Jason shares insights into his international career, how he started his own international business venture, and his recent announcement of being awarded the prestigious “Knight in the Order of Academic Palms” award, originally instituted
by Napoleon in 1808.
Tell us about Katanya, what is your mission and how did this come about?
Katanya is a great group of people that I get to work with every day. They are passionate creatives, technologists, and marketers and together we help our clients do great things online.
We help the people we work with to meet their KPIs and get home on time. We do that by getting good ideas, clever technology and beautiful designs in place that help transform the way their customers connect, engage, and see them.
This journey started when I was a Director in Global Brand and Digital for PwC working on the organisation’s international rebrand. My now business partners and I were sitting in a café looking out over the cobblestones in the old town square in Prague and we asked ourselves: “What’s next?” and, “Can we help others do what we do?”. Nine months later we were in New York signing on our first major client and we haven’t looked back.
As the Founding Partner at Katanya what does this involve? What does your day to day look like?
My role has three key responsibilities. First, leading our team in Asia Pacific, with team members in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Hobart, and Kuala Lumpur. Second, driving an internal culture of innovation, where 'everyone is a coach' and sharing knowledge and working smarter are everyone's goals. And third, shaping the organisation's strategy to keep on track for where we need to be.
On a day-to-day basis, this involves some face-to-face meetings but mostly video calls with team members and clients. Meetings vary from work-in-progress check-ins and collaborative working sessions to brainstorming and coaching. My focus time is often on shaping or refining plans and processes and crunching data. I love it when we have brainstorming sessions, and I spend far too much time on spreadsheets!
As the recent recipient of the prestigious “Knight in the Order of Academic Palms” award originally instituted by Napoleon in 1808, tell us about this amazing experience and work you have been recognised for.
The Order of Academic Palms is an award from the French Republic that recognises significant contributions to education and culture. As you’ve noted it was first established in 1808 by Napoleon as a decoration to honour eminent members of the University of Paris. So, as you can imagine, I was very surprised when I received a letter from the French Ambassador letting me know that I was to be made a chevalier in the order.
The honour recognises my contributions to Australian-French culture and education through Alliance Française (and its stewardship through the pandemic) and the national French Film Festival.
The investiture was held recently at the Embassy of France in Canberra. It was a beautiful sunny day and Renee and I along with our parents had the wonderful opportunity of a private lunch with H.E. Jean-Pierre Thébault, Ambassador of France to Australia. I then had the great honour of being presented with the medal by the Ambassador.
It is very humbling especially when you learn that the likes of Tina Arena and Kylie Minogue have been given similar honours.
Tell us about your role with Alliance Française de Brisbane.
My journey with Alliance Française started in 2008 when I joined as a student learning French, and I eventually joined the board in 2011. Alliance is a great language school and culture centre for adults and kids alike. It also runs the national Alliance Française French Film Festival – the largest French Film festival outside of France. I served as Secretary and Vice-President before becoming the organisation’s President in 2019.
Do you have any advice for our MBA Community looking to do business in France or with French organisations?
As part of my Griffith MBA, I remember doing a great subject on ‘Doing Business across Asia Pacific’. Many of the lessons taught in that subject apply here too: Cultural awareness, networking, language, supply chains, laws, and taxes. Understand some French business etiquette and appreciate the importance of lunch meetings as being about relationships not deals! Also invest in professional translation for important documents. And join the French-Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FACCI). They are a great organisation.
With your experience on various organisation committees and boards, what advice would you give an aspiring committee / board member?
Start with volunteer roles and join organisations that align with your values. Do your homework. Make sure you understand the organisation’s financials and make sure there is D&O insurance in place. After that, I’d say be conscious of whether it is a hands-on committee or whether there is a greater separation of governance from management as this will draw on different skills and time commitments. Finally, have fun and don’t be shy about challenging the status quo.
What's the biggest challenge you've had to overcome in your career or life journey?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned over time is to “hasten slowly” which is typically intertwined with “over-communicate”. Where I’ve had projects stumble, or inadvertently caused others frustration – it is because I either failed to make the case for change, failed to keep the communication lines open or pushed forward without taking the right amount of time to be careful and considerate.
What is one skill you could not live without and why?
Curiosity. Park your ego at the door and be curious. It is through curiosity that you learn about risks and opportunities, new ideas and new technologies. You’ll discover new worlds, different ways of doing things and more about yourself and others too.
Do you have any favourite books, podcasts, or newsletters that you’d like to recommend to our MBA Community?
Clockwork by Mike Michalowicz for scaling your business; Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth which proposes a new economic model and challenges organisations to rethink growth and profitability in a way that respects social and environment boundaries; and Indignez-vous! / Time for Outrage! by French-partisan fighter Stéphane Hessel that urges us all to take action against social injustices and economic inequality.
I also subscribe to Blinkist. It is an app that lets you read or listen to summaries of non-fiction books. It is a great way to learn about and absorb new ideas quickly.
If you have a question for MBA Alumnus, Jason McKenzie, we encourage you to connect on LinkedIn.
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