Our guest this week has taken the road less travelled, and pioneered her industry in Hong Kong and China for more than 30 years. We’re talking about one of Asia’s most celebrated restaurateurs, and a philanthropist as well, Michelle Garnaut AO.Michelle grew up in Australia but always knew she wanted to travel. The fact she founded and launched her business, the M Restaurant Group, in Hong Kong in the late 1980s makes her one of the first independent restaurateurs to set up shop anywhere in Hong Kong or China. Time Magazine has even described Michelle as an ‘industry celebrity’ and someone who ‘pioneered the fashionable-dining scene in China’. Michelle is well known for the upscale restaurants and bars she’s created and launched in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing - including M on the Bund restaurant still delighting diners in Shanghai. She’s also committed to giving back, and founded the Shanghai International Literary Festival the M Literary Residency, the Village People Project and the women’s initiative, Mentor Walks, which she started in Beijing. Michelle has won numerous international entrepreneurial awards and accolades, and last year was awarded an Order of Australia for her numerous contributions to business and society. In this episode you’ll learn: How Michelle became one of the most successful fine-dining restaurateurs in China  Her hard fought lessons about starting and running a business Why she started out with her cash locked in a fridge, and How she had to fight to win back control of her business.We think you’ll just love Michelle’s amazing stories and all-round fabulousness. Happy listening!  Interesting LinksMichelle's Restaurant in Shanghai - M on the BundM on the Bund on FacebookM on the Bund on WeiboMentor Walks ChinaMentor Walks AustraliaScan to Follow M on the Bund on WeChat   

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This week’s guest has an insatiable passion for learning and the future and she has the career portfolio to prove it! We’re talking about international company director, entrepreneur and global philanthropist, Laura Anderson.Laura grew up near Chicago in the US. She found out early on that she was good at maths and loved ideas and set about immersing herself in areas that fascinated her. As a girl she wanted  to be an astronaut and to this day is convinced the Space Program is critically important. And yes, she’s passionate about humans getting to Mars!Laura’s “why not?” attitude ultimately led her to a career in the technology industry where she worked around the world for companies such as HP, KPMG and Perot Systems, as well as starting her own successful supply chain company. Laura is now based in Australia where she has a full and fascinating portfolio of local and international interests and directorships including being Chair of LaunchVic (a Government organisation to foster a start-up ecosystem), the Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Technology in Schools, and SVI Global Pty Ltd. She’s also on the boards of: the Fulbright Commission, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, Epworth HealthCare, the National Basketball League, and the Defence Science Institute. In this episode, you’ll learn: How Laura goes about influencing people, particularly in a male dominated environment What tools and tactics she uses to manage her mindset How she thinks about her global network Her advice to entrepreneurs And the reasons why she’s on a Mission to Mars!Sit back, buckle up and enjoy this episode with the very accomplished and delightful Laura Anderson.  Links of InterestLaura's WebsiteLaura on TwitterLaura on Instagram 

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This week’s guest is a woman who at the age of 92 is still inspiring thousands of women to be the “best they can be!”. We’re talking about the incredible doyenne of etiquette and deportment, June Dally Watkins.Miss Dally, as she is known, grew up on a sheep farm and attended a one teacher bush school in regional Australia. Her teacher told her mother that she “would be an absolute failure in life”. He couldn’t have been more wrong.At 22, June became Australia’s Fashion Model of the Year and soon became Australia’s first supermodel. She lived the high life as part of the global jetset becoming great friends with Hollywood stars Audrey Hepburn, Bing Crosby and Gregory Peck (who asked her to marry him!).When she came back to Australia she started her now famous etiquette and deportment business which made her one of Australia’s first female entrepreneurs. The June Dally Watkins School has gone on to change thousands and thousands of people’s lives. She is now, at 92 years of age, an absolute sensation in China where she goes for weeks at a time to teach thousands to be “the best they can be”.In this episode you’ll learn: How hard it was to be one of the first business women in Australia when women were expected to play the traditional housewife role Why June pushed through condemnation and criticism to build her business How she came to be so in demand in China in her 90’s And her advice on how to stay young.Enjoy this episode with the delightful and determined June Dally Watkins. Useful LinksJune Dally Watkins Website (JDW)Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend Article on June Dally WatkinsJDW on Facebook 

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We get it, no-one likes having a difficult conversation do they? Yet, it’s a fact of life that we all need to instigate them at different times both at work and at home. And if you want to be successful at work, it’s fair to say that having constructive difficult conversations is a skill you just need to master.But difficult conversations are hard because they often illicit emotion. Hence many of us procrastinate or dodge conversations that we know we really should have, which can lead to resentment and festering emotions.   Procrastinate no more! This week we provide you with some simple tips and tools to help you navigate these tricky situations. In fact, we teach how to have difficult work conversations in our leadership programs at companies around the world, including Google, Pinterest, Uber, etc, and our participants tell us that these skills really help. In this episode you’ll learn: Practical steps you can take to ensure your difficult conversations go as well as possible  Why it’s so important to have difficult conversations A super useful way to give feedback well  And, how to say No Plus, you get to hear an, almost, Oscar-winning feedback role-play (if we say so ourselves)! So don’t delay that difficult conversation you’ve been putting off - click below and have a listen and then try it for real! You've got this!Oh and email us at [email protected] if you’d like us to send you our Values Assessment Exercise. Useful LinksThe SBI Feedback ModelAdditional Reading:Crucial Conversations - Tools for Talking When Stake are High by Kerry PatersonRadical Candour by Kim Scott MaloneWhat's Worst Than Having a Difficult Conversation? Avoiding One! by Deborah Rowland - HBR article 

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Our guest this week has been on an incredible journey in the past decade - building an iconic online retail empire to global heights and then having no choice but to close it all down last year. We’re talking about Shoes of Prey co-founder, Jodie Fox. The trailblazing Shoes of Prey became a global start-up and fashion darling during its nine years in business - offering shoes that its customers could personally design and customise online. It was a truly innovative concept. Big name VC firms thought so too, and Jodie and her two male co-founders raised around $30 million over the life of the business before coming to the heart-wrenching decision to cease trading in August last year. The problem? Despite a stunning launch years earlier, they simply couldn’t get the scale to make the business sustainable in the long term. Jodie was the Chief Creative Officer and public face of Shoes of Prey, so coming to terms with having to shut down the business, and its global offices, has been particularly confronting for her in the past year having spent the past ten years living and breathing the brand. In this episode you’ll learn : How and why Jodie went from being a risk averse young lawyer to a start-up co-founder  What it was like to be married and then divorced to one of her co-founders whilst still having to work in the business together The three key lessons she’s taken away from the high profile failure of their venture And, how vulnerable she feels sharing so much of her personal story in her new book.This is Jodie’s first podcast interview since Shoes of Prey was shut down and it comes as she’s launching her book about the incredible journey she’s been on: ‘Reboot - More Than You Ever Probably Wanted to Know About Starting a Global Business’. We loved this discussion and Jodie’s generosity in sharing what she’s learnt. Be sure not to miss this one and be among the first to hear her fascinating stories. Plus, enter our competition to win one of ten copies of Jodie’s book that we are giving away to lucky subscribers. Happy Listening! Jodie with co-Founders Michael Fox and Mike Knapp; the early days of Shoes of Prey; a Shoes of Prey concept store in the US; JodieLinks of interestJodie's websiteWin one of 10 of Jodie's new bookJodie's Youtube ChannelJodie on InstaJodie on LinkedinBuy Jodie's new book - Reboot, More Than You Probably Ever Wanted to Know About Starting a Global BusinessBooktopia - AustraliaAmazon - USAmazon - UK 

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This episode features a super creative thinker and former child prodigy who’s on a quest to bring beauty and emotion to all that she creates and builds. We’re talking about renown architect, interior designer, fashion designer and artist, Jordy Fu.Jordy grew up in Chengdu in China. At the age of just six years old, 200 pieces of Jordy’s art work were exhibited in a solo exhibition at the Beijing Capital Museum. By the time she was seven a book of her artworks had been published!Jordy went on to study in London at the iconic art school, Central Saint Martins, before qualifying as an architect and eventually starting her own multi-disciplinary firm. Now based in Bangkok, Jordy and her team work on a diverse range of projects... and Jordy in particular works on everything from iconic buildings in China to statement fashion pieces for the runways in Dubai. In this episode you’ll learn: Why she believes most architects are boring Why being a child prodigy can make you feel like a failure when you’re an adult How she manages to juggle multiple projects and be a parent; and How she’s trained herself to have a positive attitude, and how you can too ….If you aspire to be more creative or have a more positive mindset, then don’t miss this episode! Jordy as a six year old at Beijing Capital Musuem; artwork she drew as a five year old; Jordy's fashion collection at Dubai Fashion Week; putting the final touches on her paper chandelier; Jordy in her egg chair in her office; Greta Thomas, Jordy Fu and Claire Hatton in her Bangkok office; one of Jordy's architectural designs.Links of InterestMarques & Jordy WebsiteJordy's TED TalkJordy on Linkedin 

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In this week’s episode we meet an entrepreneur and innovator who’s been through more than her fair share of challenge and trauma, yet has found a way to forge her own unique path. We’re talking about the irrepressible Dr Catherine Ball.Catherine, or Cath, grew up in a pretty poor, single parent household in an industrial town in the UK. Unlike her peers she was determined to go to university where she studied environmental protection. She then went on to complete a PHD - a process she now describes as torturous. Needing to pay off her student debt, her path then took her into the corporate world where she worked with a number of engineering consultancies in the UK and then in Australia. Just as Cath was being recognised as a leader in her space receiving the Queensland Telstra Business Woman of the Year award in 2015, her company merged with a competitor and she, to her surprise, was made redundant. It was this shocking jolt that led her to start her first company and led to her building on her already existing experience working with drones. Since then she’s be recognised as a true thought leader in emerging technologies, having been awarded many accolades in Australia, including then AFR Women of Influence and Top 25 Women in Robotics Lists, both in 2016. In this episode you’ll learn: How she’s carved out her unique path as an entrepreneur; How she manages her time involved with 10 different projects plus having a young toddler and another one on the way; How drones will change our lives and  How you need to think about your career in a world of AI, robotics and cybersecurity.Enjoy this episode with the witty and inspiring Dr Cath Ball. Links of InterestDr Cath Ball's websiteWorld of Drones CongressDr Cath Ball LinkedinThe Social Start UpWorld of Drones Education  

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In our episode this week we meet an entrepreneur who’s been on a 30 year quest to find ways to create environments and networks for people to innovate and solve problems that matter. We’re talking about the amazing Founder and CEO of SheEO, Vicki Saunders.Vicki grew up in Canada on her family’s farm where she learnt early on to work hard and problem solve. However, her pathway to becoming an entrepreneur took place, unusually for a young Canadian woman, in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. Vicki spent 4 years in Prague where she started multiple businesses learning as she went along. She also built a community of entrepreneurs there, before returning to Toronto to found Canada’s first ever incubator. Fast forward many years and Vicki was mentoring a brilliant young female entrepreneur who was struggling to get funded. She realised then that the system was broken for women… with female-founded startups receiving less than 4% of all venture capital funding.Vicki decided she had to do something to change this and figure out a way to get more women’s business ideas funded.And so SheEO was founded. Now operating in 5 countries, SheEO is a network of women who support, finance and celebrate female innovators who run ventures solving important world problems. In this episode learn:      What it was like as an entrepreneur in Eastern Europe after the Berlin Wall came down     How Vicki created Canada's first incubator, floated it on the stock exchange; and then got fired     Why she thinks the environment you surround yourself in is so critical to your success     How women's radical generosity is changing the world, and how you can get involved.Enjoy this episode with the visionary and passionate Vicki Saunders. Links of interestVicki on LinkedinSheEO websiteBecome an ActivatorApply to be a Venture 

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Office politics - even the thought of it can make some people cringe! We so understand because those two words together conjure up images of mostly bad experiences don’t they? Whether it’s the nightmare colleague, the boss from hell or having the goal posts shifted on you without notice, it’s just not fun!If you’ve ever experienced this or are going through something like this right now, then this is the episode for you. With one research study showing that one in three working people in Britain were unhappy at work because of office politics, we figure that all the great advice featured in this episode is going to come in pretty handy for a lot of you! Tune in if you want to learn: How to think about office politics differently  Two great principles to apply when navigating through a tricky situation, whatever it may be  How to approach having an insecure or micro-managing boss Specific and simple tips for you to survive having a difficult colleague Whatever your situation you’re likely to feel much better equipped to handle a day at the office after this advice-packed episode!

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Our guest this week is the incredibly inspiring Martha Lane Fox, one of the UK’s most well known and respected technology leaders and society shapers.In 1997 Martha was 25 years old when she became co-founder of Lastminute.com, one of the first internet travel marketplaces in the world. This was in the days of the first dot com boom when creating internet based businesses was still a truly pioneering thing. In 2003, after 6 years running LastMinute.com, Martha stepped down as CEO and took some time off to holiday in Morocco, where she was seriously injured in a car accident. She broke 28 bones, had a stroke, was airlifted back to the UK and spent 2 years in hospital.Martha’s story of her journey back to some degree of normalcy is truly incredible. The chronic pain and injuries she lives with today would make you think she’d want to rest up and take it easy. But not Martha.She’s gone on to do so many important things, believing passionately that it’s so important for female voices to be heard. Today she sits on numerous boards including Twitter, Chanel, and the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust and is the Chancellor of the UK's Open University.She’s also the founder and Chair of a think tank called DotEveryone which promotes responsible technology for a fairer future. And since 2013, Martha has been a member of the House of Lords, the upper house of the UK parliament (where her title is Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho).In this episode you’ll hear: What it’s like to be a member of the House of Lords, particularly as a woman How her accident impacted her life and what tactics she uses to cope and achieve all that she does Her advice on how you can speak up and be heard Why she tries to raise the climate crisis in whatever forum she finds herself in.Please enjoy this interview with the irrepressible Martha Lane Fox. Links of interest:Martha on TwitterMartha's WebsiteDoteveryone on TwitterDoteveryone Website 

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