Claire, Author at Don't Stop Us Now

Future Proof Me – Navigating Tech When You’re Not…

May 12, 2020May 12, 2020
by Claire

Welcome to our second Future Proof Me mini episode. These mini episodes will be uploaded in the weeks between our usual, longer interview and ‘How To’ episodes. They are designed to snappily share nuggets of ideas or insights to help us all thrive in future.

This week’s nugget is all about engaging with emerging technologies even when we are not ‘techie people’.

First you’ll hear from Martha Lane Fox, one of the UK’s most respected technology leaders and entrepreneurs. These days she has an illustrious board career, sits in the House of Lords, and she campaigns for responsible technology through her foundation, Doteveryone.

Martha shares great advice on positioning yourself in your career and how important it is to be curious about technology. She then goes on to talk about how, with the quickening pace of change, we need to be prepared to have multiple different careers.

Then we hear from the Artificial Intelligence expert, Kriti Sharma. She builds really practically on Martha’s point about learning about tech, and specifically talks about how we can all get more informed and familiar with the important topic of AI.

A humble request from us…if you are getting value out of what we’re sharing here at Don’t Stop Us Now! then why not be sure you don’t ever miss out and sign up here for our weekly email where we share advice, tips and, of course, info on our latest episode.

Enjoy this mini episode with Martha Lane Fox and Kriti Sharma.

Check Out the Full Interviews:

Martha Lane Fox – A Powerful Voice Where Few Women Are Heard

Kriti Sharma – Robots, AI and the Future

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Other Resources of Interest

Dot Everyone Digital Understanding Resources

Elements of AI Course from the Finnish Government

Recognising Fake News Game

Digital Unite – Technology Guides

MIT Media Lab

Google’s AI Education Hub

Interview

Audrey Tang – Taiwan’s Digital Minister and Her Vital…

May 5, 2020May 5, 2020
by Claire

We have a fascinating episode this week with our guest, Taiwan’s remarkable Digital Minister, Audrey Tang.

Audrey became the youngest Government Minister ever in Taiwan when she was appointed a few years ago at the age of 35. She is also the world’s first ever Transgender government Minister.

Audrey’s childhood was anything but conventional, in her early years she was something of a child prodigy who also had a serious heart condition. She dropped out of school at the age of 14 to manage her own education and at the age of 16 started her first successful software business.

Fast forward in time, and after some years working in Silicon Valley and further success, Audrey found herself moving from being a Government activist in her home country to a Government Minister!

In this episode you’ll hear:

How Audrey’s quick involvement in creating a valuable app has played a key role in Taiwan’s extraordinarily successful management of Covid-19, with the country never having to stop working
How her heart condition as a child means that to this day Audrey does not experience anger or upset or extreme joy
How in Taiwan, thanks to calling software coders Programme Designers vs Software Engineers, there are significantly more women than men working in the field
And her unique ways of seeing arguments from both sides

Enjoy this discussion with the remarkable Audrey Tang.

Useful Links

Audrey on Twitter

Taiwan Can Help Us – a COVID-19 initiative from Taiwan to help other countries

CoHack – a hackathon led by Audrey to use open data and technology to help fight the coronavirus pandemic across the world

G0V – a decentralised civic tech community from Taiwan

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – How to Ponder the Future…

April 29, 2020April 29, 2020
by Claire

Welcome to our first Future Proof Me mini episode!

These episodes, will share a ‘nugget’ of an idea, advice or a thought-provoking insight to help us all thrive and adapt in future.

Our environment’s changing so fast right now, this seems more important than ever …

In these mini episodes we’ll feature the best from previous and future guests including brand new content. Plus, we’ll share ideas and great tools to try that we’ve put into action or experimented with ourselves.

This week’s ‘nugget’ comes from investment banker Lindley Edwards who we had on the show about a year ago. Her episode was very popular and you could really tell from that, that Lindley is a deep thinker.

Lindley runs a corporate advisory business called AFG Venture Group which specialises in cross-border investments and transactions, particularly between Asia & Australia. She’s also Chairperson for two startups and a Non-Executive Director of a Think Tank called AsiaLink.

We love these insights from Lindley because:

1) They seem so relevant now in these strange times of coronavirus and;

2) Lindley shares some really helpful ways to think about the future… and that’s by building on the ideas and insights from the past;

3) Plus, she talks about how to move forward and create change in new ways that will get traction and maybe even disrupt an industry.

If you’re keen to hear more from Lindley, hear our full interview here.

We hope you enjoy this first Future Proof Me episode…

Useful Links

Our full interview with Lindley Edwards on Don’t Stop Us Now!

Lindley on Linkedin

Philosophers mentioned by Lindley:

Hafiz

Book of poems by Hafiz

Rumi

Book of poems by Rumi

How To Episode

How To Game Plan If You Lose Your Job

April 21, 2020April 21, 2020
by Claire

This week as the economic impact from COVID-19 continues to unfold, we wanted to give anyone affected, or anyone who fears they may be affected in future, something seriously practical and useful to action.

One thing we know for sure is that the best and fastest way to reduce your anxiety and stress over financial or employment issues is to have a plan.

This episode will give you the steps to create your very own game plan so you too can feel prepared for whatever happens.

Not only that, we’re super excited that this episode shares invaluable advice from an international resume writing expert who is also a former long-time recruiter and search consultant. Handy eh?

Yes indeed, no mucking around here, if you want some amazing advice to help you bounce back and ‘get that job’ then you are in the right place.

In this episode you’ll learn:

3 key areas to focus your game plan on
Why it’s important to know where you stand financially
Winning tips to create a fantastic resume / CV
A little-known ‘insider’s’ tip for using LinkedIn

Whatever your circumstance, you’ll feel more resilient, more prepared and readier than ever for the right opportunity by following the advice in this episode.

Useful Links

Register your interest for our ‘How to Ace your Interview’ course here

Executive Resume Writer, Donna Svei’s website

Heidi Hackemer on Instagram

Heidi’s powerful Medium article

Awesome list of Side Hustle ideas

Interview

Naomi Simson – The Renowned Entrepreneur 1000s of Small…

April 7, 2020April 7, 2020
by Claire

We have a brilliant episode for you this week with the renown entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor Naomi Simson. Given these unprecedented times, this is just the tonic we needed and we think you will love her too.

On the topic of COVID-19, wherever you’re listening to us from, we hope you’re safe and well and not doing it too tough. Please know that you are not alone, #weareinthistogether . As you’ll hear in this episode, Naomi has some great thoughts for what leaders and businesses need to be thinking about.

Nearly 20 years ago, Naomi took her savings and founded her online business ‘RedBalloon’ when she was a Mum of two small children. The site she built is an aggregator of a vast variety of experiences that people can buy vouchers for from thousands of tourism and adventure operators around Australia and NZ, and they’re expanding internationally as well.

Today the ‘Big Red Group’ has 5 separate businesses under its umbrella with revenue over $70 million and literally millions of experiences sold to date. Thousands of small businesses rely on her company to deliver them customers, a big deal normally and an even bigger one now with COVID-19.

Naomi is also well known for sharing her positivity and business wisdom as a keynote speaker and author of two books.

In this episode you’ll hear Naomi talk about:

How she’s feeling in these uncertain times and how she’s coping with COVID 19 consequences
Her experience of stepping out of her business after splitting from her husband, only to later secretly buy back the company
What Naomi looks for when startups are pitching to her for investment
Why you’ll always see her wearing something red, and
Her advice to you in these times of uncertainty.

So stay safe, get comfy, and enjoy this episode with the super positive and impressive Naomi Simson.

One final note from us, given our leadership development business has understandably lost revenue, we’ve decided it’s timely to trial one or two ads at the beginning or end of each episode whilst taking great care not to damage your listening experience. This is a way to help us with all the hours we spend on bringing each episode to you. Thank you for being part of our community.

Links of interest

Naomi’s website

Redballoon

Big Red Group

Naomi’s books: Live What You Love & Ready to Soar

Interview

Bobbi Mahlab AM – Defining Success on Her Terms

March 24, 2020
by Claire

Our guest this week is entrepreneur and philanthropist, Bobbi Mahlab.

We think you’ll love Bobbi; she’s authentic, brave and very humble!

More than 20 years ago, Bobbi founded the content marketing and communications agency, ‘Mahlab’. Given how much the publishing and content businesses have changed in two decades, it’s a testimony to Bobbi’s foresight and agility that the business thrives and continues to evolve today.

Much more recently, Bobbi also co-founded the fast-expanding Australian arm of Mentor Walks, an initiative she was exposed to when she took part in a Mentor Walk in China, the brainchild of one of our earlier podcast guests, Michelle Garnaut.

Bobbi’s business has won multiple awards and accolades, and Bobbi herself also has her fair share of honours including recently being appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to women, publishing and philanthropy.

Bobbi has some fascinating insights and perspectives on women in business and being an entrepreneur, particularly thanks to the insights she gleans from all the women taking part in Mentor Walks as well as from being a Juror on the prestigious international Cartier Women’s Initiative awards for entrepreneurs.

In this episode you’ll hear:

How it felt to grow up with a very high profile and feminist mother
Why Bobbi thinks leaders need to act like a hammerhead shark
What it was that made her walk into her office one day and say “everything changes from today”
The formative experience that taught Bobbi to think bigger

Enjoy this episode with the humble, wise and entertaining, Bobbi Mahlab.

Links of interest

Mahlab Media

Mentor Walks Australia

Cartier Womens Initiative

Episode photo credit: Mumbrella

Interview

Kristina Karlsson – Tough Times Never Last But Tough…

March 12, 2020March 12, 2020
by Claire

Our guest this week is Kristina Karlsson, the entrepreneur and founder of global Swedish design and stationery business, kikki.K.

What’s unprecedented about this episode is that just as we were in the process of putting this out to the world, Kristina’s beloved nearly 20 year old business fell in to Administration with the latest news saying they are looking for buyers or investors to keep the business alive.

When we recorded our interview with Kristina just a few weeks ago she talked about challenging times in retail but, not surprisingly, she didn’t go into details of the current situation.

What we’ve been struck by is how positive and strong Kristina is, even now in her social posts. And that comes through so strongly in this episode where you’ll hear about:

The ups and downs of starting your own retail business and how tough you need to be
Kristina’s passion for having dreams and chasing them (She’s also written a book called ‘Your Dream Life Starts Here’ to inspire others to write down and chase their dreams.)
How she credits becoming a Mother with giving her more balance
And the quirky yet ingenious way Kristina learnt to perfect her business English early on!

Plus, 3 lucky listeners have the chance to win a copy of Kristina’s book here but hurry, entries close in a few weeks.

We’re sending loads of positive energy and good wishes to all involved with kikki.K and hope the business survives.

Now without further ado enjoy this conversation with the inspiring and positive Kristina Karlsson.

Links of Interest

Kristina on Instagram

Kristina on LinkedIn

Your Dream Life Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:16 — 31.5MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Interview

Mandy Birch – On Being Yourself (in a Man’s…

February 25, 2020
by Claire

Our guest this week is former military leader and now Quantum Computing pioneer, Mandy Birch.

Born and bred in the USA, Mandy is super qualified . . . she has a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT; another Masters in in Military Operational Art & Science, and a third Masters in International Relations!

Mandy’s entire career has been in male dominated industries. She spent 16 years climbing to senior ranks in the United States Air Force and now she’s working on Quantum Computing with a company called Rigetti. Rigetti is one of four companies (Sept 2019) to have a fully operational quantum computer.

During our conversation, we were fascinated to hear how Mandy only truly thrived in her career in the military when she learnt to be herself. She talks about how important it has been to her career to feel comfortable in her own skin, even when she was different to nearly everyone else in the room.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How to summarise Quantum Computing in a single sentence
How being under-estimated became a positive and shaped Mandy’s leadership style
Why she believes over-planning your career can be a problem
And why getting used to being different and seeing the value in that made all the difference.

Enjoy this episode with the passionate and mission-driven Mandy Birch.

Links of Interest

Mandy on LinkedIn

Rigetti Computing

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:47 — 29.2MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Interview

Cecilia Tham – Predicting the Future

February 11, 2020
by Claire

If you’ve ever wondered about what we’ll all be eating in 10-15 years time then this is the episode for you!

Our guest is Barcelona-based Cecilia Tham, a Social Technologist and Futurist. She happens to have the coolest day job working for Alpha, which is Telefonica’s innovation arm briefed to build moonshots to address some of society’s biggest problems, including the future of food.

Cecilia was raised in Macau, attended high school and Harvard university in the US, and then found herself in Spain having to start from scratch, language included. She describes herself as an entrepreneur by heart, a designer and biologist by training, and a maker for life.

On her journey to working at Alpha, she founded and co-founded 3 separate ventures including a Maker cafe, a co-working community, and a coding and tech academy for women.

We think you’ll find Cecilia’s life and career lessons really inspiring. In particular you’ll learn:

How Cecilia’s former husband’s gift of a sewing machine first insulted her and then led to her uncovering a passion and her first entrepreneurial venture
What ‘Trim Tabbing’ is and why it makes her more productive
How Cecilia managed to turn her mindset around and be comfortable being different to everyone else in the room
And…. how she and her colleagues are looking at future scenarios where you’ll be able to grow an entire meal, including meat and veg, with the one plant – yes you read that right – grow your dinner!

Enjoy this episode with the multi-talented and dynamic Cecilia Tham.

Links of Interest

Cecilia’s website

Alpha

Makers of Barcelona (MOB)

FAB Cafe

allwomen AI Training School

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:29 — 32.6MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

How To Episode

How to Have a Great Year

January 28, 2020
by Claire

Our first ‘How To’ episode of 2020 brings you super useful tips and advice to set yourself up for an awesome 2020!

To put this episode together, we scoured the latest research and we drew upon the content and expertise we’ve developed delivering leadership programs around the world for major companies such as Google, Salesforce and Pinterest.

And, as usual, you also get to hear thoughts from some of our amazing guests on the topic as well.

You may well have thought about some New Year’s resolutions or goals recently, but whatever your situation, we’re confident that this episode will turbocharge your prospects for the rest of the year.

Here’s a taste of some of the many invaluable things you’ll learn from this episode:

The somewhat surprising first step we advise you take when planning a great year ahead
The huge benefits you can reap from cultivating a more positive outlook and mindset, plus easy tips to help you do just that
How to avoid being over-ambitious with all the goals you want to set for yourself and spare yourself from feeling you’ve failed when you don’t achieve them all
And, the one thing you can easily do to increase the chance of you achieving your goals by more than 30%.

Improve your chances by more than 30% – that’s insane isn’t it?

So don’t delay, make sure you listen now to give yourself the best chance for a fantastic 2020.

Enjoy!

Useful links

How to Breathe Easy About your Purpose episode

Tim Ferriss’s Reflection Process

Achieving your goals: An evidence-based approach, Michigan State University

Why a Happy Brain Performs Better – HBR

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:13 — 22.3MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS