The Leaders of Influence Podcast with Anton Guinea

This episode of the Leaders of Influence podcast features Denise Mokadsi, a Melbourne-based integrative health practitioner and belief transformation coach who works with midlife women on energy, clarity, and confidence. The conversation centers on influence as the often-invisible forces, external (like social media, family, society) and internal (beliefs, values, meanings) that shape how we think...

Brent reflects on how his lifelong love of rugby league began in childhood, when his mum signed him up to channel his energy, and how the game shaped his identity, friendships, and career. He and the host explore the idea that influence is primarily about daily behaviors and setting an example, especially for children, teammates, and colleagues, rather than just words or status. Brent also speaks...

Gen Dohrmann, CEO of Table Tennis Victoria, shares her journey into sports leadership, explaining how a background in communications and marketing across multiple sports led her to her current role. She describes the recent overhaul of table tennis membership structures in Australia, expanding beyond simple “social” and “competitive” categories to better reflect different levels of play and introd...

Melissa Williams, an award-winning global authority on adult learning, joins leadership expert Anton Guinea to explore how true influence is built through learning. Melissa shares her journey from believing she was “dumb” at school to becoming CEO of a successful learning organization, thanks to discovering the FORMAT model and her own learning preferences. Together, they unpack the difference bet...

Leadership coach Anton Guinea interviews storytelling expert Gabrielle Dolan about how storytelling functions as a core leadership and influence skill, not a “nice to have.” Gabrielle explains that stories make messages “sticky” by creating emotional connection and long-term memory, drawing on examples from First Nations cultures, safety storytelling, and her work in change management and values c...

Canberra-based community care leaders Lisa Walker and Natashia (Tash) Telfer share how their personal histories. Lisa’s transition from high-level government finance roles into family-run care businesses, and Tash’s battle with stage 4B Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 18, shaped a leadership style built on kindness, culture, and advocacy. They discuss what influence means beyond social media likes: creating...

What happens when a straight-talking boilermaker with real-world experience in gas, coal, and agriculture steps into the halls of power? In this episode, you’ll hear a raw, no-filter conversation about politics, work, and life from someone who built a career with their hands long before they ever set foot in parliament. Colin shares why so many modern politicians are out of touch with everyday Aus...

Melissa Dunbar, a highly respected Australian entrepreneur and founder of Big Fish Events Group (est. 2004), whose three-decade career spans events, marketing, communications, and innovation, and includes recognition as a 2019 Telstra Businesswoman of the Year finalist. Melissa recounts how, after returning from London and Texas and finding traditional roles hard to land, she tapped into her netwo...

Les Moir explores how business-level AI is transforming service-based small and medium businesses that have strong capability but hit a capacity and infrastructure plateau. They distinguish task-level AI (e.g., ChatGPT for emails, ads, and content, like upgrading from a hammer to a nail gun, but still requiring the owner’s time and skill) from business-level AI, systems that run core functions on...

Sean Phillip is an Australian-based mental health and suicide prevention advocate and director of The Shaka Project, based in Torquay, Victoria. Drawing on his own lived experience with mental health challenges from a young age, and the openness of his parents in discussing their diagnoses, Sean has delivered hundreds of workshops and keynotes across Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and Europe. In th...

What does a family dinner table have in common with a high-performance leadership one-on-one? More than you might think. In this conversation with Graham and Alison Sheppard, the founders of the Aligra Group, we dive deep into the foundations of long-term influence—both at home and in the corporate world. We tackle the tough conversations around the irreplaceable value of making real-world memorie...

Ultra-endurance strategist Greg Huppatz shares how he leads a 12-person crew to guide cyclist Al Jefferson across America in one of the world’s toughest races. Greg unpacks the math behind performance, from speed, distance, time, calories, and wattage to sleep cycles, hydration, and recovery, and shows how numbers, teamwork, and trust turn a 5,000 km ride into a repeatable winning system. Along th...

Ray Boggiano, a senior sports education executive and regional director APAC for the Global Institute of Sport (GIS). Ray discusses what influence means to him—shaping understanding, then longer-term attitudes, values, and behaviors—and how this plays out both on the pitch in team culture and off the pitch in organizational and educational settings. He explains how GIS supports athletes and non-at...

In this episode of the Find Your Influence podcast, host Anton Guinea interviews chartered accountant and wealth strategist Gary Brown about money, influence, and financial freedom. Gary shares his journey from arriving in Melbourne at 18 with $1,500 to building a net worth of about $75 million, emphasizing hard work, integrity, and learning from both his own and clients’ financial decisions. They...

Jeff (Jeffrey) Burke, a Pilbara-based civil construction operator and international entrepreneur. Jeff describes how a failed motorcycle-brand idea in Vietnam led to the creation and rapid growth of Onya Bike Adventures, now operating in six countries, as well as a paint manufacturing company, Revolution Paint. He reflects on Vietnam’s appeal, its rawness, family-centered culture, and homestay exp...

What do you actually see when you walk onto a worksite? Do you see a hazard, or do you see the human consequence? In this powerful episode of the Find Your Influence podcast, Anton Guinea sits down with Patrick (Pat) Fordyce, COO of Berg Engineering and Author of 'The Stability Cycle', to look at what it truly takes to drive operational discipline and human-centred leadership. Anton shares a life-...

Craig Keegan—a Melbourne-based M&A and roll-up operator focused on dental practice consolidation—shares key lessons from his entrepreneurial journey. He emphasizes the importance of owning your own product, system, and IP after being burned by failed partnerships and unethical operators, which led him to always build his own platforms and processes. Craig outlines his four rules for relationsh...

Lee Campbell, a Gold Coast-based manifestation trainer and women’s empowerment mentor. Lee explains her core archetypes (Warrior/Wonder Woman, Lover, Magician, Queen) and how women can consciously “call in” different identities to support self-leadership, resilience, and growth. Using the Wizard of Oz and Wonder Woman as metaphors, she describes the idea of taking continual “two-millimeter shifts”...

Troy describes his 30+ years as a strategic financial planner and founder of Collins Financial Group, emphasizing that true financial planning is strategic, not transactional, built around his core pillars of direction, control, and choice. He links financial strategy with triathlon coaching: starting with the end in mind, creating a clear long‑term goal, then working backward with structure, disc...

In this powerful conversation, leadership and safety expert Chad Hymas shares how a catastrophic workplace accident at 27, when a 2,000‑pound bale of hay shattered his neck and left him a quadriplegic, completely transformed his life, work, and view of leadership. He describes the harsh realities of living without the use of his legs, core, or hands, the strain and tenderness in his marriage and c...

Brad Eisenhuth explores what real influence and leadership look like in practice. Brad defines influence as creating movement in others and emphasizes generating a disproportionate return on time and effort by choosing the right environment, method, and intent. He explains that true change requires motivation, ownership of problems, and a shift in both thinking and behavior. Using concepts like th...

Dominique Lamb is a premier Australian governance, policy, and advocacy leader currently serving as the Director of Community Affairs to the President of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Dominique explains how the 2032 Games are shifting away from traditional, isolated sporting events toward a distributed, 14-host-city model designed to act as a catalyst for "public value", ensuring...

Paul Harazim is an Australian business leader focused on industrial safety and efficiency in the water, wastewater, and transport sectors. Paul explains how his company, Mass Products, bridges the gap between engineers and frontline operators by designing operator-led, practical access and safety solutions that reduce bureaucracy and paperwork while improving real-world safety. He describes a new...

Michellie Jones, an Australian triathlon legend, discussed her career highlights, including winning the ITU World Championship in 1992, the Olympic silver medal in 2000, and the Ironman World Championship in 2006. She emphasized the importance of consistency and overcoming challenges, sharing personal anecdotes about her high school coach's influence and her transition to equestrian sports. Jones...

Tiffany English, founder and CEO of Access Offshoring, discusses the concept of influence with Anton Guinea on the Find Your Influence podcast. Tiffany defines influence as the ability to positively change behavior, even when not present. She emphasizes consistency, authenticity, and long-term impact in leadership. Tiffany shares her journey, highlighting early influences, such as a female boss in...