The Mistakes That Shaped Me

What happens when you set an ambitious target, but forget to bring your team along for the ride? In this exclusive live recording from the Customer 360 Symposium in the beautiful Hunter Valley, Annmaree Bell, Chief Customer Officer at Zurich, shares the leadership lesson that reshaped how she approaches goal setting, ownership, and teamwork. Annmaree shares how the setting of a bold quarter-on-qua...

What do you do when your greatest strength becomes your biggest weakness? In this exclusive live recording from the Marketing Tech Retreat in the beautiful Mornington Peninsula, Dr. Carmen Gould , Director of Global Marketing at RMIT University, shares the profound personal lesson that transformed how she thinks about leadership, organisations, and systems. Carmen opens up about how resilience (he...

What happens when you’re running at 150 miles per hour but the people around you can’t keep up? In this candid conversation, AI advisor and CX leader Simon Kriss opens up about the career-defining mistake that blindsided him, moving too fast for his team and leaving them struggling in his wake. From the high-pressure world of airlines to advising organisations on the future of AI, Simon shares: Ho...

If inaction is a decision, how do you explain it? In this thoughtful and candid conversation, Rajan Kumar, CEO & Co - founder of The Lumery, shares the leadership misstep that shaped him most: not acting quickly enough, and more importantly, not explaining why . From transparency traps to communication preferences (are you yellow, green, blue, or red?), Rajan dives into the psychology behind t...

Our host Thomas Haffenden sits down with Anna Jackson, Head of Creative Excellence at Telstra, for a raw and refreshingly honest conversation about trusting your gut, letting go of “the shoulds,” and taking the scenic route to a fulfilling career. Before leading Telstra’s creative vision, Anna was on a very different path, training as an architect in one of the toughest degrees you can do. But a b...

Leadership Is a Muscle – And Tough Conversations Are the Workout with Stephanie Walters, Customer Experience Head for Contact Centres at Emirates In this episode, Stephanie reflects on a pivotal leadership mistake: avoiding the difficult conversations. With decades of experience managing global contact centre teams and millions of customer interactions each year, Steph knows that delivering great...

Work, Worth & the Grown-Up Gap Year with Samantha Ezra, Principal of CX Strategy at Telstra In this honest and deeply reflective episode, I’m joined by Samantha Ezra, Principal of CX Strategy at Telstra, to talk about the trap so many of us fall into tying our worth to how hard we work. Samantha shares the story of pouring everything into her career, believing hard work would earn her equal tr...

In this episode, Tomas Haffenden sits down with Toby Ellis, Head of Customer Service at AMP, to explore a pivotal leadership lesson from early in his career and how it shaped the way he leads today. From building high-performing teams to driving innovation through grassroots engagement, Toby shares practical insights, career reflections, and the values that guide both his corporate and community w...

The cost of staying silent versus the power of speaking up with Jacquie Alley, Chief Operating Officer at The Media Store, and hosted by Tomas Haffenden.   Jacquie Alley has worked in the advertising world for over 25 years with one main goal: to leave the industry a better place than when she found it. She’s passionate about people and purpose and has had a brilliantly successful career, but...

Navigating leadership, motherhood and defining your worth with Amy Murrell, Chief People Officer at Rest Super, and hosted by Tomas Haffenden.   Amy Murrell spent much of her early career thinking that she could have it all, but what came was a realisation that if you’re succeeding in one area of your life, you’re almost certainly failing in another. In this candid conversation, we cover...

Burnout, Business and Bravery with Nyssa Packard, Senior Director of CX at Skyscanner, and hosted by Tomas Haffenden. Nyssa Packard has always believed in the goodness of people. From McDonald's to Danone to Booking.com, she climbed the corporate ladder with an open heart. But after a decade, she left it all behind to chase her entrepreneurial dream. What followed was a journey through the hi...

Playing It Safe vs Taking the Leap with Michael Petersen, Founder & CEO of Pivotus In this episode, we are joined by Michael Petersen, Founder and CEO of Pivotus, for an honest conversation about the tension between playing it safe and taking bold risks and how both approaches have shaped his journey. From early decisions made in the South of France to the deliberate choice not to rebrand,...

Culture Shock, Courage & the Closed Door with Gail Russell, Global Head of Customer Experiences & Channels, HSBC In this powerful episode, I’m joined by Gail Russell, Global Head of Customer Experiences and Channels at HSBC. Gail shares the remarkable story of her international career, from London to Paris to South Africa, and the cultural shocks, career-defining moments, and internal stre...

Featuring Georgia Thomas, Director of Brand, Media & Communications at THE ICONIC Georgia Thomas shares a career-defining mistake from her early days as a TV buyer. When handling a major advertising account, she accidentally sent confidential negotiation documents to someone outside her organisation, a blunder that could have severely damaged her company's position. What saved her was the rela...

Alice Almeida shares her powerful fertility journey and the impact it had on her career. Her story is a reminder of the importance of empathy in the workplace, for both leaders and team members. Did you know? 1 in 6 Australian couples face infertility. Chances are, someone in your office is struggling right now. A taste of what you’ll hear:  The hidden toll of fertility challenges at work Why...

In this episode, we speak with mindfulness and high-performance expert  Melo Calarco , who shares a life-changing story from his global cycling journey, getting caught in a cyclone and how it became the catalyst for discovering meditation, resilience, and inner peace. What we cover: Melo’s harrowing experience trapped in a cyclone while cycling around the world How meditation practices saved...

This week on  The Mistakes That Shaped Me , we sit down with Pancho, CEO of Forty Winks and former PUMA exec, to talk leadership, burnout, and why sleep is non-negotiable. Pancho shares how sacrificing rest for results was a mistake that nearly cost him—and how he now sees sleep as a key part of high performance. We explore his mindset shift from being purely outcome-focused to embracing the...

The hilarious Chris Savage, Business growth specialist, The Savage Company, an Ashton Media supporter since day one whom we greatly appreciate, shares his formative leadership mistakes and the lessons they taught him. Chris discusses understanding clients' products firsthand, his "hope for the best, plan for the worst" philosophy, and the importance of anticipating potential problems. He opens up...

In this episode, we welcome Candice Liew GAICD, Head of Customer Strategy and Experience at Flybuys, who shares her valuable insights on the delicate art of innovation. Candice opens up about learning not to fall in love with all ideas and the importance of remaining open to critique while still galvanising teams around concepts. She discusses the strategic wisdom of knowing when to pitch versus w...

In this episode, Chris shares his powerful journey of living with dyslexia and how, for years, he saw it as an obstacle to overcome. He opens up about the pivotal moment when he realised his unique way of processing information was actually a superpower — one that unlocked new levels of creativity and problem-solving. Chris reflects on the unexpected advantages of thinking differently in a world b...

In this episode, we sit down with Janett Egber, Lead of CX Capability at Medibank. Originally from outside Australia, Janeet now calls Australia home with her family, and shares insights on her journey and career. We dive into the intersection of Employee Experience (EX) and Customer Experience (CX), exploring whether leaders in these fields should be planting seeds of ideas rather than handing ou...

In this episode, we chat with Deepti Sachdeva, Head of Enterprise Capability & Transformation at Westpac, about the lessons she’s learned through failure, leadership, and creating space for growth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we sit down with Ben Fettes, Vice President of Marketing and Direct Customer Experience at P&O Cruises. Ben shares a profound story about how children can simplify the complexities of business—offering a fresh perspective on problem-solving and decision-making. Ben reflects on a pivotal moment early in his career at just 23 years old: an engine explosion, a young life at risk,...

In this candid and insightful episode, Adam Furness, Managing Director of  impact.com  for Asia Pacific Japan, opens up about pivotal mistakes in his career journey that ultimately shaped his professional growth and success. Adam shares his experience of being let go and how that led to deep self-reflection and increased self-awareness, transforming a career setback into valuable life le...

In this revealing conversation, Michael Kim, Head of HR at Spotify, shares a pivotal professional mistake that ultimately shaped his career trajectory and personal philosophy. Michael discusses how a decision made during a vulnerable time in his life led him to prioritise financial security over happiness—and the valuable lessons he learned from this experience. Beyond his professional achievement...