Property Point 29 August

When Gardian CEO and founder Peter Phillips died tragically and prematurely a couple of years ago, he left behind a heart-broken wife and daughters and other family members, devastated friends, a strong and growing business and a legacy of community involvement.

In many ways not much has changed in the two years that have passed; the heart-break continues for his family, his friends still miss him, the business remains a growing success and his legacy of community involvement evolves from the platform he created.

We still talk about him, laugh at his antics, remember the times he stood tall. Peter is a constant presence in the lives of those who knew him well, always will be.

Like a lot of people, I thought of Peter when Gardian won a major award at the Resource Industry Network annual awards last week, the Connecting in the Community Award.

I thought of Peter because although he cared passionately about the business and desperately wanted it to expand and succeed along the lines of the unique multi-armed model he created, he wanted the success to go hand-in-hand with support for the Mackay community.

Peter’s position on this was central to what is part of the Gardian ethos. We are from this community, we are in this community, we benefit from this community and we help this community.

There’s a deal, a compact, that exists between Gardian and the community. In simple terms it is about giving back to a community that supports us.

The importance of the RIN award for Connecting in the Community is that it gives a little reminder to our clients that the company they are supporting and doing business with is putting back into that very community. And it reinforces in the minds of the staff that their efforts and contributions are making a difference.

I don’t want to use my columns as a promotional tool for Gardian but, to briefly allude to the areas in which we give back; staff donate money to, and we do a lot of work with, the Mackay Hospital Foundation, staff donate a few bucks from their weekly pay to the Mackay Community Foundation and we strongly support Brothers Rugby League among many other Mackay community groups we help and sponsor.

I want to stress that there were other very worthy finalists for RIN’s Connecting in the Community Award and there are absolutely many other Mackay businesses and organisations that put back into this community.
Gardian is definitely not alone in supporting and giving back to this community.

But, for us, the award does remind us of a legacy left behind by Peter Phillips, a man who is no longer with us but whose influence lives on in a successful, thriving business that makes sure it does not just take from the community.

One of the elements of the Gardian business that Peter focused on was to create a culture that could guide everyone to ensure we are more than just an organisation that that thinks about profit and loss.
As part of that he worked with the directors and staff to create some guiding principles; they are Our Why, Our Just Cause and Our Vision.

Our Why is this: “At Gardian, we care for and protect our people. We work to live, while serving our local communities.”

Our Just Cause is this: “At Gardian, we pledge to give of ourselves by exceeding expectations together, uniting our family and community. Leaving eternal footprints for all to follow.”

When I read those statements and think about our community input award, I can’t help but think that those eternal footprints belong to Peter Phillips, the man they called Puffer.

Now that’s leaving a legacy.

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