The Politics of Everything

Negotiating is part of our every day – from business deals to romantic relationships, we all need to be able to create outcomes that work well. Hopefully meeting our needs and those of others who we may work, transact, live and socialise with.   My guest today Simon Russell is the founder and Director of Behavioural Finance Australia (BFA). At BFA he provides specialist behavioural finance tr...

Emotional Intelligence has been talked about for a few decades now. It is for many, more important than IQ to succeed and feel connected, fulfilled, and thriving in business or personal pursuits. Emotional intelligence (otherwise known as emotional quotient or EQ) is defined as the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate ef...

Most of us know that Vitamin D is important to our health. Many of us stuck inside offices are actually deficient in Vitamin D, which in a nation where skin cancer is still a major issue, seems ironic. Meet Mathew Collett. He is CEO, director, and co-founder of Solar-D, a Sydney-based company reframing how we experience SPF in the form of revolutionary sunscreens. Growing up on Sydney’s iconic coa...

Who else feels the weight of the life administration burden? For me, two businesses, two kids under 13, one busy husband, and my own needs and goals in fitness, academics, so-called work/life balance, and beyond often seem to be a bit much to triumph over consistently and also get some decent sleep.   Enter Dinah Rowe-Roberts. She is a streamlined, systemizing and time and money savior! After...

Workplaces of all types have changed considerably since I started my newspaper journalism career in the late 1990s.  Inclusion at work was not even thought of but it is a wonderful thing it has become a major goal for offices, factories, and political environments the world over.   My guest today is an expert on workplace inclusion. Gloria Tabi is an Author and the Managing Director at E...

Given we can all benefit from fresh ideas, I chose to kick off my 2022 podcast year with Donna McGeorge. This is someone super passionate about enhancing the large amount of time we spend in our workplace or home offices (too much, for many) to ensure it is effective and productive, as well as enjoyable. Donna has worked with managers and leaders throughout Australia and Asia–Pacific for over 20 y...

A successful career in asset management requires going beyond your technical skill base to develop business acumen and street-savvy that will take you to the next level. Enter Dr. Monique Beedles is an internationally recognized thought leader in asset management and best-selling author of several books including Asset Management for Directors. She works with individuals, teams, and companies all...

Mentoring has been a critical part of many successful people’s career story. Sometimes it’s done formally and for an exchange of money, but often it is about a more seasoned leader meeting regularly with a less seasoned human and imparting ideas, knowledge, and even empowerment. I am chatting today to James Sewell, the founder of MentorConnex, a service that connects entrepreneurs and business own...

I have to admit, I am a sucker for buying merchandise or ‘merch’ as we colloquially say in the land Down Under. Whether it be signed books by authors at their book launch or tea towels from a boutique vineyard on a regional holiday I am handing over that plastic card with joy! Last year, according to   Intelligence Insider , the pandemic fueled rapid acceleration of online buying in several c...

Ashley Peverett is the Co-founder & CEO of the Building Communities Initiative (BCI). A self-proclaimed entrepreneur, he grew up in a family business so had a good start. While working, Ashley studied business part-time and completed an MBA from the University of New England. He climbed the corporate ladder across several organizations to eventually hold an Asia-Pacific-wide management role. A...

Financial literacy is a term that excites some, but many people are hard-pressed to get excited about it, despite its importance in how we all view, manage and maximize our money, from our first pocket money as a kid to making retirement savings last these days for up to 30 years after we no longer earn a wage. My guest Julia Newbould is Managing Editor of Money magazine, Australia's most-read per...

Water management and the policies behind it is something we all need to get our heads around, whether you live in a big city, small town, a coastal region or a remote community. I am deeply passionate about the water sector having worked closely within the NSW state government during the recent drought of 2018-2020, leading communications in areas such as community engagement and stakeholder manag...

Buying property is expensive especially in Australia's biggest cities and regional areas now surging too (thanks Covid), with purchasers paying stamp duty, conveyancing, and legal fees, not to mention the huge deposit required. So, would you really want to pay more for something you could do yourself? Well, recently I did. For the first time ever, my husband and I engaged a buyer’s agent to find u...

A disaster brings out the best and at times, the worst in everyday ordinary people. Rarely is it something less polarizing. Thinking of devastating bush fires, major floods, or terrorist attacks and the raw, media images of what disaster looks like -- and the days that follow -- are pretty confronting for many people, let alone those experiencing the incident firsthand. My guest today is Alison Co...

The costs associated with turnover and lower productivity seen in burnout result in a loss of $322 billion annually according to the World Economic Forum stats from January 2021. There is a wave of burnout with many of us trying to stay afloat in a pandemic and find a way to recharge when many of the tools we use such as socializing, group exercise, and even holidays have been taken away...

Daisy Turnbull is the Director of Wellbeing at an independent girls’ school in Sydney (in fact my own alma mater), where she has also been a teacher for eight years. She has taught across school systems including some time at a behavioral school, working with students from diverse backgrounds. Before going into teaching Daisy worked in interactive advertising as a producer and in strategy roles ta...

The rise of organic food has been steady over the past 20 years and is very much part of many consumer's food buying decision process. Paddock to plate is an in-demand thing too. One of Australia’s best-known organic meat success stories is Cleaver’s Organic meats. Starting from a humble suburban butcher’s store in Sydney, Cleaver’s products are now stocked in supermarkets across Australia. This w...

Freelance writing is a pipe dream for many burnt-out staff reporters, hobby writers, and anyone who wants to achieve work-life balance on their own terms. Alexandra Cain or Ali as most of her clients and peers call her has spent 20 years building and sustaining a successful freelance business writing career.   Ali wanted to be a business journalist ever since her dad used to bring home the&nb...

In current times, with all the challenges of a global pandemic and what that means for us as we navigate work, family, isolation, sickness and sanity (and in lockdown for some of us), the notion of kindness must be an anecdote for some of that which we struggle with. I am speaking today to Hugh Mackay, a highly regarded social psychologist and researcher, and the bestselling author of 22 books, in...

Around 20 years ago, I did a whole Masters thesis on Philanthropic models that took me to leaders in this arena across the USA and Europe. While most of us take an impulsive approach to giving, a little bit of research into where your dollars will do the most good can make your donation hundreds or even thousands of times more effective!  The Life You Can Save , an organization based in Austr...

Courage means different things to different people. I have known Sonia McDonald for close to seven years. Her personal story has much to do with courage in the face of some pretty hard times and she has been able to rise above it all to forge her own successful path. Sonia is a global leadership executive coach and advisor, thought leader, dynamic keynote speaker, and award-winning author.  S...

Holly Ransom is a globally renowned content curator, powerful speaker, and master questioner with the belief that if you walk past it, you tell the world it’s okay. Named one of Australia’s 100 Most Influential Women by the Australian Financial Review, she has delivered a Peace Charter to the Dalai Lama, was Sir Richard Branson’s nominee for Wired Magazine’s ‘Smart List’ of Future Game Changers to...

Microbusinesses are my passion and in no small part because I run a couple myself. Microbusinesses represent around  25% of all businesses  in Australia – a pretty hefty chunk of our business landscape when you think about it. Today’s guest is a truly inspiring microbusiness leader with a swag of awards. Tina Tower opened her first business at the age of 20, which went from being a small...

I do not know about you, but I find it hard to be consistently productive. It seems like it’s a secret weapon for some and a natural gift for others. Dermot Crowley is the Director and founder of Adapt Productivity, a Sydney-based training company founded almost two decades ago. He is one of Australia’s foremost thought leaders on productivity.  He is the author of Smart Work and the founder...

Body image is a topic rife with expectations, taboo, nuance and even debate. Nikki Parkinson is here today to discuss just that! Her career path of journalism, fashion writing and design makes her an ideal expert for this topic. That is because at the core of everything that former journalist Nikki Parkinson has done in her "second life" as a blogger, author and now fashion designer has been aimed...