Don't Stop Us Now AI Edition

This week’s episode features a trailblazing woman in tech who’s had an extraordinary 28 year career at Microsoft.

Mitra Azizirad is Corporate Vice President of AI and Innovation Marketing at Microsoft based in Seattle. 

As you’ll discover, Mitra’s heard it all, including a senior Defence executive telling her he had shoes older than she was! This indomitable woman has also got used to hearing plenty of ‘No’s’ at work but has repeatedly found ways to prove the naysayers wrong. 

 In this episode you’ll learn: 

• How it’s almost an accident Mitra got into tech in the first place, given she studied and wanted to work in International Relations 
• What it was like being Chief of Staff to the CEO of Microsoft and why she turned the job down several times in the first place
• Why she’s never taken anyone’s advice 
• And the secrets of innovation she’s learnt from working on the cutting edge of technology. 

We spoke with Mitra in Seattle during the coronavirus shutdown but before the Black Lives Matter protests. 

Without further ado enjoy this episode with the forward thinking and very persistent Mitra Azizirad. 

Links of interest

Mitra on LinkedIn - see her speeches here too! Well worth a watch!

Microsoft Innovation - Mitra’s team

Microsoft AI - also Mitra’s team

Microsoft’s AI Business School - Free Course

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Welcome to another of our short and sweet, 'Future Proof Me' episodes where we focus on the most valuable insights, gems of advice and ideas from our incredible guests, all focusing on the theme of future proofing ourselves and our careers.

This week’s 'Future Proof Me' guest is Que Dallara, who is President and CEO of Honeywell’s Connected Enterprise division. She works at the cutting edge leading a new software business with several thousand employees. 

Que is one of the most deep and smart thinkers we know and her thoughts on career planning and success are so insightful. In this mini episode we shine the spotlight on the three key strategies Que says she’s used in her career and that have clearly served her so well. 

We think her third point about the importance of developing Mastery in something you do is particularly important for each of us to reflect on. 

Enjoy this career wisdom from the impressive and humble Que Dallara ...

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This week on the show we’re excited to introduce you to Deanne Weir, a former media lawyer and executive; turned media entrepreneur, investor and company director. 

Deanne started her career as a corporate lawyer in Australia and spent years in the telco and television sectors. She became one of the most respected executives in the broadcast industry.

In 2012, as a member of the senior leadership team and a shareholder of Austar, an Australian cable TV company, she played a key role in the sale of the company. The capital she personally earnt from the sale, gave Deanne the opportunity to start her own investment company and start a new career.

Her company, WeirAnderson.com, invests in entrepreneurs and storytellers in the media and social sectors to help them change the world. She is the Chair of three start-ups including one in data and analytics and one in AI, as well as supporting numerous not for profits including being Chair of the Sydney Film Festival and Global Sisters.

In this conversation you’ll learn:

• How Deanne’s upbringing in a regional town in Australia shaped her desire to change the landscape for women
• What she learnt as an investor when three of her investments failed all around the same time
• Why Deanne thinks there will be massive change after COVID-19 and the type of conversations we need to be having about the world we want to live in
• And, ways we can all personally make a difference in society and effect change. 

Enjoy this conversation with the driven and passionate Deanne Weir.

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Ever felt a lot of self-imposed pressure to keep on moving up the career ladder? 

That’s the key topic of this week’s Future Proof Me episode. 

These mini episodes are all about sharing a ‘nugget’ of an idea, a piece of advice or a thought provoking insight to help us all navigate our way ahead in these uncertain and unusual times. 

This week we revisit a conversation we had a year ago with well known Australian media entrepreneur, Mia Freedman. One of our favourite parts of our conversation with her was some great advice she shared on how to think about your next career move. 

With COVID-19, we’re hearing from many of you who have lost their roles or are fearful of losing their jobs, and whilst this advice from Mia was recorded before, we think you’ll agree that what Mia has to say is particularly useful in this new context. 

So if you’re curious about what connection ‘ladders’ and ‘lattices’ have in the context of your career; or what the heck ‘flearning’ means…. Listen on. We promise you’ll be the wiser for it. 

Enjoy this Future Proof Me episode with Mia Freedman. . .

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We have a real treat in store for you today with a truly remarkable changemaker and NY Times bestselling author as our guest.

Acumen Founder and CEO, Jacqueline Novogratz, has been named one of the 25 Smartest People of the Decade by the Daily Beast, and one of the world’s 100 Greatest Living Business Minds by Forbes, amongst numerous other honours. 

Jacqueline pioneered the notion of 'patient capital', investing in social entrepreneurs around the world. Acumen supports them to establish sustainable businesses that serve some of the world’s poorest people.

What makes this episode a particularly fascinating one is that all this work with entrepreneurs has taught Jacqueline and her team so much about what it takes to succeed when trying to create change. And now she’s also just released a new book sharing what it takes to be a changemaker. It's called Manifesto for a Moral Revolution (and there’s a free course too if you buy the book). 

In this episode you’ll hear: 

• How her early attempts at social change in Africa seriously failed to impress the locals;
• What she learnt about humanity when she became one of the first people to visit in jail someone she’d known well who’d gone on to become a major perpetrator in the Rwandan Genocide; 
• How Jacqueline sees investment as a means to solving problems rather than making profit as the primary goal; and ….
• How she’s seeing women entrepreneurs successfully breaking the rules particularly now during the coronavirus crisis. 

Enjoy this episode with the incredibly inspiring Jacqueline Novogratz…

Links of Interest

Acumen Website

Jacqueline’s Books:

Manifesto for a Moral Revolution - Practices to Build a Better World - her latest book. If you buy a copy you can sign up for free to her 11 week course ‘The Path of Moral Leadership’ (usually it's US$195)

The Blue Sweater

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Welcome to our second Future Proof Me mini episode. These mini episodes will be uploaded in the weeks between our usual, longer interview and ‘How To’ episodes. They are designed to snappily share nuggets of ideas or insights to help us all thrive in future. 

This week’s nugget is all about how important technology is to our future regardless of whether we consider ourselves as ‘tech-people’. 

First you’ll hear from Martha Lane Fox, one of the UK’s most respected technology leaders and entrepreneurs. These days she has an illustrious board career, sits in the House of Lords, and she campaigns for responsible technology through her foundation, Doteveryone. 

Martha shares great advice around positioning yourself in your career and how important it is to be curious about technology. She then goes on to talk about how, with the quickening pace of change, we need to be prepared to have multiple different careers.

Then we hear from the Artificial Intelligence expert, Kriti Sharma. She builds really practically on Martha’s point about learning about tech, and specifically talks about how we can all get more informed and familiar with the important topic of AI. 

A humble request from us...if you are getting value out of what we’re sharing here at Don’t Stop Us Now! then why not be sure you don’t ever miss out and sign up here for our weekly email where we share advice, tips and, of course, info on our latest episode. 

Enjoy this mini episode with Martha Lane Fox and Kriti Sharma.

Links to the longer interviews:

Martha Lane Fox

Kriti Sharma

What is Artificial Intelligence

Other Useful Resources

Dot Everyone Digital Understanding Resources

Elements of AI from the Finnish Government

Recognising Fake News Game

Digital Unite - Technology Guides

MIT Media Lab

Google's AI Education Hub

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We have a fascinating episode this week with our guest, Taiwan’s remarkable Digital Minister, Audrey Tang.

Audrey became the youngest Government Minister ever in Taiwan when she was appointed a few years ago at the age of 35. She is also the world’s first ever Transgender Government Minister. 

Audrey’s childhood was anything but conventional, in her early years she was something of a child prodigy who also had a serious heart condition. She dropped out of school at the age of 14 to manage her own education and at the age of 16 started her first successful software business. 

Fast forward in time, and after some years working in Silicon Valley and further success, Audrey found herself moving from being a Government activist in her home country to a Government Minister!

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How Audrey’s quick involvement in creating a valuable app has played a key role in Taiwan’s extraordinarily successful management of Covid-19, with the country never having to stop working
• How her heart condition as a child means that to this day Audrey does not experience anger or upset or extreme joy 
• How in Taiwan, thanks to calling software coders Programme Designers vs Software Engineers, there are significantly more women than men working in the field  
• And her unique ways of seeing arguments from both sides 

Enjoy this discussion with the remarkable Audrey Tang.

Useful Links

Audrey on Twitter

Taiwan Can Help Us - a COVID-19 initiative from Taiwan to help other countries

CoHack - a hackathon led by Audrey to use open data and technology to help fight the coronavirus pandemic across the world

G0V - a decentralized civic tech community from Taiwan

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Welcome to our first Future Proof Me mini episode! 

These episodes, will share a 'nugget' of an idea, advice or a thought-provoking insight to help us all thrive and adapt in future. 

Our environment’s changing so fast right now, this seems more important than ever … 

In these mini episodes we’ll feature the best from previous and future guests including brand new content. Plus, we’ll share ideas and great tools to try that we’ve put into action or experimented with ourselves. 

This week’s 'nugget' comes from investment banker Lindley Edwards who we had on the show about a year ago. Her episode was very popular and you could really tell from that, that Lindley is a deep thinker. 

Lindley runs a corporate advisory business called AFG Venture Group which specialises in cross-border investments and transactions, particularly between Asia & Australia. She’s also Chairperson for two startups and a Non-Executive Director of a Think Tank called AsiaLink.

We love these insights from Lindley because:

1) They seem so relevant now in these strange times of coronavirus and;

2) Lindley shares some really helpful ways to think about the future… and that’s by building on the ideas and insights from the past;

3) Plus, she talks about how to move forward and create change in new ways that will get traction and maybe even disrupt an industry.  

We hope you enjoy this first Future Proof Me episode… 

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This week as the economic impact from COVID-19 continues to unfold, we wanted to give anyone affected, or anyone who fears they may be affected in future, something seriously practical and useful to action. 

One thing we know for sure is that the best and fastest way to reduce your anxiety and stress over financial or employment issues is to have a plan. 

This episode will give you the steps to create your very own game plan so you too can feel prepared for whatever happens. 

Not only that, we’re super excited that this episode shares invaluable advice from an international resume writing expert who is also a former long-time recruiter and search consultant. Handy eh? 

Yes indeed, no mucking around here, if you want some amazing advice to help you bounce back and ‘get that job’ then you are in the right place. 

In this episode you’ll learn:   

• 3 key areas to focus your game plan on 
• Why it’s important to know where you stand financially 
• Winning tips to create a fantastic resume / CV 
• A little-known ‘insider’s’ tip for using LinkedIn

Whatever your circumstance, you’ll feel more resilient, more prepared and readier than ever for the right opportunity by following the advice in this episode. 

Useful Links

Register your interest for our ‘Get the Job’ Interview here 

Executive Resume Writer, Donna Svei’s website

Heidi Hackemer on Instagram

Heidi’s powerful Medium article 

Awesome list of Side Hustle ideas

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We have a brilliant episode for you this week with the renown entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor Naomi Simson. Given these unprecedented times, this is just the tonic we needed and we think you will love her too. 

On the topic of COVID-19, wherever you’re listening to us from, we hope you’re safe and well and not doing it too tough. Please know that you are not alone, #weareinthistogether . As you’ll hear in this episode, Naomi has some great thoughts for what leaders and businesses need to be thinking about. 

Nearly 20 years ago, Naomi took her savings and founded her online business ‘RedBalloon’ when she was a Mum of two small children. The site she built is an aggregator of a vast variety of experiences that people can buy vouchers for from thousands of tourism and adventure operators around Australia and NZ, and they’re expanding internationally as well. 

Today the ‘Big Red Group’ has 5 separate businesses under its umbrella with revenue over $70 million and literally millions of experiences sold to date. Thousands of small businesses rely on her company to deliver them customers, a big deal normally and an even bigger one now with COVID-19. 

Naomi is also well known for sharing her positivity and business wisdom as a keynote speaker and author or two books. 

In this episode you’ll hear Naomi talk about:

• How she’s feeling in these uncertain times and how she’s coping with COVID 19 consequences
• Her experience of stepping out of her business after splitting from her husband, only to later secretly buy back the company
• What Naomi looks for when startups are pitching to her for investment 
• Why you’ll always see her wearing something red, and
• Her advice to you in these times of uncertainty.

So stay safe, get comfy, and enjoy this episode with the super positive and impressive Naomi Simson. 

One final note from us, given our leadership development business has understandably lost revenue, we’ve decided it’s timely to trial one or two ads at the beginning or end of each episode whilst taking great care not to damage your listening experience. This is a way to help us with all the hours we spend on bringing each episode to you. Thank you for being part of our community. 

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