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I hope reading
7 Questions with LEONARD CRANFIELD
helps you in your leadership.
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Jonno White
7 Questions with LEONARD CRANFIELD
Name: LEONARD CRANFIELD
Current title: CEO
Current organisation: CRANFIELD GEOLOGICAL SERVICES INT. PTY. LTD.
More than 50 years as a Government geoscientist, project leader and state and country administrator of all mining tenure, with roles in managing government geoscience in Queensland and PNG (as chief Government Geologist). Teaching at the University of Hong Hong IN 2003 and Consulting to industry since 2015 in coal, mineral and water resources, and to the Mongolian Government for the reformation of a National Geological Survey.

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1. What have you found most challenging as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise?
The most challenging thing is developing and keeping harmony within the work environment. Professionally the selection of staff is easier as interviewing candidates for positions can determine skill levels and aptitudes and the capacity to be a team player in addressing new and more complex projects. The difficult thing is understanding core values of subordinate managers and whether they are bullying or unnecessarily harassing staff who provide services to other members of the organisation. It is important to identify bullying and harassment and ensure it doesn't persist as 'most businesses perish from the inside out'..
2. How did you become a CEO or executive of a large enterprise? Can you please briefly tell the story?
The process to become an executive within the Geological Surveys of Queensland and Papua New Guinea evolved through a combination of learning the range of skills in managing new projects in all areas of these organisations. I have always looked for new challenges and to learn the nuances of each area for my own knowledge and this was the key to managing different areas as I could 'talk the talk' with new staff, listen to their issues and get them to talk about and be creative in tackling new projects. I have found that if you don't know something ask someone who is willing to discuss what they do and ask lots of questions. That is the way to be able to bring what they know into your frame of reference. I have also tried different areas of the roles when these interested me and have moved with new technology when I could perceive it would assist in completing projects faster and better. Because of this I could be a candidate for senior management roles in government.
3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?
Currently I am completing writing a book and online course called Custodians - a view for caring for our earth. My work days consist of a combination of research for this course creating a dialogue and preparing for releasing information about this course.
4. What's the most recent significant leadership lesson you've learned?
When trouble appears in the organisation ACT and ACT immediately. Ignoring a problem is never a good idea. Find out the issues involved and see what are the short term solutions that need to be implemented immediately and what long term changes need to be made. If the decisions need to be changed don't be reticent to modify and change them to create stability and forward progress..
5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?
I have read many different books on management and leadership. Perhaps the one that has had the most lasting effect is the manifestation manifesto by Brendan Burchard. it shows the realism of the decision process in different parts of all our lives.
6. How do you build leadership capacity in a large enterprise?
By understanding the true motivation of each member of your staff. Some are motivated by money, but they don't make the best leaders. I have found one of the better ways to build leadership is to have focused planning days on the current and upcoming strategies to build on what we are currently trying to achieve and how we can do it and the next thing better. With this process it is the role of a CEO and senior management to give out a framework to staff to ask for feedback and incorporate that into the planning. In the first instance this can identify skills shortfalls and management shortfalls that need to be addressed. Recognition of staff as potential leaders can come from this process and they must be recognised for their efforts both in planning and execution of new business. Mentoring and skill updates can also occur as this process evolves.
7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a CEO or executive of a large enterprise so far?
This is essentially a story of problem solving of how to resource two competing projects. It was the first project as CEO of CGSI. I was undertaking a major project in the Surat Basin to resolve work by competing CSG companies regarding the location of specific natural gas resources under more recent cover rocks. My company had no on ground experience over part of the area and the database of more than 30 000 drill holes was inconsistent between different areas and different company interpretation. The company had another pressing project in Mongolia that I needed to spend two months assisting. fortunately for me there was another company who had a geologist that had worked on the ground there and could assist in identifying units in the subsurface in critical areas. A negotiation of a strategy and a fee transfer allowed our separate companies to work collaboratively on the Surat Project in Australia while reports were prepared in Australia and Mongolia achieving extremely tight deadlines for completion.