Project Good Boss

What if the most powerful thing a leader could do was simply make someone feel seen, heard and valued?

On World Kindness Day, we're launching the next chapter of Project Good Boss with a conversation that gets right to the heart of what leadership should really be about.

Our first guest is Jon Owen, Pastor and CEO of Wayside Chapel, a man whose extraordinary life and work challenge almost everything we think we know about leadership, community and what it means to help others.

For ten years, Jon and his wife Lisa opened their home in Mount Druitt to refugees, people seeking asylum, people leaving prison and neighbours simply looking for somewhere to belong. Today, his approach to leadership is grounded in one powerful philosophy: there should be no us and them.

In this refreshingly honest, funny and deeply moving conversation, we explore:

• Why nobody is a problem to be solved, but a person to be met.
• The power of connection, dignity and creating genuine belonging.
• Why good intentions don't always translate into good help.
• The socks in the back pocket rule: sometimes the best thing a leader can do is stop talking and start listening.
• What happens when a billionaire and someone sleeping rough sit down for a cup of tea.
• Why kindness, boundaries and knowing when to say no belong together.
• The importance of gratitude, self-reflection and doing the work on yourself.
• And the question every leader should ask themselves: What would love do?

Expect big ideas, unexpected laughs, a questionable Yorkshire accent, an emotional support Prince and some seriously good food for thought.

We're kicking off Project Good Boss on World Kindness Day because we believe kindness isn't a weakness, a soft skill or a nice-to-have. It's a powerful way to lead, connect and bring out the best in others.

No corporate jargon. No perfect leaders. Just real people and conversations that might change the way you see the world.

ABOUT PROJECT GOOD BOSS

Project Good Boss is an original media series from Bambuddha Studios, exploring leadership, people, culture and the power we all have to influence the world around us.

Hosted by Anna Sheppard, we meet brilliant humans with big ideas, challenge conventional thinking and discover what it really takes to be a good boss.

ABOUT JOHN OWEN

Jon Owen is the Pastor and CEO of Wayside Chapel, an organisation with a long history of welcoming people from all walks of life and creating community through connection, dignity and compassion.

Find out more about Wayside Chapel: https://www.waysidechapel.org.au/

Season One of Project Good Boss is proudly sponsored by Seed HR.

Follow, subscribe and share this episode with someone who needs a reminder of what good leadership looks like.

Keep learning. Keep growing. Go be a good boss.

Nicole Done, is the head of Training and Coaching at Xceptional, which is an award winning firm that celebrates the unique strengths of people with autism. With over 20 years of experience within her field, Nicole shares with us her role as a disability advocate, and helping individuals meet their purpose and reach their fullest potential. 

Chief Operating Officer at Feel the Magic, Adam Blatch, strives to make a difference in the lives of others everyday. As a passionate and empathetic leader, with extensive experience in coaching, mentoring and developing programs, Adam focuses on shaping his team at Feel the Magic to align their behaviours to their purpose driven organization. Adam has built his expertise working through organizations that benefit our communities and the children growing up in it. Let's take a listen, we can learn a thing or two about spreading our own magic. 

Author, host of the Apple award-winning podcast Deep Listening, and a sought after keynote speaker, Oscar Trimboli has spent his professional career dedicated to the empowerment of better listening.  His work in leadership teams from around the world has focused greater attention on building and fixing organisations to make impact , creating powerful legacies along the way. He's a good boss and a good egg, so listen in to hear Oscar chat everything from meditation retreats to female leadership during the Covid pandemic. Yep, we went there!

Working in high-stress kitchen environments, Bradley Jordan had worked for every archetype of an angry chef; those demanding better performance and faster food, yelling and swearing and putting employees in their place.  After finding himself becoming this very person, the kind he'd long detested working with, Bradley Jordan decided overnight that a kinder structure could be (and needed to be) put in place.  One to listen to if you've ever wondered if your own influence could make that shift in your own workplace, and whether you could turn everything around as soon as tomorrow! 

Working  hard to embed the philosophies of kindness and empathy into early education, Jo really embodies what it means to be purpose-driven in every aspect of leadership.   Jo is the Director and Owner of Platinum Pre School,  a long daycare centre with an education curriculum that focuses on kindness and creativity - a unique premise with some astounding results. Jo believes the success of her business comes from the 100% alignment to her own values and using business as a purpose for good.  She's full of wisdom and holds one of the strongest commitments to 'being kind' I think I've come across.  Listen in!

A radiation oncologist who co-founded the award-winning CancerAid app, Raghav Murali-Ganesh not only enables better clinical outcomes for patients but he takes that humanity and that empathy and uses it to run his own business and team.  He is a man who leads by example in every way and a leader who I am so humbled to have on the podcast.   Tune in for the gamechanging technology, the kindness and the lessons learned.

As the founder of her company's Corporate Social Responsibility Committee and a champion of kinder workplace cultures, Pamela Bishop fits the bill of a game-changing leader to a tee.  Currently the Chief Marketing Officer at Blooms the Chemist, I chat to Pamela about driving sustainability, leading with purpose and the importance of ethical and responsible procurement. Oh, and the adjustments this year and the pandemic has thrust upon us all. A jam-packed episode for you, folks!

Kindness is the underlying value to counteracting negative behaviours such as bullying, violence and anti-social activities. On the podcast I chat to Ralph Kelly, founder of the Stay Kind Foundation (formerly the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation), on the power of being kind and the life or death outcomes it can have on so many. Ralph is an amazing man leading an amazing organisation working hard at every level of society to embed kinder behaviours and instigate real cultural change.