Matthew Stein (ILF2018)

Institution: Australian Institute of Company Directors
Course: Company Directors Course

The Australian Institute of Company Directors course has been a goal of mine for some time. During 2018 and 2019 it was becoming more apparent that for the benefit of the business and my own personal development, that I just needed to find time to do it, and with the generosity of the Industry Leaders Fund, there really were no more excuses.

The course is offered as a five-day intensive or spread over several weeks. I elected for the intensive option, blocked out a week in my calendar, and felt that was manageable.

What I didn’t appreciate was the amount of time required for pre-reading before the course and the examination component. Looking back, I would say that added another two weeks in overall time required to extract the maximum benefit from the course.

I found the course content, presentation, and facilitators to be of a very high standard, relevant, and practical to business owners and operators. The reference material sits in my office bookshelf, and I refer to it regularly. Also worth pointing out is the greater benefit of developing a director’s mindset. 

Once the course was completed, my focus shifted to getting through the three exams within the allotted time. In my experience, the long answer exam proved more challenging, and I needed to re-sit this component. Again, this was a good learning opportunity, with plenty of support offered by the AICD team, including additional feedback and coaching.

I certainly feel the learnings from the course have enabled me to build stronger foundations for the business.  I have also met some fantastic people in the Alumni and attended a lot of valuable AICD events since completing the course. I would highly recommend it.