“Unlocking Wealth Behaviours”: Brad Welsh GAICD on Reinvention, Risk and Reward

Juukan Gorge and lessons of trust

Welsh’s 10 years at Rio Tinto - culminating in serving as chief adviser to the CEO on Indigenous affairs in the aftermath of the Juukan Gorge destruction - was one of his most challenging professional chapters. Stepping temporarily out of his operational GM pathway, he took up the role because he felt the issue was critical not only to Rio Tinto, but to host communities and the broader industry.

The incident, he argues, was “more than a cultural heritage failure”. It was a moment that exposed a deeper truth - despite decades of royalties, jobs and agreements, no Aboriginal host community in Australia has become genuinely wealthy.  

“They may have cash, but wealth is a set of behaviours,” he says. “It’s the way you interact with capital and risk. Communities expected wealth from these projects, and they haven’t been able to get it.”  

For Australian companies, Welsh believes the incident highlighted a long-known reality - trust takes a lifetime to build and moments to lose. The mining sector may be central to Australia’s prosperity, he says, but prosperity must also accumulate to the people whose lands host the projects.  

“That expectation - from communities, from the nation, from the world - is only going to grow.”  

Capital, risk and the path to self-determination

One of Welsh’s central arguments throughout his career is that cultures survive and thrive not through benevolence but through the ability to manage capital and risk.

When the primary income of First Nations communities is government or philanthropic funding, he says, they are not expected to engage with capital in a way that builds generational wealth. Yet, historically, Indigenous societies were sophisticated managers of risk—environmental, social and economic.

“We’re the world’s longest surviving culture because we managed the landscape and the economy. But modern systems don’t expect that of us.”

The consequence? Young First Nations professionals often gravitate exclusively to Indigenous-facing roles, rather than commercial roles. Welsh believes this unintentionally limits long-term impact.

“There could be nothing more Indigenous than being the CFO and attracting capital to your community,” he says. “But people feel like they’re being ‘less Indigenous’ by being in commercial roles. That has to change.”

ERA and the challenge of long-term risk

As CEO of Energy Resources of Australia, Welsh leads one of the most complex rehabilitation projects in the nation - restoring the former Ranger uranium mine to a state indistinguishable from World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park.

The regulatory, cultural and operational complexities are immense - and the timeline stretches out for decades.

“The longer-term the goal, the harder it is to estimate,” Welsh says. Directors, he argues, must become fluent in holding long-term aspirations while tracking short-term progress with discipline. Risk management, too, requires humility and adaptability.

“You have to make decisions based on the information you have but also be prepared to change them when the basis shifts. Indecision is a risk in itself.”  

Building Mawal - and redefining First Nations excellence

Mawal, the leadership organisation Welsh founded, is designed to unlock First Nations talent for balance-sheet roles - not only community or policy positions. His goal is bold: 10,000 First Nations leaders in commercial decision-making roles, and far more than today’s seven Indigenous directors across the ASX 300.

“If we don’t unlock Indigenous talent into genuine capital-management roles, we will never meet procurement or employment targets,” he says. “We need Indigenous CFOs, CEOs, CLOs, investment managers—people who can attract and manage capital for their communities.”

Success, as he sees it, is a future where First Nations excellence on boards and executive teams is no longer exceptional - it is normal.

“One of the most powerful things a director can do is teach modern capital and risk management to First Nations talent. We have the best risk managers in the country sitting on boards. That capability should be used to uplift the next generation.” Mentoring, targeted development programs and deliberate exposure to board environments will accelerate change.   

Curiosity as the defining capability

Asked for his advice to emerging directors, Welsh is succinct: “Have unwavering curiosity. You must be curious about the company, its balance sheet, its future and its ambitions. You can’t be the ‘Indigenous director’ or the ‘ESG director’. You are a director who must grow the value of that company.”

That curiosity - spanning cultures, geographies, industries and identities - has shaped Welsh’s own journey. And it’s the lens through which he believes Australia can unlock its greatest competitive advantage: the meeting point of the world’s oldest living culture and a modern economy hungry for new ways of thinking.