Unleashing Brilliance

Emma Isaacs is the founder and global CEO of Business Chicks, Australia's largest community for women, and is passionate about inspiring women to be bold, be courageous and to take risks. When Emma was just 18, she became the co-owner of a small recruitment company where she had just started working. When she sold the business eight years later, it had grown exponentially and been named as Australia͛s Favourite Recruiter in the SEEK Awards for three consecutive years. When Emma was 26, and while she was still running the recruitment company, she felt the urge to try something new. Emma was invited to a small event by a group called Business Chicks, where she learned the business was up for sale. She took a leap of faith and bought Business Chicks, transforming it from the ground up. Over the past 13 years, she͛s grown Business Chicks from a group of 250 members to what it is today - a global business that operates in two continents, 11 cities and produces more than 100 events annually with past speakers including Sir Richard Branson, Seth Godin, Dr Brené Brown, Arianna Huffington, Diane von Furstenberg, Sir Bob Geldof and Jamie Oliver. Born and raised in Sydney, Emma now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and five young children. She has raised over $AU12 million for charity, is a serial property investor, and continues to head up the now international Business Chicks

Joining me on the podcast this month is Melinda Cruz. Melinda is the Founder and a Non-Executive Board Director of Miracle Babies Foundation; Australia’s leading organisation supporting premature and sick newborns, their families and the hospitals caring for them.

The incredible difference Melinda has made to thousands along with her impact as a successful entrepreneur has seen her win numerous awards including the 2011 EY Social Entrepreneur of the Year and be a regular guest on radio, TV and speaker at national and international conferences. She was inducted into the 2013 Australian Businesswomens Hall of Fame and was a 2015 NSW Woman of the Year - Premiers Award finalist.

She is a trusted expert to medical professionals. In 2012, she was awarded the title of Honorary Research Associate by the University of Sydney, Medical School and was the first parent to be invited as an Associate Investigator on a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded neonatal trial.

In 2014, Melinda joined the Perinatal Society of Australia & New Zealand's (PSANZ) Consumer Advisory Panel as the inaugural Chair and accepted a position on the PSANZ Clinical Trials executive committee. In 2016, she was asked to join the NHMRC Clinical Trials Ready Development Committee and in 2017, was part of an award-winning global trial improving the lives of millions of premature newborns and facilitated the appointment of the first consumer representatives to take positions on the Australian and New Zealand’s Neonatal Network (ANZNN) Executive Committee.

In 2014, Melinda ran the New York Marathon with 18 others raising more than $230,000 for Miracle Babies.

So what did I learn from talking to Melinda – a woman than inspires and encourages so many, that is leaving a significant mark on the planet and who every day in every way is making a difference…

- Every little thing you do layers up to build something so much bigger – so have a focus

- Story is an incredible gift – sharing stories helps you and others.

- Get clear on “How you want to feel each day”

Grab a cuppa, download and listen in.

Joining me on the podcast this month is Jack Delosa. Named as one of Australia's Top 10 Entrepreneurs Under 30 twice by Dynamic Business Magazine & SmartCompany, Number 1 Entrepreneur in Australia by Australian Business Review and listed in the BRW Young Rich List since 2014, Jack is the founder of Australia's largest education institution for entrepreneurs, The Entourage.

Jack's vision is to improve traditional education by introducing a style of learning that puts the individual first. Under his leadership, The Entourage has grown to over 380,000 members and was awarded the 4th Best Place to Work in Australia and in the Top 50 Best Places to Work in Australia/Asia by BRW magazine.

Jack is also a high-profile investor, speaker, two times best-selling author and has worked closely with Richard Branson, developing curriculum for The Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship.

As always, our conversation took many turns. This podcast and is jam packed with insights and ideas. Some key highlights:

" Challenge is never not there

" The opportunity that is created when there is no agenda

" Ultimate responsibility falls with you.

Grab a cuppa, download and listen in.

With a career in commercial property spanning more than 31 years, Ray Pittman is an expert in corporate strategy, executive team leadership, mergers and acquisitions, property investment, development, management and brokerage. As the President & CEO of CBRE Pacific, Ray is responsible for overseeing 22offices and approximately 2,500 employees across Australia and New Zealand. Prior to this he served as Senior Managing Director for CBRE in Colorado and was was the President and Founder of Pittman Development Group, Inc –a leading commercial real estate development and investment firm headquartered in Denver. He is a leader that is passionate about leadership, changing culture and the business imperative of building diversity in the workplace. During this conversation Ray shared many of his insights and leadership philosophies including:

- the need to take time out to think and make decision

- learning from failure

– as he says “how do you know what you don't know unless you fail”

- the extreme ownership of who you are and what you are bringing

Haydn Masters is the Head of Physical Performance and Preparation for the Australian Rugby Union Team – the Wallabies. Haydn’s expertise in maximising human performance stems from 20 years of experience coaching elite world sporting teams & athletes. Recent results include the NSW Waratahs first Super Rugby Championship in 2014 and the Wallaby 2015 Rugby World Cup silver medal. Currently a PhD candidate, Haydn holds a Masters of Exercise Science and a Bachelor of Human Movement studies. Haydn is a strategic thinker who tests the status quo in areas of athlete performance and is now delivering theseelite athlete methods to the corporate sector through DNA profiling. He believes that DNA profiling and understanding the body and mind gives you an organic advantage in the elite high performance corporate world, allowing leaders to thrive in high pressure environments. If you want to become better than you are right now and learn from someone that is training elite athletes to perform at their best then make sure to grab a cuppa and listen in to this one. Some highlights for me: - Talent is not enough - High performance habits drive change - Treat yourself as a museum where you are the asset

Kurek Ashley is an internationally renowned speaker, author and coach. His #1 best-selling book "How would Love respond?" has transformed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people all over the world.His list of private clients include: Hollywood film and TV stars, movie directors, producers and cinematographers, a quintuple platinum rock band, hit music composers, top business leaders, oil executives in Kuwait, Olympic Gold Medalists, professional athletes and sports teams, and the list goes on and on. For over 30 years, Fortune 500 companies and major corporations around the world, such as Apple, Seagate, Schwarzkopf, Westin Hotels, The Australian Royal Airforce and Carlton United Brewery, hire Kurek to teach them tactical success strategies that have produced awe-inspiring results. And what a conversation we had:

-The difference between the successful and the average is how they think and feel

-The power of the question “How would love respond?”

-We all have equal potential to achieve

- Maintaining momentum through S.E.X (now that got your attention!)

Grab a cuppa, download and listen in – this is one to listen to and listen again.

Joining me on the podcast this month is listening expert Oscar Trimboli

Oscar is an Author, Keynote Speaker and Executive Coach. He is an expert on the power of Deep Listening to create an impact beyond words and the author of Breakthroughs – How to confront assumptions  and Deep Listening – How to have an impact beyond words. With over 30 years’ experience across software and telecommunications across sales, marketing, operations and product development for global and local organisations including Microsoft, PeopleSoft, Polycom and Vodafone. This combination provides a unique blend of practical and evidence based methodologies.

He consults to many organisations including, 20th Century Fox, AstraZeneca, BAE Systems and Universal Music and is the head of the coaching faculty for The Marketing Academy Australia, supervising 30 executive coaches and their engagements with Australia’s highest potential marketing leaders.

There is no doubt Oscar knows his stuff. For me the key lessons from my conversation with Oscar were:

Embrace the uniqueness of you in every interaction

Learn from others always

Listening creates more opportunity to lead better, make better decisions, create momentum

It’s equally important to listen to yourself.

Grab a cuppa and listen in.

Ep 025 - How to build the web of you in the right way by Janine Garner

Joining me on the podcast this month is Michelle Gibbings – an expert in helping organisations, teams and individuals get fit for the future of work. Obsessed with unlocking high-impact choices to accelerate meaningful progress, Michelle is enabling a new breed of leader – one that is able to thrive in a complex, changing world.

My conversation with Michelle took many turns from where it all started, to exploring her passion, to managing boundaries with some key highlights around;

- The importance of saying ‘NO’ to manage energy and boundaries

- Daily rituals to maintain match fitness

- Choosing to go it alone – the why and the how

Grab a cuppa, download and listen in.

Gabrielle Dolan is is a global thought leader on authentic leadership and business story telling. She’s worked with thousands of high-profile leaders from around the world, helping them to become better leaders ad communicators in the art of business storytelling. Gabrielle has worked with some of Austalia’s top 50 ASX companies including National Australia Bank, Australia Post, Telstra and ANZ.

She is a graduate of he Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education in both the art and practice of Leadership Development and Women and Power: Leadership in a New World. Gabrielle is also the best-selling author of Ignite: Real leadership, Real Talk, Real Results, Storytelling for Job Interviews and Stories For Work: The Essential Guide to Business Storytelling.

Yes – Gabrielle knows a thing or two about the power of stories in business.

Lots of learnings in this podcast including:

· Learning to be courageous, to be yourself in your way

· Ownership about what it is you need to be your best self

· Stories are everywhere and they build authenticity of you, your message and your ability to drive influence.

Grab a cuppa, download and listen in.