LUMEN Winter 2019 - Flipbook - Page 28
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Changing the
world beyond
the big screen
The Adelaide alum shining light on why culture is
key in the success of every modern business.
STORY BY KELLY BROWN
D
idier Elzinga walked away
from Hollywood to make
a dent in the universe.
As CEO of internationally
renowned visual effects company
Rising Sun Pictures, which worked
on blockbusters including The Lord
of the Rings, Harry Potter and the
Batman movies, the softly spoken
entrepreneur was on a quest to find
something more meaningful.
“I’d spent 13 years in the film industry
and I’d learned a lot, but I was at the
point where I wanted to do something
bigger,” said the University of
26
30 THE
THE UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF
OF ADELAIDE
ADELAIDE
Adelaide mathematical and
computer sciences graduate.
In a bid to make the world of work a
better place, Didier launched Culture
Amp, a global start-up that uses
analytics to measure companies’
culture, boost employee morale
and create environments where
people thrive.
“Even when I was at Rising Sun
Pictures, a lot of what drove me was,
‘how do we do this differently, how
do we better marshal the talent of
the people we have and use that to
create a more successful company?”
he said.
According to Didier, workplace
culture is the biggest determinant
of success in the modern
business world.
“There are some interesting stats to
support this…80 years ago, 80 per
cent of the asset value of the S&P
500 (which is the American stock
market index) was tangible assets –
it was buildings; it was inventory; it
was goods. Today it is 25 per cent.
“The value in the businesses we are
running today is increasingly
intangible – it’s brand, it’s IP
[intellectual property], it’s the
