The Insurgent Mindset

In this episode of The Insurgent Mindset, Matt and Rondo explore why established businesses struggle to sustain growth, and why the answer often lies in rewiring the business rather than simply refining the existing growth strategy. Using examples including Nike, Intel, Ford, Tesla and NVIDIA, they examine how organisations become captive to their existing business models, lose sight of emerging o...

In this episode of The Insurgent Mindset, Matt and Rondo sit down with William Lawrence, Commercial Director at Remedy Drinks, to explore the realities of scaling a challenger brand in a market dominated by established giants. From building a category around kombucha to expanding into the mainstream soft drink market with Sodaly, William shares the lessons behind Remedy's growth: including why...

In this episode of  The Insurgent Mindset , Matt and Rondo explore how AI is reopening one of the oldest questions in enterprise technology:  should companies build or buy their software? For decades, the complexity and cost of building custom systems created a powerful moat for enterprise software vendors. AI agents are beginning to weaken that advantage, making customised software faster, cheape...

In this episode of The Insurgent Mindset, Matt and Rondo unpack why traditional strategies are struggling as AI reshapes the world, customer expectations shift, geopolitical uncertainty grows, and new competition emerges. They explore what happens when outdated assumptions hold organisations back, and why leaders need to rethink how they create value, compete, and adapt. A practical conversation f...

In this episode, Matt and Rondo are joined by Simon Elliot to explore Customer Experience Thinking in the context of theInsurgent Mindset. What does it really mean to understand your customer? How close is your organisation to the people it serves? And what changes when customers become part of the process rather than simply the recipients of an experience?   The conversation explores customer pro...

In this episode, Matt speaks with  Ed Harrison ,  an experienced media and publishing executive who has worked across Fairfax Media, Yahoo 7, Isentia and, more recently, the Australian medical publishing sector. Ed has spent much of his career navigating industries undergoing rapid technological and business model disruption. The conversation explores what happens when established competitive adva...

In this episode of The Insurgent Mindset, Matt and Rondo unpack whether the so-called “SaaSpocalypse” is really a temporary market correction or evidence of a much deeper structural shift. They explore why companies are beginning to replace SaaS tools with AI agents and custom-built systems, how the build-versus-buy equation is changing, and why general-purpose SaaS may face more pressure than spe...

In this episode of The Insurgent Mindset, Matt and Rondo sit down with Hitesh Vachharajani,   a life sciences executive and founder with almost three decades of experience across pharmaceuticals, medtech and diagnostics. Together they explore why many organisations are applying AI to outdated business models, why efficiency isn't the same as transformation, and why the companies that rethink t...

Bernie Brooks has led some of Australia's biggest retailers, built businesses across India, China and Africa, and now advises boards and investors on what separates winners from businesses that slowly disappear. In this episode of  The Insurgent Mindset , Bernie joins Matt and Rondo to unpack the future of retail, why Amazon continues to reshape competition, what Kmart understood that Target m...

In this episode of  The Insurgent Mindset ,  Lisa Christy  joins Matt Tice and Rondo Moses to explore why HR can no longer remain a transactional support function. As AI accelerates the pace of business, organisations must rethink capability, workforce planning, leadership and culture together. The discussion explores why adaptability is becoming more valuable than experience, why CEOs must person...

In this episode of  The Insurgent Mindset , Matt and Rondo unpack one of the biggest paradoxes shaping business today: why cheaper AI is leading to larger AI bills. They explore token economics, the governance challenges facing boards and CFOs, the risks of uncontrolled AI adoption, and why many organizations are focusing on efficiency while missing the much larger opportunity of value creation. ...

Every year, leadership teams and boards invest significant time and resources into strategy offsites, planning sessions, and executive retreats. Yet many of these workshops produce little more than incremental improvements, recycled assumptions, and plans that struggle to keep pace with a rapidly changing market. In this episode of  The Insurgent Mindset , Matt and Rondo challenge conventional thi...

In this episode of  The Insurgent Mindset , we sit down with Julie Toma to explore why innovation often dies inside established organizations, how boards can either accelerate disruption or completely block it, and why curiosity, courage, and psychological safety are becoming essential leadership traits in a rapidly changing world. Julie shares insights from her experience across healthcare, marke...

What if the future of learning isn’t about better content—but better design? In this episode, Jamie Engel, founder of Neutopia, breaks down the “architecture of learning” and why most organizations get it wrong. Drawing from a career spanning film, storytelling, and education, he reveals how the convergence of platform, program, and people creates transformational learning experiences—and why stor...

What happens when your next customer isn’t human? We sit down with Katja Forbes (author of  Machine Customers ) and break down the rapid rise of agentic commerce and what it means for business strategy, customer experience, and competitive advantage. With AI agents already making purchasing decisions and retail agent traffic surging by thousands of percent, the shift is already here, and most lead...

In a world defined by constant disruption, the ability to distinguish between signal and noise has become one of the most critical leadership skills. In this episode of The Insurgent Mindset, the conversation explores how mid-market leaders are navigating uncertainty, identifying meaningful trends, and making faster, more confident decisions in an increasingly complex environment. Joined by Managi...

Most mid-market CEOs believe they’re building valuable businesses, but when private equity shows up, they quickly discover how much value they’ve left on the table. In this episode, we break down the critical difference between two types of leaders: those who manage for performance, and those who architect for enterprise value. Using a simple example of two identical $5M EBITDA businesses with dra...

In this timely bonus episode of  The Insurgent Mindset , Matt and Rondo unpack the economic, political, and military impacts of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. From rising fuel costs and inflationary pressure to tightening capital and increasing recession risk, the conversation explores how early shockwaves are already affecting global markets and business decision-making. The episode als...

Too often, companies treat efficiency as the goal, focusing on cutting costs and eliminating waste. But productivity is something different entirely: it’s about creating more value for customers and the market. The discussion unpacks how organizations frequently become highly efficient at the wrong things, leaving significant value on the table.    Matt and Rondo explore the strategic tension betw...

In this episode of  The Insurgent Mindset , we sit down with Renae Hanvin, Founder and CEO of Resilient Ready, to explore why resilience is emerging as one of the most critical capabilities for modern organizations. Drawing on her background in crisis management, corporate responsibility, and disaster recovery, Renae shares how her work now focuses on helping small businesses, governments, and ent...

What does insurgent leadership really look like when the responsibility sits squarely in the CEO seat? In this episode of  The Insurgent Mindset , Rob Lawrence, CEO of Otelier, breaks down the realities of leading through disruption in a laggard industry facing rapid technological change.  The conversation explores how hospitality technology is evolving, why SaaS is undergoing a long-overdue recko...

Government systems are often seen as slow, complex, and resistant to change. This episode explores what happens when an insurgent mindset is applied inside those structures — not from the outside, but from within. The discussion focuses on how individuals and teams in the public sector can challenge norms, rethink processes, and pursue meaningful change even in environments shaped by regulation, h...

2026 is shaping up to be a volatility-rich year and for insurgent leaders, that means opportunity. In this episode of  The Insurgent Mindset , Matt and Rondo look ahead at what CEOs and leadership teams need to be preparing for as uncertainty becomes structural rather than cyclical. From geopolitical risk and economic pressure to shifting consumer behaviour and political polarisation, the old play...

As 2025 comes to a close, the biggest risk for leaders isn’t missing the next trend, it’s misunderstanding the ones that already reshaped the landscape. This episode is a strategic debrief on the patterns that quietly defined the year, separating short-term noise from signals that are still unfolding. The conversation reflects on what 2025 revealed about productivity, technology adoption, cost pre...

For years, Netflix defined what it meant to be an insurgent: rewriting the rules of distribution, attention, and pricing while legacy media scrambled to keep up. But as the battle for Warner Bros heats up, the lines between insurgent and incumbent are blurring fast. This episode unpacks what happens when the disruptor becomes the dominant force and why that shift matters far beyond Hollywood. We e...