It's easy to dismiss social barriers as inevitable - the natural friction that comes with 'being different'. But it's much harder to look directly at the systems that keep people unseen, unheard, and separate from opportunity. But what if the work of genuine leadership offered something far more radical: not the removal of barriers through policy or process alone, but the daily practice of seeing people in their wholeness, and moving with them through the discomfort of that recognition?

Shaun Christie-David offers a quiet counterpoint to the usual narratives around social enterprise. As founder of Plate It Forward and a collective of "Social Enterprise" restaurants, he has built organisations where empathy isn't a virtue-signaling slogan — it's woven into hiring, kitchen rhythms, and shared work. It's leadership as a sustained commitment to human dignity, grounded in his own family's experience of migration and the profound luck of belonging.

KG and Paul spent time in the Podcave with Shaun, listening to a story that moves from banking to Sri Lanka to restaurants that quietly challenge every assumption about who belongs in Australian workplaces. What emerges is leadership as something far more grounded than most frameworks allow — a long game that ripples forward across generations.

At the heart of Shaun's work is a disarming question: Why? Why do we assume people with criminal records are untrustworthy? Why overlook skilled migrants when organisations claim there is a talent shortage? Why reduce people to categories when what stands before us is a person with agency and capability?

Ultimately we explore that, perhaps, the real work of leadership is the willingness to build something so it can live beyond you, and the insistence that your success is only meaningful if it creates conditions for the success of others.

We are grateful to Annandale Cellars (and so is Shaun!) for once again generously providing a delicious bottle of wine to accompany this awe-inspiring conversation. On this occasion we are fortunate to taste a 2024 Catlow & Co Nebbiolo, from Beechworth, Victoria. It is a soft and rounded red with a long, delicious finish of red berries, roses and spice. A gorgeous, juicy wine or drink now, or store for a special day.

Get at least half a dozen of these (or half a dozen of any of their amazing wines) and get a 20% discount by using our code at checkout: DECANTED

Sláinte friends!

Useful resources from this episode:

1. Plate It Forward
2. Colombo Social
3. Kabul Social
4. Kolkata Social
5. Kyiv Social

We're keen to hear what you thought of this conversation. Please let us know through either of the options below.

Please reach out on [email protected] or visit us at www.leadershipdecanted.com

Disagree or agree with anything we've said? How wrong are we?!? Are there any leadership topics you'd like us to discuss (or perhaps other books or podcasts that might set us straight!)? Maybe you'd like to recommend a favourite wine!

Whatever tickles your fancy, we'd love to hear from you!!

We rarely publish 'sequels' for our Cheeky Half episodes, but this one was too good to miss. The saga continues with Paul's plumbing. A complicated, but relatively routine, project has become altogether something else.

Join Paul & KG as they discuss the next chapter of a little story that includes backed-up sewerage pipes, very large native trees, and the need to protect endangered species. 

We'd love to hear what you thought of this conversation and any suggestions on this topic for future episodes.

Oh, and if you'd like to take full advantage of our massive 20% discount for any six bottles or more you purchase online from Annandale Cellars, then head to acellars.com.au and use our discount code DECANTED at check-out. Totally worth it.

Please feel free to send us your thoughts, comments and suggestions any time via email.

Please let us know through either of the options below.

Please reach out on [email protected] or visit us at www.leadershipdecanted.com

Disagree or agree with anything we've said? How wrong are we?!? Are there any leadership topics you'd like us to discuss (or perhaps other books or podcasts that might set us straight!)? Maybe you'd like to recommend a favourite wine!

Calls for peace have become louder and more urgent across the globe over the last few years. So much so that it's difficult to know how to respond in ways that feel meaningful and relevant. After all, how can a drop in the ocean move an unrelenting tide?

Mandar Apte is proof that an individual, with no initial political, financial or cultural stock, can actually move the needle for real and lasting peace. And whilst the aspiration is global, the work unfolds in our local communities - having started by bridging the divide between "two sides of the gun".

KG and Paul were joined by Mandar - engineer, documentary filmmaker and global advocate for peace. They listened to his incredible story and couldn't help but marvel at his passion for bringing people together. And what begins as a reflection on personal growth soon widens into a conversation about how inner transformation can ripple outwards into organisations, communities, and even nations. 

Mandar’s own story is one of profound change, describing how mindfulness and self-awareness became the catalysts not just for his own resilience, but for building trust and empathy in others. His concept of “mental hygiene” reframes leadership as a discipline of the inner life - essential for shaping workplaces and societies that can hold complexity and conflict with grace.

And through his film From India with Love and work bringing victims and perpetrators of violence together, Mandar shows how community-led transformation can become a foundation for global peacebuilding.

Annandale Cellars has once again generously provided a delicious bottle of wine to accompany this inspiring conversation. On this occasion we are fortunate to taste a 2023 Casa d'Ambra Ischia Bianco - a quirky Italian white from the unexpected Island of Ischia, just off the coast of Naples. A perfect warm weather wine, with a wonderful balance between fruit and gentle acidity, and a little bit of saltiness on the finish for something to remember!

Get at least half a dozen of these (or half a dozen of any of their amazing wines) and get a 20% discount by using our code at checkout: DECANTED

Sláinte friends!

Useful resources from this episode:

1. Cities4Peace
2. From India with Love
3. The Art of Living
4. Be the Change - Training Module

We're keen to hear what you thought of this conversation. Please let us know through either of the options below.

Please reach out on [email protected] or visit us at www.leadershipdecanted.com

Disagree or agree with anything we've said? How wrong are we?!? Are there any leadership topics you'd like us to discuss (or perhaps other books or podcasts that might set us straight!)? Maybe you'd like to recommend a favourite wine!

Whatever tickles your fancy, we'd love to hear from you!!

Something went wrong with Paul's plumbing. Those in his house, that is. Needless to say, it was a little unpleasant. However, not being one to let a learning opportunity pass him by, there were a couple of things that left him thinking. 

Join Paul & KG as they discuss a little story that includes dark, stormy nights, backed-up sewerage pipes, and what happens when you don't spend enough time understanding a problem or an issue before dismissing it as irrelevant. 

[Shout out to Naomi for 'inspiring' this conversation!]

We'd love to hear what you thought of this conversation and any suggestions on this topic for future episodes.

Oh, and if you'd like to take full advantage of our massive 20% discount for any six bottles or more you purchase online from Annandale Cellars, then head to acellars.com.au and use our discount code DECANTED at check-out. Totally worth it.

Please feel free to send us your thoughts, comments and suggestions any time via email.

Please let us know through either of the options below.

Please reach out on [email protected] or visit us at www.leadershipdecanted.com

Disagree or agree with anything we've said? How wrong are we?!? Are there any leadership topics you'd like us to discuss (or perhaps other books or podcasts that might set us straight!)? Maybe you'd like to recommend a favourite wine!

What makes this conversation so inspiring is the notion that, when we are working with individual leaders to strengthen their leadership practice, we are also supporting their teams, their families and their communities. We are not just supporting the individual but the entire system in which they are located.

Sarah Cornally is a passionate leadership practitioner, and Partner at Acumen Global Partners. She is adamant 'systemic thinking' is the essential lens for anyone navigating the deep complexity of modern organisations. Sarah, KG and Paul dive straight into why understanding systems - rather than just individuals or silos - unlocks hidden dynamics, exposes entrenched patterns, and creates genuine possibilities for lasting change.

And the 'magic sauce'? In the end, to be able to productively navigate the many contradictory demands of any complex system, success rests on the quality of relationships, and not just structures or policies. It's the quality of our connections that determines whether transformation fails or flourishes, and why what lies “under the table” must be brought to light for the whole system to grow and progress.

And, as always, Annandale Cellars has generously provided an incredible bottle of wine to accompany this free-flowing conversation. On this occasion we crack open a bottle of 2023 Yohan Lardy Poppy Gamay. It is a gorgeous, light red wine, with lots of fruit and an easy drinking style. 

Get at least half a dozen of these (or half a dozen of any of their amazing wines) and get a 20% discount by using our code at checkout: DECANTED

Sláinte friends!

Useful resources from this episode:

1. Acumen Partners
2. Dude Dancing on the Hill
3. Same Dude, shorter version
4. The Mandelbrot Set

We're keen to hear what you thought of this conversation. Please let us know through either of the options below.

Please reach out on [email protected] or visit us at www.leadershipdecanted.com

Disagree or agree with anything we've said? How wrong are we?!? Are there any leadership topics you'd like us to discuss (or perhaps other books or podcasts that might set us straight!)? Maybe you'd like to recommend a favourite wine!

Whatever tickles your fancy, we'd love to hear from you!!

Our very first live podcast recording with Steve Hearsum (Episode 5.07) is the gift that keeps giving!

Join Paul & KG as they open the space to questions from our audience for our highly engaging guest. The questions are considered, and the ongoing conversation is insightful, offering an unexpected invitation to deeper reflection and vulnerability.

And let us repeat, for your drinking pleasure, the delectable wines provided by our friends at Annandale Cellars on this occasion.

• 2022 Spinifex Bête Noir Shiraz. 
• 2024 Catlow & Company Nebbiolo 
• 2024 Wanderer Yarra Valley Macclesfield Chardonnay

Use our discount code when you get to check out and, for six bottles or more, you'll get a huge 20% off the total price of your order. What's the discount code, you ask? That's easy! It's 'DECANTED' (without the quote marks).

Sláinte friends!

We'd love to hear what you thought of this conversation and any suggestions on this topic for future episodes.

Please feel free to send us your thoughts, comments and suggestions any time via email.

Some useful resources from this episode:

1. Episode 5.07, Leadership & the Myth of the Silver Bullet (Spotify)
2. No Silver Bullet
3. Magnetic Nonsense (Paul Sweeney)
4. Edge and Stretch
5. New River Leadership

Please let us know through either of the options below.

Please reach out on [email protected] or visit us at www.leadershipdecanted.com

Disagree or agree with anything we've said? How wrong are we?!? Are there any leadership topics you'd like us to discuss (or perhaps other books or podcasts that might set us straight!)? Maybe you'd like to recommend a favourite wine!

Join KG and Paul in Leadership Decanted's FIRST podcast recorded in front of a live audience. Exciting times indeed!

It seems that if we're doing leadership well, then chances are we will regularly experience uncertainty, ambiguity, doubt, and maybe even shame at our inability to find a solution to many of our challenges. Leadership is hard. We know this. 

If only there was a ready-made and easily deployable solution to each of these complex situations. There isn't one. We know this too.

And yet we nevertheless long for these silver bullets that will ease the heavy burden of leadership, so that we stop feeling so overwhelmed by these intractable challenges. Surely there's a silver bullet out there. Sorry, there isn't.

Steve Hearsum, an experienced organisational consultant and author of the deeply engaging, "No Silver Bullet", is adamant about this. In fact, he argues these deep and unshakeable desires - often unconscious and unacknowledged - can lead us, and the people we lead, into risky and dangerous territory when it comes to initiating the changes we need to grow and develop our organisations.

Paul and KG were joined by a lively audience (having already been plied with either a gorgeous Nebbiolo or Chardonnay from our friends at Annandale Cellars) to talk to Steve about his work, and his compelling insights around this tempting collusive dance in search of the silver bullet.

Of course, this entire conversation unfolded over a gorgeous bottle of Australian Shiraz: A 2022 Spinifex Bête Noir Shiraz. A medium-bodied Shiraz with aromas of blackberry, red plum, with hints of spice and velvety smooth tannins. Stunning. Our audience were also treated to a 2024 Catlow & Company Nebbiolo as well as a 2024 Wanderer Yarra Valley Macclesfield Chardonnay. The entire night was an absolute embarrassment of riches! As always, thank you Annandale Cellars!

And a grateful shout out to New River Leadership, our generous collab partners in this, Leadership Decanted's first live event.

Sláinte friends!

Useful resources from this episode:

1. No Silver Bullet
2. Edge and Stretch
3. New River Leadership

We're keen to hear what you thought of this conversation. Please let us know through either of the options below.

Please reach out on [email protected] or visit us at www.leadershipdecanted.com

Disagree or agree with anything we've said? How wrong are we?!? Are there any leadership topics you'd like us to discuss (or perhaps other books or podcasts that might set us straight!)? Maybe you'd like to recommend a favourite wine!

Whatever tickles your fancy, we'd love to hear from you!!

Paul & KG revisit the most recent Cheeky Half conversation to return to a most vexed question: What happens when I express a personal opinion in public that is at odds with my organisation's position? What right does my organisation have to curb my expression if I am in no way seeking to represent them or speak for them?

It's unlikely this conversation goes where you think it's going to go! We think this might even be a topic worth expanding on in a future episode. Please help! What do you think.

We'd love to hear what you thought of this conversation and any suggestions on this topic for future episodes.

Please feel free to send us your thoughts, comments and suggestions any time via email.

Sláinte friends!

Some useful resources from this episode:

1. The Cheeky Half Episode that kicked all this off.

Please let us know through either of the options below.

Please reach out on [email protected] or visit us at www.leadershipdecanted.com

Disagree or agree with anything we've said? How wrong are we?!? Are there any leadership topics you'd like us to discuss (or perhaps other books or podcasts that might set us straight!)? Maybe you'd like to recommend a favourite wine!

How many of us feel the urge to run away, hide or simply observe the foetal position when faced with the prospect of conflict? What if we were able to reframe that experience and begin to believe - really believe - that too much conflict is never enough? That conflict is the very fuel that drives both, our own growth and positive relationships with our colleagues?

Fiona McKenzie believes just that!

However, we don't just need to reframe our relationship to conflict to allow us to find this path. We also need to rethink what we mean by the very word 'conflict'.

On this episode, KG and Paul talk to Fiona about her work in negotiation. She is the Founding Director of Resolving Matters, a consultancy that works with teams and leaders to build negotiation skills that are rarely taught to us. Rather than leave it to osmosis or magic, she delves deeply to understand the stakes, surfacing the required skills for the situation and helps leaders practice in the real world.

Of course, this wonderful conversation was had over a gorgeous French white: A 2022 Delas Côtes du Rhône, from Maison Delas Frѐres. A juicy and clean drop that makes you want to dance by the right river bank! As always, thank you Annadale Cellars!

Sláinte friends!

Useful resources from this episode:

1. Resolving Matters

We're keen to hear what you thought of this conversation. Please let us know through either of the options below.

Please reach out on [email protected] or visit us at www.leadershipdecanted.com

Disagree or agree with anything we've said? How wrong are we?!? Are there any leadership topics you'd like us to discuss (or perhaps other books or podcasts that might set us straight!)? Maybe you'd like to recommend a favourite wine!

Whatever tickles your fancy, we'd love to hear from you!!

Paul & KG are back with their Cheeky Halves after a brief and unplanned hiatus. They have not, however, been idle during this time. In fact, KG in particular has been deep in reflection, wondering about all the leadership hats that might be available to us all, but also having a bit of trouble working out how best to wear those hats. Subsequently they both kick around some ideas around authenticity and risk. 

We'd love to hear what you thought of this conversation.

Please feel free to send us your thoughts, comments and suggestions any time.

Sláinte friends!

Some useful resources from this episode:

1. The episode KG & Paul are referring to: (5.03) Artist, Academic, Activist: Leadership's Many Hats

Please let us know through either of the options below.

Please reach out on [email protected] or visit us at www.leadershipdecanted.com

Disagree or agree with anything we've said? How wrong are we?!? Are there any leadership topics you'd like us to discuss (or perhaps other books or podcasts that might set us straight!)? Maybe you'd like to recommend a favourite wine!