We’re delighted to welcome Robert Miller as the new Chief Executive Officer of Veteran Housing Australia. Robert brings a unique blend of military experience and business know-how to the role — a combination that drives his practical, people-focused approach to leadership. His background has given him a deep understanding of the challenges many veterans and their families face, along with the skills to turn ideas into lasting change.
In this Q&A, Robert shares his story, what inspires his leadership, and his vision for the year ahead as VHA continues working towards one clear goal: to end veteran homelessness.
You’ve had a distinguished career before joining Veteran Housing Australia, including your time in the Defence Force. Can you share a little about your background and how your service has shaped your leadership and commitment to supporting the veteran community?
Not sure if my Army seniors would say “distinguished” but thank you. I did my bit. I’m a little bit of a broken mould given that after I returned from East Timor, I served much of the rest if my Army career part time. This meant that I walked both the Army path and the civilian career path simultaneously. I feel that it gave me a unique perspective on the value of both ways of working. It is certainly a shame that many of the things that make army as an organisation and its leadership highly successful are not considered transferable to the civilian workforce.
Things like mission focus and threat analysis are very transferable to business, and leadership is leadership regardless of where it is exhibited. Bit that’s a thesis
After 16 years service and two deployment I consider myself lucky. I have all my mental faculties, a career and a wonderful supportive family. The usual Infantry problem where none of your joints work properly anymore once you turn 35, but other than that I’m good. I’m acutely aware not all veterans have the same “luck” for a wide range of reasons. This bought me to sit on an ESO board some years ago to try and make an impact, and a few years later …. Here I am.
Looking back on your career so far, what moments have been most rewarding — and how do they influence the way you approach this new chapter as CEO?
“Pain is just weakness leaving the body”. The hardest parts were the best. This is what we learn from, and it makes us better. I embrace failure as a learning opportunity, and as such encourage the team to make decisions and accept that some time they don’t work out how we want. My only response to that as CEO is to ask, “what did you learn”, then we clean up the mess if we need to. It is however only a platitude if it’s not backed up up by action. The trade off is that as CEO sometimes this means that I need to shoulder the blame for the failure. I am thankful to a wide range of former bosses who also believed and acted like this. It taught me how to be better, and one of the methods of effective leadership.
Veteran Housing Australia is about more than bricks and mortar — it’s about giving veterans and their families a foundation to rebuild their lives. What does this mission mean to you personally?
Once upon a time I wore stripes on my shoulder, and responsibility for and to my soldiers came with that. The last time my camo shirt came off in 2014 I felt lost for quite some time, for 16 years the warrior ethos was part of how I defined myself. Then it was gone. Some time later I came across this:
We are soldiers,
We guard Honor and Wage War
In between we stand still like a stone
Until our time comes again
I’m well past being able to call myself a warfighter, but now I can bring to bear my business skills at VHA and make a difference ….. my time has come again.
From your perspective, how does having stable, affordable housing influence the overall wellbeing and recovery journey of veterans and their families?
Its hard to get ready for work, study or raise a family if you don’t have a roof over your head. Veterans deal with a wide range of challenges post service and housing provides the stable base to kick off the meaningful things in life. Meaning provides the motivation to pursue our life’s purpose.
As you step into this role, what are your key priorities for your first 12 months as CEO?
There are an estimated 6,000 Homeless veterans in Australia. With out current resources we can assist barely 2%. I’ll be pushing VHA to do whatever we need to continue to grow our capacity to address this imbalance. It’s in the company’s purpose “To end veteran homelessness”.
How do you see innovation and collaboration — across the veteran, housing, and welfare sectors — helping to reduce veteran homelessness and strengthen long-term support?
Innovation is critical in any business. ESOs and NFP are no different. If we don’t make meaningful strides to do things better than we did yesterday we end up reducing our capacity over time. We already need to find another 5,900 odd beds!
“The reward for good work is more work” –
Tom Sachs.
How do you personally stay connected to the veteran community, and how important is that connection to your leadership approach?
Historically this has been via my work with ESO Boards & staying in touch with veteran friends. Connection is important because it informs us what everyone else is talking about and keeps us from falling into the trap of believing the only view of the world is the one through our own eyes.
Finally, what message would you like to share with veterans, their families, and our supporters as you begin this new chapter with Veteran Housing Australia?
We need to make every effort to end Veteran Homelessness. If anyone has anything to offer up in this fight, please reach out. It could be a fundraising effort, networking opportunity, rooms, volunteer hands etc
