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With a distinguished 20-year career in the fast-moving digital space, Cliff Rosenberg knows a thing or two about climbing the career ladder. As LinkedIn’s Managing Director for Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, Cliff has led the expansion of the world’s largest professional network into this region, where it has grown to more than 8 million members.

Now, the South African-born businessman is paying forward his success through the MentorMe online charity auction, which will see him join 11 other top Australian executives in auctioning off mentoring sessions to raise money for ChildFund Australia. Here, he shares how mentoring propelled him to the top of his game, and his key tips for getting the best out of people.

ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

“I’ve had quite a number of mentors throughout my career and I do believe that one should have their own personal board of directors; in effect, those people who you can turn to for trusted advice. And they change over time – just as any board of directors ultimately hires new members and moves around. I’ve turned to certain people for strategic advice, personal advice and financial advice. When it comes to mentoring, confidentiality and trust are key. The best advice I’ve received is: follow your passion, maintain your absolute strongest and highest values, only work with people you really like and want to work with. Life’s too short to do anything else.”

FOLLOW YOUR PASSION

“Opportunities presented themselves and I felt passionate about the ones I took. That was the road I travelled down. It wasn’t carefully coordinated or planned; it just felt right at the time. I have two passions – one is for seeing people succeed and helping people; the other is in the technology space. I’ve always had a view of the importance and the role of technology and how it will shape the world. And I always wanted to play in that space and be part of that revolution. For me, it’s not about titles or hierarchy – it’s about going to work in the morning feeling fulfilled and excited, and coming home at night feeling fulfilled and excited. That’s most important to me.”

RELATIONSHIPS MATTER

“Knowing the right people helps. I believe relationships matter and that relationships are really important to how one progresses through life. In 2009, LinkedIn was looking to expand internationally, and Australia was on their roadmap of countries. The CMO of LinkedIn actually used to work for me when I was at Vodafone. Given he knew me very well, he suggested the executive team at LinkedIn chat with me about Australia and any potential opportunities – and one thing led to another. A few weeks later, I was on a plane to San Francisco. I met with all the executives at Mountain View, our head office. In November 2009, I started at the Australian office. If I could do anything differently, maybe earlier in my career I would have given more emphasis to relationship management and the importance of it. Maybe that comes with age and maturity, but it’s so important to success in life.”

PAY IT FORWARD

“One of my personal beliefs and values is to give back to the community. It is a privilege to coach and mentor young professionals, assist them with career and life guidance, and see them succeed. For me, it’s absolutely important to help others. The youth are our future and the onus is on all of us who’ve got to where we are to help youth of today be the future. We have to invest in them; we have to help them get on the right path. I feel the more we invest and give our time and experience to them, the better off society and the world will be. When I hear of initiatives like MentorMe, which is all about investing in youth and helping people, it’s just an obvious thing we should all be doing.”

Cliff Rosenberg is among 11 Australian industry leaders going under the hammer for ChildFund’s MentorMe auction, with the winning bidders securing an hour of time with their chosen mentor. 

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25 November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. To mark this day, we are drawing attention to the issue of family violence in Papua New Guinea, and a new national helpline which is providing support to those affected.

In August 2015, ChildFund Papua New launched the first ever national crisis hotline, in partnership with PNG’s Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee and FHI 360. This was in response to the epidemic levels of violence perpetrated against women and children, with an estimated two-thirds of women in PNG experiencing physical or sexual violence during their lifetime.

The hotline is the first service in PNG to have professional counsellors available 12 hours a day, from 7.00am to 7.00pm, providing survivors and their families with a range of support services, including referral to service providers, and personal and confidential counselling at the time of the call.

Due to a severe shortage of trained and qualified counsellors in Papua New Guinea, ChildFund has also been working in partnership with the PNG Counsellors Association (PNGCA) to boost the capacity of the counselling profession as a whole.

Wesh Siku, ChildFund PNG Project Leader, says: “We saw the need for counsellors after establishing the 1-Tok Kaunselin Helpim Lain Hotline. As this service provides information and support seven days a week, we wanted to make sure that we were able to resource the service effectively and increase the number of qualified counsellors available in PNG.”

Dorothy Kosh, who works for the City Mission and took part in the training, says: “The need to develop the care industry in PNG is paramount. I feel privileged to learn a range of skills through the training, and thank ChildFund and PNGCA for this opportunity. The skills learnt will help us to help others.”

“Having taken part in this training, I now feel confident that we have counsellors who are well-prepared to provide vital guidance on GBV issues for survivors.”

Calls to the hotline are free, and counselling is available in PNG’s three national working languages English, Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu.

Most recently, 15 counsellors representing different organisations which provide support services for survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) took part in an extensive three-month training program. This included staff from four districts in Central Province, three from City Mission, two from the Joyce Training Institute and six social work graduates from the University of Papua New Guinea.

At the close of the training program, PNGCA President Susan Setae encouraged all participants to apply what they had learned: “Do not go back and shelve your skills. You have to start helping, supporting and comforting others. You have to practice what you have learnt. That is how you will grow.”

The 1-Tok Kaunselin Helpim Lain is a partnership between ChildFund Papua New Guinea, CIMC (FSVAC) and FHI 360, supported by the New Zealand Aid Programme, USAID, ChildFund New Zealand and ChildFund Australia. 

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