Abuse Survivor. Leadership Lighthouse. Trusted Advisor.

This week's guest is Alison Fischer, who shares her incredible journey of resilience and perseverance. She is a champion for survivors of domestic abuse, inspirational speaker and leadership consultant to entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Alison is a survivor, an executive, a 'People-First' leader, Mom to two beautiful girls, a loyal friend and hopeless romantic. Alison's career spans two decades in corporate, including both thriving cultures in established companies and start-ups, as well as times spent in toxic environments with very little positive leadership. During much of this time she was enduring a violent domestic relationship, which she compartmentalised and did not disclose to her colleagues and leaders. Finally, a fractured bone was the final straw as a catalyst to make a change for good.

Alison's mission today is to provide support to those that have no support. No mentors, no guides, no one to lean in to during challenging times - she is a lighthouse for leaders, executives and survivors alike to live and lead a life with confidence and conviction, not settling for less than they deserve.

Key messages from this conversation;

- Alison's EPIC leadership model.

- Everyone is a leader in their own right.

- Collectively we make change. Every voice is important, but collectively we are better

- Great leaders do not make it about them, they bring other people up, make people better and the world better.

- Great leaders create a movement because it's not about them, it's about the greater good.

- How to become a better world leader; focus on active listening, find clarity in your mission or purpose, be empathetic, put people first always.

Alison is providing 1 hour of free coaching to survivors of domestic abuse throughout the month of May. She also provides Confidence Coaching to Leaders, Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners.

You can connect with Alison via her linkedin profile here or via email on [email protected]

In the third episode of Better World Leaders our conversation is with Ben Bowen, an Australian Aboriginal whose career began as a pro-endurance athlete and after a sizeable bump on the road, transitioned into applying high performance insights and Aboriginal knowledge into social enterprise and corporate capability development internationally.

Ben is Co-Founder and Partner of Shared Path, a social enterprise that works to positively impact social issues within Aboriginal communities by achieving economic independence through business development. Shared Path also work globally with First Nations peoples as members of the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples, developing technology platforms that enable and protect the custodianship of knowledge.

Ben is a specialist innovator who is able to identify and implement strategies that empower all team members to perform at the best. Ben has been working in multiple fields as a consultant and brings his own unique style to supporting organisations.

Within the disability sphere to create outdoor programs that challenge participants and support their personal development of positive coping strategies.

In the corporate and government sphere Ben has been driving change through a unique approach of Aboriginal cultural learning and practices to develop strategic planning, communication, change management and team building programs.

Ben also works within the tertiary education lecturing in Aboriginal Education and Indigenous Public Health to develop the next generations of professionals perform at their best, as well as business units around social enterprise development, entrepreneurship in rural and remote settings, ethics and thought leadership in business.

The key messages I received from this conversation were;

- That a change is required in how businesses view 'successful growth', not as exponential and constant, but to reach a growth target and maintain it sustainably.

- To avoid disruption and build sustainable growth, organisations should focus not on eliminating single problems but linking issues to address the larger global solution.

- Build communities within employees, consumers and customers to leverage 'small networks', focusing on the leaders of these and seeking to engage with collective leadership.

- Discover the power of storytelling for communication, critically how to ensure core values and organisational ethos are prominent consistently to improve reliability of messaging and knowledge transfer throughout hierarchies, geographies and languages.

- How to communicate from a human perspective, both to mitigate the risk and enable the best outcome from visual communication modes.

- That to build momentum leaders should bring together and empower teams most effectively at the beginning, end and during a change phase. If this is done correctly the steerage of direction and maintaining of pace becomes much easier.

The best way to get in touch with Ben and engage with his knowledge and work is via https://www.sharedpath.org.au/ or connecting with Ben on social media via the links below

linkedin or facebook

In the second episode of Better World Leaders our conversation is with a former Global Executive and entrepreneur who reflects on the twists and turns of his career with one very consistent theme - that as a leader he is there to serve his team and his customers through his principles.

Simon's professional aspirations began in athletics, but after an unusual injury stopped that dream in it's tracks, his next step was his first of service, first qualifying in and then running a business as a Myotherapist.

After selling this venture he was was offered a role in corporate and found that taking a consistent approach of serving his team and his customers based on his core values held him in good stead, and led to rapid success.

Quickly he found himself leading Australia for Travelex, and after a merger with Western Union he progressed to lead both the Europe, Africa and Middle Eastern region and then AsiaPacific, seeing huge personal and commercial growth and success along the way.

It was during this corporate tenure that he gained invaluable experience in Africa working with local not-for-profits in Rwanda, and found that he benefited not only from the sense of contributing, both also from learning as a leader - especially around purpose, resilience and the power of consistent communication.

After moving on from corporate life, Simon applied all of his experience and insights to found an online fitness company, Welcome Fit, which he recently successfully sold.

He now focuses on a new endeavour, Raised Hand, applying his energies to help out-of-work professionals contribute their skills and time to start-up businesses needing help to navigate the turbulent market conditions imposed by Co-Vid19 restrictions. Even though this venture is fresh out of the starting-blocks, it's already been applauded by Start-ups Victoria!

Those that are out of work and willing to donate their time, and start-up businesses seeking help on a voluntary basis can find each other at Raisedhand.me

The key messages I received from this conversation were;

- A team that operates from a core set of principles and values, and focus first on providing a great service and take pride in doing so, are unstoppable and there's no end to what you can do.

- That culture and attitude are what drive sustainable growth.

- That it's best not to attach happiness to achieving specific goals, better to be empowered by the overall purpose you are reaching for.

- That as leaders it's important to allow a bit of ourselves into conversations with our teams and customers. This humanises the environment and makes communication easier.

- That it's important for leaders to pause and reflect on how they are communicating with their teams, that their people need to feel valued and safe.

You can find out more about Raised Hand at raisedhand.me,

and connect with Simon via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonglendenning/

Welcome to the Better World Leaders' Podcast.

In this first episode, we're joined by an incredibly insightful, purposeful and humble leader who not only inspires with his own experience and story, but in the way he has chosen to spend his 'retirement' years enabling other leaders, business owners and enterprises to align their success to providing for others.

Paul Dunn is a 4 times TEDx speaker.

He's was one of the first 10 people in Hewlett Packard in Australia, he started one of Australia's first computer companies and he founded The Results Corporation, working with and developing over 23,000 businesses.

He's been honoured as a Social Innovation Fellow in his new home of Singapore.

He's been featured in Forbes Magazine with Sir Richard Branson as a 'disrupter' in business.

His seminal books include "The Firm of The Future" (co-authored with Ron Baker), which is widely regarded as one of the most important of its type ever written.

Paul's unique Business Development programs are now in use by an estimated 226,000 companies around the world.

He now serves as the Chairman of the revolutionary B1G1, enabling businesses to connect and give back in new ways and creating over 205 Million giving impacts globally.

How does Paul recommend leaders can become Better World Leaders?

1) Connect with themselves and have a real sense of making a difference in our world

2) To connect with their 'human-ness' and their impact on humanity in the broadest, yet very specific sense.

3) Recognise that your job is not to create followers, but that you're judged by the number of leaders you create.

Key messages;

"A leader needs a purpose higher than themselves if they are to thrive, keep showing up and perform to the highest level"

"Appreciate that as a leader, your first customer is your team"

If you'd like to connect with Paul, you can do via the links below.

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulb1g1/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/realpauldunn

If you're inspired by the work that Paul and Masami do at B1G1 and their message that you can "be at your best when you're giving", you can head over to b1g1.com to begin your giving journey. Use code GIVING125 to get a head start on making the world better through giving as a business for good.

Thank you for your time and attention, we look forward to bringing you more journeys of better world leadership in the next episode of Better World Leaders.

Be well, lead well and build a better world.

Tim and the team at 4i.