高清福利片

Jonathan Pease (M Bus 鈥�10) knew exactly what he was meant to do with his life from the age of 12. A criminologist told him everything he needed to know.

鈥淢y dad was friends with a criminologist who could read handwriting,鈥� he says, laughing gently. 鈥淎nd when I was about 12, Dad got him to analyse my handwriting. He told me I was an inventor, and a creative, and a Renaissance man.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 a bit of a romantic and I always held onto that in the back of my mind.鈥� Did the prediction become a self-fulfilling prophecy? Maybe - but no matter, says Pease, 鈥淲hether it鈥檚 the tail wagging the dog or not doesn鈥檛 matter - I love what I do.鈥�

Pease is exactly the Renaissance man he was predicted to be, wearing many hats. He鈥檚 currently the co-owner of Delorean, a creative consultancy that operates in three ways: investing in new businesses, building brands and consulting to other brands on their strategies, products and marketing. Put simply, Pease says Delorean, 鈥渂ridges the gap between creativity and commerce.鈥�

鈥淥ften the value we add is simply that we are one degree removed from the business,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople who are in the business every day - it's hard for them to be disruptive when they鈥檙e dealing with profit and loss and quarterly targets. When you鈥檙e an outsider you have the privilege of playfulness.鈥�

Pease is also the co-owner of Oyster Media Investments 鈥斕齛n entertainment investment group with interests ranging from a hard-seltzer brand, a boutique hotel development, and iconic international pop-culture magazine, Oyster. He鈥檚 also the founding creative director at Sohn Hearts and Minds, Australia鈥檚 leading investment conference.

From his experiences in all of this, he developed an executive coaching program over the last 15 years called Winning The Room, and authored a book of the same name that was published globally last year.

Juggling everything can be a challenge, he says, but he鈥檚 learned to seek out projects that complement one another. 鈥淚 look for things that link, so I can make one plus one equal three,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I tell clients to do that, too - you might be doing more than one thing at a time, but if they feed into one another, they will add up to more than the sum of their parts, propel you forward and be beneficial to each other.鈥�

Pease credits taking the leap from 鈥渆mployee to entrepreneur鈥� to his Master鈥檚 of Business degree at the University of Sydney. He鈥檇 been working in the advertising world for more than a decade before he took the plunge, knowing that he would need a solid business education to launch his own agency (Tongue, which he went on to sell to STW in 2017).

鈥淚 was getting to a point in my career where I was being asked for strategic advice, finding myself in boardrooms and C-suite meetings,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 knew I wanted to start my own agency; it was my plan from day one and I knew I鈥檇 need my Master鈥檚 to get there. As I progressed through the creative chain I realised I needed the other skills to take me from employee to entrepreneur.鈥�

At the University, Pease particularly connected with marketing professor Donnel Briley, who taught the class real-world case studies that Pease found illuminating. 鈥淚t was amazing to study business stories in class that were unfolding in the media live,鈥� he says. The partnership has evolved, and now Pease teaches Briley鈥檚 students the art of communication through his Winning the Room workshops, a practise he says is 鈥渟o enriching and rewarding.鈥�

Completing his Master鈥檚 allowed Pease, who was already well-established in his field, to take 鈥渢he leap of faith鈥� he needed to start his own business.

鈥淪tepping away from a monthly salary is so risky,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 needed the systems to work. Doing my master鈥檚 helped me have my eyes wide open about the realities of business. I鈥檓 no mathematical genius but my master鈥檚 helped me understand numbers so much more; I can be dangerous (in a good way) now.鈥� Pease says that, coupled with his own creative thinking, this combination has proven enormously valuable.

Pease鈥檚 experience as a graduate student was, he says, markedly different to how he started his first degree (at a different institution). Though he knew he wanted to be in advertising and marketing, he struggled to enjoy school and imagined university would be the same.

鈥淚 went to amazing schools but hated it,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I feel really guilty now because my parents spent every dollar they had on educating me. I scraped through.鈥� Thinking university would present the same monotony, Pease planned a two-week ski holiday that coincided with the start of his first semester and got his mother to sit in on lectures for him. 鈥淭hat should give you an indication of how听not听present I was,鈥� he says drily. 鈥淭o say I was disinterested was an understatement.鈥� His mother, he said, 鈥渢ook probably the best notes of my university career.鈥�

But when he made it off the ski fields and into the lecture theatre, Pease suddenly found his calling. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 even remember what we were studying,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 just knew that I immediately felt connected and that this stuff - all of it - was so fascinating to me. I went from barely getting by to getting high distinctions.鈥�

Pease鈥檚 career has been defined by diversity. He鈥檚 done everything from run a small fashion label to appear on five seasons of听Australia鈥檚 Next Top Model听(as a judge), and says he relishes trying different things. The key that links all of his projects is 鈥渃reative problem solving,鈥� and it鈥檚 what gets him out of bed each morning.

鈥淲ithout sounding too cheesy, I get that 'highlight feeling' most days,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 get to solve tricky problems and work with people who stretch me daily. I see my job more like an obsessive hobby than anything else.鈥�

Jonathan Pease recently shared his insights with the Sydney Alumni Community on LinkedIn as part of the 'Ask Me Anything' alumni series. to connect with fellow alumni.

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