Who We Are

Australian Business Class is a specialist training, consulting and speaking organisation, established in Brisbane, QLD in 1995.

Our business premises are located in "The London Offices", one of the recently renovated old Woolshed buildings, about 2.5km north east of Brisbane CBD, close to the river.

The organisation's principals and training partners have gained a reputation for the delivery of services which are high-impact, outcome focused, informative and fun.

Specialising in the delivery of corporate programmes centred on Leadership, Resilience, Emotional Intelligence and Communication (including customer focus and sales), Australian Business Class provides more than just training, with the ability to include a variety of added-value products and services to any workshop or consulting assignment.

Australian Business Class is the exclusive licensee for the ESSI Systems EQ Map®, Resiliency Map® and Stress Map® - three seminal workplace tools for enhancing business viability and staff well-being. In March 2009, the company is proud to offer the first Australian Professional Certification programmes for these exciting products. Our trainers are certified in the use of the HBDI© and use the Kouzes and Posner Leadership Practices Inventory 360-degree feedback tools.

Australian Business Class is committed to providing service to clients utilising the most up to date methods and principles, while retaining proven, successful, action learning philosophies to ensure maximum retention from training.

Australian Business Class has two principals and a network of training partners to ensure we can meet the often diverse needs of our clients.

Brief profiles of the Principals are provided below:


Phil Corbett AFAIM. Director


Phil founded Australian Business Class in 1995 and has developed a client base spanning a wide range of industries ranging from health, mining, technology, food, travel, education and finance, to Local and State Government agencies.

He defines himself as a “Humanologist" – and engages in the study of the transformation of humans and all human phenomena in an advanced, technological society.

With over 25 years experience gained in senior business roles, Phil has developed a deep understanding of the key success factors behind leading organisations. He has gained significant management experience and developed inter-personal skills second to none. 

Phil is passionate about people and their innate capacity to grow, change and “bounce back.”

His performance “on platform” has gained him international recognition as a highly motivating trainer and facilitator.   His unique capacity to incorporate humour into his seminars differentiates the learning experience for participants.

Phil's aim is to improve the people within the organisation (and thereby improve the organisation) by providing them with a range of tools and skills to build effective relationships (with customers and co-workers); improve communication; optimise their resiliency; deliver outstanding customer service; and live within their values and those of the organisation.

Phil specialises in motivating and empowering individuals through imparting his expertise in NLP, EQ and Resiliency to engender the “power of choice”.

Phil is the creator of the P.E.S.I.S.T@communication methodology and is certified in the Essi Systems Maps® for Emotional Intelligence, Resiliency and Stress. He is an NLP Certified Practitioner and an accredited Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument© Practitioner- a core tool used to facilitate the understanding of human preferences, motivation and communication styles as well as group dynamics and “creative abrasion”.

Phil is an Associate Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

Over the past 12 months, Phil has delivered keynote addresses at national and international conferences for organisations including Fonterra, QLD Health, RACQ,  Sanitarium, Fonterra,  Flight Centre, Rio Tinto, the Workforce Council, Gold Coast & Central QLD TAFEs, Canberra Institute of Technology, Spicers Financial Services (NZ), HJB Financial Planning, PGi Australia and NSW Dept Parks & Wildlife.


Mary Corbett PhD FAICD AFAIM Managing Director

Mary is Managing Director of Australian Business Class.  With over 20 years experience gained across private and public sector organisations, and in areas from R&D to marketing, M&A to risk management, she has a solid understanding of what makes an organisation successful (and what doesn’t!).

With a scientific background and executive experience spanning industries from biotechnology to rail and local government to agriculture, Mary specialises in providing senior executive training in areas of Leadership, Resilience, Emotional Intelligence, Change and Communication, and facilitation in areas of Strategic and Operational Planning.

Mary is the sole Master Trainer for Australian & New Zealand in the Essi Systems Inc Resiliency, EQ and Stress Maps®, and is accredited in the use of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI®).  She is licensed user of the Communication Compatibility System© and promotes the Kouzes and Posner Leadership Challenge model.

Mary has researched, designed and delivered many executive programmes including:

  • The Leadership Challenge – a 12-month leadership development programme
  • The Exceptional Leader – an executive leadership development programme
  • Building Resiliency®
  • Whole Brain Resiliency
  • Developing EQ at Work®
  • Being Responsive to Change
  • Personal Effectiveness – Eating Frogs & Toads
  • Magnificent Customer Focus
  • Effective Communication incorporating HBDI®

Many of these training programmes incorporate scientifically validated and proven personal development instruments and methodologies for achieving sustainable behavioural change.

Over the past 12 months, Mary has delivered training in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Singapore, and Hong Kong.  Her clients include Rio Tinto, Premiere Global, Suncorp, Flight Centre, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Redlands City Councils, Gold Coast TAFE and CSIRO.