Humans Aren't Robots

Welcome to Season 2 of Human's Aren't Robots. In this series of conversations we dive into the realm of creative leadership with humans from some of the worlds most successful companies. We have guests from Google, Atlassian, Nest, Phoria, The future of Sex, Up Bank and more - We touch on a wide range of topics with Creative leadership and Design as the central theme - but get into punk rock, skat...

Following another week of rapidly changing new stories, government updates and more uncertainty, I reached out to Jim Antonopoulos, a fellow designer and friend who's thoughts on leadership and teams I find extremely interesting and thought-provoking. Jim runs Tank, a strategic design & innovation consultancy - if you aren't already subscribed to his weekly newsletter I'd definitely recommend sign...

There is A LOT of information going around at the moment, some of it helpful, some less so. I got in touch with Michael and Tim from HT Capital, clients of ours who are perfectly positioned to offer a helpful perspective to small business owners in the same position as us. We discussed the importance of small businesses really taking the time now to take a step back, look at their cashflow, pipeli...

We were joined at _southstart by investor and entrepreneur - Steve Baxter. Most people will know Steve from Shark Tank Australia but his career is a lot more extensive than that. He has worked with many successful companies in leading roles over the last 25 years, roles that include Founder, Director, CEO and more. We discussed the work ethic of young people and how it's changed since Steve's earl...

In this episode from _southstart I sat down with three incredible people: Adam McCurdie, Mark Reading and Sarah Gun. They were a part of a panel called "Social Impact: The Time is Now", a really interesting discussion that dove into how we can align technology with humanity to tackle some of the most pressing issues that we face. We take a look into their worlds and what lies ahead for each of the...

Adelaide local, Devin Mancuso (now based in California) has worked for Google for almost 4 years, initially as a Senior Interaction Designer and now in Design Strategy, Platforms and Ecosystems. I had a really interesting chat with him about so many different topics. We discussed how he got into the design space, recounting the exact moment he really fell in love with it (while studying computer s...

In our last PauseFest podcast from 2019 we chat with Ben Lee, Founder and Chief Revenue Office at Rootstrap. If you've never heard of these guys before, you should really check them out - they're known as globally-recognised digital masters and have worked with Google, Master Class and heaps of other exciting businesses. In our chat we discuss how Ben is taking a different approach to the usual 'e...

Sitting down with Elaine Stead again was exciting. Since our last chat, Elaine has been working with the South Australian Venture Capital Fund, doing some great things here in Adelaide. We got into the importance of having a purpose. Knowing the "why" of your business will keep you on track and focused, whether you're doing great or shit's hitting the fan. Elaine also gave us some insight to what...

It was exciting sitting down with Penny Locaso again, if you've been listening to our podcasts for a while, you'll remember we talked to her at _southstart last year. Penny founded Bkindred and calls herself a "happiness hacker". She teaches people how to slow down, think more, and make decisions to adapt, coining the term Intentional Adaptability Quotient (IAQ) - a means of measuring how skilled...

As our world is taken over by more products and services than ever before, it's the job of people like Laura Ryan to ensure that these will assist and benefit people's wellbeing. I sat down to discuss this with her at PauseFest last year. Laura is the Strategy Director at Mentally Friendly, an exciting design and innovation studio with a human-centred approach.   We talked about what wellbeing (re...

Sitting down at SouthStart with Alex Moss over some wine sparked an exciting conversation. She is the CEO and Head designer of Canaria Technologies, a cutting edge tech company that brings together the space, mining and medicine industries into one little wearable that can monitor and track the wearers vital signs. Alex has not always worked in this space though, she comes from a fashion, design,...

In this episode from _southstart, I sat down with Dan Levy who I've known for a while now. His business, More Space For Light, uses design thinking methods to find problems within companies and find ways to solve them. They look at customer/user experience, strategy and consultation, with specialisation in design sprints and workshop programs. Dan gives us a rundown of how the whole process works...

At South Start 2019, I got to sit down in our podcasting tent and chat with Dr Jemma Green. We found out exactly how Jemma went from working mainstream finance in a bank to finding a passion in sustainability. Jemma is the executive chairman at Power Ledger where renewable energy is at the forefront of their mission. Through the utilisation of blockchain, Power Ledger have enabled peer-to-peer tra...

I finally got the chance to chat with Amelie Veale from Be The Drop, another awesome Adelaide based podcast. In this episode, we talk about branding, culture, customer services, and get meta about podcasting. We also discuss the way podcasting has grown for both of us. This was a really exciting chat and a great listen for anyone thinking of starting their own podcast, enjoy!

At Pause Fest, I got the chance to sit down with Stephanie Winkler. She is currently the Head of Insights for VICE, previously in the Senior Digital Strategist role. Stephanie also does a lot of work with General Assembly, an organisation that takes young people and equips them with skills in marketing, coding, UX and Design, and more. We talked about how content and relationships at VICE have bee...

I am excited to share this chat with you all. Lou Wiess is the CMO At Shutterstock. If you have ever worked in or around a creative role, you would have heard of them. They are the worlds most abundant source of stock assets. Lou knows his shit! Having been involved in the world of digital marketing for the lifespan of the modern web. Speaking to Lou, you get the impression he has been ahead of a...

Sam was joined at Pause Fest by Sam Gledhill and Marcus Nance from the Movember Foundation. Together they discuss how a charity can become such a success and what the future of mental health support holds.

When I first heard that someone was doing 'cool stuff' on the Popeye, my ears pricked up. For those of you not here in Adelaide, the Popeye is a historic cruise boat that motors up and down our humble Torrens River. Many of us would have fond memories as kids going for a ride or spotting it while walking the bank or visiting the zoo. Bianca Shuman has recently taken over the wheel from her dad; sh...

I had been podcasting all morning at this point, and Mykel arrived with Anna and suggested he buy a round of beers. The perfect start to a conversation, in my opinion. I had not met Anna before but quickly learnt she does incredible work in the fields of human rights, social work and public policy and had been travelling around Australia in a pop-top combi for several years listening to the storie...

I sat down with Craig Swann who is once again the driving force behind Southstart here in Adelaide. Craig is no stranger to our podcast, in fact this is his third chat with us! We will be joining him and his team at the event this year, podcasting live and helping to share some of the incredible ideas! The theme of this year is very much in line with our new re-brand on the podcast - Convergence:...

We're kicking off our new podcast name with a very fitting guest - Stephen Gates! Human's aren't Robots: The people behind the digital. Coming at you from PauseFest, Stephen is currently the head design evangelist at Invision - a company most of us in the creative fields will have heard of (and love). His role, essentially involves going into companies (they partner with 97% of the worlds Fortune...

Craig Brown is the CEO of software engineering company, Everest Engineering. Craig is also the founder of LAST Conferences which focus on Lean Agile Systems. LAST Conferences take place in cities around Australia and are curated by local practitioners. To find a conference, follow the prompts at: https://www.lastconference.com/ Read Sam's review of a LAST conference he attended: https://www.digita...

We sat down with Jacqui live from Pausefest to chat about her experience with Sidekicker, a business she co-founded at the age of 22.  Sidekicker is a technology platform that lets businesses hire temporary staff, or as they call them, Sidekicks. Backed by SEEK and with offices in every major city across Australia and New Zealand, they employ 10,000 Sidekickers, connecting them with businesses see...

Sam is joined by Grant Munro, self made entrepreneur and founder of Flashstock. They chat about the scalability of a company, and the importance of providing relevant content to your clients. Grant has created custom content for the likes of Blackberry and Budweiser, and eventually had his company acquired by Shutterstock! A good listen for anybody who works in a service business. Grant Munro: htt...

Paolo is a user experience designer and leader with a serious CV to his name. He has been instrumental both as a designer and leader of people in companies such as Microsoft, Mercedes and Netflix. He is currently at Google as the director of UX in the YouTube Ads team. Paolo spoke at Pause Fest earlier in the year about 'The 5 P's' - a practical framework that he has put together for leading teams...