Unleashing Brilliance

Unleashing Brilliance is all about becoming visible, bringing your whole self to work and celebrating differences. Our leaders need to be bolder and braver and we have only touched the surface in resolving the challenges of the Diversity & Inclusion space. These were just some of the insights shared by Paul Zahra in the latest episode of my Unleashing Brilliance podcast.

Paul Zahra is a non-executive director, board and company advisor and one of Australia’s most influential diversity advocates. A leading force in the Australian Retail Industry for over 30 years. Paul’s corporate roles have included CEO and Managing Director of Australia’s premium department store, David Jones Limited as well as Senior Leadership roles at Target Australia and Officeworks Superstores.

Paul has been previously credited for leading the digital transformation of one of the oldest department stores in the world achieving market leading momentum. A powerful champion for diversity and inclusion in the workplace, Paul has led numerous high profile LGBTI campaigns and initiatives.

It was an absolute pleasure to chat to Michelle Gregory - founder and director of Promotion Products.

In this podcast we talked about:

• Michelle’s journey to business owner alongside her husband, Douglas

• The year they decided to runaway from the business with their four children and leave the staff in charge

• Celebrating the small moments in our lives that lead to insight, learning and even big adventures.

• And her father’s wisdom around “there’s no point in having your eyes open and your mind closed.”

With a genuine thirst for embracing life and not just being a passenger, Dana considers that her role as Digital Leader for DXCs Public Sector is her perfect role!

In her own words, Dana gets to “work with our Public Sector clients to help them deliver outcomes that they have been struggling to realize themselves, and I get to help them on their paths to embedding innovation as a behaviour throughout their organizations”.

“It’s all about getting stuff done, and really driving the value of collaboration and diversity of thought”.

Prior to this role, Dana has held a variety of senior public sector facing roles with organizations like Telstra, Optus, Macquarie Telecom, NEC and NICTA/Data61.

In addition to her “day job”, Dana is a musician gigging regularly around the Canberra region.

As someone who is a heart attack survivor and a transgender person, Dana is a popular public speaker on the topics of change, authenticity, diversity and valuing life.

Dana loves anything to do with water, pizza, wine and friends, and shares a close bond with her 3 kids and a wonderful partner.

Yasmin London has spent 12 years in the New South Wales Police Force, and now is also the Executive Director of ySafe - one of the lead organisations in Australia offering education and strategies for managing cyber safety in schools.

Having operated at the coalface dealing with the real life consequences of online abuse experienced by young people, Yasmin felt impassioned about the need for preventative action in cyber safety, in order to minimise the need for critical intervention.

Yasmin is also the co-founder of REELise, an NFP anti-bullying and mental health promotion charity that helps young people use of technology to improve wellbeing and resilience.

In this podcast we discuss:

the need to equip ourselves with knowledge

removing the shackles to let ourselves shine

and how a video went viral of Yasmin as The Dancing Cop

Lisa O’Neill is an expert in personal leadership. She is obsessed with people living the lives they want to live – to be magnificent in their chosen domain, honouring themselves by being more of themselves.

Charismatic and engaging, Lisa is a well-known keynote speaker to audiences in New Zealand and Australia. With a background in fashion retail, marketing and breading, Lisa has been empowering people her whole life.

I managed to interrupt Lisa in the middle of her latest tour around Australia and NZ of “A Magnificent Life” and as expected there are many gems in this episode. Honest, funny, blunt and to the point, Lisa O’Neill shares how we can all unleash our inner brilliance. Enjoy

Jeff Schwisow is a Melbourne-based strategy specialist, speaker and the author of Projectify - How to use projects to engage your people in strategy that evolves your business.

Jeff Schwisow is passionate about people and projects. He believes that when the two come together that a truly exceptional workplace is formed – one that engages the very best of its people, consistently delights Jeff helps businesses use the power of projects to engage the very best of its people, consistently delight its clients and constantly evolve to generate exceptional business results.

He has worked with some the world's largest organisations including Shell, Chevron, PetroChina, CPB Contractors, Downer Utilities, Powercor/Citipower and many others.

In this episode we discuss:

- the pervasiveness of change on organisations

- why engagement is not an HR problem but a business problem

- the opportunity that exists within failure to develop your growth mindset.

Find out more at www.jeffschwisow.com.

Stephen Scheeler is the former Facebook CEO for Australia and New Zealand, where he guided Facebook’s rise from quirky start up to media and technology titan. Working with Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s Silicon Valley leaders, his tenure at Facebook saw the ANZ business – including Instagram, Messenger, Whatsapp and Oculus – become one of the most successful Facebook markets in the world. Today – as founder of The Digital CEO, Chairman of CEBIT 2019, Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company, and Executive-in-Residence at the Australian Graduate School of Management – he helps the world’s leading companies build world-beating strategies, capabilities, culture and leadership. As a speaker, Stephen has appeared on the highest-profile stages – including TEDx, the Australian Governance Summit and AMP Amplify – and is a member of the Australian Prime Minister’s Knowledge Nation 100, top innovation leaders in Australia.

It was an absolute pleasure to chat with Jen Jackson owner and director of award-winning, employee experience company, Jaxzyn. Jen considers herself lucky to have worked with leaders and influencers of Fortune 500 and ASX listed organisations. Recent work includes helping steer the brand and direction of PepsiCo’s Global EHS department, she has helped re-imagine how EHS and CSR might look in the future at Mattel; and, guided creative strategy for change, culture and leadership programs for Nestlé, McDonald’s, BlueCare, Origin Energy, and Coca-Cola.

Jen describes herself as a realistic idealist balancing strategy and performance with creativity and a deep understanding of how to connect. Jen’s insights on language, emotion and the power of the visual to create experiences and communication that connects what people hear with how they feel are definitely worth percolating on.

I loved the conversation I had with Peter Shields for this episode of the Unleashing Brilliance podcast. As Peter says, “Great Leadership is hard to find”. Listen in as we discuss the concept of self worth and the constant battle with perceived norm behaviours or learned approaches.

Peter is a transformational executive coach with more than 18 years’ experience, having supported hundreds of leaders and their teams to achieve meaningful change through improving their business skills and strategic thinking.

As one of Australia’s leading executive coaches, Peter has provided expert guidance to leaders in a vast range of industries including many ASX 200 companies.

His background in corporate sales and marketing, along with his study and practice of creativity psychotherapy, have informed Peter’s holistic style of leadership coaching.

His inside-out approach guides leaders and their teams to overcome personal barriers and unlock the inherent potential to transform their organisation’s collective capability.

Enjoy

Joining me on the podcast this month is Michelle Sutherland

Michelle Sutherland is a Scottish born, Australia based, Social Entrepreneur that is positive, passionate and committed to living life fully.

Michelle worked for seven years with Hewlett Packard and at the same time built her Network Marketing business with Arbonne International. At the age of 29 she retired from her corporate job and jumped fully into building a life on her terms.

Last year, Michelle was promoted to the top level of Arbonne as National Vice President She is a massive believer in giving back and is an active member of the “Tree of Life” group where she has travelled to Cambodia and Nepal to fundraise and give back.

Most recently Michelle founded Bondi Dating Club. An “adventure dating” business, that’s mission is to bring the human connection back to dating rather than using online dating apps. She encourages everyone including herself, to dream bigger, be a servant leader, stay humble & hungry, never give up and give back to communities who need it most. And above all, she believes in living life to the full, enjoying every single precious moment and having FUN!

Listen in as we discuss the power of dreaming and living a life on your values and her lifelong lessons from ‘High Vis Liz’ and her Grandma & Grandpa.