female business leader Archives

What We Loved in 2023

December 27, 2023
by Claire

And just like that… 2023 is coming to a close! We hope everyone’s enjoying the Holiday season.

In our final episode for the year, we reflect on the best and most loved books, experiences, and habits and hacks we’re taking away from this year. We made a deliberate choice to focus on all things positive and constructive to help counter all the negative news in the world. We send our love and thoughts to anyone who’s doing it tough right now . . . it can be a difficult time for many people.

In this episode you’ll hear about:

Our top fiction books as well as our favourite two non fiction books and why
Our favourite podcast memories and experiences from the year
Cultural moments that really resonated with each of us; and
The top habits and hacks we’ve learnt (often from our guests) that have worked brilliantly for us.

So as the final days for 2023 come to a close. We wish all of you a chance to rest and recuperate and all the very best for a happy, healthy and purposeful 2024. We’re taking the Australian summer to rest and relax so we’ll be back in February.

Happy Holidays and enjoy this unique ‘What we loved’ episode.

Useful Links:

WeAre8 app: Apple

WeAre8 app: Android

Future Crunch’s end of 2023 newsletter

Thursday Murder Club Series by Richard Osman

Elton John – Me

Tina Turner – Love Story

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

Effortless by Greg McKeown

Episodes we mention:

Amy Cuddy

Sue Fennessy

Claire’s Eden Health Retreat

Bringing Nature Indoors – Belinda Everingham

June 7, 2022June 7, 2022
by Claire

This week we have a treat in store for you: an Australian entrepreneur who’s literally bringing nature indoors with her creation of a whole new segment using Australian native botanicals for products such as hand wash, cleaning products, and dog shampoo.

Founder of Bondi Wash, Belinda Everingham, launched her business in 2013. Today, the premium Bondi Wash range is sold and known around the world for its quality, chemical-free formulations and beautiful scents.

Curiously, what Belinda’s doing now with her business is light years away from how her career started as a management consultant.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How serendipity helped Belinda scale her overseas presence not long after launching
What happened when Belinda had to go into battle with a US giant trying to stop her using her brand name
The one thing she believes is critical for success in business
And why, when starting Bondi Wash, Belinda threw her rigorous and structured management consultant training out the window.

We think you’ll love this episode with the super thoughtful and inspiring Belinda Everingham.

Useful Links

Don’t Quit Your Day Job – Aliza Knox

April 26, 2022April 26, 2022
by Claire

This week’s guest was named IT Woman of the Year for the APAC region in 2020 and despite her illustrious and super busy career in senior regional leadership roles at Google, Twitter and Cloudflare, Aliza Knox also managed to find time to mentor many women along the way.

As a result of all her rich experience, Aliza has just published a book on the 6 essential mindshifts you need to rise and thrive at work. The book is called Don’t Quit Your Day Job.

These days, Aliza serves as a non executive director on Boards in multiple countries and is a senior advisor to her old consulting firm, Boston Consulting Group.

We were fascinated to catch up with Aliza to learn more about her own career lessons as well as the 6 key mindshifts she’s identified in her book. We think you’ll be fascinated too.

Hear unique advice and stories including:

Why a bad job situation led to Aliza moving countries
Why reflecting on your career options at any point in time is so valuable
What job dating is
And, which of the 6 essential mindshifts Aliza believes has been the most influential in her own career.

Aliza has some amazing career advice so sit back and enjoy this episode.

Links

Aliza’s website

Aliza on Twitter

Aliza on LinkedIn

‘Don’t Quit Your Day Job’ on Amazon, Booktopia

Interview

It’s Not About Me – Joanna Flint

March 30, 2022March 30, 2022
by Claire

We’re back from Covid (hooray!) and so even more excited about this week’s inspiring guest!

Joanna Flint is Chief Commercial Officer for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group where she’s responsible for its global marketing, sales, revenue management, brand and distribution functions. She is also a member of the company’s Board.

Joanna joined the luxury brand last year after more than twelve years with Google in Asia where, amongst other roles, she was Managing Director of Google Singapore. Based in Singapore with her family, after 20 years living in Asia, Joanna is also a member of YPO and a mentor to early stage start-ups.

If you’re contemplating your career or thinking about changing roles then you have come to the right place because Joanna has some of the most thoughtful musings on this topic we’ve heard.

In this episode you’ll learn:

The incredible story of why Joanna nearly didn’t apply for the top job at Google in Singapore and what happened to make her change her mind
The opportunities she feels she wasted because she wasn’t super clear about what she wanted next in her career
Exactly how Joanna got that clarity on what her next role needed to look like
And how she manages the challenges of leading a truly global team without working 24/7.

We know you’ll love the amazing insights and advice shared in this conversation, so enjoy this episode with the insightful and passionate Joanna Flint.

A quick P.S. from us that we are giving our mini episodes a little break for a while, so we’ll be back in two weeks time with our next conversation with an amazing, pioneering female leader. Hint – she’s ‘uber’ cool.

Links

Joanna on LinkedIn

Mandarinoriental.com

Interview

Jennifer Aaker & Naomi Bagdonas – Humour as a…

October 6, 2020October 6, 2020
by Claire

We think you’re going to love this week’s episode featuring two super impressive women who, amongst other things, teach at Stanford University’s famed Graduate School of Business (GSB).

Yes, today you get two for the price of one! 😉

Despite their serious surrounds, these two are determined to bring levity and humour to the world having discovered just how powerful humour can be in dark times and at work.

Jennifer Aaker is General Atlantic Professor at Stanford’s GSB, where she has been one of the favourite professors there for around 20 years. She’s a Behavioural Psychologist and author, and her research focus areas include: purpose and meaning and how they shape the choices we make; and most recently she’s been working with our other guest today, Naomi Bagdonas on the power of using humour in a business context.

Naomi Bagdonas was a stand up comic by night and a management consultant by day, never mixing the two, until one day she realised that she was living an almost double life and decided it was time to be herself wherever she was. These days Naomi is a lecturer at Stanford, an Executive Coach, an author and she even teaches improv comedy to inmates at San Francisco’s County Jail.

Jennifer and Naomi began teaching the importance of humour to MBA students and then realised that what they’d discovered was what the world really needed right now . . . hence their new book out this week, ‘Humour, Seriously’.

In this laughter-filled episode, you’ll hear:

Why Naomi and Jennifer believe humour is a secret superpower at work and in life,
How we all fall off a humour cliff at the age of 23 and what we can do about it,
Practical tips to increase creativity and innovation in your team, and
How you can potentially gain an additional 8 years on your life!

Enjoy this episode with these two witty, wickedly smart women …

Useful Links:

Humour, Seriously book website – find out where to buy your copy

Test to see what humour type you are

Jennifer Aaker on LinkedIn

Naomi Bagdonas on LinkedIn