LinkedIn’s Matt Tindale partners with AIB to share his leadership insights

Matt Tindale is the latest Industry Guest Lecturer to join AIB, and we’re thrilled to welcome him aboard. Matt was appointed the Managing Director for LinkedIn Australia and New Zealand in July 2017, succeeding Clifford Rosenberg. Currently occupying two roles, Matt also serves as Head of Enterprise for LinkedIn Marketing Solutions in the Asia Pacific region. Before joining LinkedIn in 2013, Matt worked for MCM Media as their Commercial Director and Austereo in various positions. His roles have evolved over the years from strategist to sales management and leadership, though consistently in the media, marketing and tech.

As an Industry guest Lecturer, Matt will enrich AIB’s leadership curriculum with practical knowledge and insights acquired throughout his career. Leadership, Matt believes, boils down to three key areas, all of which can be taught. Those are: having high standards, modelling those high standards and inspiring others to similar heights.

His belief that leadership is 100% nurture comes from his own experience. He explains, “Early on in my career, I actually did not want to become a leader.” Matt’s leadership skills have developed greatly over the years, but he’s careful not to claim that he knows it all. “Leadership is something that is constantly changing. Today’s important leadership concepts like diversity, inclusion, belonging and authenticity just weren’t talked about 10 years ago. So as a leader, you never stop learning.”

Matt has moved into the Managing Director role at an exciting time in LinkedIn’s history. “This year at LinkedIn is the year of transformation,” he shared. Amongst other things, that means inculcating a culture where employees aren’t only focused on the next job promotion, but are encouraged towards a mastery of their own role. “It’s actually more about focusing on the journey rather than the outcome,” Matt explained. “You should be thinking about how to be the best you can be in whatever role you’re doing, and if that is your focus, then promotions and good things will come.”

A similar principle forms the basis of Matt’s advice to our MBA students. “When you’re thinking about your career, think about it like a children’s jungle gym, rather than a ladder,” he says. That is, rather than always focusing on the single skill that will get you further up a particular path, try and grab skills from everywhere. That is, your career may be in marketing, but you can still benefit from sales skills, management skills or leadership. “The more skills that you have in a broad range, the better and more stable your career is going to be,” says Matt.

He’s passionate about education as well, believing that to be on top of your game, you’ve got to be obsessed with education and knowledge. “Traditional forms of education, including the MBA, offer a solid foundation and pathway to advance in your career. But it’s also about having that curiosity and thirst for knowledge to keep relevant and up to date,” Matt explained.

Of course, working for LinkedIn, Matt champions the power of networking and mentoring. The importance of taking intelligent risks is also instilled in LinkedIn’s values. “It’s important to try things in the pursuit of constant and aspirational improvement. With that will come failures, but as long as you’re authentic, you don’t have to be perfect.”

We’re delighted to have Matt on board as an Industry Guest Lecturer, and are sure that his experience and perspective will be of huge benefit to our students.