I found the workshop extremely thought provoking and quite inspirational. It is definitely a great initiative to run a workshop like this that is a great cross pollination of sound business advice along with personal development philosophies and pathways towards achieving work/life balance

As an introduction to the 12 month program, the 2 days have been interesting and worthwhile. The range of speakers were engaging and very knowledgeable. We have a plan of action going forward for our business which we can already see will be a good investment.

The steps and thought process that the (CEO Mentoring) Program goes through has increased my understanding of what is important to grow and improve my business. The mentoring has been very effective in keeping my goal in mind and providing clarity on what my focus is.

The CEO Mentoring Program is and I believe will continue to help and guide our family and business through a complex succession plan and a business growth phase.

ABDI presenters have an excellent understanding of businesses, the needs of the operators to improve, understand and develop ideas to enable goals to become potential reality. I highly recommend the ABDI programs to agribusiness owners and business owners in general.

“I have attended many workshops that have not made an impact on me. However, due to the free-flowing conversations and opinions, this one (Better Beef Business 1 day workshop) has given me some confidence in where we should be focussing in regards to our beef enterprise.”

Philip Coe – Beef Producer – Durong QLD

Thought I was quite clear on my business direction until I had a session with Gordon Stone. The things that emerged from left field amazed me. Gordon has a natural gift for prizing things out of a person – then putting them into the right context – so the client can see where they are heading with their business.

I recently participated in a major industry forum in Canberra, as both speaker and participant, which was facilitated by Gordon Stone. Although I was representing the private sector there was a large cross section of delegates from various public and private sector agencies, both large and small. I found Gordon was able to facilitate outcomes by encouraging all points of views to be tabled and respectfully acknowledged. I was particularly impressed with Gordon’s ability to summarise each speaker and ensure the significant points made were emphasised and recorded.

When I sold my irrigation manufacturing business I knew I wanted to stay in the industry. However I wasn’t sure where to direct my efforts to achieve the income and quality of life that I knew I wanted. Gordon Stone was recommended to me as a person who could assist in establishing a new business model that would fit exactly what I wanted. Over the last 18 months we have gone through a system of clarifying my expectations of this new business, creating a business that now meets those criteria, establishing a sales and marketing program, defining my financial expectations, considering how to leverage different parts of the business, looking at alliances, etc. Above all I appreciated how Gordon...

We’ve already taken the first step, and what we did is we reached out, and incorporated Mark and his team (ABDI) to be a business coach. … We were getting angry, because we felt like we weren’t moving forward, and we needed to turn around and look outside that circle, and it went from narrow tunnel vision, to ‘let’s see where we can go’, and the mind shift in a very short period of time has been phenomenal, and (coming) to this event here (ADBI One Day Workshop), which has given us further mind shifts.

The face-to-face meetings have been excellent – as I can interact with other like-minded people in agriculture who face similar challenges. The program is thought provoking and has delivered clear key take-home messages that I can and have put into action – and I can see will make a huge difference to our future. Thanks Gordon!

ABDI provided me with an easy, step-by-step strategy to improve my business. Gordon and Mark's presentation, together with the (input of the) organisers gave me confidence to get the ball rolling for the next stage of our organics agribusiness.

I found the ABDI program helped me become crystal clear on where to head the business. After being involved in the personal work we had to do as part of the program, it became very apparent that the direction of the business was too diverse – as a result of working it through, I am now very clear about EXACTLY what the business will do for its clients, exactly where the business is headed and I now have very clear goals and a pathway to get there. This is a vastly different position from when I started the program. Thanks so much.

I found the workshop extremely helpful, however, three quarters of the way through the day, a light bulb turned on and I realised I was in focusing on completely the wrong things. I wish we had started the afternoon session first. Both facilitators were brilliant and I especially enjoyed Mark stories to help us understand his points. We will go home and complete our “work-Ons” and we will make a decision regarding converting our business across.