Industry Leaders EP25 with Godfrey Frederick

Host Seton Walsh-Rose is joined by Godfrey Frederick, Director of National Strategic Partnerships at BSE (Building Services Engineers) and one of the four co-founders of Tree of Knowledge, the free quarterly networking event that now runs in 10 locations across Australia and New Zealand. Godfrey traces a career from manufacturing engineering through semiconductors in Hong Kong and Silicon Valley to business development in UK and Australian property. Together they explore why relationships, conversations and showing up remain the skills that matter most as AI reshapes consulting.

Episode Chapters

• 00:00 Episode introduction
• 00:22 What BSE does
• 01:02 Sectors and typologies
• 01:57 Building services vs infrastructure
• 03:35 Breadth for graduates
• 05:05 Did engineering find me?
• 07:12 Semiconductors in Hong Kong
• 08:58 “You’d be perfect for BD”
• 10:54 Into property and construction
• 11:17 The call to Australia
• 12:21 Selling in the US, UK and Australia
• 16:15 The most social industry
• 17:38 From outsider to insider
• 18:42 The origins of Tree of Knowledge
• 22:21 Why “Tree of Knowledge”?
• 23:40 Ten locations, four seasons
• 24:51 Keeping the industry connected
• 25:53 Food sponsored, drinks at the bar
• 27:56 Thousands a year, local committees
• 30:47 Free to attend, on purpose
• 32:00 A near 50-50 gender balance
• 33:21 Seton: graduates and mids, go
• 34:30 Skills that won’t change
• 36:16 Stop the carefully worded email
• 40:04 Front end and back end
• 41:24 Never read the spec?
• 42:40 BSE’s AI guardrails
• 46:44 The trusted advisor
• 49:12 “I don’t put any lines on drawings”
• 49:58 The career diamond
• 54:49 Tree of Knowledge during COVID
• 56:30 Community in a tough industry
• 59:20 Met at Tree of Knowledge
• 1:00:09 Wrap and thanks

Key Takeaways

• Conversations matter.
• The ends are pure consulting.
• Do the groundwork first.
• Guardrails, not bans. At BSE, any AI-assisted deliverable gets extra peer-review focus.
• Be the trusted advisor.
• Keep showing up.
• Free keeps it fair.
• Simple is inclusive.
• Build your network early.
• Building services builds breadth.

Sound Bites / Quotes:
“We don’t do carefully worded emails. Just pick up the phone, have a conversation.”
— Godfrey Frederick, ~36:16

References & Resources

• Tree of Knowledge (Australia and New Zealand): https://au.linkedin.com/company/tree-of-knowledge-australia-and-new-zealand
• Tree of Knowledge (TOK) Brisbane: https://au.linkedin.com/company/tree-of-knowledge-tok-brisbane
• Eden Bar, MLC Centre, Sydney: https://www.timeout.com/sydney/bars/eden-bar
• MLC Centre Sydney: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25_Martin_Place
• Royal Engineers, British Army — where Godfrey’s brother served: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Engineers
• NHP Electrical Engineering Products — https://www.nhp.com.au/
• Eventbrite — https://www.eventbrite.com.au/
• Humanitix — https://humanitix.com/au