Grant Lee

The best part of my role is getting to know and build relationships with my clients. I get a huge sense of satisfaction from working side by side with them through complex issues to reach a solution. Much of this comes from listening and then drawing upon my knowledge and experience to offer rounded and holistic advice.

An important part of this is me playing devil’s advocate and challenging viewpoints so that together we see the situation from different angles, which helps steer the conservation to a richer result.

We are in a privileged position in professional services as we work across a broad spectrum of clients and industries. I get to see what works well in businesses and I can share these insights. I lead a varied client portfolio, where I make use of my expertise across financial services, real estate, private equity, and other industries, coupled with my audit, consulting and transactions experience. My skill set covers all sizes – from small partnerships and limited companies to large corporations and I use this understanding to tailor my recommendations to my clients’ size and complexity.

If you’re interested…

I graduated with a degree in Biochemistry with Molecular Biology and started my career at one of the Big Four firms in 1999. After working with large global groups including pharmaceutical, manufacturing, recruitment and others, I moved into their financial services practice. I worked with a cross-section of small and mid-tier businesses through to large main market listed corporates. Alongside my accounting work in the Big Four, prior to joining GE, I also led a team of consultants for the financial services sector.

What is the most daring thing you’ve ever done?

I have mild vertigo, so jumping out of a plane above Noosa in Australia was quite hair-raising. I also had a close shave in South Africa in my younger years, when I was thrown from a boat in the breakers and had to swim to the shore with hammerhead sharks circling below me.

What is the most exciting thing on your bucket list?

I would love to visit the Amazon rainforest – I just haven’t had the opportunity to do so yet.

If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be?

Arguably one of the most successful rugby union captains of all time – Richie McCaw. He was so understated and humble, yet he lived and breathed exemplary leadership skills through his actions on the pitch.

Who inspires you?

I recently read the ‘Book of Joy’ where Desmond Tutu described joy being derived from the day to day things in life. He’s a true inspiration.