Broadcaster, speaker and popular podcaster Joe Pardavila joins Dr Libby Sander on The Floorplan for an insightful conversation on the power of effective communication, navigating change, culture, and cutting through workplace noise. Drawing on a 24-year radio career and his work with business leaders, Joe explores why storytelling sits at the heart of connection, how pop culture can unlock better leadership, and why “busy” doesn’t mean productive.

You can learn more about Joe at his website HERE or listen to his podcast, Good Listen, HERE .

The Floorplan is produced by Matt Webber and the Bond University Newsroom.

Excited to bring you a fascinating guest this week.

 His name is Julian Elchakieh, but if you are one of his 4.94 million subscribers on YouTube, you’ll know him as jmancurly.

Some call him the 'VR King'. Most just know him by the look. You can’t miss it. Electric blue curly hair. A strip of yellow tape across the chest. It’s DIY, it’s loud, and it’s become one of the most famous brands on the internet.

But jmancurly isn't just a guy in a headset. He’s the leader of the Curly Gang. This isn't just a fanbase. It’s a community of over 8 million followers across social media and half a million people interacting on his Discord chat channel.

He treats them like family.

He lives by a code he calls the Curly Constitution:

* be kind to one another,
* teach new players who might need help, and
* uplift the community.

Most creators might stop at YouTube - jmancurly kept going.

 He built his own gaming & publishing studio, CurlyBlue and the results speak for themselves:

* he’s released a game called "Shmackle" (which already has 1.25 million installs), and
* he became a verified music artist with over 25 million streams on Spotify.
He’s achieved a lot. And he’s done it in a contemporary kind of way that speaks volumes about the power and importance of creativity and the kind of workplace that is becoming increasingly common for a new generation of entrepreneurs.

In the final edition of The Floorplan for 2025, Libby and Matt expand upon a topic discussed in an earlier episode - the role blockchain might play in the fight to protect personal privacy. 

Our special guest is the President of the Midnight Foundation, Fahmi Syed, a significant voice in decentralised governance and digital innovation. 

The Midnight Foundation is an organisation dedicated to growing the Midnight network — a fourth-generation blockchain built for secure, compliant, and private decentralised applications — and supporting the global community around it. It helps developers, creators, and privacy advocates build tools that protect personal data, support digital freedom, and power the breakthrough generation of blockchain innovation.
Also, Matt reckons he’s found his workplace Utopia. Its location may surprise.

Join us!

Links

You can learn more about The Midnight Foundation here.

Charle Hoskinson was our guest in The Floorplan S4E4 here.

The Floorplan returns!

Do we ever stop working? A resounding no according to a new study.

What are popcorn brains and do you have one?

And Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz joins the podcast to ponder digital minionship and the augmentative qualities of workplace AI that excite him.

Note: During this episode Matt mentions a Bond University podcast with Bond University data analytics expert Dr Steven Stern. You can hear or watch it here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5y3MUZ2Ce1avXy21xukK4B?si=ZXgO3lWlRa27F3eWpGPsqQ

About Professor Marek Kowalkiewicz

Marek is a Professor and Chair in Digital Economy at QUT Business School. Listed among the Top 100 Global Thought Leaders in AI by thinkers360, Marek has led global innovation teams in Silicon Valley, was a Global Research Program Lead and Founding Research Manager of SAP's Machine Learning lab in Singapore, and a Research Fellow at Microsoft Research Asia. His newest book, "The Economy of Algorithms: AI and the Rise of the Digital Minions" is a winner of Australian Business Book Awards (Technology) 2024.
Marek received his MSc in Business Information System from Poznan University of Economics in 2002, and PhD (Summa Cum Laude) from the same university in 2006.

Libby Sander made her SXSW Sydney debut last week when she appeared asa panellist alongside Andy Walshe from Liminal Collective, Ben Johnston from Josephmark and Ben Hamley from JLL to talk about 'Why AI's best gift is making us more creative.'

Not only did she present, but she listened and observed and emerged inspired and has some fascinating insights to share.

In their fifth season finale Libby and Matt consider the cost of resentment at work and ponder whether workplace sporting teams are an answer to flagging job enthusiasm.

While on matters sporting, there's also a bit of grand final talk (well, it is the season...)

And a VERY special guest this week!

Bruce Daisley is one of the world's leading voices on workplace culture.

He's a best-selling author and keynote speaker and host of a hugely popular workplace culture podcast - Eat Work Sleep Repeat.

Learn more about Bruce and his work HERE.

Does your workplace have quirky names for its rooms? Ever wondered why?

AI in the headlines this week as some big employers initiate some significant changes.

And Bond University's Associate Professor James Birt joins the podcast.

James was studying AI before most of us owned a smartphone. He argues that gaming represents the height of what computing can do by combining AI, storytelling, music, graphics, vision, and immersion. He also thinks gamers possess unique skills that place them ahead of the workplace game.

Read more about James HERE.

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This week Libby and Matt contemplate the value of boredom.

These days boredom is easily avoidable - instant entertainment is only a short scroll away courtesy of the complex multimedia platforms we carry in our pockets.

It wasn't always thus, of course.

Can we benefit from being bored? What about boredom in the workplace? What is the science of boredom? And given a choice, would you take boredom over an electric shock?

These questions and more touched on by world-renowned workplace boredom expert, Professor Cynthia Fisher.

Also, some fascinating research has emerged linking psychopathy with workplace management.

We also ponder research into the best ways to holiday.

Ever been so immersed in a task you’ve completely lost sense of yourself, forgotten about time and place, and been so absorbed in the act of doing something that all distractions simply fade away?

If so, you may have entered that special place where your individual skill matches the complexity of the task.

You, dear listener, may have entered the FLOW ZONE!

Can flow and work co-exist in a meaningful way?

That’s what Libby and Matt talk about this week before Libby delves a little deeper with Chicago-based architect David Dewane, the creator of a workplace called theEudaimonia Machine. It’s a workplace design that attempts to ‘go with the flow’ to make a work zone more efficient, inspiring, creative and innovative. 

Learn more about David here.

You can read more about the Eudaimonia Machine at many places, but here's a good place to start.

So much to discuss this week.

Is a simultaneous bias by employers against both younger and older workers starting to gather steam? Data out of an Australian Human Rights Commission report seems to suggest it. But when all the talk is 'skills shortage' and when younger workers aren't so keen on tackling management roles, how have things come to this?

Also, Libby chats with ex-Googler, Tristan Cameron. What is life really like at one of the world's most sought-after workplaces?