The Inner Chief

"If you're willing to work like nobody's willing to work, you're giving yourself at least the opportunity to live like nobody else is able to later."

In this Best of Series episode, we hear from John Lee Dumas, Founder of Entrepreneurs on Fire, on being insanely valuable, thinking outside the box and unlocking discipline to win.

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I interviewed John in April 2018 after I had met him only a few months prior at a podcasting conference in Brisbane, Australia.

John is the founder and host of Entrepreneurs On Fire, an award-winning podcast where he interviews today's most successful entrepreneurs, 7-days a week.

Coming from a background as a US soldier in the Iraq War, John has grown the show into a 7-figure business with over 3,000 interviews, 100 million downloads and 1.4 million monthly listens.

He is also the author of several books.

In this episode, you're going to hear John talk about:

✅ Being a person of value not just a person of success

✅ Getting in front by standing out from everyone else

✅ Why he hustles so hard and does what his competition isn't willing to do

✅ How he systemised his podcast production to free up an insane amount of time to live his most ultimate life.

You can connect with John via his EOFire website.

The Common Path to Uncommon Success - by John Lee Dumas

"When you're creating your own business, there are going to be knocks and it is going to be devastating. But you need to keep getting back up, because no-one else is going to."

In this episode of The Inner Chief podcast, we speak to food industry innovator, Cass Spies, the Founder and CEO of Twisted Healthy Treats, on being nimble, promoting from within, and winning globally.

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Cass studied a Bachelor of Science majoring in Food Technology, before travelling to London where she spent 13 years in the Financial Services industry, reaching the level of Global IT Programme Manager at Barclays Bank.

Upon returning to Australia in 2009 with a young family, Cass fulfilled her dreams of starting her own business by founding Twisted Healthy Treats, a company that produces food with lower levels of sugar and calories, based on clean, natural recipes.

Twisted products are available in 2,000 supermarket stores nationally, 5000 school canteens across Australia and New Zealand, and they are now stocked in the USA and China.

Together with her team, she has built an amazing Australian brand and has a vision of creating Australia's best Healthy Treats.

In this episode we talk about:

✅ The origins of Twisted, how it almost shut down and why it is a significantly different business nowadays

✅ The highs and lows of being a global retail brand, and always getting up from the knockdowns

✅ Having an all-female executive team in a male-dominated industry

✅ Why Twisted reinvests so much back into its business.

You can connect with Cass via LinkedIn.

Dare to Lead - by Brené Brown

"The research is bulletproof; when you're in love with your job, the people with whom you live and who report to you are 80% more likely to be thriving as well."

In today's minisode, I want to help you move up by moving past.

Fundamentally, your career is a journey. There are peaks, troughs, stalls, rises, plateaus and everything in between. And unless you have the tools to create your own destiny, then your career journey will be in someone else's hands, you'll become part of the 80% who don't progress and you will get more and more frustrated.

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We're going to talk about:

✅ A Career Journey Map and where the plateaus can occur

✅ What you could be missing from your career that results in a career stall

✅ Using the GREAT Method to get promoted faster

Stay epic,

Greg

"I always say I want entrepreneurs in the company and I want them to act like entrepreneurs by making decisions that are good for the business."

In this episode of The Inner Chief podcast, we speak to Travel industry disruptor, André Schwämmlein, the Co-Founder and CEO of Flix, on art versus science, creating new markets, and daring to better the world.

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André is one of three Flix founders, launching the business in 2012 as FlixBus, a global travel platform with more than 100 million customers in 28 European countries as well as in the USA.

Prior to founding Flix, he worked as a Strategic Consultant for Boston Consulting Group in Munich for 5 years.

André studied industrial engineering at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and is also a board member of both tech companies Scout24 and About You.

In this episode we talk about:

✅ Leading a team by transparency and clarity of a long-term vision

✅ Taking a giant leap of faith from a secure job to founding a business

✅ Why Flix is not a travel company, but rather a technology and data analytics business

✅ How a travel company survived the COVID pandemic and is thriving again.

You can connect with André via LinkedIn.

"This human condition to protect and help others is there from the moment we are born. People who feel soulless simply lack this instinct. Incorporating it into our daily routine will make all the difference."

In this Best of Series episode, we hear from Hetty Johnston AM, Founder and Former CEO & Chair of Bravehearts, on passion, resilience and negotiating with Prime Ministers.

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We interviewed Hetty in April 2018 when she was the Chair of an organisation she founded, Bravehearts, which is Australia's leading child protection advocacy.

For over 20 years, Hetty has been leading the charge in child protection and built Bravehearts into a powerful not-for-profit with global reach.

Hetty had a career in politics, as the Queensland State Leader of the Australian Democrats.

She has accumulated many accolades in her time, including Australian Businesswomen's 2016 Hall of Fame Inductee, Queensland Australian of the Year in 2015, and a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2014.

In this episode, you're going to hear Hetty talk about:

✅ The full story of the horrific circumstances that led to the beginnings of Bravehearts, after her 6 year old daughter disclosed that she was being assaulted

✅ Her resilience over more than two decades in battling resistance to change from some of the most powerful groups in our community

✅ Some of her techniques for negotiating with Prime Ministers

✅ The ultimate career advice if you want to be a GREAT Chief.

You can connect with Hetty via LinkedIn.

• The Gift of Fear - by Gavin De Becker

"The businesses that generally fail are where the founder says they have a backup plan, like a job. My mentality was if it failed, I would start another business. So I may as well make this one work."

In this episode of The Inner Chief podcast, we speak to footwear brand trailblazer, Vince Lebon, the CEO and Founder of Rollie Nation, on streamlining systems, scaling a business and operating rhythm.

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Vince founded Rollie Nation, a footwear brand, in 2012 and sold nearly 500 pairs in a South Melbourne market.

He formally trained as a multimedia designer who fell in love with footwear and product design, developing and refining his craft with shoemaker Andrew McDonald in Sydney, SLEM Innovation & Training Institute in the Netherlands and Pensole Footwear Academy in Oregon, USA.

Vince applied and won a Pensole Scholarship and then won the 'Future of Footwear' Master Class sponsored by Foot Locker and asics in 2016. In 2021, he ranked 4th in the Internet Retailing Top 50 People in E-Commerce.

In this episode we talk about:

✅ Designing shoes for some of the top celebrities and athletes in the world

✅ Using design thinking to constantly improve systems and processes

✅ Starting Rollie Nation by creating a business model and operating rhythm first

✅ His hiring process and the value of making it intentionally difficult

You can connect with Vince via LinkedIn or via his Instagram account.

• Scaling Up - by Verne Harnish
• Brand Gap - by Marty Neumeier
• Zag - by Marty Neumeier

"It's not about saying "no" or trying to dodge work; you're actually trying to be better for the company you work for. You're putting them first."

In today's minisode, I want to save you some time. You know the score, you've accepted a meeting invite and you turn up to the meeting and there's no agenda, no plan, no defined outcome, and you probably weren't even needed or the meeting could have been replaced by an email. Or it's a project that you don't have capacity for based on your current agreed workload.

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We're going to talk about:

✅ Acknowledging that meetings are the performance theatre for executives

✅ Establishing the purpose of a meeting and whether you have the information to make it meaningful

✅ Working with your boss to prioritise tasks, initiatives and, therefore, meetings

Stay epic,

Greg

"It's not enough to have a good-sounding idea. Is that idea executable in a way that is sustainable or do you have dependencies on things that are just outside your control?"

In this episode of The Inner Chief podcast, we speak to Skins Co-Founder and current CEO of eo Lab, Dean Hawkins, on the power of a brand, creatively telling the story of the business, and turning alchemy into the extraordinary.

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Dean is a vastly experienced senior executive having held a variety of senior and advisory roles over the last 25 years with international businesses across a range of industries including sports, fintech, television, broadband, apparel, and venture capital.

He has also held many Board positions including of adidas, Ten Network Holdings, I-Med Australia, Apparel Group and the Sydney Dance Company.

Dean was the Co-Founder and then Chairman of SKINS Global, a household name in compression clothing and activewear. He has also been the CFO of adidas, during which time the company's market capitalisation grew from €1.5bn to €8bn. Prior to this he was an investment banker at UBS in Zurich where he led the successful IPO of adidas.

Dean returned to Sydney from London in late 2021 to become CEO of eo Lab, an exciting new sports technology business.

In this episode we talk about:

✅ Moving into a career where he could own the consequences of his decisions

✅ Turning adidas around by reigniting the brand with customers

✅ The intersection of a positive brand story, people and a great product and other lessons from Skins

✅ Changing the rules of the game of sports technology with his latest venture

You can connect with Dean via LinkedIn

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things - by Ben Horowitz

"You've got to smell the roses. If there's ever any doubt, you only really have to look back and see the results and achievements. It just puts you in a completely different frame of mind."

In this Best of Series episode, we hear from Brad Gordon, seasoned resources executive, on how to create a vision and game that inspires your team and attracts the best talent.

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We interviewed Brad in early 2018 when he had just left his role as CEO of Acacia Mining, a position he had held since 2013.

Prior to that he was the CEO of Intrepid Mines Limited, Emperor Mines Limited and was Managing Director of Placer Dome, New Guinea.

Brad co-founded mining servicing company Big Yellow with 2 other executives, and also sits on the Board of Firefinch Limited.

In this episode, you're going to hear Brad talk about:

• The magic and tranquility of working in a team 2000 metres underground;
• Why having vastly different career experience, including overseas, trumps a linear journey;
• How the game of attracting and maintaining the best talent works; and
• What he does in moments of doubt.

You can connect with Brad via LinkedIn.

• Good to Great - by Jim Collins
• The Outsiders - by William Thorndike

"Things will always go wrong; my engineering background taught me to remain calm, avoid blame and just work through the problem."

In this episode of The Inner Chief podcast, we speak to telecommunications industry disruptor, Alex West, CEO of Swoop, on being the calm in the chaos, trust and vulnerability, and building a high performing culture through metrics.

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Alex is currently the CEO of Swoop, a telecommunications company backed by Andrew Forrest's Tattarang, and which has had a stellar year, including listing on the ASX followed by six acquisitions.

Alex has been involved in around 50 company acquisitions while in senior roles with some of Australia's leading telcos, including Superloop and PIPE Networks (now TPG), and has also raised more than $66 million in equity in his 20-year career.

He cut his teeth as a graduate engineer at Telstra, before climbing the ranks to Chief Operating Officer at Vocus Group.

Alex holds a Bachelor of Computer Engineering from the University of Newcastle, and a Master of Engineering Management from the University of Technology, Sydney.

In this episode we talk about:

✅ How remaining calm, even when things go wrong, is his superpower;

✅ The shift from executive to CEO when you've spent two decades in the same industry;

✅ Leading a high-performing team through trust and vulnerability; and

✅ Cultivating a strong company culture of using metrics and dashboards.

You can connect with Alex via LinkedIn

Start with Why - by Simon Sinek