AmCham's 'How Business Really Works' Podcast

In This episode we discuss the business of your health. Duff Watkins has a discussion with our guest Radek Sali who is the CEO of the Swisse Wellness Company

Radek Sali has been an integral part of the Swisse story since he joined the company in 2005 and having assumed the role of CEO seven years ago, Radek has ensured Swisse is now one of Australia's most recognisable and fastest growing companies, with an impressive story of success in tackling the huge U.S. market.

Swisse's market-leading position and success was recognised in 2012 when Radek led Swisse to be named the 'Most Successful Business of the Year' in the prestigious 2012 BRW Private Business Awards. Radek was also recognised as the GQ Businessman of the Year and the CEO Magazine's Pharmaceutical Executive of the Year in 2012, these accolades were in addition to a number of health industry awards presented to Swisse in the same year.

In addition to his role as Swisse CEO, Radek is Chairman of Noisy Beast, a full-service advertising agency, he also sits on the Executive Committee for Complimentary Medicines for the Australian Self Medication Industry, and is an Advisory Board Member for the National Institute of Integrative Medicine.

Our guest is Virgin Australia CEO, John Borghetti. Join John and Duff while they discuss the changes in the airline industry that are coming your way.

Launching the new brand Virgin Australia in May 2011, and the Game Change program announced by CEO John Borghetti, was a key part of Virgin's repositioning in the market to be Australia's airline of choice.

"The transpacific route has always been one of the most competitive routes internationally out of Australia. It is littered with airlines that have tried and pulled out but equally it is a very important route because it is by far, no matter which measurement you use, one of the most critical routes in any international network out of Australia simply because the business links between Australia and America."

John joined Qantas in 1973 and his distinguished career with the airline saw him rise to Executive General Manager in 2003, responsible for Qantas Domestic, International and QantasLink. Commencing as Virgin Australia CEO and Managing Director in May 2010, John's ability to grow and steer ideas, his conviction, and his ability to reinvent, have been credited as the keys to his success in bringing competition to the industry and in lowering airfares.

We value your opinion and feedback. Tell us your views here in the comments section or email us [email protected]

"The Death of Trends" is what Host Duff Watkins and Australia's Leading Social Analyst David Chalke will be discussing.

David is one of Australia's leading Social Analysts. A science graduate; his early career was in Europe with trans-national organisations such as Nestle, Cadbury Schweppes & Wilkinson Sword. On coming to Australia David held the positions of Director of Strategy Planning with McCann-Erickson and Y&R Mattingly, until founding the independent consultancy, The Strategy Planning Group, in 1990.

Today, David focuses on measuring the effects of cultural change on Australians' attitudes and behaviours, and advising on the impact of these on the formulation of effective business strategy and public policy.

We value your opinion and feedback. Tell us your views here in the comments section or email us [email protected]

Duff discusses the airline industry with our guest Alison Espley, Managing Director, Japan and Asia Pacific Sales for United Airlines.

Alison shares the latest innovations and changes that United flyers will have to enjoy as well as some insights into the Airline industry itself.

Alison first joined the company in 1987 as an automation specialist for the Apollo Reservation System after graduating from Warwick University. She worked as the GSA administrator for offline countries in the Middle East and Africa in the company's London office and was promoted to duty manager a few years later.

She continued moving up the ranks to become leisure sales manager and eventually general manager of sales for the U.K. before moving to the Sydney office in 2007 to take on her previous post.

Duff's guest is John Mattick is the director of the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. The Garvan Institute is one of Australia's largest medical research institutions with approximately 650 scientists, students and support staff.

Garvan's research is focused on the major diseases that affect today's society. Professor Mattick's research led to the discovery of the function of Non-coding DNA, for which he earned a top award for genetics.

Over the past 20 years he has pioneered a new view of the genetic programming of humans and other complex organisms, by showing that the majority of the genome, previously considered 'junk', actually specifies a dynamic network of regulatory RNAs that guide differentiation and development. He has published over 250 research articles and his work has received coverage in Nature, Science, Scientific American, New Scientist and the New York Times, among others.

In this episode Duff's guest is the Chief Executive Officer of Macquarie Telecom David Tudehope. The discussion is about customer care, or more accurately, Innovation in customer care.

David Tudehope founded Macquarie Telecom in 1992 as a provider of voice services, guiding the company's development to become a fully integrated carrier; supplying voice, mobile, data networks & managed hosting solutions to business & government users in Australia & Asia.

Over the last two decades, he has championed telecommunications regulatory issues & strived for more competitive outcomes to benefit Australian customers.

David has also held the positions of Director of the Service Providers' Industry Association (SPAN) from 1996-1999 and was a member of the IT & the Arts Information Economy Advisory Council under the Minister for Communication.

He is currently a Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce & a graduate of the University of NSW - currently on the UNSW Business Advisory Council. In October 2007, David also completed the Senior Executive stream of Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program (AMP).

In 2012, David Tudehope was proud to be selected by the Prime Minister of Australia to become a member of the B20 group representing the IT/Telco sector, leading engagement with G20 governments on behalf of the international business community.

In this episode Duff Watkins speaks with Rod Gonzales, CEO of NANA Australia (part of NANA Development Corporation, that $2b international corporation you might not have heard of) on the Topic of Supplier Diversity: What's It Mean, What's It Matter?

NANA is 100% owned by the Inupiat Eskimos, based in Northwest Alaska. They have developed one of the largest zinc mine sites in the world and are engaged in the supply chain of some of the major oil companies (Conoco Phillips, BP) developing sustainable businesses. They joint venture with companies like Sodexo and Marriott to truly participate in the Alaskan business community. NANA is currently a $2 billion global corporation with over $1 billion in services being delivered to the U.S. Government, including in high intelligence areas of the Pentagon, and servicing and fuelling Air Force One and Air Force Two.

Today Duff discusses Financial Rewards Friend or Foe? That is to say, is showing me the money always a good idea?

Our guest this episode is Jairus Ashworth who is a partner for the reward division of Aon. Jairus has spent his working life helping working with clients and businesses to harness the power of rewards and link them to the business outcomes.

Consider money or financial rewards as one tile in the mosaic of motivation in business. It's demonstrably wrong to say that it's a poor motivator or has no impact. It's also not fair to say that money is the prime motivator for everybody. The truth lies in the middle.

Duff Watkins discusses Doing Business Around the World with Andrew Pointer Director of Global Business Development at the TMF group

In this episode we discuss, where in the world can you do business today? It's a global economy but every country is different. So the question is in which countries is it easiest and most difficult to do business?

Andrew Pointer is the Director of Global Business Development at the TMF group. TMF is a leading global provider of high value business services: business, critical issues, the things that international companies need to get right in order to do business around the world. He can be contacted on [email protected]

In this episode Duff Watkins discusses Cloud Computing with Jason Ryning Legal Director for Australia and New Zealand at Microsoft Pty Limited

Duff & Jason discuss the pros and cons of Cloud Computing, from inception to WikiLeaks, the benefits and the issues.

Jason serves as Microsoft's Legal Director for Australia and New Zealand and is based in Sydney. He provides regulatory counsel to business groups on public policy issues such as intellectual property rights, privacy, internet security and safety, competition, and international trade.

Jason joined Microsoft in 2006 and was based in Redmond, Washington where he supported the company's online business. He has been an active contributor to industry associations and public/private sector groups focused on advancing the discussion of leading policy issues including by serving as board chair for the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Jason was with the Stokes Lawrence law firm in Seattle, Washington. Jason was also an attorney at InfoSpace, Inc. in Bellevue Washington, where he spent several years focused on emerging legal trends on the Internet, including in the areas of advertising, web content, and online payments.