Inspiring Great Leaders Podcast

Leigh Russell – CEO Swimming Australia On this episode of the Sportspeople Recruitment active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Leigh Russell about her fascination with human performance, being an authentic leader, the power of mentors and diving into human potential. We also delve into how career counselling at a school led to a role at AFL Players Association, thriving as a young CEO at...

Francesca Boase – General Manager Edelman Australia On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Francesca Boase about building trust in crisis management, storytelling as an art of communication, leading change, the Edelman Trust Barometer and being a great mentor. We also discuss personal development, being a custodian of peoples careers, the pain of accepting feedbac...

Chris Robb – Founder Mass Participation World On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Chris Robb about mass participation sport events, growing the Standard Chartered Marathon to over 60,00 participants, being the course manager for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games marathon, and changing people’s lives through money can’t buy experiences. We also delve into the...

Major General Cheryl Pearce – Forces Commander United Nations Peacekeeping Force On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Major General Cheryl Pearce about leading from the front lines, being an authentic leader, serving your country, managing workplace wellness, empowering a sense of purpose, and creating high performance teams. We also delve into her leadership ro...

On this episode of the Sportspeople Recruitment active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Alex Baumann about overcoming tragedy to win two Olympic Gold swimming medals, transforming coaches of high performance into high-performing coaches, high performance leadership, and his new role as Chief Strategist High Performance at Swimming Australia. We also dive into being a swimming parent, balancing...

Cassandra Heilbronn – Lawyer On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Cassandra Heilbronn about her journey into law; specializing in sport, sponsorship and social media law at Minter Ellison; founding The Prominenti Society; and drafting legislation in Sports, Entertainment & Events in Saudi Arabia. We also go in depth talking about sport integrity, empowering...

Sasa Sestic – Founder & Director ONA Coffee On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Sasa Sestic about escaping three wars, transitioning from 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Handball player to entrepreneur, creating ONA Coffee, the powerful impact of Project Origin, winning the 2015 Barista World Championships and a world beyond coffee. We take a deep dive into build...

On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Jemimah Ashleigh about being a profiler in the Australian Federal Police, her Amazon best-selling book Position Me, creating The Business Experiment podcast, and her rollercoaster ride as an entrepreneur. We also delve into her involvement with Thankyou and The Hope Project, perseverance, wellness and failing the Andy Frisella 75Ha...

Olivier Calandreau – President CEO BNP Paribas Cardif Seoul On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Olivier Calandreau, from BNP Paribas Cardif, about developing multicultural teams, focusing on think slow & act fast, embracing change and being brave enough. We also delve into starting out in PricewaterhouseCoopers, developing a mentoring program, the formaliti...

Jennie Wyllie – Chief Executive Netball NZ On this episode of the Sportspeople Recruitment active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Jennie Wyllie about growing up watching the New Zealand Silver Ferns netball team, coping with intense public scrutiny, challenge employees privately and support publicly, and leading a high performing team as Chief Executive of Netball New Zealand. We also d...

Brad Gunn – Managing Partner Vault Accountants and Financial Services On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Brad Gunn, from Vault Accountants and Financial Services, about the four day work week, creating a customer centric financial business, the role of technology in client relationships, and high levels of staff retention. We also delve into sports leave, ince...

On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Adam Hudson about coping with losing millions of dollars; the future of Amazon entrepreneurship; the purpose of Reliable Education; and innovation at the heart of entrepreneurship. We also delve into leaning into entrepreneurship, timing being an important part of your success, identifying a visual gap in the market, knowing when t...

PJ Ashley – Founder The Pillar Practice On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with PJ Ashley about The Pillar Practice, being born to change the world, supporting Defence Force families, and consciously connected leadership. We also discuss the ‘why’ behind starting her own business, having ‘busy’ as a badge of owner, people becoming truth-seekers, the World Health Or...

Craig Phillips – CEO Commonwealth Games Australia On this episode of the Sportspeople Recruitment active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Craig Phillips the CEO of Commonwealth Games Australia about the success of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games; leading in the sports industry; the importance of volunteers; and why females bring a different game to sports leadership, coaching and...

Adriana Cecere – Consulting Australia On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Adriana Cecere from Consulting Australia about being a teenage entrepreneur, creating scalable businesses, transitioning to being a sort after business consultant and coach, and delivering high performance as a CEO. We also learn about the backstory behind being called ‘The BackPocket CEO...

Chris McCormack – 4x World Triathlon Champion / Co-Founder Super League Triathlon On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with four-time World Triathlon Champion, Chris McCormack about ceo performance; growing up in Sydney; lessons learnt in triathlon and business; balancing patience with commercial decisions; winning on a world stage; and transitioning from sportsperso...

Ellen Derrick – National Executive Deloitte Australia On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Ellen Derrick about the importance of being grateful and serving others; her high performance mindset; working with leaders to deliver excellence at Deloitte Australia; and the value of scheduling energy rather than time. We also delve into coping with her adopted mother p...

Kate & Sam Cawthorn – Co-Founders Speakers Institute On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Kate and Sam Cawthorn about their life-defining moment; Sam being uniquely wired as a futurist; Kate unlocking your “super powers” of influence through the Gallup CliftonStrengths Finder assessment; the magic of Storyshowing; and Proximity is Power. We also...

Andrew Klein – Spike Presentations On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Andrew Klein, his struggle with being a lawyer; how debating and theater sports led to a career in speaking; why authenticity is number one for speakers; the art of influence, persuasion and presence; the importance of recovery as a performer; and leading an active and healthy lifestyle. He...

On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Jane Perry, a phenomenal leader in the brand transformation space, about what she learnt from being a Cecchetti Ballet student and her love of riding dirt bikes; not having a university degree; always yearning for the next big challenge and to shake things up; and her passion for retail and understanding the shopper. We also spoke...

Garry Mills – CEO Garry Mills Peak Performance On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns and Ben Gathercole speak with Garry Mills about lessons from the police force; being a Bodyguard for former Australian Prime Minister John Howard; and being a mental health advocate with Beyond Blue and Blokepedia. We also talk about learning to live and cope with depression; living a playbo...

Alex Richardson – The Art of Mentoring On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Alex Richardson about his creative world; growing up with dyslexia and Irlen Syndrome; the positive effects of meditation on staying focused; the effects of music on the brain; and painting an audio picture. We also delve into the Art of Mentoring; leading a virtual team; the power of me...

Holly Ransom – CEO / Founder Emergent On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Holly Ransom about being forensically curious; the richness of a conversation; importance of pre-game routine; the power of reverse mentoring; learning to harness fear; and intergenerational leadership in the 21 st Century. We explore conversations with Sir Richard Branson and former US P...

Magnus Grimeland – Founder & CEO of Antler On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Magnus Grimeland about his desire to make a positive difference in the world; excelling as a Norwegian Navy Seal; studying at Harvard University as Facebook launched; global learning’s working at McKinsey & Company; accelerating into Managing Director at Rocket Internet; capi...

Brent Clayton – Firefighter, CEO Fire Recruitment Australia & Authority Marketing Machine On this episode of the active CEO Podcast, Craig Johns speaks with Brent Clayton about being a serial entrepreneur; turning adversity into opportunity; the determination to become a firefighter; and balancing democratic and autocratic leadership. We also delve into learning discipline from the milit...