This Way Forward

Welcome to This Way Forward, the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Julie Castle, CEO of Best Friends Animal Society , the organization leading the charge to make the United States a no-kill nation. Together, they explore the radical shift from a "catch and kill" system rooted in the...

Welcome to This Way Forward , the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Patrick Brown , Founder and CEO of Unity Communications , a global business process outsourcing (BPO) firm. Together, they explore the counterintuitive decision to disrupt his own revenue model before the market did it for him...

Welcome to This Way Forward , the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Elia Wallen, Founder & CEO of Engine , a modern travel management platform disrupting how SMBs handle lodging, flights, and car rentals. Together, they explore the high-stakes decision Elia made in 2019: walking away from...

Welcome to This Way Forward , the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Dermot O’Gorman , CEO of WWF-Australia , to explore how one of the world’s most recognized conservation organizations made a radical bet to reinvent itself for the future. The bold strategic bet In 2016, WWF-Australia faced a...

Welcome to This Way Forward, the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Josh Blandy, Head of Performance Strategy at Telstra, Australia’s largest telecommunications company. Together, they explore a strategic bet that is happening right now : Telstra’s massive investment to rebuild its network for...

Welcome to This Way Forward , the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Nicole Eck , Chief Strategy Officer at the ALS Association , the nonprofit leading the global fight to make ALS a livable disease. Together, they explore the moment when the ALS Association moved away from chasing short-term f...

Welcome to This Way Forward , the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Elaine Zhuang , General Manager of Strategy, Transformation, and Value Delivery at nbn , Australia’s National Broadband Network. She unpacks a pivotal moment from earlier in her career where a single boardroom challenge not on...

Welcome to This Way Forward , the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Alex Weiss , CFO of The Aspen Group , the parent company of Aspen Dental and other retail healthcare brands. Together, they explore the pivotal decision that turned Aspen from a single office into one of the largest dental net...

Welcome to This Way Forward , the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Craig Manson , former Executive Director of Canon Australia and current board advisor and operator across multiple businesses, to unpack the bold decision that helped rescue a legacy business from decline—and reposition it for...

Welcome to This Way Forward , the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Siddhartha Jha , Founder and CEO of Arbol , the company reinventing insurance by building financial infrastructure for climate risk. They explore the pivotal decision that led Arbol into the collapsing property insurance marke...

Welcome to This Way Forward , the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Brett Knowles , CEO of PM2 , a strategy consulting firm that partners with executive teams to strengthen strategic planning and execution. Together, they explore the bold move Brett made when others held back: bringing AI into...

Welcome to This Way Forward , the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Jason Guss , Founder & CEO of Octane Lending , the fintech company transforming how consumers finance recreational vehicles—from ATVs to lawn tractors. Together, they dive into the make-or-break decision that turned Octane...

Welcome to This Way Forward, the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Gary Hoberman, Founder & CEO of Unqork, the enterprise tech company behind a revolutionary no-code platform used by some of the world’s largest insurers, banks, and governments. Together, they unpack the bet that led Unqork...

Welcome to This Way Forward, the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this first episode, Charlie Newark-French, CEO at Cascade, sits down with Wayne Ting, CEO of Lime, the world’s leading micro-mobility company operating bikes and scooters across more than 30 countries. Together, they explore the pivotal decision that helped Lime go from a strug...

Welcome to This Way Forward , the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Tom Wright , founder and Chief Product Officer of Cascade , the world’s leading strategy execution platform. Together, they retrace the origin story of Cascade. How a disconnect between strategy and operations inside a global...

Welcome to This Way Forward, the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Brett Shockley, CEO of Journey—a company redefining how businesses authenticate customers and eliminate fraud across contact centers. Together, they unpack the non-obvious insight that led Journey to rethink identity, security,...

Welcome to This Way Forward, the podcast where C-suite leaders unpack the bold strategic bets that changed everything. In this episode, Charlie Newark-French sits down with Race Strauss, CFO of Virgin Australia. Together, they explore a different kind of strategic bet: a personal career gamble. Race unpacks the decision to leave a secure role at Qantas—the market leader—to take the helm of a compe...