Leadership Decanted

Message us! Can we step up to something before we even know how to do it? Our guest has been doing exactly that since he ran for school captain as the most unlikely of candidates, and then forgot to mention it to his mum.  KG and Paul spent time in the Podcave with George Catsi , a creative producer, academic and community leader who has been president of the Petersham Bowling Club for 20 years an...

Message us! Paul & KG get into the stats from Zurich’s Australian Resilience Index , a few numbers that seem to contradict each other, and what a leader might do with all of it (we also recall Episode 4.07 and how social cohesion might be related).  Cheeky Half episodes are short. So rather than spending your precious minutes on any further explanation, we definitely encourage you to listen. S...

Message us! What if the tension we keep trying to fix is not meant to be fixed? It takes a mule, a tightrope walker, a bottle of Shiraz and a mild disagreement over whether paradox is an 'invitation' or a 'demand' to get anywhere near an answer. (Paul votes 'demand'.) KG and Paul spent time in the Podcave with Wendy K. Smith , a professor of management and co-author o...

Message us! Does a founder's carefully curated set of values survive a growing business,  especially as the distance from founder to frontline staff increases? Paul's barely digested thought for this 'cheeky half' is that it doesn't always, and he's calling it 'trickle-down values'. KG has seen it too, and we'd like to know whether you have. Cheeky Half...

Message us! Every keyboard you've ever typed on started life as an assistive device. That's not just a factoid, it's the whole thrust of this episode. If you design for the people the market usually treats as 'niche,' you tend to build something better for everyone else too. This goes from wheelchairs to closed captions to AI training data, and gets more interesting at eve...

Message us! KG   recently noticed some conflicting attitudes toward a leader: some people seem to be willing to defend them to the death, and others wouldn't follow them into a fire drill. Same person, same behaviour and two completely different verdicts, which suggests the disagreement may not really be a verdict on the leader at all. Maybe it's about where each of us privately draws th...

Message us! There's a fairly persuasive myth about power: that once you have enough of it, everything else follows. This episode makes a decent case against that, using nothing more dramatic than a chief executive who can restructure an entire division and still can't get their own kid to tidy their room. If you've ever wondered why some very senior people still don't get liste...

Message us! Paul's been reading something unexpected: Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas , arguing that AI should be judged against human dignity, not efficiency. It's a genuinely different take on a topic that mostly produces unreflective panic or unquestioned evangelism. Join Paul & KG for this Cheeky Half episode. And if you haven't yet listened to thei...

Send us a message! Most leadership conversations happen above the neck. Steve Ray , a groupwork facilitator and open-heart practitioner, thinks that's only half the picture, and arguably the less interesting half. This is an episode about the inner critic, the community of selves, and what happens when a podcast host attempts a live meditation mid-episode and immediately starts contending wit...

Send us a message! KG has spent considerable time carefully avoiding the AI conversation on Social Media. His reward for finally joining that conversation is also our reward - a 'hot take' that turns out to be much more interesting than either the unreflective panic or unquestioned evangelism the hosts have frequently encountered on this topic. Join Paul & KG as they follow that thre...

Send us a message! Something has seemed fairly obvious in the field of leadership development for a while now: the gap between what people learn and what they're able to apply when they return to their organisations. It shows up as disillusionment, stalled change efforts, and the recurring question of why things that seem so clear in a programme setting become so resistant in practice. It&apo...

Send us a message! Gallup publishes its State of the Global Workplace report once a year. This year it's 251 pages of data on engagement, emotions, wellbeing and the general mood of the global workforce. One of its headlines on the 2026 edition? "Global employee wellbeing improved for the first time in three years." Paul and KG have questions. And Paul calls BS. Cheeky Half episodes...

Send us a message! If you are a 'dyed-in-the-wool' rationalist, you may not enjoy this episode. However, if every now and again you find yourself asking, "I wonder if there is truth and knowledge beyond what I see and hear - maybe even outside the 'accepted' boundaries I was taught?" then continue! KG   and Paul   are enthralled by a most unexpected conversation with...

Send us a message! Robert Burns' poem, To a Mouse , provides the line (translated into more modern English) to this episode's title. Paul went on that potentially fraught trip (see Cheeky Half 37 for that story!), and he thought he had everything under control - until he didn't.  Cheeky Half episodes are short. So rather than spending your precious minutes on any further explanation...

Send us a message! Artificial Intelligence is all over our feeds. It is both, promising and threatening, in equal measure. As we drink from the fire hose of hallucinatory AI 'information', what are we to make of its reach and its use? We know that many AI tools can parrot back meeting conversations and often provide some useful summaries of the topics that were discussed. But shared lang...

Send us a message! How does the capture and death of a drug cartel kingpin, Paul's planned vacation and the phenomenon of the sunk cost fallacy end up as part of the same 'Cheeky Half' conversation? Good question. Cheeky Half episodes are short. So rather than spending your precious minutes on a written explanation, we definitely encourage you to listen. And yes, Paul & KG would...

Send us a message! Fifty! Yes, that's 50 .  Episodes, that is. As we begin our sixth year of Leadership Decanted , we kick it off with our 50th main episode. And what a rewarding conversation this was. In this episode the conversation turns to questions like,  " What if leadership is simply a response to human connection? And not just connection, but also the nurturing and cultivation of...

Send us a message! Welcome back! And thank you for joining us on the first Cheeky Half of Season 6 . Join Paul & KG as they talk about what the sixth year may hold for the show, as well as shaking the dust from their microphones by talking about a whole lot of nuthin'! And we also welcome back our wonderful supporters, Annandale Cellars . We don't know what wines we're going to...

Send us a message! Five years. Five seasons. 2025 was a milestone year for us in the podcave. And we have you and our wonderful guests to thank for that. In this final episode of 2025, KG and Paul reflect on the year that was - the many insightful, if not inspirational, conversations. The impact our guests are making both, in their local communities and across the glove. And the wines... oh, the w...

Send us a message! It's easy to dismiss social barriers as inevitable - the natural friction that comes with 'being different'. But it's much harder to look directly at the systems that keep people unseen, unheard, and separate from opportunity. But what if the work of genuine leadership offered something far more radical: not the removal of barriers through policy or process a...

Send us a message! We rarely publish 'sequels' for our Cheeky Half episodes, but this one was too good to miss. The saga continues with Paul 's plumbing. A complicated, but relatively routine, project has become altogether something else. Join Paul & KG as they discuss the next chapter of a little story that includes backed-up sewerage pipes, very large native trees, and the nee...

Send us a message! Calls for peace have become louder and more urgent across the globe over the last few years. So much so that it's difficult to know how to respond in ways that feel meaningful and relevant. After all, how can a drop in the ocean move an unrelenting tide? Mandar Apte is proof that an individual, with no initial political, financial or cultural stock, can actually move the ne...

Send us a message! Something went wrong with Paul 's plumbing. Those in his house, that is. Needless to say, it was a little unpleasant. However, not being one to let a learning opportunity pass him by, there were a couple of things that left him thinking.  Join Paul & KG as they discuss a little story that includes dark, stormy nights, backed-up sewerage pipes, and what happens when you...

Send us a message! What makes this conversation so inspiring is the notion that, when we are working with individual leaders to strengthen their leadership practice, we are also supporting their teams, their families and their communities. We are not just supporting the individual but the entire system in which they are located. Sarah Cornally is a passionate leadership practitioner, and Partner a...

Send us a message! Our very first live podcast recording with Steve Hearsum (Episode 5.07) is the gift that keeps giving! Join Paul & KG as they open the space to questions from our audience for our highly engaging guest. The questions are considered, and the ongoing conversation is insightful, offering an unexpected invitation to deeper reflection and vulnerability. And let us repeat, for you...