People My Dog Would Like

This week I spoke with an inspiring creative engineer working in the renewables space in Australia. He’s got an interesting side project that sounded incredible, working to save lives in rural Africa. Andrew Dickson is a renewable energy project developer with 15 years of experience developing large scale wind and solar projects across Australia. He’s currently Project Manager for the Asian Renewable Energy Hub project, a very large scale wind and solar project in the Pilbara, Western Australia. The project is set to export energy to Indonesia and Singapore, to power mines and mineral processing in the Pilbara and to produce green hydrogen for local and export markets. Outside of his day job however, Andrew has a ‘side project’ which has led him to be part of an initiative several years in the making. Hot on the heels of a successful global project called TeamTrev, a zero-emission race around the world in 2010/2011, Andrew formed a new team upon receiving a call for help from Zimbabwe. The challenge: Could they develop an electric vehicle to transport pregnant women from remote villages to hospitals in northern Zimbabwe, to help reduce maternal mortality? The team took it on. Called the African Solar Taxi, it has evolved into a low mass, rugged electric vehicle to help address transport poverty and maternal mortality in northern Zimbabwe. When women choose to give birth in their villages, without proper medical care or sanitary hygienic conditions, medical complications during delivery can be disastrous. Many serious conditions can all result in the death of women or their babies. Just as importantly, unassisted births in villages are twice as likely to result in the transmission of HIV from an HIV-positive mother to her child. A key contributing factor to maternal mortality and morbidity in Zimbabwe is the lack of adequate, reliable and affordable transport services. So in comes the idea of the Solar Taxi. The African Solar Project “It really is developing a new form of transport that solves transport poverty that is not solved in other ways currently. “ Andrew and his team are in the process of finalising the prototype and the pilot to test the vehicle is on for early next year. Another brilliant start up collaboration one would hope will ultimately receive the required government and private backing it needs, seeing it addresses an urgent and real problem and will inevitably save lives. African Solar Taxi prototype 2018 and at the rear the famous TeamTrev electric vehicle The Asian Renewable Energy Hub (Pilbara) project ” It’s weaving the indigenous people much closer into the economic fabric of the Pilbara, which has been somewhat achieved with mining projects but there’s a really big difference with mining project and renewable energy projects. Simplistically renewable projects don’t take away the resource from the land, the resource is completely reversible at the end of the project, it doesn’t pollute. So it’s completely different. “ Both the Pilbara and African Solar projects blew me away in their own way. The positive impact the Pilbara project could have on the local indigenous community, for future job opportunities and also the export potential created is massive. It’s currently an 11,000 MW project, which would generate approximately 55 terra watt hours per year. Victoria alone consumes 40 terawatt hours of electricity per year, so it gives you an idea of the capacity of the project. Andrew’s Solar Taxi story is so uplifting. Using technology and teams working together to save lives where its nee...

This week I had the opportunity to speak with Shantha Bloemen, Founder of an exciting new startup whose mission is set to transform the lives of small scale farmers in sub-saharan Africa. We talk about her love for Zimbabwe and the belief that the country is on the path to a stronger, brighter future.  Mobility for Africa is a social enterprise that aims to bring renewable community based transport solutions to rural women in Africa that are affordable, efficient and environmentally friendly. Seventy percent of Zimbabwe’s agriculture are small scale farm holders so if the upcoming pilot is a success, Mobility for Africa could be a real game changer as it makes sense it would be adopted by other countries within the region. Why will it be a game changer? It’s empowering rural women in Sub Saharan Africa with transport that can help them save time, better sell their goods at the market, take their children to the clinic and school, collect water, as well as improve their economic opportunities within the households and local communities. ” By building a model that reinforces and builds local distribution networks, seeks to change behavior and empower women, and works on a sustainability model that also creates shared economies, Mobility for Africa will create new opportunities and improve the quality of life for rural communities. “ We talk about Shantha’s background helping the world’s poorest. Having spent the last two decades working in international humanitarian and development assistance in Africa & Asia, Shantha is now able to put her experience into this venture, that if successful, will make a practical and concrete difference in women’s lives. In the past she’s been actively involved in getting media attention to child rights, global health and poverty. Shantha and her team are currently in the middle of raising seed funding for the first shipment of electric bikes to Zimbabwe. On a recent visit to China, Shantha finalized the first order of tricycles. The Chinese company they are sourcing the bikes from has been in operation since 2005, and has produced more than 300,000 three wheel electric vehicles.  The first container of 54 tricycle parts will be ready for shipment by the middle of November. So it’s all happening now. I have been following Shantha and the work she does for vulnerable communities in developing countries and was really keen to hear more about the new venture, what led her there and also gain a better understanding of what some of the critical issues faced by these communities are that are now able to be addressed using new technology combined with strategic local and global partnerships. It’s a crucial time for Mobility for Africa, Shantha has just been contacted by a donor since our chat, who promised matching funds for up to $12,500 so the startup is well on its way to achieving its target of $50,000. If you are interested in contacting Shantha or donating you can do so using this link or through her email and social media links below. I just love the social impact the success of this startup would foster across sub-saharan Africa, so I can’t wait to have her back to talk about just what the impact was on the ground. Enjoy the episode! Shownotes Shantha Twitter Mobility for Africa website Mobility for Africa – fundraising page Mobility for Africa Facebook Page South African Development Community

This week I had a chance to speak with Dr David Chong, a brilliant paediatric plastic surgeon at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. David also works tirelessly in the charity space, including with Operation Smile and the Mercy Ships organisation.  David commenced his training in Perth then went to North America for three years to further his experience. Over time he’s become a expert in Cleft Lip and Palate plus Craniofacial Surgery, bringing not only his skill but a real care for his patients that’s unique and touching and one I’ve been following for a number of years. I was particularly keen to talk to David about the incredible work he’s been doing with the Mercy Ships. David regularly volunteers his time and expertise on the Mercy Ships, an organisation that brings life saving medical assistance to developing countries irrespective of their socio-economic status. David’s schedule takes him abroad regularly, so I was grateful to meet up, and was surprised to discover just how much time he dedicates to helping the world’s poor, why it’s a priority for him, what led him to do the work he does today, both at home and abroad. I loved hearing more about the people making a difference on the Mercy Ships. It’s such a tactical, progressive model to bring medical care to the world’s poorest. Because over fifty percent of the world’s population lives within 160km of the coast, the charity is able to sail a modern hospital ship with a crew of 400 volunteers directly to people who lack access to first-rate medical care. What struck me the most about our conversation was David’s humility and joy for life. He talked about his upbringing and the challenges he experienced growing up in Perth like the casual racism that was a part of his childhood. David feels he has a lot in common with his patients and says children shouldn’t be judged by what they look like but who they are . So part of his mission is to do what he can, having chosen the profession he has, is to assist as many children as possible who come to him for help. His is a beautiful life. “Why do we assume so much from the way someone looks? And the ability to restore harmony to the face with its resultant effect on the way that life is lived seemed an amazing gift to be able to give.” David has specialised in craniofacial surgery and seeing the before and after photos of patients on his Instagram feed is pretty awesome. Smiles beaming, and usually a story included, about how the surgery has been a game changer for the patient, and a blessing for David. He believes the work he does has given him the opportunity to be invited into an individual and family’s life forever. The stories are always heartwarming, and at a time when there seems to be so much bad news in the world, they are joy to follow. We talk about the value of doing what you love, life changing mentors and the miracles he experiences in his everyday life. It was so brilliant to sit down and find out more about what makes David tick, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Shownotes Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital Mercy Ships Dr Gary Parker Operation Smile Shenton College Dr Fiona Wood Gordon Baron Hay – paediatric surgeon

This week I had a chance to speak with Adelle MacDonald, Owner and Co-founder of Botanic Baby, a cloth nappy service in offering an ecologically sustainable nappy delivery service in Melbourne Victoria. Now, i’d normally not speak to an owner of a nappy business on the show. However this one is different. This service is the only one providing a service like this in Melbourne, delivering clean cotton nappies/biodegradable nappies in the city. Melbourne has a population of five million people. And only one nappy service using a circular economic model, with only 200 clients? I found that fact alone staggering. We need to do more.  Sustainability Victoria report that up to four million disposable nappies are used each day in Australia and New Zealand, each nappy requiring approximately one cup of crude oil to make. 700kg of used disposable diapers go into the landfill per child annually and each nappy is estimated to take up to 500 years to break down. And even then, they only break down to microscopic plastic parts. Two billion, yes that’s right, two billion disposable nappies are being sent to landfill each and every year. Things have to change. At a time when retailers around Australia are charging for single-use plastic bags as customers increasingly voice concerns about excessive plastic packaging, particularly on fruit and vegetables  wouldn’t it make sense for the public and supermarkets to target nappies too? Its a huge issue, and one that I think needs more attention in Australia. Can you imagine a world where there is no longer single use disposable plastic nappies? I’d like to think we could get there. MacDonald talks about her business, the hilarity of testing product and the challenges and wins of driving a business model that is light years away from the current take-make-dispose extractive industrial model of our past. There’s a world of opportunity to rethink and redesign the way we make our products. We talk about the need to transition to “decoupling” economic activity from the consumption of our finite resources, which is destroying our environment, and designing waste out of the system. Botanic Baby have partnered with Eenie Designs, who have a patented nappy system that’s a world first and unlike any other ordinary nappies. Together I hope they are on the path to greater sustainability in the nappy ecosystem in Australia.  The Ellen MacCarthur Foundation work tirelessly to drive policy change and partnerships using a circular economic model: “Through a change in perspective we can re-design the way our economy works – designing products that can be ‘made to be made again’ and powering the system with renewable energy. We have the opportunity to create long-term resilience, generate new business and economic opportunities and provides environmental and societal benefits.” As an engineer working with DevOps teams, MacDonald is a champion of the no waste model, generating a new kind of business that I hope will...

This week I had a chance to speak with Boyd Cohen, an author and urban strategist focused on the areas of urban innovation, sustainable development, entrepreneurship, smart cities and the Internet of Mobility. He’s lived everywhere, he’s published 3 books (Climate Capitalism, 2011; The Emergence of the Urban Entrepreneur, 2016; Post-capitalist Entrepreneurship, 2017) and speaks regularly in the smart city space globally.  Currently based in Barcelona, Boyd co-founded IoMob in 2017, a blockchain startup seeking to decentralize the mobility sector by providing an open protocol for the Internet of Mobility (IoM). It was super interesting drilling down on his current project, IoMob, a tech mobility startup combining open source and blockchain technology to aiming to decentralise mobility. They are talking with significant players in the mobility services sector and are due to beta test in global blockchain mega hub, Singapore, later this year. My biggest take away was the optimism Boyd has that entrepreneurs now have the tools and technology to address some of our intractable urban problems, through collaboration and smart partnerships between city administrators, entrepreneurs, educational institutions, commercial players and civic organisations. Great ideas come and go, but Cohen says if we can work to nail the execution of ideas, encouraged by city leadership, who are in a position to create a framework for entrepreneurs to work with them and other partners, including private, to solve issues such as waste, congestion and climate change, we will go a long way to securing a better future. We talk about the challenges faced by urbanisation, and how these challenges can be met by local entrepreneurs who are now able to tackle current issues by tapping into hubs like FAB Labs, which inhabit cities globally. Fab Labs provide widespread access to modern means for invention. They began as an outreach project from MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA), and has now morphed into a collaborative and global network. All Fab Labs share common tools and processes in order to build a global network which has become a distributed laboratory for research and invention. Machines available to use by any team accessing the Lab include 3-D Printers, laser cutters, milling, scanning and digital sewing machines. Cohen brought up several interesting projects where local entrepreneurs are working collaboratively both locally and globally to solve local problems. His own start up is testament to this, and if successful, will be a game changer in the urban mobility issue. If they pull it off I have a feeling we’ll be hearing a lot more from Cohen in the future. He is also the current Executive Director of the Blockchain Cities Alliance which launched in June 2018. He’s coming to Australia and New Zealand in early September to give a keynote at the Melbourne’s Blockchain Centre, the details of which are in the show notes below. Any one who ones to touch base with Boyd,

This week I had fun speaking with Monica Kang, Founder and CEO of InnovatorsBox® based in Washington DC. For several years Monica has been a powerhouse of a creative educator, transforming today’s workforce through the power of creativity. She’s driven by the belief that everyone is innately creative and that creativity can be used to catalyze personal and professional change. Monica and her company work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, including Facebook, IBM, John’s Hopkins University, Booz Allen Hamilton and Georgetown University to name a few and her work has been awarded across numerous platforms including The White House, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council and Ashoka Changemakers. She also works as an adjunct professor at BAU International University where she teaches entrepreneurship and leadership. We talk about Monica’s upcoming book called “Rethink Creativity: How to Innovate, Inspire and Thrive at Work“ which has already received powerful endorsements from a number of senior leaders. It comes out this September and challenges the reader to access their creativity a little every day to help you transform. I can’t wait. At a time when innovation and strategy are the power metrics for future success, it’s great to drill down on just what some of the tools and activities are that you could apply to be more creative personally and professionally.  Gallup estimates that actively disengaged employees cost the US up to $605 billion each year in lost productivity. In 2016 87% of the workforce survey said they felt disengaged at work. In Australia the percentage is similar. I know myself feeling disengaged at work is a serious drain on my productivity and ability to come up with new ideas. The stats indicate It’s a problem of epic proportions so I was pleased to spend some time talking with Monica, a game changer in our transitioning, fast paced economy, who shared some powerful tips on tapping into your creative self and why it’s becoming more and more important to do it. I was astounded Monica had been a nuclear nonproliferation policy expert in the past, yes that’s right…… so I was intrigued how she flipped her career and moved towards helping professionals be more creative. She’s experienced how transformative the power of creativity can have in a life when we take the courage to be more creative each day. She will share just what she went through before she started InnovatorsBox®.  So much of what we talked about resonated with me, I really hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Laters! Show Notes: Monica’s contact: LinkedIn: Monica Kang Twitter: @monicahkang Rethink Creativity: How to Innovate, Inspire and Thrive at Work  InnovatorsBox®

This week I had the BEST time catching up with Genevieve Leveille, Founder and CEO of Agriledger.     Agriledger is a social impact startup creating crypto ledger and mobile technology solutions for agricultural providers globally. Genevieve is also Co-Chair of the UK’s Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) working group. She’s an ex-banker and identity management professional, she has been a major change agent throughout her career and as such has super useful insights on how DLT can solve current problems in both agriculture but throughout other industries. In our chat Genevieve talks about how important it is to get your head around the language of new technologies as a first step to learning more and to potentially be a dynamic player in the new economy, irrespective of the industry you’ve come from or what skills you have. AI, the Internet of Things, blockchain technology and a tokenised market will have a huge impact on our culture and economy, the way we interact and the way we transact. So we both talk about the value in learning as much as you can about it, to participate and also to invest. A couple of useful examples were discussed to explain how it will apply in our daily lives, and where there are live applications of it globally. It was really interesting to hear about new innovative models were being applied in the agri industry, ultimately improving the producers’ liquidity, thereby creating more resilient, sustainable businesses on the supply side and transparency and legitimacy for customers across the supply chain. What I loved about our conversation was the pragmatic way Genevieve explains the tech. It’s well reported that farmers can suffer dire outcomes due to the inflexibility of traditional financial/banking lending cycles. Potentially, through companies like Agriledger, farmers will be in a position to generate income through the creation of their own futures market providing great liquidity when they need it most. Having worked in the banking sector for many years, I found it really interesting to hear Genevieve’s take on the future of finance in the the economy, and explains why she feels they will still have a major role to play. And brokers too. We talk partnerships, the 4th industrial revolution, husbands who support us and so much more. Unfortunately my cat Alfie cut the conversation short, I’m really going to have to put the animals away….. such a distraction

This week I had a chance to chat with Jennifer Sertl, an internationally recognized influencer in social media. She is President and Founder of Agility3R, a leadership development company dedicated to strengthening strategic skills and helping leaders become more resilient and responsive and she’s a respected thought leader in the emerging field of corporate consciousness. Such a joy having her on the show. We talked about a few things that excited us and troubled us. Jennifer shared some insights that were big take aways for me. “Our issue today is not information overload….it is filter failure.” So true. “Life is a blood sport and truth telling is hard.” “You are not a node, you are a frequency.” I just love her leadership framework using your ‘Elite 18’: “Every single person has a leadership model. They just need to be asked their elite 18 are and from there create their leadership model – if they emulate who they admire they will actually act in a way conducive to progress, collaboration, and be their personal best.” It made so much sense – it really blew me away. Jennifer even worked on me during our chat. A value I hold dear is generosity – and it was so uplifting to drill down on what to do with that quality – exploring what journaling and expressing being generous every week could do to enhance my life, my relationships, my work and my ability to lead. Pretty inspiring and made me think of how much I could achieve if I started to apply this kind of practice in my life. Really cool. We talk about her own elite 18. She includes Elinor Ostrom in it who’s acclaimed work outlines brilliant frames for organizing commons. Jennifer’s ‘capacity model’ is brilliant too. She’s impeccable in how she uses her ‘wattage’. Honestly, this woman is on fire. So many people she mentioned in our chat, I am going to spend some time myself learning more about who they are and what makes them part of her story and world. It would be worth it. I love how she feels the work I’m doing is “the compassionate use of wisdom at scale.” Honestly, Jennifer needs to move into branding, she’s sharp and characterises so fast its breathtaking. We talk about the tokenised world, even down to Mark Pesce and his PAT token – a wild idea, but one that sounded feasible. Super interesting. She threw it out there that if David Bowie was still around she was sure he would have tokenised himself in much the same manner. And we all know how ahead of his time Bowie was. God I loved that man. Love her ‘reading model’ – she says choose books across all genres – business, philosophy, history, fiction/poetry – shake it up but make sure you read one book a month and stay diverse to keep interested and open. Sage advice. So loved having Jenn (yeah I’m feeling she’s a soul mate already) on the show, speaking to people like her restores my faith in humanity. She’s a good one, doing good things, Hope you enjoy the show! Show Notes Best way to connect with Jennifer is twitter Here’s a David Bowie post about token...

This week I had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Dr Nicole Lee. Dr Lee is an expert in alcohol and other drug treatment and policy. She is Director at Australia’s leading alcohol and other drug specialist consultancy, 360Edge, and Professor at the National Drug Research Institute. She currently serves on the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and other Drugs. She has published more than 100 journal articles, guidelines, chapters and books on alcohol and other drug treatment, and is a regular contributor to The Conversation. Dr Lee has over 20 years experience in the both the treatment and policy space of drugs and shares with us where the status and conversation is globally around decriminalisation and regulation of drugs. When having our discussion it was interesting to talk about how strong the moral position has been driving policy in Australia – and we all know now the War on Drugs has been a monumental failure. We talk about what the future holds, and the pros and cons for decriminalisation, and Dr Lee runs through a process she believes will be the mechanism for change. Test cases. A solid way forward, and one where data is fully available. Famous stock analyst, author and podcaster, James Altucher, recently talked about where the new millionaires come from – in context several year’s ago he predicted a wave of crypto millionaires and he was bang on… Now Altucher predicts the NEXT round of millionaires – and says they will be cannabis millionaires. He sites a Canadian businessman who’s amassed a $115 million portfolio of pot stocks and another a New York asset manager who’s snapped up pot stocks and ballooned the fund he runs to $830 million. Don’t forget of course about PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel, with undisclosed millions invested in pot-based Privateer Holdings… There are so many reasons drugs, particularly cannabis, should become legal. Certainly in Australia, where I watch the debate with interest, the first stage should be decriminalisation in all states to free up the criminal justice system at the very least. What’s not discussed enough is the next stage – legalisation. The economic opportunity for growth, a greener economy and one that is creating a sustainable revenue stream for governments and business’ globally is enormous. The data also points towards the use of it providing greater health benefits than current pharmaceutical drugs for people suffering from various mental health disorders and other serious health issues which have driven the medical marijuana debate in Australia. Having written about the advantages of decriminalisation and legalisation of hemp and cannabis for medicinal, sustainability and economic reasons more than 20 years ago – I was perhaps more passionate than in other podcast conversations recently. What’s crystal clear is the data tells the story – and one would hope we strive for a data driven policies, that are apolitical, for a smarter more compassionate society. It’s a more human approach, and one would hope policies are framed with the context of being human as its north star. Lots of ideas to ponder. It was interesting to hear that Dr Lee has been encouraged and somewhat surprised at the speed the conversation is changing around the issue of drug legalisation in Australia and globally,

Wow, what a crazy few weeks I’ve had. I recently found out I had cancer (BCC) and as the situation unfolded I was told I needed to go under the knife asap – so I did – not pretty

This week I had the chance to sit down and have a chat with Jan Owen, CEO of the Foundation for Young Australians. We talk the future of work, education, dogs, cats, and have a laugh. A remarkable woman, doing pioneering work with youth in Australia and globally. We talk about her lifelong passion for young people and their vast potential and creativity and her desire to tinker with the current education system and economy so we can pivot into a smarter, sustainable world with better social outcomes – a generative, compassionate and fulfilling world that young people want and need and ultimately what society needs too. FYA has the largest platform for young australian’s to advocate for their needs in the country. 150,000 members. We talk about her background in social enterprise and the future of work – how the it’s the WAY of learning that will change. She talks of the future and that there will be a new arrangement between employers, employees and educational institutions. Powerful stuff.  Loved hearing about the FYA program $20 Boss – in schools now – providing a new way of learning which is so needed – “You may do a digital platform one year, a service provision into the community in another year. You might do an online advocacy campaign the next year. You learn A LOT of skills. A school in Christmas Island set up 25 businesses in one term.” Seriously cool.  So whether its young people interested in social entrepreneurship to solve local problems (including naming a few bright sparks, although admittedly she said they are all pretty amazing) or young people setting up business through the $20 Boss program, FYA’s work and the platforms and programs they are building to support our next generation of learners, scientists and entrepreneurs are gaining huge momentum and will have an impact on education and young people’s relationship with work and how they engage with their learning.  She encourages our youth to get their degree or diploma, get into a ‘cluster’ they are interested in and start working a way through that. FYA’s research has found there’s up to 13 other jobs available in front of them that have the same skills and capabilities needed for the job they have gone into. A liberating thought. Jan Owen is relentlessly optimistic about our youth, but more than anything, deeply committed to work out what society can do to support, assist, and GET OUT OF THEIR WAY (regulation can you hear us?) –  to actually enable them to create the world THEY want to live in. Because all their thinking, all their smarts and all the skills and capabilities they have in spades will be for naught if we don’t support them by rethinking learning to create more opportunity for them to succeed.  And when they succeed, we all succeed.  We talk about so much, this is just a smattering of our chat. Enjoy! Show Notes Lifeline International Women’s Development Agency Inspire Foundation School for Social Entrepreneurs Social Ventures Australia CREATE Foundation Young Social Pioneers Lucinda Hartley UN – Habitat Advisory Board Chris Raine

This week I had the chance to speak with Dr Jemma Green, Co-Founder and Chair of Power Ledger, a Perth based blockchain energy trading company. It was really interesting to hear Jemma’s journey from Perth to London and back to Perth to ultimately form the company which I believe is a welcome disrupter to the energy ecosystem space. Power Ledger launched Australia’s first home grown Initial Coin Offering (a cryptocurrency IPO) where they raised $US27 million in funding in October last year. The funding is being used to make the Power Ledger platform globally accessible in their provision of a resilient, carbon free and sustainable Peer to Peer energy trading platform. It’s been getting a lot of attention from the likes of Sir Richard Branson who is the subject of a sweet anecdote she shares with us. Jemma is back again to Necker Island this year as Power Ledger is one of three finalists in the Richard Branson’s 2018 Extreme Tech Challenge. which Branson himself is judging. So far they’ve been busy with number of trials to test and validate the platform in Australia and are undergoing others globally. It’s latest deal with US non-profit Helpanswers will lead to hundreds of clean energy trading projects in US states including California, Texas, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including stretching to it’s capital, Washington DC. Both companies’ mission is about generating opportunities to make low carbon, low cost energy universally available. In Asia Power Ledger have signed up partnerships with Tech Mahendra to build microgrids in India and with a major state owned utility provider in Thailand which will lead to a significant uptake of clean energy trading in the Asia region. We talk about the rollercoaster ride that is the cryptocurrency market and the trend of social media companies banning their advertising, and the cryptocurrency and blockchain space in general. Jemma was a real gem to agree to being a guest on People My Dog Would Like, as she’s soon to have baby number two, so I was really grateful she took time out of her busy schedule and along with wishing her all the best for the birth, will be rooting for her in the upcoming competition. That woman has winner written all over her. I hope you can excuse the change in audio quality towards the end of the interview, we had a tech hiccup in our first recording so finished the conversation on an alternative recording channel the following day.  

This week I had the opportunity to post my conversation with Greg Bernarda, co-author of Value Proposition Design, where I would go so far as to say there is a copy of on every successful company’s desk. Greg now works with individuals, teams and organizations on strategy, creativity and innovation. His call is to work collaboratively to design a future that employees, customers, and communities can all recognize as their own. He has a very human approach to work, to business and to relationships. I loved what he had to say about the future of work, collective collaboration and being centred or grounded which is so important to him to be successful. Before setting up his own practice, Greg worked at the World Economic Forum from 2000 to 2008, engaging members into initiatives to address global and industry issues. He is a leading thought leader in design thinking theory, it was a pleasure to have him on and talk through his recent trip to Australia, his current ventures and the what he feels the future holds for us in the space we call work. Show notes World Economic Forum Programme Noé LiftGlobal Nick Grossman Eckhart Tollé

This week the world celebrates International Women’s Day and I wanted to use the opportunity to speak to a friend and associate who I admire and have wanted to have on for some time. Michel Hogan is an author, communicator and serious thinker who’s alternative perspective on life and big, sticky issues regularly gets my attention – she’s a great chick, having successfully run her own business since the age of 25. It was a real treat to have her as my guest and share some of her wisdom and also share a laugh. “The only things that are in your control are your thoughts and your actions, nothing else should disquiet you.” We talk about her professional life and the work she does with individuals and organisations, helping them deliver on the promises they make to their customers and clients and in doing so helps them build relationships lasting a lifetime. The stuff we both care about, authenticity, integrity and saying what you mean and doing what you say. Her lovely five practices each day are my favourite take away. We talk about what International Women’s Day means to her and her take on the worldwide campaign for equality which still has a long way to achieve its goals and what she sees organisations are doing in the space to #pressforprogress. Michel is a student of stoicism, a philosophy I also love and yet struggle to maintain. Or should I say practice. We talk about how this plays out in her life and how she draws on it to lead a more accepting, peaceful life. Enjoy the show! Show Notes Michel can be reached through her website, on twitter @michelhogan and here at LinkedIn – shoot her an message through any of these links. Between Making Money and World Peace Patagonia In Love and War Admiral Jim Stockdale Sybil Stockdale Epictetus Seneca Ryan Holiday Ego Is the Enemy The Obstacle is the Way The Daily Stoic Tim Ferris Jocko Willink Derek Sivers Sam Harris Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson Tara Brach

This week I had the chance to speak with Dr Jane Thomason, a global leader driving the application of  for positive social impact. Global Ambassador for the British Blockchain Association and CEO of ABT Associates, a global consultancy of “bold thinkers driving real-world impact”, Dr Thomason is working with the UN and other organisations to drive economic and social inclusion for the world’s most vulnerable.  Dr Thomason’s focus is on last mile populations and emerging economies. We talk about how the use of blockchain technology has the potential to create life changing micro economies in locations where people are not connected to the internet – which effectively will facilitate access to a global economy. She believes that the cryptocurrency conversation often gets in the way of more important societal conversations she would prefer to be having with policy makers globally. Too true. There’s a huge amount of education needed for people to understand the importance of new and emerging technologies and what we can achieve as a society with their acceptance and uptake. So we talk about education and the disruption to come. We talk about crypto philanthropy –  a new kind of impact investing – where the new wealthy wanting to invest ethically, wanting to see the world as a better place. We touch on the potential of a new societal structure – organised into decentralised autonomous communities – that are emerging using blockchain and tokens serving to connect people around a project or issue. It could bring on major social restructuring allowing people to move beyond the boundaries of our traditional sovereign state governments. Where people are aligned on values and beliefs. Projects that focus on mitigating climate change – it’s pretty inspiring. Dr Thomason is an advocate for women getting into STEM – in both schools, college and through working collaborations, and she shares the advice she wished she had when she had her own kids at school. It’s clear and education revolution needed and soon. I hope you enjoy the chat, she’s a remarkable woman, I can’t wait to have her back on the show to discuss her inspiring projects changing the lives of people who really need the help. Just brilliant.