Award-winning documentary maker and author Pete Dickson is no stranger to life’s curved balls.

Childhood illness and a fast-track to an AFL career truncated due to a life-threatening condition were the early harbingers, but the tragic loss of his beloved brother Robert - Australian football identity, reality TV star and filmmaker - and his two young nephews in an accident one ordinary day threw his life into a spin of grief, heart-break, holding on and trying to keep it together when his world was blown apart. 

It’s a human challenge so many of us have sadly had to face. When someone you love dies too soon, how do you honour their legacy but also know how to let them go? How do you find the will to go on when they are gone? And how do you uncouple yourself from their story?

We thank Pete with full hearts for his beautiful sharing and sensitivity in this episode, where he opens up about his journey to the heart of grief’s darkness, and out the other side again.

And while this is Pete’s story, it is also a story of how siblings indelibly shape us, the binds of brotherly love and how you can find yourself again in the face of unimaginable loss.

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Guest: Pete Dickson
Purchase Book: He Was My Brother: The Story Of Rob Dickson And Me

Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet
Producer: Daryl Missen

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :)

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Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogs

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It was the philosopher, Holocaust survivor and author of 'Man's Search for Meaning' Victor Frankl who said: “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

The idea links to Epictetus’ Dichotomy of Control, that being that there are multiple things within our sphere of influence we do have the ability to change, but there is also so much of our human experience that sits well outside the realm of our influence, no matter our desires or hopes or striving.

This means that we will all - someday, somehow, without a doubt - suffer deeply. And it is only then that we will be forced to look within and ask more of ourselves so we can both endure and adjust ourselves to carry and ultimately transcend that suffering.

In this space of suffering, are there any opportunities for growth? Can we see positives? Will this increase our resilience? Our compassion? And most importantly, deepen our understanding of what it means to be human in the fullest sense?

In this episode we have the privilege of hearing the incredible and profound story of Dianne Draganovic, who shares her stoic and beautiful journey as a mother of four children - Liliana who died too young, and Bella who was born with Down Syndrome.

Before you listen, please take a few minutes to watch the video via the link below so you can meet Bella and her family, and inhabit her world for a moment. Then please lean in, listen and learn from Dianne whose wisdom, humanity, curiosity and unstoppable crusade to help Bella live her best life is an unforgettable and powerful lesson in stoicism for us all. 

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Guest: Dianne Draganovic

Watch video link of Bella and her family: https://youtu.be/rc652FCw9ls

Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet

Producer: Daryl Missen at Purple Wax

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :)

Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?
Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogs

We'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave a quick review.
It helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you! CLICK FOLLOW on Apple and Spotify. Or if you're really feeling it, please leave us a quick REVIEW.

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Warning: This episode talks about suicide and mental health.

Did you know that suicide is the #1 killer of Aussie men under the age of 45? Every day in Australia, 7 men and 2 women take their lives, and each year across this country, there are 65 thousand attempts of suicide. That’s one every 28 seconds.

These are shocking statistics that media personality Gus Worland knows all too well. When he devastatingly lost his closest friend and mentor to suicide, he decided something had to change.

Gus founded Gotcha4Life, a not-for-profit foundation with a goal of zero suicides, and of taking action by delivering preventative mental health programs that engage, educate and empower local communities. The charity has raised 11 million since it’s inception 5 years ago, and has had far-reaching impact across Australia teaching men how to build their mental fitness, deep human connections and ensure they have a trusted go-to person they can rely on to share the hard stuff of life, even during times that feel unbearably dark.

While you may know Gus as the host of the ABC series Man Up, or as Hugh Jackman’s bestie, or from his many years on breakfast radio on Triple M in Sydney, in this conversation we meet the remarkable man behind the media who is changing and saving lives, one brave Aussie bloke at a time.

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Guest: Gus Worland
Gotcha4Life Foundation
Watch Man Up on ABC iview

Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet

Producer: Daryl Missen at Purple Wax

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :)

Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?
Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogs

We'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave a quick review.
It helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you! CLICK FOLLOW on Apple and Spotify. Or if you're really feeling it, please leave us a quick REVIEW.

Thanks so much for listening!

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How are you feeling as the end of 2022 looms? It's been a big couple of years, hasn't it? Pandemic life has worn us all down a little, anxiety and burnout are widespread and trying to find balance again can be a real challenge for adults, and for kids. 

So in this episode we sat down with Dr Lexi Frydenberg, a pediatrician and educator, Co-Host of the Kids Health Info Podcast and Mum of three who's passionate about family-centered care and the power of human connection to optimise health and well-being.

As a career-driven person from a family of origin that set super high bars for achievement, Lexi knows the lived impact of stress on mind and body, and the need to prioritise radical self-care to save yourself from, well, yourself.

In this conversation Lexi shares the story of her professional journey, from juggling glass balls to suffering a case of burnout to learning how to set clear boundaries to reclaim her health and work-life balance.

Lexi reveals how she uses a process of self-check-ins to ensure that her life and work is both sustainable, and sustaining. Plus shares some amazing tips on how to deeply connect with and set your kids up for success in the fast-paced, addled and complex world we’re living in.

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Episode Web Page

Guest: Dr Lexi Frydenberg
Victorian Children's Clinic

Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet
Producer: Daryl Missen at Purple Wax

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :)

Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?
Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogs

 

We'd love you to support our show! Please follow us or leave a review.

We will sprinkle you with loving kindness, gushing accolades and all good things if you CLICK FOLLOW on Apple and Spotify! Or if you're really feeling it, PLEASE LEAVE US A QUICK REVIEW. It really helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you!

Thanks for listening!

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Experts say effective communication isn’t just about what you say: it is 50% speaking and 50% listening.

Think about your interactions today.

No doubt you will have countless exchanges with loved ones, colleagues, clients and strangers, but how many times are you actually tuned in and listening deeply to what they say, and what they don’t say? And how many times will you feel truly listened to? 

Oscar Trimboli is a globally renowned deep listening expert, author, host of the Apple award-winning podcast Deep Listening and a sought-after keynote speaker. Along with the Deep Listening Ambassador Community, he is on a quest to create 100 million deep listeners in the world and create lasting change in the leaders and organisations he works with, which include American Express, AstraZeneca, Cisco, Google, HSBC, IAG, Montblanc, PwC, Salesforce and many more.

Oscar has much to teach us all about the difference between listening and hearing, which can radically transform how we engage and connect with our children, partners, parents, colleagues and friends.

This conversation with Oscar literally stopped us in our tracks, inviting us to slow right down, shut up and explore how we both listen. As a result it changed our thinking about the way we sit in conversation with each other, and with our guests on Human Cogs. 

If you’ve ever wondered how you can dial up your listening with the people you love, live or work with to open new ways of thinking, knowing and being, then please make time to really listen to this conversation with Oscar.

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Guest: Oscar Trimboli
Website: oscartrimboli.com

Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet
Producer: Daryl Missen at Purple Wax

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :)

Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?
Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogs

 

Want to support our show?

We will sprinkle you with loving kindness, gushing accolades and all good things if you CLICK FOLLOW on Apple and Spotify! Or if you're really feeling it, PLEASE LEAVE US A QUICK REVIEW. It really helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you!

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“I am so acutely aware that little girls born like me don’t sit in rooms with billionaires and don’t help run tech companies. So with the incredible privileges that I have, I don’t know that I can justify doing anything else but trying to make sure that other people have access to those same things."

Meet Aubrey Blanche - an absolute powerhouse and world leader in workplace culture, inclusion and belonging - and the Global Head of Equitable Design and Impact at Culture Amp, one of Australia’s biggest startup success stories. 

In this conversation on Human Cogs, Aubrey courageously and insightfully shares her ‘twisty’ family of origin story, her sense of both grief and hope following her recent diagnosis of bipolar, and her lifelong commitment to dismantling the codified systems and practices that prevent each of us from connecting with others, and sharing our authentic selves at work.

This episode will challenge the way you think about the real story of who you are, and your role in creating a sense of belonging and equity for yourself, and those around you. 

"I’ve been so lucky, but I don’t want people from my community to have to be lucky to have opportunity. I just want them to have it.”

 

Guest: Aubrey Blanche

Show Links: Aubrey Blanche Twitter Blog Culture Amp

Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet

Producer: Daryl Missen at Purple Wax

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :)

Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?
Join in the convo at Instagram @human.cogs

 

Want to support our show?

We will sprinkle you with loving kindness, gushing accolades and all good things if you CLICK FOLLOW on Apple and Spotify! Or if you're really feeling it, PLEASE LEAVE US A QUICK REVIEW. It really helps us get these stories out to more awesome peeps like you!

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When you think about your life, is there a moment that comes to mind which you know changed you indelibly?

Fergus Watts says that moment happened when he was 15 years old, and the legendary AFL footballer and Reach founder Jim Stynes changed his life by unlocking the vulnerability hiding underneath his masculine bravado to finally give him permission to talk about “real stuff”. 

That encounter 21 years ago sparked in Fergus a lifelong commitment to getting the absolute best out of himself, being true to who he really is and making an opportunity of every opportunity.

This has seen him play professional AFL then have his career cut devastatingly short, found a powerhouse marketing agency employing 300 staff across three countries, and in a remarkable full circle, he’s now playing it forward as newly appointed CEO of The Reach Foundation scaling life-changing preventative mental health programs to thousands of young people across Australia.

The path hasn’t always been easy, or linear. But the lessons are loud. 

This conversation will challenge you to think about how to get comfortable with failure, cast off the labels and roles you define yourself by, and undertake the self-discovery required to get to the core of who you really are.

Guest: Fergus Watts

Show Links: The Reach Foundation

Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet

Producer: Daryl Missen at Purple Wax

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :)

Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?

Join in the convo at insta @human.cogs

 

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Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/

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Have you ever wondered how you can use your remaining days on this planet better?

In this episode we explore this question with Dr Amantha Imber, plus unpack stacks of other fascinating, perplexing, super-curly conundrums like: How do high achievers find balance? What does work look like in a post-pandemic world? Can you stop perfectionism? Would you survive “the airport test”? Why are you a people pleaser? And where can you find true love after divorce?

Amantha is the author of best-selling book Time Wise, an organisational psychologist and the founder of global behavioural science consultancy Inventium, which has worked with Google, Apple, Disney, LEGO, Atlassian, CommBank and many others to reinvent the way they work.

In 2021 Amantha won the Thinkers50 Innovation Award and is also the host of the number one ranking business podcast How I Work, which has received 3+ million downloads, and features interviews with the world’s most successful people about their habits, rituals and strategies for using their days better. (It's bloody good. Well worth a listen.)

In this conversation Amantha shares awesome personal and practical tips, from finding the work you love to surviving the wilds of dating after divorce to helping us all rethink how we really use our time. So if you’re looking to say “hell yeah” to a new lease on work or love or using your time wisely, then this episode is for you.

*****

Guest: Amantha Imber
Show Links: Time Wise, How I Work, Inventium

Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet
Producer: Daryl Missen at Purple Wax

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with previous guests :)

Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?
Join in the convo at insta @human.cogs

Want to support our show?
We will sprinkle you with loving kindness, gushing accolades and all good things if you CLICK FOLLOW on Apple and Spotify! Or if you're really feeling it for us, please leave us a REVIEW. It helps us get these stories to more awesome peeps like you!

Thanks for listening!

Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During the dark days of the pandemic not everyone was baking sourdough. Many women were locked in their homes with people they feared, and psychological, physical, financial and fatal abuse played out behind closed doors with domestic violence continuing to devastate too many lives.

Tarang Chawla is a writer, speaker, anti-violence campaigner and mental health advocate, whose beloved 23-year-old sister Niki was tragically murdered by her partner. 

Niki’s horrific death and inspiring life has become the catalyst for Tarang’s powerful change-making. Named as Young Australian of the Year Finalist, AFL Community Champion Award Winner, India-Australia Young Community Achiever of the Year, and Pro Bono Top 25 Most Influential Australians, Tarang founded the ‘Not One More Niki’ movement, Australia’s largest campaign to end violence against women in culturally diverse communities.

Tarang continues to use his voice to serve the community and champion human rights, and has just released a ground-breaking new podcast in collaboration with Future Women and supported by CommBank called There’s No Place Like Home, which features the stories of 10 extraordinary people who have survived family violence and domestic abuse.

In this difficult, inspirational and hope-filled conversation, Tarang emphasizes the importance of victim-survivors stories, explores how we move to solutions, and shares how keeping his sister’s spirit alive in his everyday has given him the fuel to keep fighting for social change.

It might be hard to listen and front up to the truth of the abuse and violence that is perpetrated behind closed doors.​ But as Tarang says: “It’s vital that we do. We have to listen. Because we need to learn.​”

Guest: Tarang Chawla
Show Links: There's No Place Like Home, Future Women, Instagram

Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet
Producer: Daryl Missen at Purple Wax

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website.

Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?
Join in the convo at insta @human.cogs

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Thanks for listening! 

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Did you know that you spend most of your waking life working – a jaw-dropping 90,000 hours for the average person. 

Work dominates our days. It can be the thing that gets you up in the morning, or the thing that keeps you awake at night. 

What about you? Has the pandemic changed your relationship with work? Are you at a career crossroads, feeling tired, unmotivated, a tad lost in your work life? Are you experiencing burnout? Do you want to be more intentional about the role of work in your life so you can grow more joy and meaning in your career, and make your work, well, work for you?

We sat down to explore some of these questions with ABC Broadcaster Lisa Leong, who along with journalist Monique Ross, has spent a lot of time thinking and writing about work and co-authored a brilliant just published book called This Working Life - How To Navigate Your Career In Uncertain Times.

In this conversation, Lisa and Mon share how being on the brink of burnout was the wake up call they each needed to change their relationship with work, and themselves. They reflect on their personal, hard-won learnings and how they had to rethink unsustainable and negative work habits to rebalance their work life coherence, do less to gain more, and harness their energy and superpowers to craft the careers they now truly love. 

There’s stacks of great practical advice in here to help kickstart your career next steps, or at least help you have a good hard look at how you spend your working life. 

Guests: Lisa Leong and Monique Ross
Website: This Working Life
Socials - Lisa: Twitter, Instagram
Socials - Mon: Twitter, Instagram

Hosts: Sabina Read and Madeleine Grummet
Producer: Daryl Missen at Purple Wax

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or via our website.

Got some thoughts on today's episode you'd like to share?
Join in the convo at insta @human.cogs

Want to support our show? We will sprinkle you with loving kindness and all good things if you CLICK FOLLOW on Apple and Spotify! Or if you're really feeling it, please leave us a REVIEW.

Thanks for listening!

Learn more and support the show: https://www.humancogs.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.