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In this episode, I chat with Leanne Hughes about her value of Resourcefulness. We speak about:

- The value of being imperfect, and how it can lead to better, more unique outcomes

- Balancing values alignment, job satisfaction and long-term growth

- How she started a podcast series when she got thrown in the deep end

-  How becoming 'Work Famous'  made opportunities for her instead of waiting for them to happen

Enjoy 😊

Links

• Connect with Leanne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leannehughes/
• Website: https://www.leannehughes.com
• Work Fame: https://getworkfame.com

About Leanne

Leanne Hughes makes people famous at work. As a keynote speaker, advisor and author, her career has taken her from regional Australia to stages in New York, Mumbai and Mongolia.

She is the host of two podcasts, and the author of the bestselling The 2-Hour Workshop Blueprint. Work Fame is her second book.

Based in Brisbane, Australia, Leanne is known for blending warmth, humour and bold ideas that challenge people to think bigger and act sooner.

keywords
resourcefulness, personal development, career growth, entrepreneurship, mindset, innovation, creativity, self-trust, AI, business strategy

The Values Lab is brought to you by Viren Thakrar, Founder of Values Map - valuesmap.com

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In the first episode of season two, I chat with Camey O’Keefe about her value of Joy. Here are some of the things we spoke about:

• How Joy can be experienced in different ways and at different levels
• The way in which personal values can play an co-exist together
• The impact of cultivating Joy on performance and well-being
• How Joy and Play foster more presence and energy
• Adopting the Play Posture when it comes to sharing disagreement
• The online world being a weak proxy for IRL joy
• The magic of collective effervescence

Enjoy 😊

Links
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cameyokeefe/

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/play-it-forward/id1896896014

https://gambol.com.au/

About Camey
Camey O’Keefe is the founder of Gambol, a seriously playful creative company helping teams do better work by making space for play.

A strategic suit with 25 years inside top agencies and global brands, she’s built a career around making creative work better: for the people behind it and the businesses it serves.

She’s the creator of Suit School, a certified Executive Coach, and a regular panellist on the ABC’s Gruen. Through it all, her belief is simple: when people play, ideas flow, teams gel, and the whole business lifts.

keywords
joy, play, connection, creativity, leadership, well-being, collaboration, mindfulness, fun, values

The Values Lab is brought to you by Viren Thakrar, Founder of Values Map - valuesmap.com

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And that’s a wrap on Season 1 of The Values Lab! It’s been one of my highlights from the first half of the year. I’ve had such interesting and meaningful chats and walked away with lots of ideas about better integrating my own values into my life. In this episode, I reflect on the four most interesting themes from the season (value uniqueness, origin stories, the absence of AI and intentional living) and share more about what's next, including season two.

A massive thanks to all my special guests who’ve come on the show and shared such personal stories and examples of what it takes to put your values into action.

Season 2 is coming soon, where I’ll be experimenting with the format. Ideas or suggestions welcome!

The Values Lab is brought to you by Viren Thakrar, Founder of Values Map - valuesmap.com

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In this episode, I explore the value of freedom with Penelope Barr. Penelope shares her 633 model focused on balancing work, travel and creation.  She talks about the importance of freedom within structure. We also discuss how conversations in Paris planted the seed for working and living differently. Penelope also shares her decision criteria for saying yes to work, how she helps others design their own portfolio careers, as well as more about her book "Win the Night to Win the Day", the strategic guide for high performers to sleep well, work better and live best.

Links

www.linkedin.com/in/penelopebarr

https://www.winthenighttowintheday.com/

About Penelope
Penelope Barr is a Portfolio careerist, Advisor, Author, Technology innovator, Coach and working parent. Penelope draws on more than 25 years of executive experience to help high performers and organisations design more aligned and sustainable ways of working and living. She’s the creator of the 6:3:3 concept, focused on the connection between rest, performance, and strategic, sustainable success.

Penelope’s new book “Win the Night to Win the Day. Sleep Well. Work Better. Live
Best.” (Hardie Grant, 26 May 2026) is a guide created by research, interviews with
global experts and years of experiments to help you design your personal best days to sleep well because your best days are made at night.

Keywords

freedom, structured living, personal development, portfolio careers, life design, sleep optimisation, experimentation, values, travel, work-life balance

The Values Lab is brought to you by Viren Thakrar, Founder of Values Map - valuesmap.com

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In this episode, I explore how to put your values into action under pressure using mantras. I talk about where I first learned about mantras through sport psychology and self-talk, then walk through the live process of building one. I cover the guiding principles and share ideas for how to build your own one. 

The Values Lab is brought to you by Viren Thakrar, Founder of Values Map - valuesmap.com

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In this episode, I explore the value of growth with Jen Ryder. Jen shares how growth evolved for her from accumulating knowledge to accumulating understanding, and how her father's lifelong learning shaped this value. We discuss seeking discomfort intentionally, from uncomfortable hikes to reading opposing viewpoints, and her morning learning ritual. Jen also shares how she creates space for business leaders to grow through peer advisory groups and why she's passionate about supporting regional Australian communities.

Links

Jen Ryder | LinkedIn

Jen Ryder - Vistage Chair - Leadership Coach and Mentor

About Jen
Jen Ryder is a Vistage Chair, Fractional General Manager, and facilitator who works with business owners and leaders to create clarity, challenge thinking, and unlock growth. With a background in business operations, leadership, and professional services, Jen brings a practical and deeply human approach to leadership conversations.

Known for asking thoughtful questions that cut through noise and complexity, Jen creates spaces where leaders can think more clearly, make better decisions, and reconnect with what matters most. Her work centres on the belief that leadership can be both challenging and deeply relational — and that some of the best breakthroughs come through honest conversations, shared wisdom, and values-led reflection.

Based in regional Queensland, Jen works with leaders across industries through peer advisory groups, strategic facilitation, and operational advisory work.

Keywords

growth, values, personal development, leadership, introspection, entrepreneurship, community, learning, comfort zone, self-improvement business strategy, personal growth, marketing, peer advisory, learning, boundaries, skills development, entrepreneurship, community support, professional development

The Values Lab is brought to you by Viren Thakrar, Founder of Values Map - valuesmap.com

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In this episode, I explore how both your peak moments and your low points can reveal your values. I share some prompts to help you reflect on your own peaks and pits, and how my own pit moment from a few years ago illuminated my achievement value. I also introduce Chris Voss's concept of "violating your values" and share how my disproportionate reactions in micro-moments give insights into what your values are.

The Values Lab is brought to you by Viren Thakrar, Founder of Values Map - valuesmap.com

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In this episode, I explore the value of humility with Adam Axon. Adam shares how humility means not always being the hero and accepting you're not the main character in the story of humanity. We discuss how an area manager asking "what does it look like when you're not here?" was a pivotal moment in shaping Adam's perspective on leadership. We also explored Adam's journey from burnout, through to personal expectations management and how he tames his 'Advice Monster' when it rears its head.

Links

www.giveadamn.com.au

https://px-dojo.group/

About Adam

I help fast-growing companies scale with clarity, agility, and heart, using product thinking combined with human-centred design to honour what matters most: your people, and the people your work enriches.

Keywords

humility, personal growth, values, burnout, impact, business, leadership, self-awareness

The Values Lab is brought to you by Viren Thakrar, Founder of Values Map - valuesmap.com

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In this episode, I explore how to bridge the gap between knowing your values and actually living them through intentional rituals. I talk about two types of rituals: intention-setting (a morning/weekly practice or my quarterly values check-in) and values-led rituals (daily or weekly actions that embody the value itself). I explore how to identfy and overcome barriers to rituals, like decision fatigue and friction, so you you can design rituals that actually stick. I also talk about my own personal rituals - the alphabet drop-off game with the kids, Tricky Time and my elaborate movie watchlist system. 

Links

Struthless - The drawing advice that changed my life

My Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/trickystar_v/

The Values Lab is brought to you by Viren Thakrar, Founder of Values Map - valuesmap.com

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In this episode, I explore the value of Best Self with Megan Trotter. Megan shares how both challenging and positive life experiences have helped develop her understanding of what this value means to her. We go in-depth into her daily intention-setting practice, which helps them show up in a more values-aligned way. Megan also talks about the concept of sequencing over prioritising as a way to reframe things so it doesn't feel like you're abandoning things, but still making progress.

Links

www.pollinate-xd.com

linkedin.com/in/megan-trotter/

https://px-dojo.group/

About Megan

Meg is the founder of PollinateXD and works with growing businesses that want to increase performance without losing the culture and human-ness that made them successful in the first place. PollinateXD helps founders make their leadership team a competitive advantage by treating team performance not as a HR problem, but as a design problem. Meg combines the best practices from User Experience and Organisational psychology to empower leaders to take accountability for designing high-performing teams.

In her UX days, Meg began questioning whether designing the experience of work with the same care as a customer experience could drive organisational success. She completed an MSc in Organisational Psychology and spent seven years in London, cross-pollinating the People space with UX practices across startups and complex organisations, including the BBC. Meg is now also the Co-Founder of PX Dojo, a cohort-based program for people leaders to learn how to create thriving, high-performing cultures through People Experience Design.

The Values Lab is brought to you by Viren Thakrar, Founder of Values Map - valuesmap.com