In special forces culture, the nickname sticks. Jon Hawkins got "Irish" from his origins - born and raised in Ireland and Southern Africa before migrating to Australia at 18. The nickname traveled with him through RAEME postings, through SAS selection in 1996, through Afghanistan and the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste. By the time he left the army in 2012, "Irish" was who he was.
What the military gave him wasn't just combat readiness. It gave him a way of thinking about organisations: you need mission clarity, capable people, lean processes, and values everyone actually lives. When he left the ADF after commanding the Special Operations Task Group, he didn't go looking for a corporate job. He went home and started building the company he wished existed.
The founding premise of Omni was deliberately provocative: the private sector can deliver national security outcomes more cost-effectively and with more agility than traditional government approaches. But only if it's genuinely Australian - not a local subsidiary reporting to a foreign parent, not a company where IP and decisions flow offshore.
Hawkins formalised this belief into what he calls the OOC standard: Ownership, Operations, and Capability. He argues that true sovereignty requires companies headquartered in Australia, with Australian decision-making and Australian expertise. It's not protectionism - it's risk management. COVID-19 taught the world what disrupted supply chains look like. In defence, those disruptions are existential.