"As a boss, you don’t need to be the best, you need to create an environment that allows others to be their best."
Dr Eamonn McCarthy (DPsych (Forensic), MAPS, FCFP), CEO of Lighthouse Foundation, is recognised as one of Victoria’s most respected forensic psychologists in the field of childhood trauma, attachment and high-risk youth.
Formerly the Principal Practitioner of Child Protection in Victoria, and member of the Centre Against Sexual Assault at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Eamonn has provided support to some of the state’s most vulnerable young people.
In his role as CEO of Lighthouse Foundation, Eamonn works alongside the Foundation’s care teams, volunteers, donors, corporate partners, trusts and foundations, to expand the circle of support for disadvantaged youth, with the goal of breaking the cycle of youth homelessness.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Eamonn McCarthy: I’m Dr. Eamonn McCarthy, CEO of Lighthouse Foundation and Forensic Psychologist. Lighthouse Foundation provides homes and therapeutic care programs to children and young people impacted by long-term neglect, abuse and homelessness. Our focus is to create caring communities where kids feel safe, form meaningful relationships and begin to heal from traumatic experiences.
In my role as CEO, I work alongside the Foundation’s care teams, volunteers, donors, corporate partners, trusts and foundations to expand the circle of support for disadvantaged youth, with the goal of breaking the cycle of youth homelessness.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Eamonn McCarthy: The pandemic has taught many businesses the importance of running a sustainable organisation. When it comes to business, sustainability stretches across a range of areas including environment and profitability. The most important resource, though, is its people. By creating a positive work environment and prioritising wellbeing, staff will be able to work to the best of their ability, creating a sustainable organisation with a positive future.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Eamonn McCarthy: Post-pandemic, increasingly people are interested in supporting organisations with values that align with their own beliefs and that are invested in doing good. Due to lockdowns and an increase in work from home arrangements, we’ve also seen an increased understanding of the importance of local communities. Organisations should take note of this and focus their marketing strategy on highlighting their values, as well as how these translate into action – how they as an organisation can ‘give back’ to their local communities and beyond.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Eamonn McCarthy: The pandemic has placed significant pressure on all families, including foster families. Australia has a shortage of foster carers, not caused directly by the pandemic, but definitely not assisted by the pandemic’s disruption we have all experienced. One of the challenges we’re facing is how to give a growing number of young people access to a safe place to live and to therapeutic care that will help them build a successful future.
To adapt and assist with the issue at hand, we make sure that anyone who expresses an interest in becoming an emergency, respite or foster carer through Lighthouse Foundation’s Foster Care program, has access to honest information, extensive training and tailored support throughout their journey as a carer. It can be both highly rewarding and deeply challenging to foster a child, and we work hard to ensure that the program we put in place provides the best care not only for children, but also for those who care for them.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Eamonn McCarthy: I would have liked advice around the significance of having well-implemented virtual communication systems. Leading on from that, what I intend to implement are improved IT systems to further evolve Lighthouse Foundation’s online work environment.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Eamonn McCarthy: Community is so important to the work we do at Lighthouse Foundation and I hope we see a safe return to more community gatherings. Our young people thrive when they have a network of people who support them as they begin to heal and create a new future for themselves. While we’ve been fortunate enough to have the digital means to sustain communication, there’s no replacement for those in-person moments that foster trust, enable us to show deep care, and connect us as humans.
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Eamonn McCarthy: I think we all spend more hours in front of a screen than we’d like – especially in an age of hybrid working. Virtual meetings are an excellent tool in maintaining connection but should never be considered a full replacement for in-person interaction. Physical cues and body language can be hard to read on a screen and being face-to-face means you can better understand how someone is feeling or pick up on the cues that someone in your team is struggling and needs support. I do my best to make sure there’s some balance between the time I spend with colleagues online and in-person.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Eamonn McCarthy: Storytelling plays a significant role in communicating with Lighthouse Foundation’s external and internal stakeholders. It’s through storytelling that our organisation communicates the importance of the work we do and the difference we make to the lives of children and young people impacted by long-term neglect, abuse and homelessness. If you want to learn more about the stories and outcomes of Lighthouse Foundation you can find out more here – https://lighthousefoundation.org.au/stories-outcomes
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Eamonn McCarthy: The shortage of foster carers is definitely one of the greatest obstacles we’re facing at the moment. Becoming a foster carer is perhaps one of the most meaningful things you can do – providing vulnerable children and young people with stability, compassion and kindness, all while witnessing and sharing in the joy of their progress.
Despite the rewarding potential of this role, there has been little growth in the foster care space, with prospective carers often hesitant due to misconceptions around foster care. One of the challenges is breaking down these misconceptions and offering potential carers a realistic understanding of what this role is comprised of.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Eamonn McCarthy: I’m interested in online marketing. In 2022, community is a global concept, so capitalising on this and using online mediums to communicate the needs of Lighthouse Foundation’s children and the capacity people all over the world have to help.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Eamonn McCarthy: As a boss, you don’t need to be the best, you need to create an environment that allows others to be their best. Fostering a workplace that encourages collaboration in decision-making and task execution and enables employees to feel part of a community will ensure greater job satisfaction, retention and overall wellbeing. Business leaders who provide opportunities for employees to identify the shared purpose in what they are doing as an organisation will pave the way for greater staff retention and a culture of ‘doing with’ not ‘doing to’.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Eamonn McCarthy: If I had the ability to pick a business superpower it would be to create an extremely profitable social enterprise that created long-term, high paying jobs for every one of our young people.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Eamonn McCarthy: I believe that by working together, we can get closer to the best outcome for vulnerable kids. This is what I would want for myself and my own children if they were in need. But, our impact needs to be on a broader scale and we need to move faster to keep pace with the growth of youth homelessness.
We need to do much more and do it faster. Success in 2022 means that Lighthouse Foundation continues to grow, opens more doors, and maintains the quality of care as we go forward. There is a lot that excites me about the future of Lighthouse Foundation, especially in our 30th anniversary year. Nothing tops watching those kids bravely taking steps forward to better their lives – with help not only from our organisation, but from those beyond our walls.
Jerome Knyszewski, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Eamonn McCarthy for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Eamonn McCarthy or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.
