Work Fame with Leanne Hughes

Talk the Walk: Generosity. What’s In It For Me?

Alan Weiss joins me with a martini in hand (and I’m on Starlink in the rain) to unpack a question most of us feel a bit guilty asking: what do we actually get out of being generous?

Alan’s answer starts with a guardrail. Generosity isn’t self-sacrifice, and it isn’t atonement for something you got wrong. You put your own oxygen mask on first, then you help others. Writing a cheque is easy. Giving your time, sitting on boards, or simply listening to someone without jumping in with your own story is where real generosity lives.

We get into the business side too. Alan’s contrarian take: if you want to grow your business, stop focusing only on your business. A full life makes you better at your work. He also reframes “free content” as “free value”, explains why his books are gravity rather than a revenue stream, and shares how he handles LinkedIn requests for free advice (spoiler: he doesn’t give it, but he does point people somewhere useful).

One idea that stopped me in my tracks: if you make an exception for one person’s inappropriate request, you’re being unfair to everyone you’ve already said no to.

Plus, the story behind Million Dollar Consulting (originally titled Confessions of a Consultant, rejected 15 times, and still listed that way on Alan’s royalty statements 34 years later), a Hugh Jackman towel auction, and a $5,000 paddle raise that people talked about for months.

Audience questions we tackled

Belinda Shaw asked what to do when someone criticises the help you gave them. Andy from Rhode Island asked how generosity fits inside paid client work. Mel Loy asked the most Australian question we’ve had yet: what do you do when someone starts taking the piss with your goodwill? We also chatted about why volunteering is declining and what organisations can do about it.

Lines worth stealing

“I was happy to be of help. How about we sit down together and I’ll explain how I can help you even further?”

“Think of the fourth sale first.”

“We’re all capable of being generous. If we don’t exercise that capability, it atrophies.”

Pre-order my new book WORK FAME and get featured on the Wall of Work Fame

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Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.com

Let's connect on all the channels:

Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn

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Visit my website: leannehughes.com

Email me: [email protected]

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AI is everywhere, and depending on who you listen to, it’s either going to make our working lives dramatically better or completely destroy our careers.

I’m replaying a conversation I had with the rock star of consulting, Alan Weiss, on Talk the Walk.

We called it Winning the AI Wrestling Match because I wanted to have a more useful conversation than the usual “AI is coming for your job” doom loop.

Alan’s view? Stop panicking.

AI will absolutely displace some work. But every major technological shift has done that. The bigger question is: what becomes more valuable when information is everywhere and everyone has access to the same tools?

We get into why Alan thinks consultants need to shift from being seen simply as experts to becoming authorities, why critical thinking and process matter more when content is abundant, and why the ability to be genuinely present with another human might become one of our greatest advantages.

One of my favourite lines from the conversation was:

“AI can’t do improv.”

AI can give you an answer. It can help you prepare. It can generate content. It can even sound remarkably like someone else.

But it can’t walk into a room, read the energy, challenge the question you’ve just been asked, tell the right story at the right moment or come up with the perfect retort.

That requires you to be there.

We also talk about:

• Why Alan believes we need to stop being so damn pessimistic about AI
• The difference between being an expert and being an authority
• Why high tech needs high touch
• How to develop better critical thinking skills
• Why consultants need to separate content from process
• The danger of becoming derivative on LinkedIn
• Why your own metrics matter more than someone else’s definition of success
• How Alan is using AI through his own “Alan Intelligence” platform
• Why live experiences, role plays and real-time interaction are becoming even more valuable
• The problem with marketing that assumes your client is “damaged”
• Why consultants shouldn’t simply give people what they think they want
• And, importantly, why there is still a huge amount of opportunity ahead

Listen in, and let me know what you think.

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Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.

Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.com

Let's connect on all the channels:

Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn

Leanne Hughes on Instagram

Visit my website: leannehughes.com

Email me: [email protected]

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I recorded this one in Melbourne with my good friend Dr. Jason Fox, one of Australia's Keynote Speakers of the Year, where we'd spent a couple of days together crafting a keynote based on Work Fame.

In this episode Jason and I talk through what we've actually been building: an energetic arc that takes a room, sceptics included, from where they are to somewhere new, built around the contribution idea from the book. Jason walks through how we opened by naming the allergy a lot of people have to the word "fame" itself, rather than avoiding it, and why that disarms the room instead of fighting it.

There's a fun tangent where I use the word "pronia" (my very Australian mangling of pronoia, the idea that the universe is conspiring in your favour) and briefly, gloriously, teach Jason a new word before he corrects my pronunciation. We've decided to keep pronia anyway.

We also get into why we didn't open the keynote with a story, which goes against the usual advice. Jason's take is that too many speakers perform for a camera or a future highlight reel instead of actually showing up in service of the room in front of them. His line for it: dance like no one's watching, speak like no one's recording. We talk about why audiences can spot a manufactured, over-squeezed emotional story a mile off, and why real, unscripted authenticity lands so much harder now.

Jason shares what's next for him too, including a new keynote speaker program and a book that's been ten years in the making.

Head to foxwizard.com to find him and sign up to his museletter.

Pre-order my new book WORK FAME and get featured on the Wall of Work Fame

Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.

Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.com

Let's connect on all the channels:

Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn

Leanne Hughes on Instagram

Visit my website: leannehughes.com

Email me: [email protected]

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Raygun: Work Fame Hero or Villain?

I watched the Netflix documentary about Rachael Gunn, the Australian breakdancer who went viral at the Paris 2024 Olympics after scoring zero across three battles, mostly thanks to that infamous kangaroo and sprinkler routine.

In this episode I ask whether Raygun is a work fame hero or a villain. I land on hero. Her style wasn't textbook, but she and her husband had total conviction in their own taste, and someone who competed at the Olympic qualifiers confirms in the doco that she fairly won her spot. What I admire most is her third-round decision, up against a world champion with nothing to lose, to leave it all out on the dance floor. That's the pronoia I talk about in the book, acting like the world is on your side instead of holding back out of fear. I also touch on the rumours about her selection, which the documentary shows were unfounded.

This isn't work fame, it's infamy, but there are two things I think we can all take from it: keep doing what you love, and celebrate the courage it takes to actually have a go. As Gordon Livingston said, the biggest prisons are the ones inside our own minds.

Go watch it if you haven't, I'd love to hear your take.

Pre-order my new book WORK FAME and get featured on the Wall of Work Fame

Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.

Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.com

Let's connect on all the channels:

Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn

Leanne Hughes on Instagram

Visit my website: leannehughes.com

Email me: [email protected]

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

I share a concept that almost made it into Work Fame but got cut in the edit: energy management, and what it really means to add value at work.

I was reflecting on a self-imposed writing retreat to the Gold Coast in February, where I'd printed out my entire manuscript and chunked it into categories. In this episode I explain why this topic didn't survive that cut, even though I still think it matters. It centres on one of the book's core ideas, the contribution spotlight, and the assumption that "value" simply means expertise. Early in my career, as an advisor in a large organisation, I believed my value was all about being right and having a good opinion. What I've since realised is that value is much bigger than content and expertise alone.

I use the Dementors from Harry Potter as a (slightly over-the-top) illustration: the people who drain your energy the moment you meet with them, versus the people you actually look forward to seeing pop up in your calendar. How you show up, and how you make people feel, is nearly as important as how well you do the job, and it plays directly into building your work fame.

I also tell a story from my marketing days at Wicked Campers, where a colleague in sales and I held a daily 2pm dance party to shake off the post-lunch slump, plus the energy management habits I still use today: protecting Monday mornings for deep work, keeping Friday afternoons free for catch-up, time blocking to avoid constant context switching, and limiting back-to-back virtual meetings in favour of in-person ones.

Two takeaways from me this episode: rethink what "adding value" really means beyond your expertise, and pay attention to how you manage your own energy, because both are quietly part of what makes you work famous.

I'd love to hear how you manage your own energy, and who your Dementors are. Get in touch at [email protected] or on socials.

Pre-order my new book WORK FAME and get featured on the Wall of Work Fame

Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.

Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.com

Let's connect on all the channels:

Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn

Leanne Hughes on Instagram

Visit my website: leannehughes.com

Email me: [email protected]

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Leanne kicks off a pop-up podcast in the lead-up to the launch of her second book, Work Fame: Get the Projects, Promotions, and Perks You Deserve (Wiley), out 30 September 2026. If you followed her daily show Leanne On Demand last year, this feed is where it lives on, now with a Work Fame focus for the next month.

In this episode, Leanne explains where the phrase "Work Fame" came from, what it means (a reputation that opens doors before you knock and attracts the right opportunities to you), and why she wrote the book for the 2016 version of herself: someone new to a big, distributed organisation, unsure how to get things done through other people or get her work noticed.

She talks about what work fame actually delivers, from international travel and running her executive team's strategy day to a personal highlight, touring a Qantas A380 with the engineers in the Sydney hangar. She also digs into the idea of personal agency within organisational systems, and how the concepts apply beyond individuals, to teams, whole organisations and even industries (including a recent talk to the Australian Podiatry Association on making podiatry famous).

Leanne closes with an update on the pre-order campaign, the Wall of Work Fame, currently at 451 stars with 550 to go and 30 days left, and a shoutout to early supporters including Matt Stewart at The Custodian Way (100 books), GSK Australia and New Zealand (140 books), the Australian Podiatry Association (50 books) and Containers for Change (20 books).

Pre-order Work Fame before 30 September 2026 to help Leanne hit the wall, and get in touch with questions about work fame, the book or its marketing at [email protected] or on socials.

Pre-order my new book WORK FAME and get featured on the Wall of Work Fame

Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.

Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.com

Let's connect on all the channels:

Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn

Leanne Hughes on Instagram

Visit my website: leannehughes.com

Email me: [email protected]

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Alan and I catch up over coffee and martinis, talk weather and travel (including his Nantucket trip), and share updates on upcoming books and family projects. We dive into “you made it, now what?”—how successful people start asking “how much is enough?” and why the better question is “enough of what?” Alan argues success is about purpose, not endless accumulation, and warns about scarcity mindset, low self-esteem, and normative pressure to “beat the Joneses.” He shares practical markers of “enough”: living without financial anxiety, protecting family, pursuing opportunities by choice, being generous without risk, buying back time, and walking away from bad clients and deals. We discuss hobbies, using talents beyond work, the survive–alive–arrive–thrive model, shutting “watertight doors,” and organizing life selfishly to gain freedom and reduce guilt.

00:00 Cold Open Banter

00:31 Vacation Tan Talk

01:45 Books and Life Updates

03:15 You Made It Now What

03:57 Enough Money vs Purpose

05:47 Bucket Lists and Iceland Rant

07:05 Bigger Boat Syndrome

09:00 Bored After Success

10:13 Retired for 25 Years

11:23 Why Hobbies Matter

12:51 Talents And Recognition

13:21 Beyond Success Buying Time

15:10 Enough Metrics For Success

16:16 Purpose Shifts With Age

18:08 Avoid Purpose Fanaticism

18:58 Watertight Doors Model

20:30 Coaching Scarcity Mindset

21:26 Generosity Of Spirit

22:56 Staying Challenged In Retirement

25:49 Calling Personal Metrics

26:47 Systems Healthy Selfishness

27:34 Final Thanks And Wrap

Pre-order my new book WORK FAME and get featured on the Wall of Work Fame

Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.

Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.com

Let's connect on all the channels:

Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn

Leanne Hughes on Instagram

Visit my website: leannehughes.com

Email me: [email protected]

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Recorded live at ConCon on the Gold Coast, Alan and I covered everything from consulting, confidence and pricing through to AI, universities, ghosting, self-belief and even why he thinks consultants should stop calling themselves consultants.

As always, Alan challenged conventional thinking with ideas that make you stop, question your assumptions and rethink how you're showing up in business.

Some of the biggest ideas we explored include:

• Why calling yourself a consultant immediately puts you in a crowded market.
• How to become an "object of interest" so clients actually want to keep talking to you.
• The real reason prospects ghost you and what you can do differently.
• Why you should stop trying to solve problems and instead reframe them.
• How creating demand starts with fresh thinking, not better marketing.
• The importance of talking to economic buyers instead of getting stuck in the wrong conversations.
• Why "best practice" is becoming outdated and what to focus on instead.
• Alan's thoughts on universities, trades and the changing workforce.
• What confidence really means and why self-trust matters more than experience.
• Why maintaining client relationships is about consistently providing value, not checking in for the sake of it.
• The role of improv, curiosity and fearless thinking in consulting.
• Alan's views on HR, innovation, disruption and why there is no such thing as "normal" anymore.
• His advice for new consultants looking to stand out in an increasingly noisy market.

One of my favourite quotes from the conversation was:

This conversation is packed with practical ideas, controversial opinions and plenty of laughs.

I'd love to hear what landed most for you. Connect with me on LinkedIn or send me a message and let me know your biggest takeaway.

Pre-order my new book WORK FAME and get featured on the Wall of Work Fame

Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.

Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.com

Let's connect on all the channels:

Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn

Leanne Hughes on Instagram

Visit my website: leannehughes.com

Email me: [email protected]

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

In this episode, I'm sharing an unexpected update on my next book, Work Fame: Get the Projects, Promotions, and Perks You Deserve.

Check out the book pre-order site!

What started as a routine conversation with my publisher quickly turned into a full-blown pre-order campaign. I discovered the book was already available online for pre-order, sooner than expected, which meant it was time to shift gears and start thinking seriously about marketing.

Rather than following the same approach I used for The 2-Hour Workshop Blueprint, I wanted this campaign to reflect the themes of the book itself. Fame, recognition, visibility and earning opportunities are all central ideas in Work Fame, so I built a campaign around those concepts, including something I'm calling the Wall of Work Fame.

I'm also sharing the ambitious goal I've set for the launch. A goal that many people would consider unrealistic in the Australian business book market.

• Why securing a publishing deal with Wiley changed the way I think about book launches
• The journey of developing the core framework behind Work Fame
• How I approached marketing differently from my first book
• The inspiration behind the Wall of Work Fame
• Why I immediately set a target of 1,001 pre-orders
• The surprising momentum generated before any public launch announcement
• The generous support from early champions and bulk purchasers
• What I'm learning about visibility, recognition and audience engagement in real time

• Marketing works best when it reflects the product you're promoting.
• Ambitious goals can create energy and focus when they feel meaningful.
• Early momentum often comes from trusted relationships, not broad audiences.
• Recognition can be a powerful motivator when thoughtfully incorporated into a campaign.
• Sometimes the most exciting opportunities arrive before you feel fully prepared.

• Work Fame: Get the Projects, Promotions, and Perks You Deserve
• The 2-Hour Workshop Blueprint
• Manus AI
• Jia Jiang and his book Rejection Proof
• Jia Jiang's TED Talk on 100 Days of Rejection
• Matt Stewart and The Custodian Way

This project has been quietly unfolding behind the scenes for months. To see so much support before a public announcement has been both surprising and encouraging. The road to 1,001 pre-orders is still a long one, but it's a challenge I'm excited to pursue.

Thanks for listening.

Pre-order my new book WORK FAME and get featured on the Wall of Work Fame

Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.

Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.com

Let's connect on all the channels:

Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn

Leanne Hughes on Instagram

Visit my website: leannehughes.com

Email me: [email protected]

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Using Language to Increase Value, Demand, and Influence (with Alan Weiss)

I chat with Alan Weiss about his recent Europe trip (Portugal, London, Paris), including Portugal’s popularity, walking Lisbon’s steep hills, high tea at The Ritz, a Paris boutique hotel with a private garden, and the relaxed café culture compared to timed American restaurants. We then dive into how to use language to increase your value, demand, and influence: creating vivid verbal pictures with metaphor, analogy, and strong phrasing, and never “dumbing down” your words. Alan shares sales conversation lines that reframe objections, plus guidance from The Martial Arts of Language—don’t interrogate, use follow-up questions, and always probe beyond the first answer (often with “Why?”). We also discuss naming offers (like KATIN and “Innovation never grows old”), the risks of outsourcing creativity to AI, and how to improve by studying great writing and collecting standout quotes.

00:00 Warm Welcome Banter

03:12 Today’s Topic Words Matter

04:28 Building Vocabulary Branding

05:50 Verbal Pictures In Business

07:14 Better Questions Follow Ups

09:51 Turning Sales Conversations

13:03 Martial Arts Lines Examples

13:58 KATIN Offer Origins

14:30 Bold Language Filters

15:01 Roasts and Blunt Feedback

15:47 How to Name Offers

16:47 AI Naming and Contrast

17:55 Reversal and Analogy

19:09 AI Writing Risks

21:19 Good Enough Drafting

21:55 Steal Great Language

24:24 Why Reading Endures

26:11 Analogies and LinkedIn

Pre-order my new book WORK FAME and get featured on the Wall of Work Fame

Sign up for free for my best articles every week: Work Fame.

Show notes for every episode at https://podcast.leannehughes.com

Let's connect on all the channels:

Leanne Hughes on LinkedIn

Leanne Hughes on Instagram

Visit my website: leannehughes.com

Email me: [email protected]

Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.