PMI Queensland | Upcoming Events Calendar

OVERVIEW

Project, Program, and Portfolio Managers operate at the intersection of strategy, delivery, risk, and people. This session is designed to strengthen the business acumen and decision-making capability required to lead effectively within that complexity.

Attendees will gain practical insight into how business acumen extends beyond budgets and schedules to include strategic alignment, stakeholder dynamics, risk exposure, and human factors that directly impact project outcomes. The session will help project leaders better understand why decisions are made at an enterprise level, enabling them to translate organisational strategy into clearer priorities, stronger governance conversations, and more informed trade-offs at the delivery level.

The topic is particularly relevant for Project and Program Managers who are required to influence without authority, balance competing demands, and make decisions under pressure. By exploring the link between commercial thinking, psychological safety, and performance, participants will learn how to improve decision quality, manage risk more proactively, and sustain delivery momentum without compromising wellbeing or safety.

For Portfolio Managers, the session provides a framework for evaluating initiatives through both value and viability lenses, supporting more robust prioritisation, resource allocation, and investment decisions. The emphasis on context, purpose, and systemic impact aligns directly with portfolio governance and benefits realisation responsibilities.

Grounded in real-world leadership experience across highly regulated environments, this session offers immediately applicable tools and perspectives that Project, Program, and Portfolio Managers can use to enhance stakeholder conversations, navigate uncertainty, and lead with greater confidence.

Ultimately, attendees will leave better equipped to connect strategy to execution, align people with outcomes, and deliver sustainable value across their portfolios.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• Business Acumen Is About Context, Not Just Numbers. Strong business acumen means understanding why decisions are being made, not just what the data says. It requires seeing the broader organisational context including strategy, stakeholders, risk, timing, and human impact. Leaders with business acumen connect financials, operations, and people into one coherent picture rather than treating them as separate silos.
• Every Decision Carries Both Financial and Human Cost. Effective leaders evaluate decisions through dual lenses: commercial outcomes and human consequences. Productivity, safety, engagement, and wellbeing are not “soft” considerations; they directly influence delivery, risk exposure, and long-term sustainability. Business acumen grows when leaders account for the ripple effects of decisions across people, culture, and performance.
• Clarity of Purpose Improves Decision Quality. When leaders are clear on organisational purpose and priorities, decision-making becomes faster and more consistent. Business acumen involves aligning daily choices with strategic intent rather than reacting to urgency alone. Leaders who understand what truly matters can confidently say yes, no, or not yet, even under pressure.
• Risk Is Managed Through Insight, Not Avoidance. Business-savvy leaders don’t eliminate risk; they understand and manage it intelligently. This includes recognising early warning signals, questioning assumptions, and balancing short-term gains against long-term exposure. Strong business acumen supports informed risk-taking that protects value while enabling innovation and progress.
• Self-Awareness Is a Leadership Advantage. A critical yet often overlooked component of business acumen is self-leadership. Leaders who understand their own stress responses, biases, and decision patterns make clearer, more grounded choices. Emotional regulation and psychological safety enable leaders to think strategically rather than reactively, particularly in high-pressure environments.

OUR SPEAKER

Rodney Reynders

 Director | Your Truth Services

Rodney Reynders is a business leader, accredited coach, and psychology student whose work sits at the intersection of leadership, resilience, and human behaviour. With a career spanning compliance, safety, operations, and people development, Rodney brings a grounded, real-world perspective to conversations about performance, wellbeing, and sustainable leadership in complex environments.

Rodney holds a Master of Business Administration, a Diploma of Work Health and Safety, and is currently completing a Bachelor of Psychological Sciences with a double major in Psychology and Counselling, where he has maintained a strong academic record and been recognised on the Dean’s List. He is an ACC-accredited coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and has served in a volunteer leadership capacity within the ICF Queensland community.

Professionally, Rodney has held senior roles in highly regulated industries, including Accreditation and Compliance Manager and Night Shift Supervisor within large transport and logistics organisations. In these environments, he worked closely with leaders and frontline teams navigating high pressure, safety-critical decision-making, organisational change, and competing operational demands. These experiences shaped his belief that effective leadership is not only about systems and strategy, but about psychological safety, emotional awareness, and the capacity to lead self and others through uncertainty.

Alongside his corporate experience, Rodney is the Director of Your Truth Services, where he supports individuals and leaders to build clarity, resilience, and alignment between values, decisions, and behaviour. His approach is trauma-informed, psychology-based, and strengths-focused, integrating evidence-based principles with practical tools that can be applied immediately in both personal and professional contexts.

Rodney is also an author, speaker, and creative educator. He has developed a series of children’s books and educational resources focused on emotional literacy, stress, resilience, and positive psychology, translating complex psychological concepts into accessible language for families, educators, and communities. This work reflects his broader commitment to prevention, early intervention, and building emotional capability across the lifespan.

Central to Rodney’s work is lived experience. Having navigated significant personal and professional adversity, including periods of instability and reinvention, he speaks with authenticity about growth, loss, and rebuilding. This combination of academic rigour, leadership experience, and human insight allows him to connect meaningfully with diverse audiences, particularly those leading teams through change, ambiguity, and high expectations.

Rodney is a sought-after speaker for organisations seeking thoughtful, practical conversations about leadership, wellbeing, and performance. His sessions are known for being reflective yet pragmatic, challenging yet compassionate, and grounded in the belief that when people feel safe, understood, and supported, both individuals and organisations thrive.

Linkedin: Rodney Reynders