What has wellness got to do with leadership? A conversation with Audrey McGibbon
Audrey is a globally recognised expert on wellness within the corporate domain.
We discuss:
- What does wellness really mean,
- How does a personal sense of meaning or purpose positively impact wellness?
- What happened for leaders living during our extended lockdown in terms of their
loss of control, loss of meaning, loss of clarity and certainty?
Increased sense of personal agitation, lack of grace, no release from monotony etc - Where does personal accountability/followership accountability come into work wellness?
- Resilience versus endurance? Where are you seeing languishing emerge?
- GLWS profile- what is it designed for?
Disrupting the banking industry with Steve Weston
Steve Weston is the founding CEO of Volt, a neo bank that is in disruption mode. Having led significant parts of Barclays in the UK, NAB and Challenger in Australia, he returned to Sydney and has set about using technology as a disruptive force in its truest sense.
Steve grew up in rural Queensland, and as he tells it, fell into banking by mistake. His strong beliefs in customer service led him to transform residential mortgage services around the world.
We discuss,
- What leadership in a traditional industry needs to look like in the 21st century,
- Why he is obsessed with leaders spending time on the front line,
- What ‘handing the keys over’, means to him,
- The reality of moving from a corporate CEO to a start up CEO,
and a whole lot more…
Leading a high performing organisation as if it is a sports team with Declan Boylan
Declan Boylan is the founder and CEO of Seven Consulting, the most successful Program Delivery firm in SE Asia and Australia. In this wide-ranging conversation we discuss:
- What is program delivery and why is this an emerging specialty,
- Agile delivery versus agile mindsets,
- Why does his team spend so much time on giving and receiving feedback,
- Why does the feedback giver get reviewed?
- Looking at customer satisfaction rates every day,
- The reason behind Seven sponsoring the Matildas – The Australian Women’s National Football team,
- Using CSR and marketing initiatives beyond the obvious
And a whole lot more!
Leadership from the perspective of search, succession and performance during a pandemic with Peter O’Brien
Peter L. O’Brien is a trusted advisor to boards and CEOs on corporate governance, board effectiveness, succession planning, executive development, and leadership search and transformation. He is an expert at developing highly effective leadership teams and boards in Australia and internationally. Peter is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Global Board & CEO Advisory Partners Sector and he leads the firm’s business across Asia Pacific. Previously, Peter led the Global Supply Chain Practice, as well as the Global Industrial Services & Infrastructure Sector.
We discuss;
- His own career path from AUS to EUROPE back to APAC
- How he developed his strengths as a leader
- How that helped him and where it has not
- Leading during a crisis…What did the Russell Reynolds partners notice in terms of leadership and how it is showed up in the C suite?
- What is emerging in 2022 as being important that we might have underestimated in the past?
- His thoughts on not being able to give certainty to people who are craving that. How do leaders give their teams a sense of – “here is what you can control….”
and a whole lot more…!
How to inoculate against burnout as a leader with Andrew May and Dr. Tom Buckley
In this episode we discuss:
- What is burnout and why is it a syndrome,
- The impact it has on executive leadership and leaders,
- What are symptoms that are useful to be alert for,
- Five ideas that if implemented can inoculate against burnout,
- Why U2 influence Dr. Tom Buckley in his research (seriously!),
Show notes

How to prevent burnout as a leader
Inspired by a conversation with Andrew May and Dr. Tom Buckley
The power of simple and effective questions that every leader can use to be more coachlike, with Michael Bungay Stanier
Today I am joined by Michael Bungay Stanier, the author of the best selling book on coaching this century! His book, The Coaching Habit, has sold close to a million copies and has thousands of 5-star reviews online. His latest book, How to Begin, helps people find the clarity and courage to take on a Worthy Goal and start something thrilling, important and daunting.
He founded Box of Crayons, a learning and development company that helps organisations move from advice-driven to curiosity-led. They’ve trained hundreds of thousands of managers to be more coach-like and their clients range from Microsoft to Gucci.
He says he left Australia about 30 years ago to be a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University …where his only significant achievement was falling in love with a Canadian …which is why he now lives in Toronto, having spent time in London and Boston.
We discuss:
- the core fundamental questions that every manager can use to be an effective coachlike leader,
- Why curiosity is the core attribute in fostering innovation,
and a whole lot more!
Why we need more women in the C suite with Susan Metcalf from CEW
Susan Metcalf is the CEO of CEW, Chief Executive Women, a member organisation representing more than 800 of Australia’s most senior women leaders. CEW works to remove barriers to women’s progression and create equal opportunity for everyone.
In this episode we discuss:
- The latest census report from CEW and the ‘dismal’ results it shows in terms of the percentage representing of women at CEO and CFO levels in the ASX 300,
- Why Australian women are the highest educated in the world yet suffer from an equality perspective due to the cultural issue of mateship,
- How come 54% of the finance sector are women yet 90% of the sector CEO’s are men,
- How to stoke innovation through gender balance,
- The talent supply chain and springboard roles,
- The notion of targets and quotas,
and a whole lot more.
Show notes

5 ways to increase your female CEO Talent Pipeline
Inspired by a conversation with Susan Metcalf, CEO of Chief Executive Women
Leading large government departments and why this is so different to what we might expect; with Dan Hunter
- How to overcome being passed over for a role,
- Taking the leap between sectors and how to take advantage of unexpected opportunities,
- Learning to listen intently,
- What is it like working for a Government Minister compared to the private sector,
- How to create a space for inclusion and psychologically safe environments,
- Why leadership is not a democracy and selling ice cream is not for leaders,
- What has Jeeves the butler got to do with anything!
- Understanding how to work with different stakeholders,
and a whole lot more,
How to develop great judgement as a leader with Meahan Callaghan
Leaders, particular executive-level leaders, rise and fall on their ability to have good judgement, whatever that is! Yet, most leaders never learn how to develop this situational level skill.
I am joined by Meahan Callaghan, CHRO for RedBubble. She is one of the most experienced CHRO/ HRD’s (Chief People Officer) in the technology sector globally having led the people function in three different technology unicorns.
We discuss:
- the importance of HR professionals to get some line experience in order to fully understand the implications of implementing HR policies,
- Why leading a call centre is one of the fastest ways to realise the clashes between commercial realities and people aspirations,
- What is judgement?
Classic mistakes aspiring leaders make when learning how to utilise good judgement, - Why is the notion of ‘good judgement here looks like this’, so important?
- Five key steps organisations can use to help elevate good decision making amongst leaders,
and a whole lot more…!

How to develop good judgement as an Executive and why this is so important
What I learned from talking with Meahan Callaghan