The Osher Günsberg Podcast

Hayden Cox is a revolutionary surfboard designer from Sydney Australia. About ten years ago, he disrupted the traditional way of making surfboards much to the chagrin of the incumbent players - and patented a completely new way of making surfboards, which also gave surfers completely new ways to ride those surfboards. Even if you don't like the beach - just listen to Hayden's inspiring journey of how he created his business when he was still in High School, followed his passion relentlessly and created something world-beating along the way. He's a lovely human being, came to the house with his wife and business partner -  Danielle and they even brought coffee which is always a way to my heart. Hayden's got some brilliant business ideas, he thinks about business and the industry he's in completely differently than many people I've met. His desire to shift the way his industry is focused is fascinating to listen to, and I'm sure you can apply his lessons to your own life no matter what the scale of the change you're trying to make is. Hayden outlines a lot of what we talk about in his book "New Wave Vision"  which is one of the best business books you'll read if you're interested in the new way the global economy is moving, or even if you just need a kick in the butt to get your own work moving along. Go get his book. Go ride one of his surfboards. Or just listen, this one's a real gift. Come sit at my kitchen table on the Eames Chairs with Surfer, Shaper, business man and disrupting entrepreneur, Hayden Cox.

Michael Lawrence is co-Founder of Garage Entertainment The world's largest action adventure film & TV collection - with over 3000 films around surfing, snow sports, cycling, and anything else that involves humans, adventure and the defying of gravity and or the elements. Most notable is Michael's landmark documentary film Bra Boys: Blood is Thicker than Water - a film narrated by Russell Crowe. He's a passionate storyteller, businessman and visionary in the field of digital distribution. He's got a great story to tell and I'm grateful he came over on a Thursday afternoon to tell it. Enjoy this cup of tea and a chat with Michael Lawrence.

Josh Zepps is a very talented Australian broadcaster based in West Hollywood in Los Angeles California. He's done many things over his extensive career however his latest project "We the people live" is a podcast focused on making debate healthy again. In the last few years, you may have noticed online and elsewhere - especially in politics - that reasoned debate and discourse has vanished from the public space. Opposing viewpoints get shouted down from polarized positions, and utterly disregarded purely because they came out of the mouth of someone who identifies with a different part of the political spectrum as you. So Josh is trying to bring debate back, and often has viewpoints on his show that are confronting - however he moderates the conversation in such a way that despite my initial knee-jerk reaction to hearing these things, I'm able to see past that and into the deeper concept behind what the person is talking about. So right up front - right here - I will tell you this conversation will use words and phrases and cover concepts that we aren't used to hearing. To talk about the problem with debate it's important to talk about the different parts of why debate is broken. And part of that is restraining our initial reactions to hearing concepts and hypotheticals that aren't entirely unimaginable but are still confronting to hear. You'll know what I'm talking about when we get there. I highly recommend you check out Josh and find episodes he's guested on other shows - particularly Joe Rogan's incredible podcast where he often goes to dig deep into what is happening in the world at the moment. This is a heavy political conversation - but it's one I feel is healthy to have, and I don't even mind if you do this one in chunks - listen to five minutes of it, go check an episode of the Dollop - come back here and listen to five minutes more. You can find Josh on twitter @joshzepps. We recorded this over Skype so a big thanks to my podcast producer Andy Maher for chopping it together and making magic out of a dog's breakfast of audio files.

Simon Gillett is a patron of the Amy Gillett Foundation, an Australian safe cycling lobby that pushes for safer conditions for all road users, particularly around getting the "A metre matters" laws passed around the country.  Amy was an olympic Rower who competed in the Atlanta Olympics - Simon was her coach, they were married a few years later. Amy Gillett was married to Simon at the time of her tragic death in Germany in 2005. The laws that the AGF have been fighting for have been passed in many parts of Australia - but are yet to be passed in Victoria. The move to make the laws legal was recommended five months ago after a parliamentary inquiry, but has not yet been passed into legislation. If you're Victorian could you please get in touch with Daniel Andrews & Luke Donnellan and let them know. Their Instagram handles are @DanielAndrewsmp & @LukeDonnellanmp. I spoke with Simon the day before Amy's Gran Fondo which is a 120km race along a fully closed Great Ocean Road down in Victoria every September. Even if you're not into cycling - I'm sure you'll enjoy this conversation with Simon Gillett.

Stav Davidson is known as "The Survivor" in Australian radio. He's been through around seven different line-ups but remained as the sole common player in B105 and now Hit105's breakfast radio team. That's no mean feat. When you think of how many times the breakfast team in your neck of the woods has changed - Stav has always been there. I'm so grateful to work with him, I learn from him every day - he's funnier and faster than anyone I've ever worked with, and he never writes any of it. It comes out of him sometimes before he's even thought of it - by that I mean the punchline comes out of his mouth and it's the first time he's heard it. His story is intense, so there's a trigger warning right here at the top if talk about IV drugs or women's shelters is something likely to put you in a dark place today. I couldn't be more grateful to get to work with this man every morning. He's the epitome of professionalism in radio. Enjoy a chat in an unused news booth with Stav Davidson.

Rachel Neylan is a Professional Cyclist who's a part of the Orica-Scott team, she's an Olympian, a silver medalist at the World Championships and a very driven and fascinating human being.  Rachel Came to my house just before Christmas after reaching out to say she listened to the podcast on Twitter.  She'd even post #podsie photos of her training rides when she was in Rio in the lead up to last year's Olympics.  So she came around to my house and we had a chat - a chat that was so engaging, that I didn't end up talking to her about the biggest thing to happen in the previous year, going to Rio.  Occasionally as an interviewer I get so caught up in the conversation that the ground we are covering is so engaging that it's sometimes as good a story as the thing that they're really known for.  I texted Rachel afterwards to apologize and she responded that it was in fact a relief to not have to talk about Rio again.  Reason being it was a quite emotional journey that she'd covered many times - which involves talking about the death of her Father at the start of 2016.  For whatever reason, we didn't go there but when the chat was over I didn't feel I'd missed out on getting an authentic connection with Rachel at all.  If you'd like to know in greater detail about Rachel's path to the Olympics there's a great SBS article which you can read. So come to our humble apartment in Bronte, the first time I've had an Olympian in this house, I still get a thrill meeting athletes of that calibre.  This is a cup of tea at my kitchen table with Rachel Neylan.

Tim Daley is the head honcho over at CMC, a 24hr Country Music Channel on Foxtel. He grew up in Colorado Springs and eventually made his way to Australia - a tale he will share with you today. Tim was also my first ever producer in television. He was given the task of helping me, a guy who had never been on television - look a little less like I had never been on television. He was the man that indoctrinated me into life in Bondi Beach and became my upstairs neighbour for a few years. I'm grateful to know Tim, and even more grateful that he took time from his very busy work day to schlep all the way out to the beach to come talk with me. There's a long riff at the end of this about where rock 'n roll went. Particularly in light of the Grammys just gone where the most relevant rock act to come on stage was Metallica - a band who's biggest album came out 25 years ago in 1991. I'd be interested to know your thoughts too. Either way, enjoy this chat about how a kid from Colorado Springs to Australia via Public Enemy to become one of the most important names in Country Music.

Ben St. Lawrence is an Australian middle-distance runner, a two-time Olympian and an all around interesting guy. We met at a Story Club show, one of his friends came up and said "hey you should get Ben on the podcast!" and we exchanged email addresses and then we were able to make it happen. Ben's not the first Olympian I've had on the show, however his story  - his particular triumph over adversity and refocus of his life is one worth hearing. He came to our old place in Bondi just before we moved out, where we talked about finding the thing you were good at, then finding out you were also good at drinking heavily and sleeping in, and then deciding that you'd prefer to do one and not the other. It's a great story. Find him on twitter @bennysaint and let him know you heard him here.

Michael Beveridge is an Australian radio broadcaster who is known to breakfast audiences from his national weekend show, and night audiences from You Tube Hits which he hosted up until the end of 2016. Originally coming to the attention of Australians from his stint on Big Brother, Michael is prolifically funny on twitter @Mickyb273 - he and I caught up in Melbourne late 2016 when he was in a bit of limbo as often happens in the world of radio. His employment status comes up quite bit during the conversation, and it's important for you to hear because unemployment or underemployment is a common theme in my industry. In TV we work for ten-twelve weeks at a time with no guarantee of coming back next season - and in radio you're only as good as your last survey, so the Centerlink is always on your mind. Michael is an incredibly funny man, he's astonishingly smart and a quicker than I could possibly fathom. Enjoy this chat on a sunny Melbourne day with Michael Beveridge.

Laura Kmetko is an Australian Circus Performer who's currently a part of the Cirque Du Soleil production of "Kooza" which is currently in Melbourne before moving on to Perth in April. Even though she's been with Cirque for many years, this is her first time performing in Australia. We went along to the show in Sydney last year and it was incredible. I've seen a number of Cirque Du Soleil shows - including a few in Las Vegas in the permanently installed theatres constructed specifically for the productions. It's worth going to Vegas to check those out - no need to gamble or go to nightclubs. We met Laura Backstage in Sydney and she agreed to come on the podcast, it was great to have a chat with​​ someone who's found a way to make her passion her career. Go and see the show if you can. It's fantastic.

Peter Helliar is an Australian comedian best known as the bloke on the end of the desk every night on the news program "The Project".  He's also a producer, a director, a writer and an actor.  He's a mad football fan, a loving and devoted father, and someone who's worked very, very hard to be where he is.  I was so happy that he came around to our old place in Bondi - he's one of the busiest people on the planet, so to get this much of his time was superb.  Enjoy this chat with Peter Helliar.

I'm far away on a holiday but thought I would check in to say a quick hello

It's holiday time and my podcast team are on a break.  So here's a show I prepared earlier, but a show you've probably not heard.  An exclusive patreon-only episode with Dr.Karl. If you like what you hear, for as little as $5 a month you can support the show and hear more chats like this, plus an exclusive check-in feed.  Have a great NYE.  Bring on 2017

Zoe Norton Lodge is a published author, actor, and storyteller from Sydney Australia. She's one of the people behind the wildly successful "Story Club" which happens in Sydney at the Giant Dwarf Theatre and also on the Story Club podcast.  She's also a performer/presenter on The Checkout - the consumer affairs show on the ABC here in Australia that is produced by the team from The Chaser. Zoe has a big role in my life, as it's because of her that I was able to first speak about my run-ins with psychosis in a public way, in a format and forum that made sense.  She's incredibly intelligent, very very funny and quite wonderful to be around.  Zoe's book is called "Almost Sincerely" and is available where all books are bought -  Find her on twitter @zoenl is her handle.  Let her know you heard her here.  Enjoy me and Zoe getting hassled by Frank my dog in my living room in Bondi just before we moved out.

David Hunt (@DavidHuntGirt on Twitter) is an Author, Historian and comedian. His latest book "True Girt" is out now, the follow up to "Girt" which I read last summer. It's a "laugh-out-loud because you can't do anything else" account of the dark underbelly of Australian history. David's first book "Girt" was the basis of the brilliant podcast with Dom Knight "Rum, Rebels and Ratbags" which is still around. If there's someone in your life that appreciates a good chuckle while looking at ourselves - Girt and True Girt should definitely be on your Christmas list. Why I love David's writing is because he tells Australian history from a modern perspective. One that's not the tale I heard in primary school, where the British came to Australia and saved the savages from their primitive ways. His descriptions of the corruption, nepotism and cronyism of the early incarnations of our political systems are gobsmacking.  The way he discusses how the Aboriginal people were treated is written in a "you're laughing because if you didn't laugh you'd weep at the tragedy of their plight" kind of way. I can't recommend his books highly enough - a great gift for the coalition voter in your life - because in my experience you can actually change minds if you make people laugh while you're challenging their rusted on point of view. Also make sure you listen to Rum Rebels and Ratbags this week. So with that, enjoy this coffee-filled dive into our very recent past with Mr David Hunt.