Business Made Personal

"We’re a very, very valuable and important industry and occupation and yet we just don’t take it seriously ourselves, and we kind of put ourselves down a bit."

From commencing his own insurance broking career to saving the Melbourne Football Club, Don McLardy is an exceptional relationship developer and visionary. He speaks of the difficulties he has experienced in an acrimonious split from a business he loved being part of and how he recreated his insurance business as well as the Melbourne Football Club with the support of his business partners, his family, and his late, great friend Jim Stynes.

If this podcast raises any issues for you, please contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

LINKS:

https://www.jimstynesfoundation.com.au/about/jims-legacy/

https://www.reach.org.au/

Business Made Personal is hosted by Mark Silveira, exploring the real journeys of leaders in insurance, business, and beyond.

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Join the conversation: Connect with us on https://bit.ly/bmp-LinkedIn
For enquiries, collaborations, or to suggest a guest: [email protected]

"The only way forward and the only person who can keep me going forward is myself."

The one emphatic point made by Kirk Cheesman, is that treating staff as family is the way to retain staff, keep clients happy and develop a successful business. Having lived with his grandmother since 13 years of age, it is clear that he is a product of the motto work hard, do the right thing and be grateful and life will take care of itself.  

Kirk highlights the Global Financial Crisis as one of the most challenging times in his career and how his desire to look after his staff during difficult times has reaped benefits many times over. 

Kirk is also a believer that we as an insurance sector need to collaborate more not just for the greater good but also to develop our businesses and reputation with the general public. 

Business Made Personal is hosted by Mark Silveira, exploring the real journeys of leaders in insurance, business, and beyond.

Never miss an episode: Follow & Subscribe on https://bit.ly/bmp-Website
Join the conversation: Connect with us on https://bit.ly/bmp-LinkedIn
For enquiries, collaborations, or to suggest a guest: [email protected]

"Your personal brand and your reputation is something I’ve learnt is critically important."

Darren O’Connell encourages those in the industry to be curious and ask why do we do things this way? He believes that is one way we can advance the insurance sector and our own careers. 

A staunch advocate for developing people, he also holds the opinion that the push for digital experience and automation definitely has benefits - many benefits,  but one of the casualties of technological advancement is the opportunity for people to learn the very basics of disciplines such as underwriting.

Business Made Personal is hosted by Mark Silveira, exploring the real journeys of leaders in insurance, business, and beyond.

Never miss an episode: Follow & Subscribe on https://bit.ly/bmp-Website
Join the conversation: Connect with us on https://bit.ly/bmp-LinkedIn
For enquiries, collaborations, or to suggest a guest: [email protected]

"When I’m at my best is when I’m being myself!"

As one of Australia’s youngest CEO’s, Kim Jonsson understands well the fact that you have to invest in yourself through the way you are spending your time at work.

A firm believer in education as a way to underpin experience, she has said, “It's not your boss’s or Organisations job to be developing you.”

In this podcast, Kim discusses the joy of winning the ANZIIF Young Insurance Professional of the Year Award and the surprise in learning she was going to be appointed as the CEO of CHU Underwriting Agencies at a Zoom meeting.

Business Made Personal is hosted by Mark Silveira, exploring the real journeys of leaders in insurance, business, and beyond.

Never miss an episode: Follow & Subscribe on https://bit.ly/bmp-Website
Join the conversation: Connect with us on https://bit.ly/bmp-LinkedIn
For enquiries, collaborations, or to suggest a guest: [email protected]

"If you lose relevance then you’re probably out the door!"

With his first insurance sale earning him $7.94c, Tim Considine knew that he was going to do everything he could to be successful as an insurance broker. He attributes his business growth and success to his ability to develop relationships, having a great team around him and being fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time. In this podcast, Tim also speaks candidly of the challenges of succession planning and how insurance has enabled him to progress further than he ever thought he could.

Of the insurance sector, Tim says, “It’s a great industry. We can be well remunerated, we can be well rewarded, it can take us around the world, it can take us in a myriad of different directions.”

Business Made Personal is hosted by Mark Silveira, exploring the real journeys of leaders in insurance, business, and beyond.

Never miss an episode: Follow & Subscribe on https://bit.ly/bmp-Website
Join the conversation: Connect with us on https://bit.ly/bmp-LinkedIn
For enquiries, collaborations, or to suggest a guest: [email protected]

"You can’t build a Company if you don’t build the People!"

The entrepreunerial, inspirational nature of Matthew Denehy is apparent from the minute he starts talking. Raised in an insurance family, the high school dropout took out a loan for $1 million at the age of 27 during the Global Financial Crisis because of his innate belief that he wanted to help people and make a difference in their lives. Twenty-plus years on, his business is going from strength to strength. It wasn’t always that way as you will hear in this fascinating podcast. 

Business Made Personal is hosted by Mark Silveira, exploring the real journeys of leaders in insurance, business, and beyond.

Never miss an episode: Follow & Subscribe on https://bit.ly/bmp-Website
Join the conversation: Connect with us on https://bit.ly/bmp-LinkedIn
For enquiries, collaborations, or to suggest a guest: [email protected]

"If you can see there’s a challenge coming up, you’ve just got to get in front of it!"

The one thing that comes through when we speak to Lyndon Turner is his passion for the industry and an unshakeable commitment to what he does.

In this podcast, Lyndon speaks about the personal challenges he faced in growing a business from 7 employees to 70 and what he has had to do to reinvent himself to meet those challenges. One of his favourite mottos is ‘Listen, Learn, Grow’ and it is evident in how he manages Nautilus Marine and NM insurance. 

Business Made Personal is hosted by Mark Silveira, exploring the real journeys of leaders in insurance, business, and beyond.

Never miss an episode: Follow & Subscribe on https://bit.ly/bmp-Website
Join the conversation: Connect with us on https://bit.ly/bmp-LinkedIn
For enquiries, collaborations, or to suggest a guest: [email protected]

"You need to manage your own career. Don’t expect it to be put in your lap and don’t expect other people to do it for you. You’ve got to do it yourself!"

Tony Clark speaks to us about the challenging experiences during his career that has shaped his desire to create an inclusive and empowering culture at National Transport Insurance (NTI). Having joined NTI at a time when the business was struggling, he credits the success of the Organisation directly to the people involved as well as his now well-established proactive mantra of allowing people to fail with support. 

A staunch advocate for education and the betterment of oneself, Tony has a number of enlightened views on career development that he discusses in this podcast including that of encouraging individuals to create a Board of Directors to assist them with their career aspirations.

Business Made Personal is hosted by Mark Silveira, exploring the real journeys of leaders in insurance, business, and beyond.

Never miss an episode: Follow & Subscribe on https://bit.ly/bmp-Website
Join the conversation: Connect with us on https://bit.ly/bmp-LinkedIn
For enquiries, collaborations, or to suggest a guest: [email protected]

"I think we could do it (claims) better, we can coordinate it better and then we can sell it a hell of a lot better!"

From leaving school at the age of 17 to being a founder Partner of MSM Loss Management, Colin Chinner knows a thing or two about claims. In this podcast, we speak of a number of aspects in Colin’s business life including what we need to do better as an insurance community – particularly during catastrophes and the gaps as he sees it in developing the next generation of insurance people.

Colin is also quite candid about the challenges of balancing work and raising a severely handicapped child. His proactive approach and his mantra that the ‘glass is half full’ is nothing short of inspirational. 

Business Made Personal is hosted by Mark Silveira, exploring the real journeys of leaders in insurance, business, and beyond.

Never miss an episode: Follow & Subscribe on https://bit.ly/bmp-Website
Join the conversation: Connect with us on https://bit.ly/bmp-LinkedIn
For enquiries, collaborations, or to suggest a guest: [email protected]

"There are no barriers to what you can achieve, regardless of your upbringing!"

Migrant, Wife, Mother, CEO and Mentor, Gabriele McDonald has created a career path in the industry admired by many. Her belief that life is not a competition, it’s a joyride has enabled her to back herself and take control of her business destiny. Her fervent desire is that of creating a greater awareness of insurance for students from year 10 to university to encourage graduates to investigate insurance as a career of choice.

One of her many takeaways is that you’ve got to be inquisitive and you’ve really got to be bold and ask questions because if you don’t ask, you don’t get!

Business Made Personal is hosted by Mark Silveira, exploring the real journeys of leaders in insurance, business, and beyond.

Never miss an episode: Follow & Subscribe on https://bit.ly/bmp-Website
Join the conversation: Connect with us on https://bit.ly/bmp-LinkedIn
For enquiries, collaborations, or to suggest a guest: [email protected]