This week's guest is: Creators & Guests

• New epiosodes on a Wednesday, with interviews with leaders or experts every week and a monthly discussion on what we've heard in the last week of the month.
• We'd love to hear from you.  Share your thoughts on recent episodes or questions you would like Luella and Michelle to answer to [email protected]. 
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Creators & Guests

In this bonus episode of Career Stories, Dr Luella Forbes is joined by Dinda Timperon — Head of Cybersecurity Engineering at a major Australian wealth management organisation, RAAF veteran, and founder of Perth Women's Circle, a community of over 10,000 women focused on professional growth and development.

Having experienced burnout herself and watched it quietly erode teams across defence and cybersecurity, Dinda developed the REST framework to help leaders recognise and prevent burnout before it reaches breaking point.

In this episode:

• What burnout actually is — the three symptoms that must all be present: emotional exhaustion, cynicism and depersonalisation, and reduced personal efficacy.
• Why people doing purpose-driven work are 50% less likely to experience burnout.
• The "silent breach": why organisations invest in systems but overlook the people operating them.
• Three early warning signs to watch for in yourself and your team: cognitive drift, emotional changes, and shifts in behaviour.
• The REST framework — Recognise, Equip, Sustain, Thrive — as a practical tool for leaders building sustainable, high-performing teams.
• How to track physical, mental and social energy across the day, and use that knowledge to organise work more effectively.
• What to do if you think you're heading toward burnout: the question "what feels heavy right now?" and the seven types of rest.
• Why the promise that things will ease up after the project ends is never quite true — and what to do instead.
• The case for using the word "burnout" mindfully, and how to tell the difference between genuine burnout and exhaustion.

"organizations spend often depending on the size of the organization like millions of dollars on systems but they often forget about one aspect which is the most important aspect which is the people that have to operate the systems. I call it the silent breach." — Dinda Timperon

Resources mentioned:

• Dinda's REST framework — discussed in the episode.
• Seven types of rest — Saundra Dalton-Smith: TED Talk

All opinions are the guest's own.

More detailed show notes with links to information discussed by guests can be found here.

• Bonus episodes cover focused topics in career, leadership and management. From June 2026, they are available to Career Stories podcast members.
• Join at the-career-library.com/join — use the code FOUNDING before 1 July for a founding member rate, locked for life.
• New guest and advice episodes every Wednesday. Bonus episodes on Fridays from May 2026.
• We'd love to hear from you — share your thoughts or questions at [email protected].
• Career Stories is brought to you by The Career Library.

How do you keep growing in your career when you feel like you've hit a ceiling? In this episode of Career Stories, Michelle Gander and Luella Forbes explore the habits, mindset shifts, and everyday practices that help professionals stay curious, motivated, and engaged, no matter where they are in their career. In this episode, we cover: 

• What a growth mindset actually looks like in practice (it's not just positive thinking) 
• How to spot the difference between a fixed and growth mindset response to setbacks 
• The powerful idea that "your job description is the floor, not the ceiling" — Associate Professor Michelle Gander 
• Why finding flow, that state of total engagement and joy, matters for sustainable careers 
• Practical strategies for learning and growing without burning out 
• How to stay motivated when progress feels slow 

You can find more detailed show notes and things to try in practice here.

Resources mentioned:

• Above and Below the Line thinking: [Accountability and Mindset]
• Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 

If you liked this episode:

• New episodes on a Wednesday, with interviews with leaders or experts every week and a monthly discussion on what we've heard in the last week of the month.
• We'd love to hear from you.  Share your thoughts on recent episodes or questions you would like Luella and Michelle to answer to [email protected]. 
• Support this podcast by becoming a member and get access to bonus episodes containing work related advice from Luella, Michelle and expert guests as well as a monthly newsletter with access to tools and guidance from this week's advice episode. 
• Follow Career Stories on Linkedin and Instagram

Help other people find this podcast by subscribing in your podcast app and leaving a review.
Career Stories is brought to you by The Career Library.

This week's guest is Dr Annelen Schär, Head of Omnichannel Portfolio Management at Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart — a digital leader working at the intersection of e-commerce, customer experience and business architecture in one of the world's most iconic car brands. Annelen has spent almost 15 years at Mercedes-Benz, completing a Doctorate of Business Administration along the way, all while raising two young children. She embodies resilience and a very deliberate choice to stay positive.

In this episode:

•       What omnichannel portfolio management actually means, and how Annelen's team connects Mercedes-Benz's digital channels, e-commerce and business architecture from customer awareness all the way through to retention.

•       How a childhood cello player who wanted to be a vet ended up in the luxury automotive industry, via a multicultural degree, a year abroad in the US at 15, time in France, and a Porsche internship that sparked her love of the product.

•       The moment the financial crisis derailed a signed job offer and how Annelen navigated her way back, through a smaller company, a promotion, a tyre company detour, and eventually the Mercedes-Benz trainee program.

•       What Annelen loves about working for Mercedes-Benz after almost 15 years, including the brand pride, the pioneering digital agenda, and the thrill of the annual product forum where new models are unveiled under strict secrecy.

•       Why Annelen completed a doctorate alongside two babies and a leadership career, what she found hardest about the process, and what it actually added to the way she thinks and works.

•       How returning from parental leave to find her whole division dissolved led, unexpectedly, to the best job she has had at the company.

•       The strengths Annelen credits for her success: perseverance, resilience, having a plan without being rigidly attached to it, and a deliberate choice to believe that whatever comes is the right thing.

•       How Annelen manages her mental health across an intense professional life, including presence with her children, playing cello, and building a positive mindset deliberately.

•       What success means to Annelen: family, team celebration, reaching a management level she is proud of, and learning to be happy where you are rather than always looking ahead.

Annelen's career philosophy:

"I believe that whatever comes is the right thing. So if something doesn't work out, I'm not getting really down. I believe, okay, then it's the right thing that I didn't get, for example, this job."

Resources mentioned:

•       Research on positive mindset and gratitude journalling

•       Thinking on the alternatives to introverts and extraverts

If you liked this episode:

• New episodes on a Wednesday, with interviews with leaders or experts every week and a monthly discussion on what we've heard in the last week of the month.
• We'd love to hear from you.  Share your thoughts on recent episodes or questions you would like Luella and Michelle to answer to [email protected]. 
• Support this podcast by becoming a member and get access to bonus episodes containing work related advice from Luella, Michelle and expert guests as well as a monthly newsletter with access to tools and guidance from this week's advice episode. 
• Follow Career Stories on Linkedin and Instagram

Help other people find this podcast by subscribing in your podcast app and leaving a review.
Career Stories is brought to you by The Career Library.

This week's guest is Elizabeth Shaw, Partner responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion consulting at PwC Australia. Elizabeth has spent her career at the intersection of gender equality, workplace culture and social impact, from chairing UN Women Australia in her early thirties to advising the Prime Minister and representing Australia at the UN Commission on the Status of Women. She is one of Australia's most respected DEI practitioners, and her career story is anything but conventional.

In this episode:

• What a partner at a big four consulting firm actually does, and why the role is as much about people and collaboration as it is about expertise.
• The work Elizabeth does in workplace culture reviews, including why she is drawn to the high-stakes moments when something has gone wrong.
• How Elizabeth's unconventional early career, from an arts degree and a nomadic NGO role to representing Australia at the UN, shaped the skills she draws on today.
• Why Elizabeth has consistently failed to see opportunities for herself, and why having people who could see further for her has been career-defining.
• The difference between a mentor and a sponsor, why women are over-mentored and under-sponsored, and what sponsorship actually looks like in practice.
• What Elizabeth has learned about wellbeing, outsourcing the domestic load, and building a life you do not want to escape from.
• Why Elizabeth leans into what she is good at rather than trying to fix everything she is not, and what it feels like when you finally do that.

Elizabeth Shaw's insight on sponsorship: “I had people who can see further for me than I’ve seen for myself, and they’ve tapped me on the shoulder and encouraged me. And I think about who in my life can I be that person for.”

All opinions are the guest's own.

• New episodes on a Wednesday, with interviews with leaders or experts every week and a monthly discussion on what we've heard in the last week of the month.
• We'd love to hear from you.  Share your thoughts on recent episodes or questions you would like Luella and Michelle to answer to [email protected]. 
• Support this podcast by becoming a member and get access to bonus episodes containing work related advice from Luella, Michelle and expert guests as well as a monthly newsletter with access to tools and guidance from this week's advice episode. 

Help other people find this podcast by subscribing in your podcast app and leaving a review.
Career Stories is brought to you by The Career Library.

This week's guest is Jo Lindsay, Managing Director at Reed Talent Solutions, a part of Reed, the world's largest family-run recruitment business. Jo joined Reed on a graduate scheme in 1997 and has built her entire career there, moving through project management, sales, consultancy and leadership without ever needing to look elsewhere. Hers is a career story about what happens when an organisation keeps giving you new things to do, and you keep saying yes.

In this episode:

• Why Jo applied for Reed's graduate scheme instead of a traditional HR role, and how a six-month rotation programme changed the direction of her career.
• What she loved about project management, and why the variety of working across clients like Vodafone, Royal Mail and the Greater London Authority kept her engaged for nearly three decades at one organisation.
• How sponsorship worked for her early in her career, and how the nature of sponsorship changes as you become more senior.
• Why she has only ever been frustrated in one role at Reed, and what made that particular job so difficult despite having a high-performing team around her.
• How AI is reshaping recruitment, why the EU has already flagged hiring as a high-risk area for AI regulation, and the question of whether candidates and employers are now just screening each other with bots.
• What parenthood did to her approach to work, including working a four-day week, procrastinating less and being clearer about her priorities.
• What work-life balance actually means to her: being there when her kids get up in the morning and being there when they go to bed.

Jo Lindsay's best piece of career advice:

"Never turn down an opportunity before you've explored it."

Resources mentioned:   Good to Great — Jim Collins

• New episodes on a Wednesday, with interviews with leaders or experts every week and a monthly discussion on what we've heard in the last week of the month.
• We'd love to hear from you.  Share your thoughts on recent episodes or questions you would like Luella and Michelle to answer to [email protected]. 
• Support this podcast by becoming a member and get access to bonus episodes containing work related advice from Luella, Michelle and expert guests as well as a monthly newsletter with access to tools and guidance from this week's advice episode. 

Help other people find this podcast by subscribing in your podcast app and leaving a review.
Career Stories is brought to you by The Career Library.

This month on Career Stories, Dr Luella Forbes and Associate Professor Michelle Gander reflect on the career stories of Steve Price, Dr Mia Carbon, and Dinda Timperon — three very different people with some surprisingly connected threads running through their careers.

In this episode:

• Why the people who say they don't have a career strategy often turn out to be the most strategic of all — and what Steve Price and Mia Carbon's decisions reveal about planning versus being open to what comes up.
• The difference between push and pull factors in career decisions, and how Maslow's hierarchy of needs maps onto the moments when we choose to move on or stay put.
• What ambition actually means for women at work — including research showing there's no ambition gap between men and women when career support is equal, and why that gap appears when it isn't.
• Why Dinda Timperon's story, from deciding at 17 to join the RAF to building a community around cybersecurity and personal development, is a case study in knowing your own mind.
• Seizing opportunities versus planning for them — and what happens when the universe decides to make the decision for you (Luella shares the story of how she ended up in Australia).
• The role of networks, mentors and sponsors in career development, and why the most powerful career conversations are often the ones you're not having.

Michelle's take on ambition: 

"I applaud all the young women nowadays that embrace wanting to be ambitious and wearing that as a badge of honour — because there is nothing to be ashamed of about that."

Resources mentioned:

•       Drive — Daniel Pink

More detailed show notes with links to information discussed by guests can be found here.

• New epiosodes on a Wednesday, with interviews with leaders or experts every week and a monthly discussion on what we've heard in the last week of the month.
• We'd love to hear from you.  Share your thoughts on recent episodes or questions you would like Luella and Michelle to answer to [email protected]. 
• Support this podcast by becoming a member and get access to bonus episodes containing work related advice from Luella, Michelle and expert guests as well as a monthly newsletter with access to tools and guidance from this week's advice episode. 

Help other people find this podcast by subscribing in your podcast app and leaving a review.
Career Stories is brought to you by The Career Library.

This week's guest is Dinda Timperon, Head of Cybersecurity Engineering at one of Australia's largest wealth management organisations, and founder of Perth Women's Circle, a community of over 10,000 women focused on growth and development.

Dinda's career spans the Royal Australian Air Force, aerospace engineering, flight test, a stint writing stage plays, and now leading national teams in financial services cybersecurity. She built Perth Women's Circle from a sunrise beach gathering of five women in 2023 to a movement with over a thousand women at live events, all alongside a demanding full-time role and raising two boys.

In this episode:

• How Dinda went from joining the Royal Australian Air Force at 17, with no clear career plan, to becoming an aerospace engineer and leading aircraft maintenance and flight test programs.
• What it was like to step into leadership at 21 as an aircraft maintenance officer, managing a team of experienced technicians twice her age, and how that shaped her approach to leadership.
• Why she left the Air Force after a solid career and spent a few years writing stage plays, and what that transition taught her about identity and following your instincts.
• How she made the move into cybersecurity and financial services, and what it takes to transfer skills across very different industries
• How Perth Women's Circle was born from a simple personal need for connection, and what it took to grow it from five women at a beach to a community of over 10,000.
• How Dinda thinks about juggling a national leadership role, community building, coaching, and parenting, and why she frames it less as balance and more as presence.
• What success means to Dinda now compared to her early career, and why she believes ambition should not be a word women feel they have to apologise for.
• How growing up between eight schools, and watching her Indonesian mother lead on building sites, gave Dinda an early and quiet confidence that she could do whatever she wanted.

Dinda's insight on success: “True success expands your life. If something feels restrictive, it's not actually true success. It needs to be something that adds to your life.”

All opinions are the guest's own.

• New episodes on a Wednesday, with interviews with leaders or experts every week and a monthly discussion on what we've heard in the last week of the month.
• We'd love to hear from you.  Share your thoughts on recent episodes or questions you would like Luella and Michelle to answer to [email protected]. 
• Support this podcast by becoming a member and get access to bonus episodes containing work related advice from Luella, Michelle and expert guests as well as a monthly newsletter with access to tools and guidance from this week's advice episode. 

Help other people find this podcast by subscribing in your podcast app and leaving a review.
Career Stories is brought to you by The Career Library.

This week's guest is Dr Mia Carbon, Deputy Director General of Biosecurity and Emergency Management for Western Australia — or, as she describes it, part of the team responsible for protecting one of the world's most unique environments. From training as a vet and working in rural Victoria and the UK, to a pivotal move into public policy, to leading one of WA's most complex government roles, Mia's career has been shaped by curiosity, values, and a willingness to make hard calls at every stage.

In this episode:

• What biosecurity really means for Western Australia — and why the state's scale makes it unlike anywhere else in the world
• The ethical turning point that led her away from clinical veterinary work
• Stepping into a senior executive role on the day three government departments were being merged into one
• Why she withdrew from a senior role at finalist stage — and what she learned from it
• How attending nine schools growing up shaped her adaptability and resilience
• How being a parent has influenced the decisions she's made throughout her career
• Her approach to leadership and navigating complexity in the public sector

Mia's insight on leadership: "In any leadership role, as you go up, you can do less. You absolutely cannot get it all done yourself. The skill as a leader is being able to bring all of those different threads together and knowing how to get them to work together to achieve what you need to achieve."

The proverb Mia lives by: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

• New episodes on a Wednesday, with interviews with leaders or experts every week and a monthly discussion on what we've heard in the last week of the month.
• We'd love to hear from you.  Share your thoughts on recent episodes or questions you would like Luella and Michelle to answer to [email protected]. 
• Support this podcast by becoming a member and get access to bonus episodes containing work related advice from Luella, Michelle and expert guests as well as a monthly newsletter with access to tools and guidance from this week's advice episode. 

Help other people find this podcast by subscribing in your podcast app and leaving a review.
Career Stories is brought to you by The Career Library.

This week's guest is Steve Price, General Manager of Financial Services at David Jones — the world's oldest department store. Having spent his career across banking, SaaS and retail in both the UK and Australia, Steve has specialised in building innovative products and customer experiences, from launching one of the UK's first internet banking services in the late 90s, to bringing Apple Pay to Australia, to embedding financial services inside accounting software for small businesses.

In this episode:

• What a General Manager of Financial Services actually does — in a retail context
• How David Jones thinks about loyalty, rewards and making customers feel special
• Why Steve took voluntary redundancy after 15 years with one organisation — and why he's glad he did
• What the move from a big bank to a small one really teaches you — and why he made that choice deliberately
• How to navigate your career using principles rather than a plan
• The value of deliberately moving across industries before it's done to you
• Steve and Luella's different take on moving countries — and why it isn't always sunshine and roses
• Why he puts family ahead of career — and what work-life prioritisation really means to him
• The career exercise that helped him identify his strengths

Resources mentioned:

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — Stephen Covey
• Good to Great — Jim Collins

More detailed show notes with links to information discussed by guests can be found here.

• New epiosodes on a Wednesday, with interviews with leaders or experts every week and a monthly discussion on what we've heard in the last week of the month.
• We'd love to hear from you.  Share your thoughts on recent episodes or questions you would like Luella and Michelle to answer to [email protected]. 
• Support this podcast by becoming a member and get access to bonus episodes containing work related advice from Luella, Michelle and expert guests as well as a monthly newsletter with access to tools and guidance from this week's advice episode. 

Help other people find this podcast by subscribing in your podcast app and leaving a review.
Career Stories is brought to you by The Career Library.