Unleashing Brilliance

Chris Helder believes positive thinking doesn’t work. In fact, he says that the only thing that does work is useful thinking, useful beliefs and useful actions on the things that matter. In this world of distraction and the need to transform (or confirm) he argues that we are actually the ones that are in charge. Your success or failure comes down to the belief you have – do you see opportunity or do you see failure and risk?

Chris Helder is a business communication genius and master storyteller whose presentations have radically transformed how thousands of people worldwide communicate with clients, customers, colleagues, staff and teams. He has been a professional speaker for 18 years and has done over 2,450 presentations around the world.

He is the author of three bestselling books “The Ultimate Book of Influence”, “Useful Belief”, and “Cut The Noise” and his next book “Simple Shift” will be on sale from April 2020.

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How can you build individual sustainability to perform at your best?

Do you understand and appreciate how the inter-connectivity of all parts of your lived experience drives your performance?

These were just two of the key things I discussed on my latest episode of Unleashing Brilliance with Michael Diettrich-Chastain, founder and CEO of Arc Integrated, an organizational consulting and coaching practice in North Carolina, USA.

With a focus on emotional intelligence, leadership and communication, Michael empowers individuals and organizations to achieve optimum performance in their work and life. He has helped organizational leaders and teams improve employee engagement, productivity, culture, retention, sales and ultimately, the organization’s bottom line.

Michael’s writing can be seen on Livestrong, Time, Money, Monster, About, Entreprenuer and The Washington Post. His first book, CHANGES – The Busy Professional’s Guide to Reducing Stress, Accomplishing Goals and Mastering Adaptability was released earlier this year.

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Angela Ceberano is a professionally trained PR consultant with over 15 years of PR and communications experience.

She has gained invaluable experience and contacts throughout the industry, and represented the biggest celebrities and brands within Australia such as Steven Tyler, Mariah Carey, The Backstreet Boys, Celine Dion, John Mayer, Guy Sebastian, The Foo Fighters, Olivia Newton John, Justin Timberlake and John Farnham to name a few.

Prior to opening Flourish, Angela was the National Publicity Manager at Sony Music Entertainment. At 28, she saw an opportunity to create a new-school communications agency that was obsessed and addicted to results.

Flourish was born in 2010, and has grown from a home office into a dynamic creative communications agency with a double warehouse based within Melbourne’s creative hub of Collingwood.

Working with the teams and talent behind some of the world's most iconic and influential brands - Darren is a focused, thought leader whose work has received international recognition for empowering individuals and teams to be their best.

Collaboration lives at the heart of Darren’s approach, as he identifies and informs unique ways to work within the modern, multi-generational workforce of today.

His passion for high performance is relentless and infectious. Being able to work and develop teams and individuals around the world while continually challenging the status quo bringing tomorrow into today - is as he calls it, “a dream job” with real, tangible rewards, every day.

Dr. Mike Perry is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Catalyst Executive Advising & Development, LLC, where he and his team focus on developing leaders with the courage and vision to transform culture and change lives. A retired Army Lieutenant Colonel with over 20 years of service, Mike is a trusted leadership, human performance, and behavior expert, specializing in organizational consulting, leadership coaching, and performance enhancement. He is also a licensed clinical psychologist, clinical trainer, and teacher. His clients include individuals and groups within private-sector and non-profit corporations, as well as federal, state, and local government agencies.

Mike is particularly passionate about transforming lives through enhancing relationships and building trust. He believes that harnessing the power of relationships is the essential skill that signifies great leadership. To help leaders build stronger relationships, more capable employees, and loyal teams, Mike developed the “The Human Experience” Model. The HE Model helps leaders to better understand the complex convergence of factors that shape each individual’s unique perspectives and behavior, allowing for more effective interactions and responses their people.

Mike earned his Ph.D. in from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He has also earned a Leadership Coaching Certification from Georgetown University and a certificate in Adaptive Leadership from Harvard University.

For 20 years Cathy Burke was the CEO for The Hunger Project Australia, and then Global Vice President, working to end hunger across South Asia and Africa. She was an integral member of a visionary team who developed leadership at scale in villages all over the world. Through her work, millions of the world’s poorest people stepped into their leadership, and were able to feed themselves and their families.

Cathy also raised more than $60M. She is passionate about human potential, and building movements that ignite leadership within countries, communities and organisations.

Now a speaker, mentor and leadership developer, Cathy runs leadership programs globally for executives in banks, firms and Silicon Valley tech.

She is also the author of Unlikely Leaders: Lessons in Leadership from the Village Classroom, the winner of the Australian Davos leadership award, and 2014 AFI Women of Influence award.

This was one inspiring conversation as we discussed:

- How change happens at the edges

- How transformation comes from a defining moment

- How small actions can create a legacy

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Alison is a self-confessed lifeaholic who squeezes as much into her life, both personally and professionally as possible. Delivering commercial success and developing high performing teams is her day job, and in her spare time, she enjoys travelling the globe and keeping physically and mentally fit.

Alison is the General Manager Finance for Scentre Group and a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CAANZ) with over 20 years corporate and business experience, but she can’t stand being defined by a Job Title and fears the image that her fellowship might conjure up!

She’s a passionate leader and Diversity and Inclusion advocate for her business and industry. She also sits on the NSW Regional Council for CAANZ and the Advisory Boards for a few start-ups.

In this podcast we chat about:

- Not ever settling

- Hope is not a strategy

- Being a little bit braver every day.

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Digby Scott is a former Chartered Accountant and has founded two successful consulting firms. He is a leadership expert with a fresh approach, working with organisations to being “future fit” be developing their next generation of leaders.

Digby lives life by design, bending his lifestyle with the work he loves and spends good chunks of his time with his family adventuring the world.

During this conversation we chatted about:

• The importance of expanding perspective in a world of collision and differenced

• Becoming the author of your own story

• The need to work out what makes you happy and identify what’s missing

• And how we all have the potential, through our own behaviours and actions, to help the light shine in other people's eyes.

Kieran Flanagan and Dan Gregory are the co-founders of The Impossible Institute — a strategic think tank founded to re-imagine the way we think, lead, navigate change and create success. Kieran works with leaders, teams and organisations to make positive change and make change positive while Dan helps smart people to become "people smart".

They are the strategic and creative team behind the most successful new product launch in Australian history, have helped entrepreneurs build internationally successful businesses and worked with some of the world’s most influential organisations: developing communication and marketing strategies for Coca-Cola; driving innovation and product design for Unilever; delivering leadership development for the Australian Navy and banks based in Asia; building teamwork in global tech giants and C-suite executives in the United States, as well as facilitating social-change strategies for the United Nations in Singapore and NGOs in Australia.

Voted in the ‘top 25 C-Suite Speakers to watch’ by Meetings & Conventions USA, they combine business acumen with a rapier wit and rare human insight gained while working on the US and UK stand-up comedy circuits — skills put to great use in front of millions of viewers on ABC TV’s Gruen franchise and Channel 7’s Masters of Spin and as regular contributors to Success and The CEO Magazine in the United States.

I met Ron Harvey whilst I was studying The Art & Practice of Leadership at Harvard in May this year and I was blown away at his story, his journey and his wisdom. There was a moment where Ron shared a personal story and as a result shifted the entire cohorts awareness around racism and engrained behavior, bringing many to tears.

Ron is a retired U.S. Army Veteran, with more than 34 years of leadership experience. He believes his purpose is to “Make A Difference” by inspiring leaders to excel through learning, growth and adding value to others.

During this conversation around unleashing brilliance we discussed:

- The damage we are all potentially causing without realizing it

- The fear of learning something that conflicts with our current understanding

- How we can all make a difference when the pressure is on.