Unleashing Brilliance

Joining me on the podcast this month is Sherilyn Shackell

Sherilyn is the Founder & CEO of The Marketing Academy, a unique not for profit organisation dedicated to inspiring and developing talented stars in the marketing industry to become the leaders, Board Directors and CEOs of tomorrow.

The Marketing Academy started in the UK and is sponsored by brands such as British Telecom, Microsoft, Facebook and McKinsey, opened in Australia in October 2014 and will be opening in New York and Dubai very soon.

I was lucky enough to catch up with Sherilyn when she was in Sydney earlier this year and this podcast "Unleashing Brilliance" sums up Sherilyn completely - her past has not defined her future but more made her and her purpose a legacy for others. Some key learnings in this podcast were:

" Embrace your vulnerability - you deserve nothing unless you give of yourself first

" Failure absolutely can drive future success

" Do the thing that makes your heart flutter.

Grab a cuppa and listen in.

In this latest episode of my podcast I talk about why beige leadership simply won’t cut it anymore and why we need connected leadership - those leaders who are so comfortable in the space that they have the strength to lead and share, to learn and grow, who are actively curious and willing to give. These leaders are capable of amplifying others; they build a culture that encourages and enables sharing, a culture of commercial collaboration that drives change and innovation. These leaders create the space and freedom to think, debate and ideate. This is a culture in which people from diverse skill bases, demographics, genders and industries have the opportunity to speak and be heard.

Joining me on the podcast this month is Peter Baines.

Pete developed his unique leadership style by leading international identification teams into Indonesia and Thailand following acts of terrorism and the 2004 South East Asian Tsunami. He would go on to work in the counter terrorism area of Interpol, spent time with the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime and also worked in Saudi Arabia and Japan after natural disasters hit those countries. But it was his work in Thailand that brought the biggest change. After meeting the children left orphaned by the Tsunami, Peter felt compelled to act and founded an Australian charity called Hands Across the Water which has gone on to create opportunities for hundreds of children across Thailand.

In January 2014, Peter Baines was recognised in the Australia Day honours with the awarding of the Order of Australia Medal for his International Humanitarian work.

To say I was inspired, moved to do more and humbled by our conversation is not enough. There were moments during this chat that I had to hold back to the tears and there were moments of deep connection and the consequent need for silence that effected me for days later.

Peter Baines embodies the concept of this podcast – that we can all unleash the brilliance within.

Grab a cuppa, download and listen in.

Ep 019 - Choose your hero's wisely by Janine Garner

Joining me on the podcast this month is Jamie Pride. Jamie is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author on a mission to help build better founders and a better venture capital ecosystem to support them.

As an entrepreneur, Jamie sold his first startup, Velteo, to New York–based System Integrator Bluewolf, and has founded over six technology startups. As an investor, he has raised more than $16 million in funding for startups via private and public markets, including completing an IPO on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2015.

He has more than 20 years’ experience with international technology and digital media organisations, including leading realestate.com.au and senior positions with Deloitte Digital, salesforce.com, Red Hat, Veritas, and Cisco Systems.

He is the Managing Partner at Phi Digital Ventures, an early-stage, social impact venture fund that seeks to invest in Australian companies looking to change the world. He is also the co-founder of The Founder Lab, an educational institution for entrepreneurs that seeks to build and support better founders.

Having worked extensively as both an entrepreneur and an investor he has a unique insight into what it takes to make a startup successful and what it takes to get funded.

Jamie’s new book, Unicorn Tears: Why Startups Fail & How To Avoid It – is available to purchase now on-line or in major book retailers.

As always, my conversation with Jamie took many turns including a personal share of the impact of one massive fail. Jamie’s insights into what founders need to do to be successful are a must to listen to, consider and take action on – namely:

Maintain physical health to maximise energy

Protect your boundaries to ensure you are at your best

Set expectations with your key personal and professional stakeholders

The importance of emotional strength – start-up world is not a smooth journey to success.

Grab a cuppa, download and listen in.

Joining me on the podcast this month is Vicki McLean, revenue growth strategist and founder & Director of Sparcgap.  Vicki's story of determination and resilience to push through, to drive change for herself and others and her passion for driving growth is evident as she shares her story to here.  Vicki is one inspiring woman and for me some of the key learnings included:

the importance of learning to sit comfortably with uncomfortableness

the power that actually exists with naivety

be determined to always do more and do better

people have to be valued above all else. 

Grab a cuppa, download and listen in.

Ep 016 - Reach your Emerald City by Janine Garner

Starting out in the recruitment industry in Sydney more than 20 years ago, Simon is regarded as a leading talent partner in the sector. His career has taken him to the UK and Europe but it is his unrivalled Australian domain expertise that he is most recognised for. Always challenging the status quo, Simon founded Australian executive recruitment ‘super boutique’ FutureYou on the belief that there is a better way to connect outstanding talent with local businesses. Having launched FutureYou in April 2016, and grown the company to close to 100 employees across Sydney and Melbourne in the company’s first year of operation, Simon knows what it takes to become a multimillion dollar business in the mature professional services sector. 

It was an absolute joy to turn the microphone on to Simon recently and explore what motivates him to keep challenging the norm and what drives him everyday to achieve more. There are so many interesting elements to this conversation around discovering and unleashing brilliance and for me three key take-outs were:

- Fear has no place in an organisation

- Everyone has to find the power to connect without limitations

- Be constantly curious about growth, learning and what’s next.

In this podcast Janine shares her idea's, thoughts and inspiration with you, the listener. Janine will dare you to think differently, to challenge yourself so that you can unleash your inner brilliance #leadership #brilliance #inspire #thoughtleader

It was an absolute joy to turn the microphone on to Paul Walton recently. Paul is a Partner, Producer and Head of Production at Princess Pictures, a well established film and television production company with an international reputation for producing unique projects with outstanding creative talent....and more importantly, he's my brother.During this podcast we chatted at length about how he discovered his passion and brilliance, what drives him now to keep disrupting the industry he is in and what he is learning every day from You Tubers that are working collaboratively to change the concept of content creation. There are so many interesting elements to this conversation around discovering and unleashing brilliance and for me much of the insight revolved around CONNECTION:Connection to being truly present and sharing the moments that are happening with others Connection to self and trusting your instincts to step up always and own the mistakes you make Connection with others, with your audience and people that matter - adapting always, listening always and understanding that the people that really matter need love, care and respect And listen out for Paul's insight in to how he undertakes a regular 'Honesty Audit' with himself to check in and identify when he needs to change the moment, press the pause button and reset.