Leanne on Demand Daily with Leanne Hughes

On Friday night, I may have committed a dinner party faux pas… by turning into that person—the one who can’t believe you don’t use Apple products. Over bubbles and red wine with Kirsty Lewis, I launched into an enthusiastic defence of my entire Apple tech stack—why it makes me faster, more efficient, and friction-free in my work as a “media company,” not just a consulting business. In this episode...

There are some conversations where you can just feel the depth of thought—and this episode with Jo Fitzgerald is one of them. I met Jo when she came over to Brisbane earlier this year, and straight away I knew I wanted to hit record on our chats. We finally made it happen! In this episode, Jo shares her journey from primary school teaching to becoming a facilitator and coach, and how that foundati...

Today’s Weekend Rewind is part practical masterclass, part business therapy—and I absolutely loved it. My guest is Brendon Baker, someone I’ve known for a couple of years through the Alan Weiss community. We’ve collaborated, co-created, voice-noted each other through dilemmas, and today I brought him on the show for a wide-ranging conversation about business growth, facilitation, and how to shift...

In this episode, I’m sharing the audio version of my latest Substack article: The Case for Being Uncoachable: Why Trusting Yourself Beats Following the Map (Sometimes). Inspired by a real-life moment where I told Google Maps “no thanks” and trusted my own route home, this episode explores: Why trusting your inner GPS is a leadership skill worth cultivating The danger of drowning in well-meaning ad...

Every time I tell someone I’m heading to Nepal for a high-altitude trek, I get a flood of advice: what to pack, how to train, gear recommendations, you name it. It's well-intentioned—but also overwhelming. In today’s solo episode, I unpack a voice note conversation I had with Matt Stewart (from Experience Not Felt Possible ), who’s running the expedition. We explore the tension between listening t...

In today’s episode, I share a powerful acronym that captures the chaotic, unpredictable, and fog-filled world we’re navigating in 2025 and beyond. You’ve probably heard of VUCA — Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous — a term that's been tossed around in leadership circles for decades. But a new framework, BANI , hit my radar recently (thanks, Yoke Van Dam!), and I think it paints a more accurat...

While I was spinning on my Peloton (shoutout Cody Rigsby), I listened to a super juicy webinar titled: How to Attract and Land Filthy Rich Clients on Social Media . Now, don’t be turned off by the title—it was actually packed with thought-provoking distinctions between cheap clients vs rich clients (not poor—important difference!). I share some red flags to watch for, why asking “what’s your rate?...

Today’s episode was recorded fresh off a spectacular morning hike with Kirsty Lewis — someone I’ve technically known since 2018 but only met IRL for the first time today! Kirsty runs the School of Facilitation in the UK, and she’s visiting Australia after a facilitation gig in Manila. So we hit the Macchu Picchu trail (not really, but it felt epic), talked facilitation, pricing, and how we both ha...

Excited to share this Weekend Rewind with you! I found myself telling so many people (colleagues, friends, fellow workshop nerds) about the insights from this episode. Andrew’s approach to marketing, how he frames strategic advisory, and especially the way he gives us permission to stop over-preparing… it was all incredibly refreshing. If you're someone who designs workshops or feels like you need...

Alan Weiss is back — this time dialing in from Nantucket with a whiskey in hand, while I’m sipping coffee from Brisbane. This episode is less “webinar,” more “walk and swirl the air” style of conversation — a craft chat about the big and little decisions we make every day. We explore: Why most decisions go wrong (hint: it’s not what you think) The 3-part decision-making framework Alan swears by (O...

In this episode, I share a triple shot of mindset fuel: ☕ The Coffee Identity Crisis It’s 7:24 AM and I’m standing at my usual cafe, battling the social pressure of saying “Long Black” instead of my usual mocha. Why is this so hard ? Because even our smallest rituals get reinforced by the people around us. Even our baristas expect us to stay the same. 👷‍♀️ The Rate Buster Problem Ever been told...

Today, I’m talking about a phenomenon I see everywhere — in workshops, in virtual calls, in team meetings, and even at home in my kitchen: diffusion of responsibility . Here’s what I cover: Why the more people you have in a room, the less likely it is someone will speak up The difference between “we should…” and “I will…” How this shows up in virtual breakouts (and what I do to get around it) A cl...

I’ve been thinking a lot about accountability —that word we see plastered on corporate value statements like it’s the golden ticket to high performance. But here’s my hot take: accountability isn’t binary. You’re not either “an accountable person” or you’re not—it’s contextual. Today I’m challenging the ever-popular quote: “How you do one thing is how you do everything.” Honestly? I call BS. I can...

Hi from Melbourne, where the weather went full four-seasons-in-one-run today 🌦️ In this episode, I share a little travel tale from this morning—one that had me sweating over an Uber notification and questioning whether I should cancel, rebook, or just… wait. I walk you through: My ritual for getting to the airport without stress (spoiler: it involves scheduling an Uber + morning cardio) The moment...

You’re already playing Calendar Tetris, whether you know it or not. The real question is—are you placing your blocks with intention, or are you letting everyone else drop them on you? This one’s for anyone who feels like their calendar is stacked to the ceiling and teetering on collapse. I walk through eight shifts that help me play a better, more forgiving game of time management—from deleting th...

Today’s episode is one that’s incredibly special to me—it’s a conversation with my dad, Anari Hughes. You’ll hear me give him a proper intro in the recording, but here’s some extra context: Dad is a retired civil engineer, but the impact he’s had on people—both professionally and personally—is far from retired. When he finished up work, we threw him a surprise retirement party. I got to run a pane...

Hey, thanks for tuning into the Weekend Rewind . I completely forgot I had this incredible conversation with Jordan Harbinger—one of the biggest influences on my podcasting journey—and it’s too good not to bring back. This was originally recorded as Episode 100 of the First Time Facilitator podcast, and it’s such a full-circle moment. I first saw Jordan speak at We Are Podcast in Brisbane back in...

I’m halfway through a big week working with a team—lots of rich convos and aha moments. One theme that popped up today? Naming things. Not just for the sake of it, but naming as a way to clarify, energise, and bring ideas to life. In this episode, I chat through: ✨ Why I love naming things and how I approach it 🧠 My favourite naming tools: portmanteaus, alliteration, rhyming, clarity 💬 The ques...

Today’s episode is part two of a CliftonStrengths mini-series (but don’t worry, you don’t need to listen to part one to jump into this one). I’m diving into my Top 5 strengths and how they actually show up in my life and business. This tool has been such a game-changer for me—not just in understanding myself better, but also helping teams I work with tap into their own brilliance. Here are my five...

Today I’m diving into something I absolutely love—strengths. Specifically, I’m chatting about a tool I’m using with a team this week to help uncover individual strengths and map them across the team landscape. The tool? CliftonStrengths (by Gallup), which completely changed my life back in 2017 after I read Jenny Blake’s book Pivot . At the time, I felt like the odd one out in my job, questioning...

Hey, thanks for tuning in today. This episode is for my fellow runners—and travel lovers. I’m sharing my absolute favourite running routes around the world. These are the runs that bring me pure joy. You know the ones—those flat-ish, scenic, energising 5–10K loops where you just feel alive the entire way. Now, I’ll be honest—I'll probably remember a dozen more the minute I hit publish (so expect a...

This episode was sparked by a great comment I got on LinkedIn from Sally Portus (hi Sally!), asking: How do you consistently prioritize things like training for a hike—outside of just ‘putting it in your calendar’? So today, I’m sharing how I approach consistency—not with rigid discipline, but with a very healthy dose of fear. 🧗‍♀️ I’ve got a goal that genuinely scares me : Trekking to Everest Ba...

 I'my, joined by the hilarious and legendary Dave Jackson. You might know him from the School of Podcasting, or maybe you've seen him speak at one of the many podcasting events around the world (including the one where I first met him—We Are Podcast!). But here's the twist: instead of diving deep into podcasting tips, I wanted to tap into Dave's decades of experience as a technical trainer an...

In this episode, I’m bringing back a firecracker of a guest: Sarah Cordiner — course creation expert, published author, former youngest university director in Australia and all-around powerhouse. We talk about: How she went from losing a $2.7M business overnight to building a global, seven-figure online course empire from a spare bedroom in Broome Her exact content repurposing process (seriously,...

Yesterday I posted about my experiment interviewing with an AI recruiter called Jane, created by the tool Tavus. Jane represents a global consulting firm, and honestly, the experience felt surprisingly real, yet clearly robotic. I shared this encounter on LinkedIn thinking the response would be intrigue or curiosity, but instead it triggered strong pushback about AI being "dehumanising" and "disre...