Empowering Leaders

As an intensive care paramedic, Sally Gould has spent over 15 years on the front lines of emergency medicine, witnessing both the chaos of life-and-death situations and the quiet resilience that defines her profession. In this episode of Empowering Leaders, Sally reveals how she stays calm in high-pressure situations, the role humour and humanity play in managing trauma, and why empathy is one of...

What happens to our relationships when the most available, most responsive, most patient listener in our lives is an AI? Bryony Cole has been sitting with that question longer than almost anyone. As the founder of the Future of Sex platform, she stepped into one of the most uncomfortable conversations a person could choose to have, more than a decade ago, and never looked back. What started as a c...

There's a moment in this conversation where Matt Wadewitz describes getting a phone call at 3am. He'd saved the name in his phone just in case - because he'd hoped it was coming. The voice on the other end had a beautiful Spanish accent. It was Mikel Arteta. That call is a good entry point into who Matt is and what he's built. Because Aleda Connect - the global leadership program he co-founded wit...

Brad Johnson holds the Western Bulldogs games record - 364 games. 558 goals, six All Australian selections, a Hall of Fame inductee. He is, by any measure, one of the greats of his generation. This is a beautiful conversation with a genuinely extraordinary person that still trains like he's trying to earn his spot - he drove an hour to be first at the track the morning this conversation was record...

Timmy Bristow was nine years old when he ruptured his pancreas playing footy at recess, crawled to the tap, and waited alone in a dark staffroom until his mum finished her shift. By the time she arrived he was blue. A few hours later he was on an ambulance plane to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne with a thirty percent chance of surviving surgery.  While Timmy was in hospital, of th...

When Lexi Edmondson walked down to Bondi Beach to celebrate finishing her master's degree, she had no idea her life was about to change forever. What began as a summer evening by the water for hundreds of people became one of Australia's most devastating acts of violence - and Lexi ran towards it. In her most in-depth interview since the December attack, Lexi sits down with Luke Darcy to take us i...

Harry Moffitt spent decades inside one of the world's most demanding institutions - Australia's Special Air Service Regiment. He's served in conflict zones across the Middle East including Afghanistan, lost friends, mentored some of the country's most elite operators, and now works as a corporate psychologist helping leaders, athletes, and organisations perform under pressure. He's also the author...

What separates the leaders and athletes who perform under pressure from those who crack? According to Dr Phil Hopley, it comes down to one overlooked discipline: daily recovery. Phil is a consultant psychiatrist and one of the world's leading experts in mental performance. Through Cognacity - the specialist psychology organisation he leads - Phil has worked inside elite sport, global boardrooms an...

Alisa Camplin is one of Australia's most decorated and driven high performance leaders - an Olympic gold medallist in aerial skiing, Australia's first female winter Olympic gold medallist, and most recently, the first woman to lead an Australian Winter Olympic team as Chef de Mission at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games. Alisa shares so many of the mental frameworks that powered her greatest performan...

The AFL dream ended in tears at 20. A decade later, he was lifting the World Test Championship. Alex Carey's journey to becoming one of Australian cricket's most trusted performers is one of the sporting world’s great second-act stories. A talented junior who played both codes at a high level, Alex took a chance on AFL and moved to Sydney as one of the GWS Giants' foundation players - only t...

Jakara Anthony is Australia's most successful Winter Olympian…ever. A two-time Olympic gold medallist in mogul skiing, she's the first Australian to defend an Olympic title, doing it on the world stage against competitors from countries where skiing is practically a birthright.  And she's 27. In this conversation with Luke Darcy, Jakara pulls back the curtain on what being that success...

Recorded live at Adelaide Oval in front of a packed Aleda Connect audience during one of the most talked-about weekends in Australian sport, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas sits down with Luke Darcy for a rich and candid conversation. In this episode, he reflects on: What it actually means to lead at the highest level The difference between authentic leadership and the kind people see s...

If your team wins, who gets the credit… and what does your answer say about the culture you're building? ​​Ian McKeown has spent more than two decades at the cutting edge of elite sport…  from the AFL to the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers, and back to Australia as General Manager of Performance at the Adelaide Crows.  He holds a PhD in strength and conditioning, has published ex...

What separates a good wine from a truly world-class one?  According to Adam Wadewitz, it comes down to balance, finesse… and a relentless commitment to the vineyard. Adam is the Chief Winemaker and Joint CEO at Shaw + Smith, one of Australia's most iconic cool-climate wineries, and one of the most decorated winemakers of his generation. In this episode, he takes us from the footy field...

Last week, our guest Luke Tunnecliffe told the story of his son Jack… eight and a half years old, non-verbal and autistic… and the search that brought his family to a clinic in Lake Charles, Louisiana. This week, our guest is the doctor who runs that clinic. Dr Kyle Daigle is a clinician, author and global thought leader in functional neurology. From his clinic in Louisiana, which at...

Luke Darcy sits down with Luke Tunnecliffe - a man who has spent most of his career behind the scenes shaping the biggest moments in Australian sport and media. From walking into Collingwood at 17 to decades in the Triple M Footy chair and building JamTV alongside Eddie McGuire, Luke is a steady hand. A connector. A storyteller. He’s been in rooms with Usain Bolt. Backstage with John Farnham...

What does it actually take to perform at the highest level - not just once, but across a career? Luke Darcy sits down with Cate Campbell, four-time Olympic gold medallist and one of the most respected voices in Australian sport. Cate doesn't just talk about the wins. She reflects on the dream she and her sister Bronte cooked up as children in Malawi, the surreal experience of becoming an Olympian...

Are we paying enough attention to our young men? Do we know how to raise healthy, confident young men in the world we live in? Luke Darcy sits down with Scott Galloway, professor at NYU Stern, entrepreneur, bestselling author and host of the wildly successful Prof G and Pivot podcasts. In this conversation on Empowering Leaders, Luke and Scott explore the pressures facing young men right now and w...

Recorded live overlooking the 18th at LIV Golf Adelaide 2026, Luke sits down with Scott O’Neil, CEO of one of the most talked about organisations in global sport. Scott has led at the highest levels of the NBA, NFL and NHL, and now finds himself as CEO of LIV Golf, guiding a competition that has challenged golf’s traditions while attracting a new generation to the game. In this convers...

What does it really take to build a championship organisation in one of the most competitive leagues in the world? On this episode of Empowering Leaders, Luke sits down with Jon Horst, General Manager of the Milwaukee Bucks and one of the most respected executives in the NBA. From starting as an intern to becoming the youngest GM in the league, Jon shares the mindset that shaped his rise - and the...

What’s it like to be part of a small, trusted leadership group? Inside Aleda Connect, leaders from more than 20 countries come together each month in small groups to learn, reflect and collaborate. In this episode of  Empowering Leaders , Luke Darcy shares the voices of ten leaders who are part of the Aleda Connect Global Leadership Program. From elite sport to global business, from dip...

When you listen to leaders long enough, certain names keep coming up. In this Success Leaves Clues episode of Empowering Leaders , Luke asks a simple question: who has been the greatest leader in your life? The answers are intimate and often unexpected. A television director who kept a young host’s ego in check. A boss who held a job open throughout chemotherapy. A father with “magic d...

Sometimes the best leadership wisdom fits on a Post-it note. In this Success Leaves Clues episode of Empowering Leaders , Luke asks his guests for the one piece of advice they keep returning to. The answers range from the disarmingly simple to the deeply strategic. “Wake up each day and don’t be a wanker.” Keep the team at the centre but honour the individual. Keep dreaming and p...

True collaboration is not just getting along. It is committing to a mission together. In this episode of the Empowering Leaders Success Leaves Clues, Luke talks with people who have lived collaboration in very different ways. Peter Rea explores character, growth and post-traumatic growth. Mikel Arteta reflects on a simple object, a football, and how it can change a life and even a country. Adam Dr...

Everyone says communication is important. But how do you master it? In this episode of the  Empowering Leaders Success Leaves Clues, Luke brings together people who think deeply about how words land. Dan Rutstein talks about the power of three. Julian Treasure shares why listening is a radical act. Steve Kerr explains why he sometimes writes letters instead of speeches. Michael Cheika leans i...