The Politics of Everything

For those who have followed the tortuous path of Australian climate policy over recent decades, a 2024 report by the Australian Energy Market Commission of a “shadow price” of A$70 a tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent elicits some painful memories.  Meet Ross Garnaut who if you are an economics tragic like me, will be a household name. In brief, Ross is a professorial research fellow in econo...

AI is everywhere and has impacting how we as humanity do our work, build our communities and even how we relax. Do you think much about how tools like generative AI platforms from ChatGPT to Chatbots we use when buying products and services online are changing our existence? Today, as AI-based technologies become more pervasive, machines can augment our cognitive capacity and automate our complex...

I met today's guest at the 2024 Stevie’s Asia Pacific Awards event in Manila, and as fellow Australian business owners we connected instantly. Domestic violence is more than a domestic issue – it’s a well-known national problem in Australia that seems to be a permanent stain on our communities. Recent ABS statistics indicating 41% of Australians have been affected by violence of some kind since th...

Oil is a divisive issue. Climate change debates remain as heated as ever in Australia with nuclear energy, renewables and the legacy realities of oil and gas necessity remaining at the heart of the story. In the face of our climate crisis, my guest says “today is the time for a wake-up call to the dangers of unchecked power and influence”. Royce Kurmelovs’s latest written work is titled Slick: Aus...

Traditional leadership tools are failing to meet the challenges and opportunities of the ecosystem we live and lead in now, according to my guest today. Leaders need a flexible and interconnected system of ideas and frameworks to successfully lead for high performance – and the good news is, her new book shows you how. In The Leaders Ecosystem: A Guide to Leading, Exceptionally (Grammar Factory $3...

The idea of true balance in our lives can often feel allusive and at times impossible. What if there was a way to make it more of a reality in our personal and professional lives? I am speaking with Danielle Colley, integrative life coach, speaker, event facilitator and writer. For the past five years, she has been helping people who are feeling stuck and dissatisfied with their lives to reach the...

AI is the hot topic of the past two years in all kinds of businesses from insurance to fashion to finance. What about the world of coaching? My guest today is on board. With over three decades of entrepreneurial success and the remarkable ability to overcome life-threatening health challenge, Katharine Loucaidou is a powerhouse of resilience and innovation. From founding successful businesses to r...

Retail has been undergoing an unprecedented transition of late and the global pandemic speeded that up in a way one could maybe not have predicted. Online platforms have led to new sales channels and fresh opportunities to reach out to a world of customers, and over the past 20 years more globalisation has opened markets and introduced new competitors into the mix in ways not seen before. In tough...

Meet Deborah Hart, a climate and environment-focused creative producer and writer based in Narrm (Melbourne). After 16 years working in development roles with leading Australian arts and culture organisations—as increasingly neoliberal government policies were forcing important public organisations to form ever-closer alliances with harmful industries—Deborah left her profession to devote more tim...

We all need and want human connection – most of us do anyway. That could be in a variety of forms from friendship, family ties or via a more romantic or sexual nature. As a business leader and successful entrepreneur, Anna Grosman has been in my online social orbit for years and when I heard she was launching a new business, called Her Confidant I had to learn more. As someone who has a passion fo...

Jason Malouin started his career as a Lighting Designer for live theatre and worked all over the United States for about 5 years. He was obsessed with creating these dramatic, shifting lightscapes for the actors on stage to move through it was replicating something as boring (and tricky) as office light or a laser-pointer-esque, dramatic spotlight. It was super creative and super technical. Like m...

Failure is part of life. It can hit harder – more publicly perhaps- when it comes to your business as well. Here with me is Jim Cocks, who is a respected Australian business coach with a passion for helping entrepreneurs grow and scale faster. Following a ‘quarter-life crisis’, he discovered his love for coaching and became an ICF-accredited coach and trainer. He has worked with thousands of entre...

Everyone has something they are good at right? Many years ago, my then business coach said I could turn my expertise into a business as long as I could also make money from it and have passion for what I did. Being an expert looks easy but how do you become the ‘go-to’ expert for your sector and ensure you land the right clients or customers easier? My guest today Hayley Osborne helps other busine...

Customer service can make or break a brand in terms of its reputation and longevity. Today I am speaking with Jaquie Scammell is Australia’s leading expert in Customer Service, a sought-out speaker, author, Founder and CEO of ServiceQ: a business focused on helping organisations reimagine the future of service through mindsets and behaviours. Her work is based not just on theory but also 35 years...

Estate planning is at times a vexing issue – it seems like plenty of films and TV shows have shown the heated family dynamics of legacy and also money is often not exactly fun to navigate! Does it need to be done differently to become less of a taboo topic or can we even accept that inheritance is a gift, not a birthright? I do wonder. My guest has two decades of experience in the financial servic...

Property investing has become both a political hot-button topic in Australia where we have some of the world’s most expensive housing in our capital cities as well as a great way for “mum and dad” investors to build wealth. Safe as houses as the saying goes. Then there are the types – in short residential and then commercial property investing. So that is our podcast topic today. Meet Scott O'Neil...

If I said I’d like to give you some feedback, how do you immediately react inside? Welcoming? Hostile? Something more nuanced? That is today’s podcast topic and I have to be honest; I have had to get better at both giving and accepting feedback from others over many years in workplaces and personally. It can be hard at times especially when it's not good!  Sue Anderson is obsessed with what s...

Amanda Rose was an early guest on this show (in fact ep 95 The Politics of Ambition) and that was some years ago. Since then, much has evolved for her and those she works with and how to create impact in business communities. Today Amanda Rose (#BossLady) is an advocate for women in business, a media commentator, keynote speaker and an entrepreneur. Appearing weekly on Sunrise and SkyNews and cont...

Bad things can and do happen to all kinds of people. It can be hard to see the good or the why in such times and adversity is not something we can always easily “get over”. Yet maybe we can. Positive thinking and reframing go hand in hand – we can for example choose to focus on the positive aspects of a situation, rather than the negative. Reframing reduces negative emotions, increases feelings of...

T he mental load is a term for the invisible labour involved in managing a household and family, which typically falls on women's shoulders. It seems to have become something we can debate and dissect but what does it mean for feminism and equality between genders? Enter my guest Mia Northrop who regularly shares insights and inspiration on life admin and the mental load. Her work explores how to...

In this episode we delve into positive psychology. Alison Gault is a qualified Positive Psychology coach, Wellbeing strategist, and Speaker. Alison specializes in helping busy, professional women to build a life full of happiness, energy and freedom by tapping into the power of positive psychology. Having worked with hundreds of busy professionals around the world, she understands the unique chall...

Jeremy Sandell is a highly accomplished tech entrepreneur, sales professional, and personal development trainer. With over 10 years of experience and over $15 million in one-on-one sales, he has revolutionized the lives of countless individuals through his mentorship and coaching whilst becoming a top 1% earner in the online business space. Notably, he's worked with influential personal brands lik...

Dr Jane Foster has been a teacher and educator for over four decades, both in Australia and abroad. Throughout her career, she noticed how the pervasive culture of blame, criticism and judgement can be damaging and destructive. This realisation inspired her to establish MYTERN, which has since evolved into Emotional Resilience (ER). In her doctoral research, Jane evaluated the effectiveness of ER...

This episode refers to trauma (obviously) so listener caution is recommended. Dr Caroline Lloyd is a GP with a multifaceted career. After graduating from Monash University she has worked in traditional general practice, women’s health, sexual health, cosmetic dermatology, hypnotherapy and bariatric surgery and has now found her passion in Mental Health. Completing her Masters in Counselling led to...

Known as the coach's coach, Charlotte Blair is someone who believes in living each day to the fullest, aiming for ten out of ten types of days, every day. As an International Coaching Federation (ICF) Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and one of Australia’s most experienced Gallup Accredited Strengths Coaches, she loves helping people find their passion and purpose, and play to their strengths. A...