Stuart Dickinson, leading Test Rugby Referee, has signalled his preparation for life outside of Rugby by accepting a senior executive role with leading Executive Search firm, Logistics Recruitment.
Stuart will continue his refereeing duties with the ARU and International Rugby Boards, including Super 14 and Rugby World Cup duties in 2011. His previous employment skills in Supply Chain and Logistics were acquired over ten years with the Linfox Group and the NSW Police Force.
Stuart’s IRB and ARU career path has seen him travel the world continuously, exposing him to a unique blend of senior executives, officials, players, sponsors, celebrities, business contacts and supporters. He counts spending time with passionate England supporter, His Royal Highness Prince William during the 2005 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, as one of the highlights of a career which has been interesting to say the least, including the now famous TMO call in the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final.
His recently published book, “Rugby World Cup Diaries – A referee’s perspective” is a best seller in South Africa, where he enjoys celebrity status. Sales in South Africa are 10 times other countries – South Africans are still revelling in their RWC victory.
His current refereeing duties combine well to re-introduce him to the dynamics of the industry he has maintained contact with, during his tenure as a consistently ranked Top 10 IRB referee. Stuart is proud to hold the record as Australia’s most capped Test referee and intends to maintain his rigorous fitness/training program to ensure he is at the top of his game. He is highly respected by international players for his communicative, free-flowing and direct game management style, as well as a keen Aussie sense of humour. Stuart recently refereed in the final weekend of the Six Nations Championship in London. The match between England v Ireland was played in front of a capacity 82,000 crowd Twickenham.
Mr Kim Winter, Chief Executive Officer, Logistics Recruitment, who was at the game as a guest of the IRB, was wired to hear the referee’s comments.
“Stu is a real character, how he calls the shots, continually talks to the players, deals with players for 80 minutes, and covers 8 to 10 kilometres on the day beats me,” Mr Winter said.
He noted that comments such as “just relax mate, let it go, lets get on with the game” are indicative of the relaxed game management style that is his trademark.
“Seeing Stuart operate first hand in such a highly charged environment with so much at stake underlined the parallel skill-base required for decision making on-field and in business,” Mr Winter said.
An ex-representative rugby playing Kiwi, Mr Winter noted, “You can tell Stuart thoroughly enjoys the game and it is a credit to him that he has been Australia’s number one for so long and has the personality to add value to any environment – sport, social or business – he is a class act,”
An invitation to the official aftermath function was followed by a client lunch hosted by Mr Dickenson and Mr Winter overlooking Windsor Castle the next day.
Enthusiastic about the immediate contribution Dickenson has already made to his business and global executive recruitment team, Mr Winter commented that “Supply Chain and Logistics is all about endeavour, detail and discipline and Stuart brings these qualities from his professional sports background to our Australian and International executive team at the highest level,” Mr Winter said.
“Making the transition from the sporting life to an industry I have known well, has been a positive experience and provides a fantastic opportunity and platform to combine my passion for rugby, while preparing for the future,” says Mr Dickinson.
Mr Dickenson is excited about combining his ARU and IRB commitments with his 2008 business activities which includes working with Logistics Recruitment Executives and clients from their offices in Asia, Europe, The Middle East, and Africa.
He and Mr Winter are hosting executive briefings and speaking engagements with key clients focusing on the lessons of high level performance in sport and business including a sold out 500 head Supply Chain industry business breakfast in Johannesburg on May the 9th to celebrate the recent opening of Logistics Recruitment’s Executive Search Africa.
Asked to comment on Stuart’s specific role within the organisation Mr Winter indicated that Stuart was the latest of a 25 member Executive Recruitment team that is focused on working on premium Executive Search activities currently in progress in Australia and from its 5 international offices.
He noted that “Executive Search was all about networking and who you know.”
“Search is a very discrete and confidential process that takes time and professional judgement. We have been successfully placing senior Supply Chain and Logistics Executives since we commenced operations in 1999. As the demand for high quality industry management has grown, the need for additional senior team members has been essential and Stuart is a great addition to our senior team.” Mr Winter said.
Stuart Dickinson is involved with Logistics recruitment’s individual corporate executive briefings focusing on business team member/talent attraction, acquisition, retention and management issues with an emphasis on parallels between high-performance professional sport and business.
Enquiries for the Stuart Dickenson 2008 Executive Briefing (Australia) series should be directed to Stephanie Jones on email: stefj@lrs.net.au
