what I could from him and then add my own bits.

00:41:16:19 - 00:41:36:03
Daniel Franco
So for those who may not know the first podcast that we did, actually we just spoke about sales. We didn't really dive into your life as we are now, which is it's going to be to us about the way we've had this podcast. But um, so if you want to learn kind of thoughts process on sales, go and have a listen to that one.

00:41:36:12 - 00:41:49:18
Daniel Franco
That was three years ago now. Yeah. What have you learned since then? Oh, just give me a quick rundown. What you and I both have this love to sell. So just when.

00:41:49:18 - 00:42:06:28
Connor O'Rourke
You know, I think I've. I've learned to probably invest more time in the craft of selling in terms of learning more about how to be a pro addicts. I've had to teach others a lot more. Yeah, my team's a lot bigger now than it was when when we first had a chat and I.

00:42:06:28 - 00:42:08:13
Daniel Franco
Was, How big is the team now?

00:42:08:21 - 00:42:13:16
Connor O'Rourke
We're ten in the sales force. The business is about 60.

00:42:13:16 - 00:42:13:24
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:42:14:21 - 00:42:35:26
Connor O'Rourke
So yeah, we've, we, we believe in the power of a strong sales force. It's not a dirty word in our business, which I think we would have spoken about last time. But no, I've studied up a lot on some key kind of global experts around sales and how to help, you know, build sales professionals up rather than trying to as a philosophy.

00:42:35:26 - 00:42:52:23
Connor O'Rourke
Okay, I'll just go take a top salesperson from another business and it automatically works for mine. That hasn't really been our approach and focus. It's been about kind of taking folks that have the right attributes and then being able to to build them in a structured kind of approach. And we've got this thing called the sales pillars of excellence.

00:42:52:24 - 00:43:03:18
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, that we've developed around that have the world that we see as is probably what our market, what we sell, how it maps directly to kind of what our customers need.

00:43:04:07 - 00:43:32:18
Daniel Franco
Yeah, brilliant. Anyway, this touch, don't touch on that anymore. So in 2016, you decided to refinance your home and to generate some funds to, uh, to create this thing called Newaygo, which was an i.t. Solutions based business. Um, can you just share the story of the inception of in you and, but firstly, just explain to us what you are going means because like, yeah, okay.

00:43:33:19 - 00:43:41:08
Connor O'Rourke
Yes. And long ago like we were sitting around trying to figure out what do I tell first in this? Let me tell you how it started and I'll tell you other names.

00:43:41:08 - 00:43:41:27
Daniel Franco
All right, great.

00:43:42:04 - 00:43:46:26
Connor O'Rourke
So my brother was in Duntroon and.

00:43:47:14 - 00:43:48:17
Daniel Franco
Officer Yeah.

00:43:49:01 - 00:44:13:29
Connor O'Rourke
And he hurt his back and he had to come back on medical leave cause. He messed his back up really bad and met a lady while he was back here and fell in love and was like, Oh man, I might stay on medical leave. Yeah, love this lady. And he and I had both two different points in time being, you know, some of the old man thought about, you know, we started a tech company of our own at some point, and so we kind of collided at the same time with these similar sort of ideas and that is he does calls a family meeting with me and my brother.

00:44:14:13 - 00:44:36:20
Connor O'Rourke
And we sat at this coffee shop in Aldgate in March of 2016 and said, you know, can we put something together here together and make something that's pretty spectacular? And we agreed on it, you know, a little bit of back and forth. How would it look in those things? And, um, yeah, we shook hands on it, then said, All right, let's go dip into the mortgage and try to get some money out and put some at least startup capital of our own.

00:44:36:20 - 00:44:53:12
Connor O'Rourke
And we didn't want to be beholden to any external investors or, you know, large business loans or those things. So we don't have any external debt or didn't have any and still don't to this day. But, you know, that was a focus for us, was put in our own stuff. And then it was like, all right, well, now what's it going to look like?

00:44:53:12 - 00:45:20:21
Connor O'Rourke
And those things. And the first thing you got to do with any business is identify is there a gap to be served in the market or are you just going to go be another same, same sort of player in the market? And we thought there was this really addressable piece in the mid-market where, you know, we're kind of this Goldilocks zone, which is the South Australian customers, like 98% of businesses fit this archetype of, you know, largely privately held at that point in time.

00:45:20:21 - 00:45:48:05
Connor O'Rourke
We said, look, probably 52, 500 seat businesses is where our our focus will fit. It's broadened a little bit more since then, but bringing, you know, cloud based cybersecurity, modern technologies to the fore in business language, like, I think there was a lot of really competent players in the market, really, really talented engineering people, but they weren't necessarily starting a business with a business context in mind.

00:45:48:05 - 00:46:03:02
Connor O'Rourke
They were just like, I'm really good at this craft. I'll start a business so that more people can have it. Yeah, rather than kind of starting with that full, proper marketing approach and those sort of things, what are we going to go address out in the market? And so with that, Noga was born at that we're going to call it elite.

00:46:03:02 - 00:46:05:20
Connor O'Rourke
It was one of our first names that we came with. I'm so glad we did.

00:46:05:25 - 00:46:09:05
Daniel Franco
Yeah, because, yeah, I wouldn't have thought we.

00:46:09:05 - 00:46:37:26
Connor O'Rourke
Wanted it to be timeless. We were like, well, you know, you think about a lot of brands. Logos don't necessarily mean anything. Yeah, like Apple's obviously the one that comes to mind. You literally think it's a piece of fruit. Yeah, but we all associate the and we see the technology coming with it. And so we said, well, I'm not trying to compare us to it, by the way, but effectively we started looking at different words and you go and try to register anything with async, you try to find a domain name that isn't taken already by somebody that's crouching on your heels in the hope they're going to sell it to you for lots of

00:46:37:26 - 00:46:53:03
Connor O'Rourke
money one day. Yeah. And so we started looking to not English words, right? And my, my mama said to me, she's going to be 92 years old. She's from Algeria, from French, Algiers, and she fled.

00:46:53:27 - 00:46:55:15
Daniel Franco
From. So my mom's grandma.

00:46:55:15 - 00:47:17:12
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She doesn't look a day over 70. She had to flee Algeria because of some some challenges back then. She's a Jewish lady and had to had to flee the country because of fear of persecution and whatnot. So moved to southern France. But she still, to this day, speaks very fluent French. My dad and his siblings all speak French.

00:47:17:12 - 00:47:33:25
Connor O'Rourke
My dad won't let you know that he knows French very well. And we thought, Well, let's have a look at some French words and the French word for cloud is New age and new agey. But you look into it and everybody tries to see you for everything these days. And Nokia in Europe had a company called Nuage Networks.

00:47:34:13 - 00:47:49:06
Connor O'Rourke
And so somebody said, Oh, maybe just tweak it a little bit. And so we changed the last letter of it to go, and we thought that was kind of evocative of taking action with five letters. It was easy to remember, didn't mean anything out in the market, that it was already associated with something and the domain was available.

00:47:49:19 - 00:47:52:24
Daniel Franco
Yeah, that's the main thing. And it really it kind of got.

00:47:52:24 - 00:47:59:01
Connor O'Rourke
To that point because you're sitting there for so long working on a name. You like to decide on something.

00:47:59:01 - 00:48:23:10
Daniel Franco
So what was the you know, you said the first thing you do when you go off and start a business, which I think is great advice, is to understand the gap in the market right? Further to that, though, in order for it to be at a I mean, well, I think we would both agree. And if in order for it to work, you need to be connected to the vision, it has to be connected to the purpose.

00:48:23:10 - 00:48:26:06
Daniel Franco
What what was it that you guys were hoping to achieve?

00:48:27:28 - 00:48:38:21
Connor O'Rourke
Really good question. And we spent a lot of time recently because it changes as you go through the journey. You need to always keep looking back at that. Making sure that it's relevant in there resonates with with the people first and foremost in your business.

00:48:38:23 - 00:48:39:02
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:48:39:10 - 00:48:58:06
Connor O'Rourke
Right. Because your vision should inspire the people that work in your organization, which will then go and give your customers a delightful experience which returns shareholder value, which allows for growth of the business. Yeah, right. And so I think I think Branson talked about the Virgin where, you know, people will treat customers well and that'll make a successful organization.

00:48:59:01 - 00:49:17:08
Connor O'Rourke
So for us was always about the kind of human element of tech, right? Where on the on the user side of things there's a human being on the other side of the piece of technology. We need to be able to put tech into a business context and make it easier so that grandma tests. You know, if I got to talk to my mama, she can use face time.

00:49:17:08 - 00:49:19:17
Daniel Franco
She's she's bad. You.

00:49:19:17 - 00:49:37:07
Connor O'Rourke
But being able to explain it to really anybody because I think when we become experts in a field and by no means am I an expert technically, but from a very deep technical engineering standpoint, we tend to lean on how much we know in our craft. And it actually, I think, creates a difficulty in communicating with other people.

00:49:37:21 - 00:49:45:29
Connor O'Rourke
So like if you go see a doctor and they just start speaking to you in all these Latin terms, like, I have no idea what you're saying, whether it's good or bad, just very big words that I don't understand.

00:49:45:29 - 00:49:46:06
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:49:46:19 - 00:50:08:05
Connor O'Rourke
And it's the same sort of thing like can apply from a technology lens of people. We love acronyms and tech is going there and just throwing acronyms around. And if no one's there to be able to decode your message, then you're not being a very good communicator. So that's really what we've wanted to be able to do. We sell a lot of similar things that other organizations you can buy from them.

00:50:08:05 - 00:50:15:27
Connor O'Rourke
But I guess what differentiates you most of the time is your people, your processes, the values you live by. And that's one of the things we've always tried to focus on.

00:50:16:24 - 00:50:24:23
Daniel Franco
So when all when all is done, when you go, yeah, what do you, what does the world look like? Like what are we trying to achieve in that space?

00:50:25:26 - 00:50:44:04
Connor O'Rourke
I don't know what that necessarily, but for me, when I, when I'll be happy, not when I'll be happy, when I'll be most happy with that question is when somebody stops me in the street 50 years from now and says, You remember that company? Because I hope that No, I was around 50 years.

00:50:44:04 - 00:50:44:14
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:50:44:15 - 00:50:50:16
Connor O'Rourke
How how businesses life spans are. Yeah. Times it shortens because it's so much more competitive.

00:50:51:18 - 00:50:54:01
Daniel Franco
But you told me about that the other night. Yeah.

00:50:54:01 - 00:51:07:09
Connor O'Rourke
I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was like the length of companies that were on the index in the United States is like less than one third of what it used to be like 20 years ago because it is so much more competitive and technology plays a huge role in that. So hopefully it's around 50 years from now.

00:51:07:09 - 00:51:13:14
Connor O'Rourke
But if it's not or if I'm not, they come along and say, That was the best place I've worked.

00:51:13:18 - 00:51:14:00
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:51:14:14 - 00:51:26:21
Connor O'Rourke
It was kick ass. Like I found a lot in myself because I always believed like, we're here to push people to achieve the best they can for themselves, right? That's the best way we can be of service to them and to help them along that journey. Yeah, but I had a hell of a good time while I did it.

00:51:27:09 - 00:51:31:26
Connor O'Rourke
And I think there's space for both of those.

00:51:31:26 - 00:51:53:27
Daniel Franco
So I'm just going to. Yeah, I love this. It's so fun. In my head is a sure fire way of of creating a company culture. Right. And I think that's pretty much what you've just alluded to there, is that you guys are, you know, you're building a business, you're doing remarkable things. You've experienced rapid growth from 20 plus million to 20 plus million secured staff.

00:51:55:19 - 00:52:13:14
Daniel Franco
Do you think fun is and the way and the life that you guys bring to the company and the the joy that you bring to the clients? Is that been the key factor to your success?

00:52:13:14 - 00:52:30:21
Connor O'Rourke
I think it's certainly been one of them, Yeah, I think it's certainly been one of them. When you look at how difficult it was on everybody through a pandemic period, they're really stress tests, people and those sort of things. You wouldn't stick at it if it wasn't. And so I think that was the biggest for all of it.

00:52:30:21 - 00:52:34:06
Connor O'Rourke
And I just was thinking, as were asking me that question, I shouldn't have been thinking, but I.

00:52:34:06 - 00:52:34:13
Daniel Franco
Was.

00:52:36:12 - 00:52:53:23
Connor O'Rourke
Back in the office even just yesterday, just like jam music, playing music videos with the sales, and we're having a dance break all sitting around laughing, taking stress balls each other. We do do some work. I promise, but it's just those things that, you know, I walked over to a couple of the ladies in Ops and they it sounds like having so much fun today.

00:52:53:23 - 00:53:11:29
Connor O'Rourke
And I was like, awesome. Like, that's that needs to be an element of the workplace. And I think you can sense that when you walk our our halls, right? Yeah, we've got stressful days. We work in high tech and cybersecurity and we've got to be there for our customers if they get in a jam sometimes. So we need to be able to focus in and kick ass when we need to.

00:53:12:11 - 00:53:28:07
Connor O'Rourke
But making sure that you remind yourself to take those times that, you know, if we are with these people more time than we spend with our families, shouldn't we be having a damn good time with them as well? So be around like minded people. I think it's important to get that right first, though, because you can't create that culture unless you hire based on your values.

00:53:29:29 - 00:53:55:13
Daniel Franco
Perfect leads me to my next question. I think if there's one thing that I do know about your company and actually probably the one thing that impresses me the most is your commitment to company values. I know that you're you personally have a strong set of beliefs and values and very high integrity that guides your operations both in and out of the boardroom, which is exactly what you said.

00:53:55:13 - 00:54:09:14
Daniel Franco
Right. So can you expand on those values of your company and and what they mean to you? And I know when we had Mike on on the show, he spoke extensively about the importance of them. But I want to hear your version.

00:54:10:06 - 00:54:29:03
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, I might cherry pick a couple of them and it's I guess it's on point for us at the moment because we've just gone through our ten year revision like re baseline vision exercise, which the first thing that you do is as you look at your values to inform your vision. Yeah. Because that's, that's really where it should all come from.

00:54:29:03 - 00:54:35:03
Connor O'Rourke
If those are at the core of the foundation of everything you do and decisions radiate out from those. So then that puts pressure on your values.

00:54:35:03 - 00:54:35:27
Daniel Franco
Yeah, you get them.

00:54:36:13 - 00:54:56:00
Connor O'Rourke
Right so that they promote the right sort of behaviors. I kind of view that as like similar to the sporting analogy we talked about before, there's a certain policy that you may apply for your club, like the way that you operate, and it's the same sort of thing other folks might have opinions on the way they run their footy club or their business.

00:54:56:16 - 00:55:17:25
Connor O'Rourke
But you know, these are the rules that we like to play by. Yeah, my favorite one at the moment is we are brave and um, and it's not just that statement, it's all the things that we are and we are not as a result of that. Yeah, that statement that think is really important in enforcing those things and it's really important that people and we haven't always done the greatest job with this.

00:55:17:25 - 00:55:34:07
Connor O'Rourke
We're trying to take it even to the next level at the moment of good and bad and what they look like. So with We Are Brave is we're authentic, you know, we're vulnerable. Yeah, but we believe in radical candor, right? Like we need to have open and honest discussion because we we agreed that we were going to do that for each other.

00:55:34:07 - 00:55:37:03
Connor O'Rourke
And that's how we grow. You know, you have that in a sporting team, right?

00:55:37:08 - 00:55:37:16
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:55:38:02 - 00:55:57:22
Connor O'Rourke
And so I think if you apply that sort of accountability into a business and but, you know, courage and consideration are super important in that is having the courage to speak, speak out on, on whatever it is that we need to table in an honest fashion, but doing in the considerate way and don't yell at a person. You don't go to destroy them, you demoralize them.

00:55:58:06 - 00:55:59:27
Connor O'Rourke
You look at it as a, you.

00:55:59:27 - 00:56:01:04
Daniel Franco
Know.

00:56:01:04 - 00:56:14:04
Connor O'Rourke
The reason I'm telling this person is because I care about their development. And so if you approach it with that lens and then I go, so that's I like the bravery one. And also just being brave in the context of of being brave, You know, airplanes take off into the wind, right?

00:56:15:02 - 00:56:47:06
Daniel Franco
Yeah, we are obviously, you know, the the company that they are operate with is seen as a synergy like you. And we work in the world of of of corporate culture and helping organizations, you know, through their complex change programs and initiatives and. Values for us is always top of the tree right it is as we embark on any change or as we embark on a company culture that we want, that we want to create.

00:56:47:06 - 00:56:54:15
Daniel Franco
And it is what we stand for. And I love the way you guys have articulated it from. We are right.

00:56:55:15 - 00:56:57:29
Connor O'Rourke
In the rework. All of all five of them start with We.

00:56:57:29 - 00:56:58:18
Daniel Franco
Are we are.

00:56:58:23 - 00:57:00:04
Connor O'Rourke
Because it brides. We I mean.

00:57:00:05 - 00:57:23:00
Daniel Franco
Exactly. And I think that is 100% the way in which you should look at values. Right. And you can have honest on the wall but like those things, you know we are values. Yeah exactly. They're they're you should just be honest. Right? Like the value should be something that we want to hold ourselves accountable to. And and I love you know, I love your list, which is great.

00:57:23:10 - 00:57:37:02
Daniel Franco
Just on that then talking about culture. Yeah, we've mentioned fun. We've mentioned values. And I know you, Brett and Brendan and the team. Let's go to We got you Brendan been.

00:57:37:06 - 00:57:37:23
Connor O'Rourke
In terms.

00:57:37:23 - 00:57:38:26
Daniel Franco
Of in leading.

00:57:38:26 - 00:57:40:05
Connor O'Rourke
Your music or songs or.

00:57:40:05 - 00:57:41:08
Daniel Franco
Yeah. Senior Exec.

00:57:41:15 - 00:57:42:26
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah. So. Senior Exec.

00:57:42:29 - 00:57:43:09
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

00:57:43:15 - 00:58:06:22
Connor O'Rourke
Please don't forget anybody. Conor No. So I work with an awesome senior team. So Antonella, who heads up our operations by the things she's magic, does those things all across, all things of business that most people don't even know that she does. See, myself, I run the sales and marketing functions of the business. My brothers, our managing director integrator, Ben Scofield, who runs our managed services director, Managed Services.

00:58:06:22 - 00:58:15:20
Connor O'Rourke
And Ben Gordon oversees the operations manager for managed services, Marc Whisker, who runs our Professional Services Division. And then Dave Brown is the head of our design and innovation.

00:58:17:14 - 00:58:21:27
Daniel Franco
So you as a team, do you table the conversation culture?

00:58:22:16 - 00:58:22:27
Connor O'Rourke
Oh, yeah.

00:58:23:12 - 00:58:37:18
Daniel Franco
And what does that look like? What do you do? Well, because, you know, culture is a thing that happens when no one's looking. And what what do you as a leadership team focus on around that table?

00:58:39:07 - 00:59:09:05
Connor O'Rourke
Culture is the output of how you live by your values, correct? Right. So if you're that's the ability to sense it rising. Oh, that this this thing has occurred. Okay. What fundamentally has gone wrong then, from a values perspective, if we go back and look at that. So if you've like I said earlier, if you clearly define your values and they mean something and they're real and you've gone through, you know, a lot of time, you know, testing those to make sure that they're going to be right for you, then they become, you know, your gospel.

00:59:09:19 - 00:59:29:07
Connor O'Rourke
And so you can always try to that's least where the first place we go is look back to that go what fundamentally has gone wrong in the process there? Is it is it a values related thing where we're not, you know, practicing as we preach or living by these things every day? And I think a lot of times that'll be the chrysalis of where the problem probably started.

00:59:29:07 - 00:59:37:09
Connor O'Rourke
There's a lot of things that happened between those values and a culture, but I think you can always start by looking at that. That is the kind of how.

00:59:38:10 - 01:00:08:03
Daniel Franco
Do you create that expectation on yourselves to, to and you hold each other account at the table. Is that something that is in front of money? You know, just having walk through the halls of, of New Wagga, you can, you can feel it and sense it right. And I know it's not just the sign on the wall that has these values, although you have a really nice song like a la illuminated the values of the world.

01:00:08:03 - 01:00:21:09
Daniel Franco
Yeah, I'm just really interested in the psyche of the leadership team and, and the way in which you in corporate that into everyday language.

01:00:21:09 - 01:00:23:13
Connor O'Rourke
The way that we incorporate our values and everyday.

01:00:23:14 - 01:00:24:13
Daniel Franco
Everyday language. Yeah.

01:00:25:29 - 01:00:32:17
Connor O'Rourke
I think, I mean you hit the most important thing there is that there's always that saying in a company the fish rots from the head down. I think that's right.

01:00:32:23 - 01:00:35:14
Daniel Franco
Fish wants something along those. Right. The problem.

01:00:35:14 - 01:00:35:29
Connor O'Rourke
Starts at the.

01:00:35:29 - 01:00:36:15
Daniel Franco
Top. Yeah.

01:00:37:00 - 01:00:59:12
Connor O'Rourke
That's really what leadership should be about. It's all about taking accountability for four things, right? So, you know, share the praise when you get it. Accept the blame whenever. Even if you didn't feel that you intentionally did that. That's that's part of what we're doing. Yeah. And so that starts with also you need to then be the first person in last person out from a value standpoint that you need to always be walking the walk with that.

01:00:59:12 - 01:01:15:02
Connor O'Rourke
So you got to test it on yourself. And we've development called the bar and it comes from the US principles of you take your values, however many there is this you recommend between four and seven values for a company. We've got five and then you put it in there and then you put them to GWC, which is just this person.

01:01:15:02 - 01:01:36:26
Connor O'Rourke
Get it? Do they want it? They have the capability to do it. So for each of those, in our case, eight principles, it's the GWC plus our five values. You can put your name next to the self score for this and go, All right, for our values. I can either give myself for each of the categories a plus, a plus, minus or minus, and you figure out, well, the bar is this is the standard in our business.

01:01:36:26 - 01:01:41:27
Connor O'Rourke
And what we're willing to accept for anybody is, you know, no more than two plus minuses.

01:01:42:10 - 01:01:42:17
Daniel Franco
Mm.

01:01:42:28 - 01:01:57:14
Connor O'Rourke
No minuses at all. Because if someone's not owned by your values none of the other stuff matters. Doesn't matter if they're a superstar but they're brilliant jerk. I mean yeah. That's going to end up being a short lived strategy. I think if you allow that stuff to, you know, to permeate. So we really try to to your question to answer it.

01:01:57:25 - 01:02:21:15
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah. I mean, we talk about it constantly. Absolutely. Constantly. Yeah. It's one of the most important things. And I think in businesses in the last 3 to 5 years, it's become the number one most important thing. You know, if you're not creating a place where people are feeling valued, that they're feeling like they're working on something greater than themselves, you're probably going to be doing the organization a disservice and they'll decay over time.

01:02:21:24 - 01:02:48:00
Daniel Franco
100% music to my ears, My linking back to the entrepreneurship conversation. Yeah, and the daily world that if there was a young aspiring CEO standing in front of you right now or young inspiring an entrepreneur or I should say, um, looking to start their business and looking to grow and scale, that the growth that you guys have. Yeah.

01:02:48:23 - 01:02:52:29
Daniel Franco
What's your advice to them.

01:02:52:29 - 01:03:23:18
Connor O'Rourke
Particularly for South Australian young up and coming ones? And I'll explain why in a second. I said that be okay with failure. I'm like, what's the worst thing that could happen really? I think there's and I mentioned this I think in my speech there's a pervasive mentality that I think is admirable, where Aussies are largely humble and there's that tall poppy syndrome thing has, as has crept into the vernacular a lot.

01:03:23:27 - 01:03:44:21
Connor O'Rourke
And I think it it's been distorted a little bit to say, well, don't don't have a go to be successful or try to pop your head up or be, you know, and you've had a lot of successful people on this show. As an example, let's to celebrate like that should be celebrated not not cut down. And I think just be careful that you don't apply that mentality to having a go.

01:03:44:26 - 01:04:02:25
Connor O'Rourke
I got to be in the game to win it. You spend too long analyzing, sitting on the field. Like if you use like a American football analogy, you sit there and try to put together your whole playbook without running any games, you know, running any plays and going out there and seeing different opponents and doing stuff and entering, you're never going to become a championship team.

01:04:02:25 - 01:04:03:06
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:04:03:15 - 01:04:07:10
Connor O'Rourke
So, you know, great is the enemy of good when it comes to getting started on this stuff.

01:04:08:02 - 01:04:49:15
Daniel Franco
Yeah, I love it. You will touch off on the forward and you are a bit lighter but in amongst all this and I'm not sure how much you want to go into it, but in amongst all this, you, you went through some pretty difficult periods in your life. Yeah. Family breakdown, some mental health issues. I'm going to open the floor for you and say, are you able to help us understand how you navigated your way through a challenging time in your life?

01:04:49:15 - 01:04:56:09
Daniel Franco
Yeah. Whilst trying to manage a business that was rapidly growing and scaling.

01:04:57:15 - 01:05:28:29
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, that's that was a big time period in life because you don't know how to deal with situations you haven't been in before. What I, what I will say is that it really you get an opportunity to rebuild the self that you want to. And I was going into my thirties and so it was kind of that time period for me when I think going into each new decade, like it's scary forties, it's going to be a scary one again, you know, what are the big things that I want to rebuild with the software?

01:05:28:29 - 01:05:48:18
Connor O'Rourke
I'm a, I work on it, right? So the version, you know if it's something is a 3.1, what's the version for going to look like? Not the the minor iterations of 3.2, 3.3. What are the big things that are going to change your life? So it came around that that time for me to wear a big challenge. It happened where, you know, we ran out of money in the company and I was going through a split and and had a six month old child.

01:05:49:12 - 01:06:09:14
Connor O'Rourke
So dealing with all of the the kind of things that come along with that and the stresses that are associated with it, I really had to focus on positive mental health, things that I could do for myself in the time that I that I had between juggling things. So meditation was huge for me during that time. Absolutely huge.

01:06:10:06 - 01:06:32:03
Connor O'Rourke
And I don't do it enough today that I should. I still meditate a few times a week, but I was doing it morning and night because I needed it. Listening to positive affirmations, sort of things and trying to really limit the people I surrounded myself with. At that point in time, I was super selective about what was going to be assisting the road.

01:06:32:03 - 01:06:49:21
Connor O'Rourke
I wanted to be on and, you know, reinforcing the positive values and behaviors that I wanted to to, you know, keep me rebuilding the self that I wanted for me. And I'm glad I went through the process because I almost had a chance to just be like, all right, cool. Here's here's the new version of me. This is what I do and don't want in my life.

01:06:49:21 - 01:07:14:08
Connor O'Rourke
And yeah, it was it was a good journey. But you've got to have some people around to support don't suffer in silence because it can it can torment you. And I'm a huge advocate for mental health awareness and my team just finished today That push up challenge for support and Lifeline. Those sort of things are really common in our workplace that we talk about, and I don't think it gets enough a true time.

01:07:14:08 - 01:07:32:08
Connor O'Rourke
I think people love these days to share a hashtag or share something. But I mean, I truly rolling your sleeves up and getting involved with with doing something with that. So all our senior leadership team have mental health first aid training just to pretty confronting days about how to deal with somebody who is suffering with.

01:07:33:15 - 01:07:35:06
Daniel Franco
A level of when you do that.

01:07:36:06 - 01:07:43:24
Connor O'Rourke
There's numerous places that pop up in courses that you can do and it's a two day thing. I can certainly anything because if you want to put it in the post staff.

01:07:43:24 - 01:07:44:20
Daniel Franco
Is absolutely.

01:07:45:04 - 01:08:03:10
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah it's it's it's brilliant. It was a group of six or seven of us You sit around and go through the different scenarios that can occur and how to deal with it. And I think most people shy away from being direct. You have to be direct with people and talk to them as if, Are you considering self-harm right now?

01:08:03:24 - 01:08:19:15
Connor O'Rourke
You actually need to ask them that question because a direct answer will get a direct response for you. And if you shy away from things or you don't know the words to use, you can actually make it a lot worse. Like one. The things I learned is that if somebody is really suffering is don't compare anything you've ever been through.

01:08:19:23 - 01:08:20:03
Daniel Franco
Mm.

01:08:20:18 - 01:08:29:06
Connor O'Rourke
You're taking away the power of whatever they're feeling right now and saying that there's sameness. Oh yeah, I went through that too. I think we often do that lot in cultures. I still have to catch myself on it.

01:08:29:22 - 01:08:29:29
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:08:30:25 - 01:08:31:26
Connor O'Rourke
That was really important thing.

01:08:31:27 - 01:08:53:24
Daniel Franco
It's an important point. Um, I know I don't want to stray off the topic of of mental health here. I want to stick on it for a bit, but, um, do you think that it's just as well as you said it? I kind of thought of of my children, actually, from the point of view of don't compare anything that you've been through.

01:08:53:24 - 01:09:14:03
Daniel Franco
And my kids are growing up playing sport right now and, uh, taking it quite seriously. Obviously I played, um, at a high level as a junior in my career and I often compare myself. Is that do you think that analogy or that scenario applies across the board, or is that purely a mental health thing?

01:09:14:09 - 01:09:15:14
Connor O'Rourke
Oh, purely to mental health.

01:09:15:14 - 01:09:15:22
Daniel Franco
I think.

01:09:16:14 - 01:09:30:20
Connor O'Rourke
It's just about like what state is this person in? Yeah, if they're, they're in, you know, a state that they're in the rat brain. Right. They're in the kind of fight or flight freeze sort of thing. Yeah. It's not the time for it. Right. But once they're back down into the green, you know, they come out of the red.

01:09:30:20 - 01:09:31:28
Connor O'Rourke
The amber into the green.

01:09:31:28 - 01:09:32:15
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:09:32:15 - 01:09:51:23
Connor O'Rourke
They're good to go because those are going to be really valuable lessons for your kids and you're having a chat to I'll or whatever you like. You know, here's what happened with the basketball tournament last weekend. I remember when I was playing junior cricket and yeah, it's a really it's a positive thing to do at that point. But if she's Devoe because she's just, you know, lost a game or you know, hurt herself and can't play for the rest of the season or something.

01:09:51:23 - 01:10:01:19
Daniel Franco
Yeah, So it's a really important point having your own awareness and mental awareness on where the other person is and meet them where they're at a night brand is a really good thing, like get in the hole with them.

01:10:01:19 - 01:10:03:03
Connor O'Rourke
Exactly. You know, empathy versus sympathy.

01:10:03:04 - 01:10:04:06
Daniel Franco
Yeah, that's the one.

01:10:04:18 - 01:10:05:08
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah. She's awesome.

01:10:06:00 - 01:10:20:18
Daniel Franco
You're your journey in your own mental health has taken a has taken a turn. I think you're like they're at a point in your life you were you had a hit also was meditation the only thing that you um.

01:10:20:18 - 01:10:39:03
Connor O'Rourke
Managed Noah You got to try to use the all the tools and the Swiss Army knife, right? Yeah. There's no exact thing that'll. I think so. I mean, it's different for everybody, you know, getting outdoors. I've always found that nature and fresh air and those sort of things really helps. Even just taking, you know, a walk whenever you're feeling anything and just really remembering to breathe.

01:10:39:03 - 01:10:42:23
Connor O'Rourke
I got super into Wim Hof for a while.

01:10:42:23 - 01:10:43:18
Daniel Franco
That's man, I.

01:10:43:18 - 01:11:02:04
Connor O'Rourke
Still Oh, yeah, he's he's incredible. I like a lot of his principles and, and really that whole finding comfort in discomfort is like something I've become a lot better at. So I guess that, yeah, you go through those lows, you go through those highs, but you learn how to how to self-regulate and yeah.

01:11:03:04 - 01:11:33:19
Daniel Franco
You, um, you talked about your leadership team going through, you know, the training. Um, I think what's going through my mind is that, you know, if you're and I'm speaking to the, to the younger generation and the entrepreneurs who are coming up and starting businesses and those who are looking at growing, there is so many things that you need to do to even concentrate, to concentrate on even just growing the business, let alone all the other bits and pieces that come in as part of that puzzle.

01:11:34:24 - 01:11:40:16
Daniel Franco
Is this something that you started early on, or is this something that you've sort of you've built on as the business grew?

01:11:41:26 - 01:11:48:02
Connor O'Rourke
Definitely built on. I mean, you have to start somewhere and get a level of the 14,000 foot kind of.

01:11:48:18 - 01:11:49:13
Daniel Franco
View, and.

01:11:50:04 - 01:11:56:12
Connor O'Rourke
You've got to run a really good system, you know, to draw the parallel to the sporting thing again as well. You'll have a brand of footy, a team place.

01:11:56:16 - 01:11:56:25
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:11:57:12 - 01:12:10:10
Connor O'Rourke
And not every player will work that well in that system. So you could have an all star player and you know, you want to bring Joel Selwood back in and bring him over to Port Adelaide but wouldn't play the same style of footy. Yeah, we wouldn't have him over.

01:12:11:06 - 01:12:14:18
Daniel Franco
There because you don't have champions at your table. Well.

01:12:15:14 - 01:12:16:16
Connor O'Rourke
We're not going to get down this road.

01:12:16:25 - 01:12:19:07
Daniel Franco
Okay. Yeah, flooding here, you know.

01:12:19:07 - 01:12:43:00
Connor O'Rourke
So I think having having a system really the brand of business you play, the type of organization that you are, the cultures that your team operates with. I think those things are all super important and we've taken a more mature approach to that each year that we've been in operation. This year, more than ever, I've I've loved the system that we roll with now.

01:12:43:00 - 01:12:50:11
Connor O'Rourke
It's, it feeds itself. It's really cool. It's it's called the most entrepreneurial operating system. You know, I've been geeking out on that.

01:12:50:11 - 01:13:01:28
Daniel Franco
I know you have Jindo Li, another guest who's been on this show from Hepi CO. He swore by it on on when he said it was absolutely the thing that changed his life. Yeah.

01:13:01:28 - 01:13:26:21
Connor O'Rourke
I mean, it's it's one of those things that you become a believer in. It's nothing that's, you know, crazy groundbreaking in terms of new research. But the model and the simplicity that they've boiled down to that everything you know from your values that feed your vision, that feed your, you know, the niche that you're playing, the ten year picture for the company, which maps down to three year, one year 90 day sprints, you know, the kind of weekly level ten meetings that you have for the company around the big rock items to make the business forward.

01:13:26:21 - 01:13:28:00
Connor O'Rourke
It's it's super cool.

01:13:28:08 - 01:13:28:26
Daniel Franco
Yeah, great.

01:13:29:03 - 01:13:40:23
Connor O'Rourke
It takes the clutter out of your head. You mention before working on so many different things and you know that you've got a system that works for you. You basically can put those things on shelves and know that they're going to get taken care of because the framework caters to it.

01:13:40:28 - 01:13:41:10
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:13:41:17 - 01:13:57:11
Connor O'Rourke
So yeah, it's been really nice. Getting a lot of work leads up to getting it right. But yeah, when you get to the other side of it, there's this breath of fresh air that you can kind of more be in the moment. Stay in what you need to be doing right now, which is, you know, be in there with your people or your customer.

01:13:57:24 - 01:14:16:26
Daniel Franco
Whatever it might be. And I think. I think that's kind of where my my point comes from of is it something you built on because there is so much to do, so much to do. You have a philosophy that you said to me which was sort of elevate and delegate, is that the or.

01:14:17:10 - 01:14:18:06
Connor O'Rourke
Delegating all of it?

01:14:18:06 - 01:14:31:17
Daniel Franco
You can you explain to me and is that been part of your method in being able to introduce all these things? And it's obviously something that you and and Brendan, the team can't just take on yourself all the time. It is about getting the team involved.

01:14:31:17 - 01:14:48:10
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, totally, totally. Delegate Elevate is one of those things that comes from us. I've shamelessly stolen it from that, but I think it's a really good one. I'll go backwards to go forward and I've been answering that. So in starting the company is you kind of, let's say at the end of each year, that's like a footy season.

01:14:48:10 - 01:14:48:19
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:14:48:27 - 01:15:03:27
Connor O'Rourke
Is you going to hang up the uniform, up the boots, do a review on the season? All right. We played these 18 opponents. We won some, we lost some. These are the skills that will we'll want to take with us. Probably going to do those ones going forward. And then you look forward and go, Well, what does the next season look like is the new opponents.

01:15:03:27 - 01:15:21:28
Connor O'Rourke
Here's the key things I want to focus on learning and developing and those sort of things. So I think that mentality is something you need to have at the end of each year, and delegation doing that effectively is key. Delegation is not handballing, Delegation is, you know, is is a skill and it's an art I think as well.

01:15:21:28 - 01:15:47:11
Connor O'Rourke
And something we teach. So there's, you know, some frameworks that you can operate with that around the levels of delegation that you can go through. And I think a really powerful thing because I would think most business owners that have seen some level of high growth for their business would have had a challenge of getting in their own way of growth because they haven't let go of the vine early enough in the process to go to the next kind of thing that the business needs for you at that point in time.

01:15:47:26 - 01:16:09:16
Connor O'Rourke
And that's why I think it's super valuable if you can go in the business on the business, like if you can literally think about it as you're changing and you've got to be able to look at your own organization externally from it and we're really helps with that is building out your accountability chart, you know, your org chart, but with the roles and responsibilities that and you put that now and then, what does that look like in let's say, the three year picture?

01:16:10:03 - 01:16:30:26
Connor O'Rourke
And by doing that process, you're actually kind of able to look at your company. You might be in a couple of those boxes because it started you're in every one of those boxes. But then if you're continuing, you've got this cool, We've created this great vision that's based on our values out into the future. And then the plan maps back to this three year picture that's got some more specific details around it, which includes your accountability chart.

01:16:31:14 - 01:16:38:14
Connor O'Rourke
Well, then what do I need to be doing to be moving to where the organization will ideally be three, five, ten, whatever you're planning?

01:16:38:14 - 01:17:02:26
Daniel Franco
Horizon Yeah, that answer your question. It does. And I think what you talked about hat is actually putting on different hat. I would almost change that around. It's like taking off the hats that you don't need to wear anymore. Yeah, right. Because you have them all on when you start a business, don't you? Yeah. You know, maybe there is this, there is this hat that you aspire to wear at the top of the hill that.

01:17:03:01 - 01:17:06:26
Connor O'Rourke
Feels like one of those giant, you know, ten gallon hats or whatever. They run those big old Western.

01:17:07:21 - 01:17:08:04
Daniel Franco
These huge.

01:17:08:09 - 01:17:09:06
Connor O'Rourke
Russian mice by.

01:17:09:07 - 01:17:13:17
Daniel Franco
Homer Simpson. Yeah, a taco. But The.

01:17:13:18 - 01:17:14:21
Connor O'Rourke
Simpsons have an analogy.

01:17:14:21 - 01:17:42:24
Daniel Franco
For everything. Um, stay humble and stay gritty. Is is something you you say all the time and I love it. And grit is one of our our values here it's energy IQ and you definitely are humble human being. Can you experience can you so share your experience on on why you use this terminology?

01:17:42:24 - 01:17:59:29
Connor O'Rourke
Oh yeah Look, it's written on the inside of this watchband. Yeah. Stay humble really. It's whatever reason that stuck out as a couple of things for me to help keep me me grounded right as a as a younger man, I was probably falsely confident. Yeah. Sometimes called arrogance. Yeah.

01:18:00:23 - 01:18:01:01
Daniel Franco
Yep.

01:18:01:18 - 01:18:30:00
Connor O'Rourke
Been there and so I think you know you get humbled in life like things exact quote you know be humble that you may be humbled in the Talmud and it it really is so true that you can you never know when life is going just smack you down. It's got a way of doing that and keeping you, I think, in an optimal kind of zone, you know, not getting too big for whatever the situation is, but also then being able to enjoy the the fruits of the hard work that you did.

01:18:30:00 - 01:18:35:14
Connor O'Rourke
That's one of the things I've always kind of struggled with a little bit is an art. What's next? Yeah, I think we even have the chat after 40 and 40.

01:18:35:20 - 01:18:36:00
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:18:36:09 - 01:18:47:09
Connor O'Rourke
You know, it's like, All right, cool. What's as a competitive person or growing up with that sort of, you know, always moving to the next thing can sometimes be hard to just, you know, kind of sit with something and yeah.

01:18:47:19 - 01:19:17:03
Daniel Franco
You happy where you are. I think that's a good ask is obviously you know, the entrepreneur of the year in the 40 and the 40. But there's also another bunch of 40 people that got selected that didn't well, I think there's under 30 other people that did get make the squad um who who didn't get to like an individual award and I was lucky enough to be one of those but the I, I remember a conversation after it was literally that was like, what's next?

01:19:18:14 - 01:19:39:06
Daniel Franco
Is that a fault? Is that, is that like I struggle with probably yeah, I struggle with enjoying the moment. Like it's like who tick next? And um, maybe that is something that needs to be worked on. Yeah.

01:19:39:15 - 01:19:41:15
Connor O'Rourke
It's something I personally like to work on.

01:19:41:15 - 01:19:41:24
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:19:42:13 - 01:20:13:08
Connor O'Rourke
Maybe some people don't have enough looking at what's next. I don't know. It's something I'm consciously aware of. Yeah, and I don't think it's because it's. It's something I want to take away that's positive. But I do. But also at the same time, you. There are elements of you that are innate in who you are. I don't think that the the start your own business startup world is for everyone because it's not everyone's, you know, flow state, you know, it's that works well with some people and not with others.

01:20:13:08 - 01:20:18:07
Connor O'Rourke
And yeah, we all kind of gravitate, I think, in time towards those sort of career paths.

01:20:18:07 - 01:20:48:26
Daniel Franco
So yeah, I got more congratulations for being under 40 than I did. Yeah, I had a lot of, you know, under 40. Yeah, I got a few years that may come up. So we're going to follow this path of this business ownership thing and growing and scaling your business. And one question that I have to ask you, because I almost ask it to everyone that that comes on this show is is is the role that family plays within all this.

01:20:49:16 - 01:21:14:25
Daniel Franco
And you said you don't separate the two, which I really love and I try not to as well. Um, but I can't help to see that sometimes there's a faint line in the two. So how can we as as leaders and entrepreneurs fully realize our visions and pursue what it is that we're trying to achieve at the same time trying to cultivate these loving relationships?

01:21:14:25 - 01:21:17:00
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:21:17:00 - 01:21:50:06
Connor O'Rourke
Oh, man, that's a really good question. You know, I think if you're going to do something like a startup or or a business ownership type thing and whatever you do, it probably not Even just in business ownership is the whole family should be bought in. Yeah, I like it should be a journey. You're all going on together, not just, oh, this is something that, that me or, you know, my, my wife is doing or it should be truly, you know, what's what's, what's going on for our family, what is best for our family?

01:21:50:06 - 01:22:14:09
Connor O'Rourke
Because there's no way that most people you would know. I know. Be true for you. It's certainly true for me that I do the entrepreneur logo thing without the incredible support of my loving wife, my kids, my extended family, my friends. Yeah, you've got to have all that stuff in order. And people that support you, you know, the amount of times that my my wife is the one that encourages me.

01:22:14:09 - 01:22:32:00
Connor O'Rourke
And when I'm down, you know, she's my best friend. And so having her there to be able to have her as a support network is is paramount. You know, I've got two incredible daughters. I've got a son on the way, like the amount of things that my wife does in the day for supporting our family, you know, makes what I do look trivial in my opinion.

01:22:32:18 - 01:22:43:16
Connor O'Rourke
She doesn't get the support she deserves in that. I wish she could go accept the award for me up there. But, you know, it's that's why I said before and you said, you know, maybe there's a couple of cliche things there, but I genuinely believe.

01:22:43:16 - 01:22:45:00
Daniel Franco
That in.

01:22:45:00 - 01:22:51:03
Connor O'Rourke
The people that are around me all deserve it's all a little bit for everybody that, you know, I hope they know they are what I'm talking about.

01:22:51:03 - 01:23:19:24
Daniel Franco
Yeah, yeah, I think yeah, yeah. The yeah. Well, I say cliche, but you're right is you can't achieve anything without the people around you. It's that simple. This is not a journey that you can take on by yourself. You need the right support network and looking forward to start rounding up and moving to the homestretch. Looking forward Newaygo once to what.

01:23:22:01 - 01:23:25:26
Connor O'Rourke
Long ago wants to. So kind of what's, you know, forward vision sort of stuff.

01:23:25:26 - 01:23:31:12
Daniel Franco
What is what do you guys want to achieve?

01:23:31:12 - 01:23:59:04
Connor O'Rourke
We want to really be the premier South Australian owned business when it comes to it. Transformation, right? Yeah, I think we're in a very, very good position. But if we want to continue to live by our values, we'll grow the company because it creates more employment opportunities for people to have that positive experience, more customers to be able to have the level of service, knowledge transfer and those sort of things that that we give them through the services that we provide.

01:23:59:04 - 01:24:09:07
Connor O'Rourke
So, you know, continued to have a sustained growth that moves towards that moment that I spoke about 50 years from now, when someone says it's the best fucking voiceover work.

01:24:09:08 - 01:24:19:08
Daniel Franco
Yeah, I love it. Sorry for No, don't be sorry. Yeah. Um, so the growth Australia wide is on the cards.

01:24:19:08 - 01:24:47:11
Connor O'Rourke
Not in a structured way. Not that we're saying, hey, you know, a lot of the customers we support have national presence in a way, shape or form. So it certainly wouldn't necessarily be a no, but it's not something that we're going to go out and and and do tomorrow. But maybe it is. I guessing it's more about how do we continue to be an employer of choice here in South Australia, serving South Australian businesses that are looking to have a national presence.

01:24:47:20 - 01:25:02:06
Connor O'Rourke
If as a by product through that process we find ourselves with opportunities that match what we want to achieve as the owners and as the people who deliver on the promises every day, then maybe we'll consider that. But it's certainly not something that, you know, I'm I'm looking to sign any paperwork on.

01:25:02:06 - 01:25:02:19
Daniel Franco
In any.

01:25:03:01 - 01:25:03:18
Connor O'Rourke
Sort of near.

01:25:03:18 - 01:25:14:19
Daniel Franco
Term. And what role, while we're on the topic of future, what role do you want to play in mentoring the future generation of entrepreneurs here in South Australia?

01:25:14:20 - 01:25:28:14
Connor O'Rourke
A big role. Um, exactly what that looks like. I'm not certain. I know I want to pay it back in any way I can in my life, whether that's through the, the knowledge I can impart in don't step on those rakes that I stepped on or.

01:25:28:17 - 01:25:29:20
Daniel Franco
The Simpson analogy. Yeah.

01:25:30:13 - 01:26:09:13
Connor O'Rourke
Sideshow Bob Yeah, absolutely. But I get that opportunity right now inside my own business as well. So that is my first priority is taking care of my business. Baby. Yeah. And taking care of the wonderful people who've gotten us to this position. If there's bandwidth to be able to do more of that, I'm. I like giving back. You know, I'm a big fan of, you know, the go giver style mentality and helping, you know, others as much as is possible because there's so many people that helped me on the journey that, you know, I, they take a coffee for free, that the advice you get for them is, is phenomenal.

01:26:09:15 - 01:26:13:24
Connor O'Rourke
So yeah, if I can if I can model the masters a little bit more like that and do.

01:26:14:03 - 01:26:32:24
Daniel Franco
More of those things, I love the going giver approach. Bob Burg, we've obviously had on the show, certainly the the writer of that book, I highly recommend if you could do it all again, what would you do differently?

01:26:32:24 - 01:26:53:20
Connor O'Rourke
I don't. That's a hard one to answer, isn't it? That's what you probably ask that bloody question. If I could do it all again, I don't think I would, because to get to where you're sitting, you have to have gone the path that you went. And if you change anyone thing along that journey, there's a lot of movies, I think about the sort of subtle sliding Doors country.

01:26:53:21 - 01:26:53:27
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:26:54:08 - 01:27:10:08
Connor O'Rourke
Would you be where you are today? And so at the risk of not being able to be where I am, I'm the happiest I've ever been. I don't think I would do things differently if I was able to start my business again as an example, and I could take the learnings I have now.

01:27:10:08 - 01:27:11:03
Daniel Franco
Yeah, yeah.

01:27:11:18 - 01:27:30:11
Connor O'Rourke
That'd be that'd be cool in theory. But I'm also so grateful for where it is as a result. So I'll take these things forward with the next, you know, decisions that I make around what we're doing with Novago and in my personal life and those things. But I don't think I would go back and erase anything and put something else over some stuff I didn't enjoy this stuff I really did enjoy.

01:27:30:17 - 01:27:31:17
Connor O'Rourke
But I think they all need.

01:27:32:07 - 01:27:44:00
Daniel Franco
Yeah, well, it comes back to you, Eric. You got one step at a time. What excites you about the future?

01:27:44:00 - 01:27:45:27
Connor O'Rourke
Seeing the impact my children have in the world?

01:27:47:19 - 01:27:47:29
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:27:48:21 - 01:27:53:11
Connor O'Rourke
That's. That's just seen who they grow up to be. I think it's one of the most exciting things about being a parent.

01:27:53:22 - 01:27:57:19
Daniel Franco
And scariest things. And yeah, yeah, my little one.

01:27:58:00 - 01:28:23:28
Connor O'Rourke
It was just last night and I'm just like that fear of a parent like, oh, everything, everything. Immediately. I just thought that fear that you get as a parent, that's just crazy. But Now, just seeing the beautiful young ladies, they're growing up to be already the different personalities that I have. There's certainly different human beings, but just getting to watch them on that journey and trying to do whatever I can to help them, you know, live a positive existence and and make an impact on the world.

01:28:23:28 - 01:28:24:10
Connor O'Rourke
And that way.

01:28:25:17 - 01:28:40:22
Daniel Franco
I can't not ask you this question when I ask you about the future. I thought that was going to be an I think in. Does that excite you or scare you both? Yeah.

01:28:41:21 - 01:28:44:02
Connor O'Rourke
The potential they are is fantastic.

01:28:44:02 - 01:28:44:13
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:28:45:05 - 01:29:07:19
Connor O'Rourke
And I don't, I don't fear I from an existential, you know, Skynet perspective but now there's a there's a lot to be considered very quickly in this arena. You know I'm a huge fan of of the diary of a CEO and I don't know if I'm recently the mogul that comes back to talk about air and what we need to do about that.

01:29:08:28 - 01:29:15:03
Connor O'Rourke
There needs to be. Well, the way I explains why there needs to be a firewall created with human values, it.

01:29:15:09 - 01:29:15:18
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:29:15:23 - 01:29:22:20
Connor O'Rourke
That sits in front of the air because that's it's just a brilliant computer that's, you know, soon enough going to be ten times smarter than any human on the planet.

01:29:22:20 - 01:29:26:15
Daniel Franco
Yeah. So wouldn't that computer be able to figure out how to turn that firewall of.

01:29:27:05 - 01:29:41:15
Connor O'Rourke
Oh, potentially. Right. So it's going to look at people a lot smarter than me. Yeah. Into a room figuring out what are the guardrails, what are the possible permutations, you know, things that we haven't considered as a result that we need to be able to build in to, to create those guardrails? Because I think it's an AI dilemma.

01:29:41:15 - 01:29:54:06
Connor O'Rourke
The guys that did the social dilemma have released another one recently really good. And, you know, it gets you thinking that there is some stuff we need to do very quickly to make sure that we're able to leverage the awesome outcomes. Do come.

01:29:54:10 - 01:30:16:02
Daniel Franco
Yes, they are. So yeah, I often think about this. This might be sound like a really stupid scenario, but, you know, like you think about a kid that wants to make scrambled eggs, right? You got to go to the fridge and you got to pull out the eggs and some kids will pull out the eggs and, drop the cotton, and the box will smash on the ground.

01:30:16:28 - 01:30:43:06
Daniel Franco
Like, that's kind of how I think it's going to go wrong. Like there's going to be some some entrepreneurs or really excited tech guys or people too, who are going to create an AI and accidentally smash the kind of eggs on the ground on the way. Like that's where it goes wrong. All right. All right. And this but then again and you might there's other countries that might have different ideas about it, but I think that's the bit that scares me the most is if someone is actually trying to do good, makes a mistake that turns bad.

01:30:43:10 - 01:30:51:08
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, I mean, this hasn't come about as a result of somebody trying to use it for nefarious purposes. Yeah, but people will use it for.

01:30:51:13 - 01:30:51:19
Daniel Franco
They.

01:30:51:19 - 01:31:08:22
Connor O'Rourke
Will. And moreover, the unintended consequences, I think instead of the top researchers globally in AI that 50% or half of them believe there is more than a 10% chance that AI equals the death of humanity. Yeah, the top researchers in the world, in this field, more.

01:31:08:22 - 01:31:09:21
Daniel Franco
Than a 10%.

01:31:09:21 - 01:31:24:18
Connor O'Rourke
Show more than a 10% chance. The analogy they then draw is say, if you're going to get on a 747 jet and you knew that there was a 10% chance that half of the engineers that are the best aviation experts in the world worked on this jet. So there's a 10% chance or greater that that thing's not going to make it to its destination.

01:31:24:18 - 01:31:29:04
Connor O'Rourke
Would you get on the plane? I was like, Oh, man, that's that's an interesting perspective.

01:31:29:10 - 01:31:32:06
Daniel Franco
Does that number take into account all the possible ways in which you can do it?

01:31:33:08 - 01:31:34:17
Connor O'Rourke
There's so many unknowns, and that's.

01:31:34:17 - 01:31:38:04
Daniel Franco
What I'm saying. Like, that's a that seems quite high for me.

01:31:38:04 - 01:31:42:02
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah. Oh, it's huge. Yeah. I mean that's way higher than I would accept. Yeah. A plane if someone said oh.

01:31:42:02 - 01:31:45:09
Daniel Franco
No I agree but I, this is someone that I questioning.

01:31:45:10 - 01:32:03:25
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah. Oh they need a questionnaire Right. Yeah. That's key. But the big thing they say is look there's some very, very big and powerful businesses that largely have the control because air is an expensive sport. And so there's what they're saying is an arms race towards capturing as many eyeballs as we can. Right.

01:32:03:25 - 01:32:04:19
Daniel Franco
That's the name of the game.

01:32:04:28 - 01:32:25:23
Connor O'Rourke
And there is so that in the absence of the appropriate rules, regulations, guidance, guardrails, whatever you want to call it, put around that we will lead to a not a very good future, in my opinion. Yeah, you've got curtail it before it gets to a level where, like you said before me, can it turn off its own.

01:32:25:23 - 01:32:26:11
Daniel Franco
Yeah. Yeah.

01:32:26:11 - 01:32:28:07
Connor O'Rourke
I think I use best firewall probably.

01:32:28:07 - 01:32:55:28
Daniel Franco
I mean I think there's, I think the number one most accepted way in which the humans will perish is through the hands of other humans. Right. Like a which is I think is the pyramid. Is it permanence theory or something. Like I can't remember the exact wording but it was a before. We have the ability to expand and become an interplanetary species, we'll find a way to destroy ourselves and.

01:32:55:28 - 01:33:20:03
Daniel Franco
It's highly likely. Yeah. And 2%, which is not a great thought. No, no. Anyway, let's get all done. We did. We're going to round off now. We as you may remember from the first chat, we we like to have a little bit of fun on the at the end of the podcast is some quick fire questions we're be great as I know you're a big radar learner What what are you reading right now.

01:33:21:03 - 01:33:43:17
Connor O'Rourke
I am. I got a couple on the glass. I'm sitting with traction again. Georgina Wickman That's the kind of US framework their read rework recently, which was really good from the founder of Base Camp. That's one of Bezos's most recommended books and a really easy read. And I thought, you know, distilled down to some really sage wisdom that I would recommend to a lot of aspiring leaders because it's really just some good core concepts to focus on.

01:33:43:20 - 01:33:46:04
Daniel Franco
Yeah, Um, yeah, that's it.

01:33:46:14 - 01:33:49:05
Connor O'Rourke
Beautiful couple. Carol Dweck mindset.

01:33:49:05 - 01:33:55:16
Daniel Franco
I finished my reason not to Carol months. It's one of my most recommended really.

01:33:55:16 - 01:33:57:12
Connor O'Rourke
Good book made me really look at my parenting style.

01:33:58:02 - 01:34:04:05
Daniel Franco
Correct. I actually think it's not just a business thing, it's or it's actually it's a life things and I really am.

01:34:06:18 - 01:34:25:12
Daniel Franco
Your old man is big on the seven habits right? And it is is I think Stephen Covey seven habits It's fundamental in your business and you guide which is great but outside of that one, what is one self-development book that you feel stands out from the crowd? Oh, there's, there's a few good ones out there.

01:34:25:24 - 01:34:30:12
Connor O'Rourke
Um, you know, I was a big fan of James Clare's atomic habits.

01:34:30:12 - 01:34:30:24
Daniel Franco
I am.

01:34:31:14 - 01:34:38:20
Connor O'Rourke
I thought that's a book you can pick up and probably read. End to end. Yeah. Seven Habits is more one that you got to pick up and dump it down. Pick up, put down again.

01:34:38:20 - 01:34:39:08
Daniel Franco
Read a chapter.

01:34:39:19 - 01:34:56:21
Connor O'Rourke
Which is great. And I've gone through seven times, numerous times. We teach it to everybody who's willing in our business that wants to go through, and it's one of the things that Dad loves doing. But yeah, I thought Atomic Habits was a really cool one. And it talks about, you know, Q craving, response, reward around kind of the way that we're wired to, to forming habits and habit stacking and that sort of stuff.

01:34:56:21 - 01:35:02:21
Connor O'Rourke
I found because the books I read, I wanted to be able to be applicable, like I said before, where I'm not business and then home conference.

01:35:02:21 - 01:35:03:05
Daniel Franco
Yeah, like.

01:35:03:18 - 01:35:07:25
Connor O'Rourke
I live my life in a certain way. Sometimes I dress a little bit nicer than other times.

01:35:07:26 - 01:35:29:00
Daniel Franco
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love atomic habits. It's one thing that constantly sits in my head. It's actually one of those books that I loved, and it's completely changed the way I think. Yeah, I don't apply the methodologies, so it makes sense. So like, I, you know, when you know something, you know, you should eat an apple a day.

01:35:29:00 - 01:35:47:25
Daniel Franco
You know, you shouldn't eat that bucket of fries like, you know that you shouldn't. Yeah, but you still do anyway. And every time I do something or I skip a day of habit stacking or try to have it stack and I won't do it the next day. And I think about it constantly actually has a point of like, I kept myself down about it sometimes.

01:35:47:25 - 01:35:48:14
Daniel Franco
So it's like.

01:35:48:14 - 01:35:49:04
Connor O'Rourke
That's only human.

01:35:49:13 - 01:35:49:24
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:35:50:03 - 01:35:54:11
Connor O'Rourke
You know, you're never going to pick up any book and follow it to the correct. So I like how you add it to your kit bag.

01:35:54:12 - 01:36:02:06
Daniel Franco
Yeah, No, I do. I did really like that one as well. What's one lesson that's taking the longest to learn?

01:36:02:06 - 01:36:11:22
Connor O'Rourke
Probably what I'm still learning at the moment that I'm not even aware of, that everyone is correct in what they're saying. In their opinion.

01:36:12:10 - 01:36:13:18
Daniel Franco
I perspective thinking.

01:36:13:18 - 01:36:31:21
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, like where it's it's larger and I think that's one of the things I learned when going through your linguistics was like kind of the concept of the five positions where, you know, I'm talking to you right now, but you're listening to me, somebody is listening to both of us. Yeah. If you go by that, you look at it in the context of the building that we're in, and it just kind of changes your paradigm a little bit, how you look at stuff.

01:36:32:03 - 01:36:47:03
Connor O'Rourke
And I think then when you come back and sit in your first position, you're like, Well, that person just seeing the world is exactly as they see it. So like in their mind, they're actually not wrong, even if they're factually incorrect. That's kind of the way that they're Yeah, I don't know it's just kind of given me a bit more of out of it.

01:36:47:04 - 01:36:51:23
Daniel Franco
We use a street corner analogy here. Yeah. Yeah. You know, remember I told you this.

01:36:51:23 - 01:36:52:26
Connor O'Rourke
One, there's an accident.

01:36:53:00 - 01:37:12:09
Daniel Franco
There's an accident in the middle of a street, like a T section, right? You're standing on one corner. I'm standing on a pull, A is standing on, and we're all we see. This is this car accident that happens in the middle of the street. On one corner, you see the car or go whoever is in the car on their phone, not not paying attention.

01:37:12:19 - 01:37:30:26
Daniel Franco
I'm on the other corner and I see this little dog run past which why the car in front of the car in front slammed on their brakes. And Paula was in the other corner and saw this kid kind of being a little bit apprehensive on his bike. And, you know, therefore, cause this, we all saw the exact same accident.

01:37:30:29 - 01:37:38:23
Daniel Franco
We are all 100% correct, you know, and but yet we're all different in our thought process. So I think that's just a it's a witness.

01:37:38:23 - 01:37:41:12
Connor O'Rourke
Testimony is only like 45% accurate or something.

01:37:41:12 - 01:37:59:00
Daniel Franco
Yeah, correct. And I think it's just analogy of everyone sees the same thing but just from a different perspective. And we just have to take that into consideration, especially when going through cultural change and organizational change and in business and growth and scale, we have to understand the perspectives of those around us.

01:37:59:00 - 01:38:00:13
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah, yeah, 100%.

01:38:00:20 - 01:38:16:04
Daniel Franco
Is this supposed to be quick for our questions? If if could have a coffee with one current or historical person who would have a mug shot out? Oh, yes. Yeah. Can I come? Yeah. Do. Yeah. He's easy. Yeah.

01:38:16:16 - 01:38:17:07
Connor O'Rourke
He's just a.

01:38:17:07 - 01:38:29:04
Daniel Franco
Genius. So for those who don't know g a w the 80. He was ex-CEO of Google, and now he runs happiness.

01:38:29:09 - 01:38:43:02
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah. So he he the happiness. Happiness and solve for happy one of his books. Yeah. And just a an other worldly human being. When you listen to the guy speak I aspire to to be more like him in the way he carries himself. 100%.

01:38:43:02 - 01:38:44:08
Daniel Franco
And going through some trauma.

01:38:44:08 - 01:38:46:04
Connor O'Rourke
Himself. Oh, yeah, huge trauma.

01:38:47:02 - 01:38:54:13
Daniel Franco
What is some of the best advice that you've ever received?

01:38:54:13 - 01:39:10:01
Connor O'Rourke
I've received a lot of good advice from a lot of people, but you know what's in my control and that probably goes through my head numerous times a day is, you know, something happens. But analogy before about the kid dropping the eggs that's. Your kid drops on the ground.

01:39:10:02 - 01:39:10:09
Daniel Franco
Your.

01:39:11:04 - 01:39:12:13
Connor O'Rourke
Eggs are on the ground. What can I do about it?

01:39:12:26 - 01:39:13:04
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:39:13:20 - 01:39:18:25
Connor O'Rourke
That or, you know, learn as if you live forever. But live.

01:39:19:07 - 01:39:21:08
Daniel Franco
Tomorrow, I think is such a brilliant.

01:39:21:08 - 01:39:31:25
Connor O'Rourke
Thing. Actually. Shout to my mama. It's don't buy green bananas. I always love that I mention that my wedding speech it you buy green bananas. You're not going to eat them today.

01:39:32:04 - 01:39:32:14
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:39:33:00 - 01:39:38:21
Connor O'Rourke
Bye. The ones that are ripe now to eat know because you're not promised tomorrow. So those, you know, bananas might never get enjoyed.

01:39:39:00 - 01:39:39:12
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:39:39:12 - 01:39:53:01
Connor O'Rourke
And so I think there's an element of that that I, I really like to go well you know if there's I think I lost a, a dear friend of mine to cancer a couple of years ago and he was out visiting me right before the pandemic. We didn't know he was sick of his bottle of wine and myself that I was like, Oh, I'm going to keep this here forever.

01:39:53:11 - 01:40:07:19
Connor O'Rourke
And I just thought in the last night that he was there to open it up. And we enjoyed it together. And as a core memory I have now with him, I wouldn't have that if I didn't, you know, buy the bananas I wanted to eat today. Yeah, I really like that.

01:40:07:19 - 01:40:18:10
Daniel Franco
What's one habit that holds you back? Just, I don't know.

01:40:18:10 - 01:40:34:15
Connor O'Rourke
Wants to have it holds me back. So one of the things I'm trying to work on at the moment is like, my, my detail focus and accountability in those things because I tend to be quite good with like visionary big picture stuff, but getting down to that. So maybe the habit of a, a lack of.

01:40:34:20 - 01:40:42:18
Daniel Franco
Detail isn't a thing. It is to me. What's your biggest pet peeve?

01:40:44:01 - 01:40:44:21
Connor O'Rourke
Hyperbole.

01:40:45:07 - 01:40:45:18
Daniel Franco
Yeah.

01:40:46:00 - 01:40:49:06
Connor O'Rourke
Yeah. I can't stand when people say, Oh, it's epic. Was it was was it.

01:40:49:08 - 01:40:51:01
Daniel Franco
Really think it was just the.

01:40:51:01 - 01:40:52:06
Connor O'Rourke
Bastardization of.

01:40:52:23 - 01:41:12:27
Daniel Franco
The language. This must be like I got Paula sitting here, right, managing this podcast as we speak. And something happened with our business the other day, and I'm one of those people that, like I have heard from speaking a little bit of that. So I'm surprised you have I mean, all that's a disaster, right? And like you're Italian, right?

01:41:12:28 - 01:41:21:18
Daniel Franco
Yeah, Yeah. But disaster for me is something like a word that I've grown up with. Everything's a disaster. And so, yeah. Anyway, I'm going to shut up.

01:41:21:18 - 01:41:27:02
Connor O'Rourke
I'm sure I'm triggering my wife right now because I get so literal and I'm like, No, literally, that's a word I hate.

01:41:27:04 - 01:41:53:09
Daniel Franco
Yeah, Literally, Literally. I'm like, Okay, all right, I got that one word. The absolutely. How you've pre answered the question. Yeah, Literally, literally. Um, yeah, just on the one thing where I'm probably I shouldn't go down this path but I'm about to I'm the same like you never help out never never, never. I've never out Like in the history of our relationship, I've never used, like.

01:41:53:23 - 01:41:55:18
Connor O'Rourke
Always or never.

01:41:55:18 - 01:41:55:26
Daniel Franco
Again.

01:41:56:05 - 01:41:58:02
Connor O'Rourke
I'm that annoying person. It's like, never.

01:41:58:06 - 01:42:12:27
Daniel Franco
Yeah, yeah, always. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I take you literally, if you had if you could pay someone to do your chores like one chore, what would it be?

01:42:12:27 - 01:42:17:04
Connor O'Rourke
Is probably as simple as actually taking my, my, my bins out of the street.

01:42:17:12 - 01:42:17:27
Daniel Franco
Oh, really?

01:42:18:01 - 01:42:29:15
Connor O'Rourke
Because I always, like, I'll get home from work late. Kids dinner and stuff like that. And then like, it'll be just bucketing rain and I'm like, I've just sat down to get comfy and just hang out with the wife. Kids are in bed. I'm like, Oh, I got to go outside and it's cold.

01:42:29:15 - 01:42:29:26
Daniel Franco
But like.

01:42:30:05 - 01:42:32:21
Connor O'Rourke
So it's something minor. But I enjoy most of.

01:42:32:21 - 01:42:33:24
Daniel Franco
If you get a long drive, like.

01:42:34:16 - 01:42:37:09
Connor O'Rourke
Not super long, but long enough that I get annoyed.

01:42:37:09 - 01:42:53:03
Daniel Franco
Daniel So first of all, I love this question. Well, what is one thing that you would do if you became invisible?

01:42:53:03 - 01:43:01:18
Connor O'Rourke
Oh, I would just love messing with everybody. I love. I'm a big prankster and I'm always messing with people. So I just feel like I have so much fun.

01:43:01:18 - 01:43:02:17
Daniel Franco
When you sit around just.

01:43:02:28 - 01:43:06:27
Connor O'Rourke
Absolutely screwing with people for probably way longer than is appropriate.

01:43:06:27 - 01:43:14:13
Daniel Franco
Yeah. Oh, absolutely. What's one useless talent? You have.

01:43:16:08 - 01:43:20:01
Connor O'Rourke
One useless. I mean, I'm probably juggling all of it.

01:43:20:03 - 01:43:21:14
Daniel Franco
Oh, your good juggler.

01:43:21:14 - 01:43:22:01
Connor O'Rourke
I wouldn't say.

01:43:22:05 - 01:43:24:11
Daniel Franco
Oh, I thought you were going to be a clown. Yeah, There you.

01:43:25:24 - 01:43:39:27
Connor O'Rourke
No. So, I mean, I can juggle, but I can't tell you the last time I did it. It's not like really something about. Oh, wait. I know juggling will solve this problem. Probably more. Just end up losing some fruit because I just. All the wrong things that are perishable.

01:43:41:12 - 01:43:46:15
Daniel Franco
Shit. All right, well, my favorite question in this whole forecast. What's your best dad joke?

01:43:48:11 - 01:43:52:18
Connor O'Rourke
So, what's the tallest building in Adelaide?

01:43:54:02 - 01:44:05:16
Daniel Franco
What's the tallest buildings? Westpac building is the ARIA building. Now do all your stuff nuts.

01:44:05:19 - 01:44:06:14
Connor O'Rourke
It's the library.

01:44:07:09 - 01:44:09:17
Daniel Franco
It's got the most storeys. Oh.

01:44:11:00 - 01:44:11:27
Connor O'Rourke
So shout the vanguard.

01:44:12:09 - 01:44:12:14
Daniel Franco
From.

01:44:13:04 - 01:44:14:25
Connor O'Rourke
Always comes by and tells me to jokes every day.

01:44:14:25 - 01:44:16:09
Daniel Franco
And that was one of his. That's horrible.

01:44:16:09 - 01:44:22:20
Connor O'Rourke
I never remember jokes, but we're going to go with that one. Yeah. And it works in every city. It's it's it does it's location proof.

01:44:22:20 - 01:44:29:27
Daniel Franco
Yeah. Yeah. Now, you did well. I like the way you spun that. Then. Really? Dead jokes are supposed to be so.

01:44:30:06 - 01:44:31:24
Connor O'Rourke
And they got to be on the spot spur of the moment.

01:44:31:24 - 01:44:54:08
Daniel Franco
Good funny stuff So I saw actually I saw on that I saw a tick tock or something yesterday, which was kids. It was it was a it was a three minute or two minute clip. Um, like with the traumatic music of kids talking about their dads and their dads and it's.

01:44:54:08 - 01:44:58:12
Connor O'Rourke
The moment it happens, the amount of buddies I've had that are like, Hey, I'm going to be a dad now. And their humor just turns.

01:44:58:12 - 01:45:28:05
Daniel Franco
Horrible when you appreciate it. Is there is there's a there's a point in life. Yeah, for sure. Thank you very much, mate, for agreeing to come back on the show. Congratulations again for your all your success in business, in life and the recent awards in the in that Indaily 40 and the 40. So kudos your you're having an impact on I know the people who work in your team so I know that they would agree with me when I say this that you're having a profound impact on themselves as human beings and in their lives.

01:45:29:06 - 01:45:43:01
Daniel Franco
And the new I. You're doing some amazing things with businesses, especially here in South Australia or particularly here in South Australia. So thank you for for all that you're doing for the community. Um, where can we find and where can we be in touch?

01:45:43:24 - 01:46:02:17
Connor O'Rourke
Firstly, I mean and you're, you're far too kind and you know what a pleasure to come and have a chat with you and congrats on all your success with this wonderful business and podcast that you've built and sharing the stage with is an honor with you in that award recently. I've really enjoyed learning from your podcast and learning from the people that come here and from yourself as well.

01:46:02:17 - 01:46:22:23
Connor O'Rourke
So I can't thank you enough and the congratulations in your direction as well. Where to find me. I'm a loud yank. I'm not too hard to find. No, it's usually I mean, LinkedIn's probably the best place to find me. I don't have socials from a personal perspective, but LinkedIn or via inquiries on our. Our website. You can find me beautiful.

01:46:23:12 - 01:46:29:25
Daniel Franco
Excellent. Thank you very much, mate. We'll catch you soon. And thanks, everyone. Take care.