Between Worlds

Author of ‘The Inner Gym’, Light Watkins is a renowned expert in Vedic meditation who has personally coached over 2,000 people, from bankers and artists, to comedians and rockstars. He recently founded The Shine, a community event centered around inspiration in Los Angeles. At TEDxVeniceBeach last year, Light gave a popular talk on ‘Debunking the 5 Most Common Meditation Myths’. We caught up in West Hollywood for breakfast where we chatted about why mindfulness has become such a hot issue for 21st century companies, and the connection between meditation and the adaptive mindset that leaders need to survive in this time of complexity and constant change.

Siimon Reynolds - a successful entrepreneur, an award winning author and speaker and now a leading high performance coach for CEO's and entrepreneurs, is also one of my good friends. After becoming a Creative Director of a top advertising agency at just age 21, Siimon went on to win almost every major advertising award for creativity in the world, including the Gold Lion at Cannes, TV Commercial Of The Year, Magazine Ad Of The Year, Newspaper Ad Of The Year, and Agency Of The Year twice. Catching up at his home in LA, we spoke, strangely enough, not just about what it takes to achieve success - but more importantly, about what leaders can learn from failure - based on his most recent bestselling book, ‘Why People Fail’.

Kristen Ashburn is an award-winning documentary photographer and humanitarian, whose photographs and stories from the Middle East, Europe, and Africa have appeared in many publications worldwide. She began photographing the impact of HIV/AIDS in southern Africa in 2001 and released a book of this work in 2009 entitled I Am Because We Are with a forward by Madonna. Ashburn's work has also taken her to Iraq a year following the US-led invasion; Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Sri Lanka in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, New Orleans after Katrina, Haiti after the quake and Russia to cover the spread of MDR-tuberculosis in the penal system. Over coffee in Miami, Kristen shared with me the story of how she went from shooting fashion in New York to capturing images of global crisis, and why, even in this age of Instagram, the photo retains a persistent power to give voice to the voiceless and inspire collective action.

An Australian Entrepreneur of the Year and magician, Vinh Giang is a renown stage performer and also the brains behind the online learning platform, Encyclopedia of Magic. Coming from the humble beginnings of a Vietnamese refugee family saved by a boat captain off the coast of Australia, Vinh has since re-invented himself as a master magician and global business coach. We caught up in Cancun, Mexico where I asked him all my burning questions about the history of magic, and what business leaders might learn from the secret arts of stage illusion.

Gemma O’Brien is an Australian artist and designer specialising in lettering, illustration and typography. Known for her hand lettering skills, she has worked for everyone from QANTAS to The New York Times. If you were a fan of my recent book, ‘The Dictionary of Dangerous Ideas’, you might also recognise her hand in the design of the custom alphabet created for the project. In this episode we spoke about the future of design, the continuing influence of type, and why in this digital age, brands are so enamoured with the handmade.

Peter Baines is an extraordinary individual. A former forensic investigator, he led international identification teams into Indonesia and Thailand following acts of terrorism and the South East Asian Tsunami. It was his experience of meeting youth left orphaned by that horrific natural disaster in Thailand that compelled Peter to create an Australian charity called Hands Across the Water which has gone on to dramatically improve the lives of both those children and their communities. Against the backdrop of the current acts of terrorism in Europe and the Middle East, Peter and I spoke about the challenges of leadership in times of crisis, the power of community engagement, and why corporate social responsibility should be a profit centre in the 21st century enterprise.

Henry Mason spends his days trying to figure out what consumers might want next. Author of the book ‘Trend-Driven Innovation’ and head of the research firm, Trendwatching, he and his team scour the world for new ideas, business model innovation and the impact of disruptive technologies. Over a cup of tea in London, we spoke about the viral impact of great experience design, how to look outside your frame of reference, why the most powerful trends cross demographics, and the human needs that will shape the future of virtual reality, AI and machine learning.

Geoff Colvin is the author of the bestselling book, ‘Humans Are Underrated’, which outlines the capabilities that will keep human beings from being made utterly obsolete by tomorrow’s robots, algorithms and machine intelligences. A longtime editor and columnist for Fortune, Geoff is also the author of ‘The Upside of the Downturn’, ‘Angel Customers & Demon Customers’, and ‘Talent is Overrated’. We spoke about the rising influence of AI, the skills leaders will need to survive them, and the challenges of integrating across traditional company silos to deliver on the kinds of innovative experiences that customers now demand.

Matt McFadyen was youngest Australian to ever reach the North Pole. Since then, he has become a seasoned sailor and polar adventurer - leading a number of record-breaking expeditions both on some of the most extreme environments on the planet, as well as through virtual simulation with other business leaders. Thankfully it was in the relative safety of the Soho Grand Hotel over coffee and breakfast, that we caught up to talk about surviving crisis, how to build high performing teams, and understanding the true meaning of failure.

Rama Allen is one of the handful of people on the planet who are not only thinking about virtual reality, but are actually creating and designing content for those platforms today. He is an executive creative director at The Mill, where he also leads the Mill LAB, an arm of the Mill focusing on the intersection of art and technology, prototyping the future of film through experimental projects and the invention of creative technologies. We hung out in New York, where we talked about the current state of the art in VR, the challenges of telling stories in multiple dimensions and what a truly cyberpunk, immersive Internet might look like.

Melanie Perkins is one of Australia’s most successful digital entrepreneurs. CEO and co-founder of Canva, an online platform which makes graphic design simple for anyone, Melanie and her team have grown the business to over 9 million users worldwide. I visited their offices in Surry Hills, Sydney where we talked about the power of authentic origin stories, disrupting the design industry, the challenges of building an agile culture, and the value of small teams.

Dan Gregory, a behavioural researcher & strategist, is the author of ‘Selfish, Scared and Stupid: Stop Fighting Human Nature And Increase Your Performance, Engagement And Influence’. He studies behaviour and belief systems, in other words, the things that make us buy and the things that make us buy in. In this fast paced discussion on human behaviour, we spoke about the power of identity, why design is more powerful than motivation or discipline, preventing ‘failure’ in brand or product interaction, and the importance of cultivating cognitive agility.

Emile Sherman, the Academy Award-winning producer of ‘The King’s Speech’, is one of the world’s most prolific independent film makers. His other credits include ‘Top Of The Lake’, ‘Tracks’, ‘Shame’, ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’ and ‘Macbeth’. I caught up with Emile in his production office in Sydney, where we talked about the power of storytelling, why some ideas resonate with us at a human level, the impact of technology on the TV and film industry, and what business leaders might be able to learn from successful film directors on getting the most out of a team when under creative pressure.

Martin Lindstrom is one of the world’s foremost experts on building brands. Author of six best-selling books, and acclaimed by Time Magazine as one of the “World’s 100 Most Influential People”, Martin’s expertise is in the areas of consumer psychology, marketing, brands, and neuro-scientific research. I first met Martin many years ago, at the beginnings of the digital revolution in Australia - so it seemed appropriate that we re-connected once again at a cafe in Bondi Beach. We spoke about his new book, Small Data, and why it is better to gain insight through small observations of how people behave, rather than a blind devotion to big data. Make sure you listen through to the end of the podcast, when Martin outlines the 3 key actions that traditional brands need to take in order to re-invent themselves for the future.

Paul Husband is one of the world’s leading experts on luxury and retail in Asia. Co-author of the book, ‘The Cult of The Luxury Brand’, Paul helps brands understand the scale and dynamics of the Asian luxury goods market. If you have ever been to a luxury mall in either Hong Kong or Shanghai, chances are, you are in a building of retail experiences that Paul helped curate and bring to life. Catching up in his offices in central Hong Kong, we talked about the future of luxury, experiential retail and emerging technologies, super-malls in Dubai, the challenges of communicating global brands to Asian consumers, and the growth potential of new markets from Dubai to Sri Lanka.