EP#154: Revisiting 'The road to the top is paved with difficult conversations — a leadership chat with Ray Griggs AO CSC'

On this episode of Work with Purpose, we hear from Ray Griggs AO CSC about what working in the navy has taught him about taking and giving feedback, and why difficult conversations are part and parcel of becoming a better leader. Ray Griggs AO CSC looks back at a long and distinguished career in the public sector – from Australia’s Defence Force to most recently the Department of Social Services. Along the way, he navigated many difficult conversations, had his views contested, and at times, had to manage failure. In this conversation with host David Pembroke, CEO of contentgroup, he tells us how these challenges contribute to growing as a leader – and as a human. They also discuss managing large-scale change in complex environments, why you should always do your own fact-checking, and how solutions through new technologies need to be co-designed with Australia’s communities. Key tips: How you respond to people’s views and ideas is crucial. Respond the way you’d like your own leaders to respond to you. Never neglect doing your own fact checking. Once you launch into the process, your credibility can be at risk. Work out how real a timeline is. Sometimes we impose unrealistic timelines on ourselves. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can listen to EP#154: Revisiting 'The road to the top is paved with difficult conversations — a leadership chat with Ray Griggs AO CSC' online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

EP#154: Revisiting 'The road to the top is paved with difficult conversations — a leadership chat with Ray Griggs AO CSC' is an episode from Work with Purpose: A podcast about the Australian Public Service. by David Pembroke.

This episode is 47:55 long.

This episode was published on Jan 19, 2026.

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