In this final episode of Fearlessly Playful (in its current incarnation, stay tuned for some big announcements coming in 2020!), I speak with Julie Trell, head of Telstra’s startup accelerator program, muru-D and the Australian lead of SheEO, a radical new way to invest focussing on women-led ventures.

We talk about Julie’s international journey beginning in the US and ending up in Sydney, including her role as Vice President of All Things Fun, Meaningful & Rewarding at the Salesforce Foundation.

We also talk about the power of improv, games and of course play and how to sneak them into very serious business settings to great results.

And perhaps most inspiring for me is Julie’s insight about the essence of play really being about curiosity, which I’ve now realised since this interview has actually been the driving force in my life… but I’ll save that for a future episode.

In this special second last episode of Fearlessly Playful in its current form (big announcements coming soon!), I speak with Microsoft’s HoloLens and mixed reality evangelist, Lawrence Crumpton.

I caught up with Lawrence after his keynote at XR:WA (which is probably Australia’s biggest immersive reality festival which I’m super proud to be one of the producers of) on the eve of the launch of the hotly anticipated Hololens 2. We talk all about the present and future of mixed and augmented reality and the power of play and games in creating that future, as well as being a critical part of Lawrence’s work and life.

We also discuss the legacy of Microsoft Bob, a ground breaking but too soon foray into new ways of interacting with machines and making computers more human.

A fascinating conversation!

Do you ever find yourself avoiding doing something you want or need to, but aren’t sure why? Or didn’t know what you need to do to get unstuck and get back to just doing the thing?

You probably noticed this happened to me with my podcast, (yes, we’re back!) so I decided to make an episode to try and untangle what was going on, and so who better to talk to that my friend, podcast coach and host of the WA Real podcast, Bryn Edwards (Australia/UK).

It was a bit scary to share this with the world, but of course if you know me you know I have that game I play with myself where if I have the opportunity to do something scary that won’t hurt me, I gotta do it.

It was a fabulous conversation not just about the things that we let hold us back, but also the meaning, purpose and power of play. We also talked about our own journeys as podcasters and why its become such a popular medium thanks to its potential for authentic and vulnerable conversations.

In this week’s episode of Fearlessly Playful, I speak with Sahaja Springer (Australia), a true innovator who uses kinesiology to help entrepreneurs, visionaries and change makers get breakthrough results.

And appropriately given the theme of this podcast, Sahaja is a serious professional, but also seriously silly and playful. As well as being a kinesiologist, she also been a clown for the variety children’s charity for more than 16 years.

Sahaja and I talk about how playfulness can boost creativity, fearlessness and help us be open to real change — both on a personal level but also as a way of making a difference well beyond ourselves.

I should also say that this is quite a special episode for me because Sahaja is one of my mentors, who has helped me get some big breakthroughs of my own — and in fact was instrumental in helping me name my fearlessly playful philosophy, which is of course also the title and theme of this podcast.

The episode features Marcus Holmes (UK/Australia/the World), gentleman technologist, digital nomad and former CEO of the Phnom Phen Post in Cambodia.

Marcus shares how his playful disposition got him out of depression and into a life he loves.

He shares how a playful approach has enabled him to keep learning and growing beyond his comfort zone, which he says is key to staying happy especially as we get older.

And of course being playful and taking risks is how he found himself saying yes to a role as head of a major newspaper, without any previous experience as a publisher or CEO.

Then, when everything went really, really pear shaped, it was two skills from playing games that saw Marcus through to the other side: non attachment and being in the flow.