Synergen Leadership Podcast

Kieran Flanagan and Dan Gregory are the joint founders of the Impossible Institute and the authors of Forever Skills – The 12 Skills to Futureproof Yourself, Your Team and Your Kids. The Impossible Institute is a strategic think-tank that is designed to help leaders, teams and organisations be people smart and make change positive. Together, Kieran and Dan are the strategic and creative team behind the most successful new product launch in Australian history and have applied their considerable experience to social change programs for the United Nations in Singapore, to category re-inventions and innovation initiatives for the likes of Coca-Cola, Unilever, Bayer and News Corp. They also run leadership development programs across Australia, Asia, Europe and the USA for organisations in categories as diverse as Banking & Finance, Education, Technology, Pharmaceuticals, Real Estate & Retail. On top of that They also write for Success Magazine & CEO Magazine in the USA and are regulars on ABC TV’s Grue

Networking is an essential component of successful leadership which many leaders struggle with.  Join Julian as he introduces the concept of Genius Networking. Episode highlights include: What exactly is Genius Networking? The definitions of networking, including seven networking considerations The 3 Step process for genius networking and how it can be implemented How to follow through and network with purpose Links:​ Julian's LinkedIn Profile Purchase Julian's book - Give Back. Lead Forward    

Lynne Cazaly is the author of ish – The Problem with our Pursuit for Perfection and the Life-Changing Practice of Good Enough. Lynne is obsessed with helping leaders lead their teams through transformation and change.  This is about business agility, about helping people apply their ideas and adapting to what happens when those ideas are put to practice. Leaders become more capable, boost engagement with their staff and make decisions quicker. Lynne has delivered keynotes, workshops and sessions for leaders globally including Europe, USA, Asia & NZ and is also the author of another 6 books in addition to ish. She is also an experienced board director and chair and has worked with clients such as Bupa, mebank, Microsoft, Zendesk, Intuit, Nestle, TAC, Australia Post, NAB, Metro Trains, Commonwealth Bank, and the Western Bulldogs AFL Team. During the conversation Julian explores Lynne’s book in detail. Episode highlights include: Why Lynne decided to write ish Types of perfection and the impact these can ha

Anna Feringa is a Workplace Mental Health Consultant, speaker, trainer and Mental Health Program Strategist. Untreated mental health conditions cost Australian employers $10.9 billion every year according to Beyond Blue. Recent research by Safe Work Australia found more time at work is lost to mental disorders than any other type of injury or illness. As a Workplace Mental Health specialist, Anna supports employers by helping them see that embracing Mental Health in the workplace can help prevent injury and drive a great culture. She helps Australian businesses to go from fearful and confused, to confident and responsive when faced with Mental Health challenges in the workplace. Anna helps Australian businesses to understand how to be a best practice employer when it comes to psychological safety in the workplace through implementing uncomplicated and practical systems and offering dynamic educational forums. During the conversation Julian and Anna chat about all things related to workplace mental health. Epi

Shelley Flett is the author of The Dynamic Leader – Become the leader others are inspired to follow Shelley is a business and leadership trainer & coach who works with leaders to maximise efficiency and build high performance team cultures in organisations of any size. She has been doing this since 2015 after leaving a corporate career in customer service, operations and banking. During the conversation Julian explores Shelley’s book, The Dynamic Leader, in detail. Episode highlights include: Why Shelley decided to write The Dynamic Leader The spoken and unspoken problems leaders face The Leadership Ladder – a tool Shelley has developed to allow you to reach the level of a dynamic leader The importance of holding yourself accountable and the need to celebrate success Links Shelly's LinkedIn Profile Shelly's Website Purchase The Dynamic Leader

Managing all the stakeholders in leadership and business is a significant challenge that many leaders face.  In this episode Julian introduces content that we use in our face to face leadership programs around stakeholder management. This is our seventh content episode for Season 2, and it is also the seventh content episode of our Synergen Curriculum Eco-system. Episode highlights include: What exactly is stakeholder management? The principles of stakeholder management, and how you can apply them in a practical sense The 5 Step process for engagement with practical exercises to help implement it Barriers to effective engagement, and strategies for success Links: Julian's LinkedIn Profile Purchase Julian's book - Give Back. Lead Forward

Yu Dan Shi is the author of Come Alive – live a life with more meaning and joy. Yu Dan is known for helping professionals, executives and entrepreneurs find clarity in their life, career and business, so they can focus on what really matters and succeed with joy and meaning. In 2008, she was a senior executive with a young family and seemingly had it all. However, she felt stagnated and unhappy and she wanted to quit. She didn't quit, instead, she began a search for answers. Yu Dan did extensive research over the years and found that what she felt is normal and can be turned around with the Strengths & Inner Genius approach. The approach has given her, and hundreds of corporate professionals renewed direction and energy, and has taken them to a whole new level of joy, success, and fulfillment. Yu Dan has worked as a senior executive within Fortune 100 companies and has been a leadership coach for a global talent management consultancy. She also holds several coaching psychology degrees and qualifications

Gabrielle Dolan is the author of Real Communication – How to be you and lead true. A highly sought-after keynote speaker, educator and author, Gabrielle has worked with thousands of high-profile leaders from around the world and helped countless of Australia’s top 50 ASX companies and multinationals to humanise their communications. She holds a master’s degree in management and leadership, an associate diploma in education and training and is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education in both the Art and Practice of Leadership Development and Women and Power: Leadership in a New World. Gabrielle is also the bestselling author of Ignite: Real Leadership, Real Talk, Real Results (2015) which reached the top 5 on Australia’s bestselling business books. During the conversation Julian explores Gabrielle’s book in detail. Episode highlights include: Why Gabrielle decided to write this book The four trends that are influencing how effective we are when we communicate to others The communication

Evette Cordy is the author of Cultivating Curiosity – How to unearth your most valuable problem to inspire growth.  Evette is a human-centred designer who innovates and creates using a unique blend of curiosity and creativity anchored in the framework of Creative Problem Solving. As the Chief Investigator at Agents of Spring, she helps organisations curiously seek out and creatively solve their customers' most valuable problems. As a psychologist she has the expertise to get to the heart of human motivation, to create an optimal creative environment, and to both energise and synergise teams. Evette believes that to unearth the right solutions, you must first find the right problems to solve and she uses a collaborative four-stage process designed to unlock the creativity and curiosity of both internal and external stakeholders to ensure the best business outcomes are achieved. During the conversation Julian explores Evette’s book in detail. Episode highlights include: Why Evette decided to write Cultivating

One of the biggest challenges all leaders face, is not having the frameworks and understanding to deal with conflict in the workplace. Some leaders are naturally comfortable with this and some are not. Episode highlights include: The differences between constructive conflict and destructive conflict. Why many leaders do not resolve conflict and what the consequences of that are. Bell & Harts Eight Causes of Conflict - diagnosing the root cause of conflict. The process to resolving conflict and principles around mediating conflict resolution. Links: Julian's LinkedIn Profile Purchase Julian's book - Give Back. Lead Forward

Wendy Born is the author of The Languages of Leadership - How to use your words, actions and behaviours to influence your team, peers and boss. Wendy works with leaders and leadership teams to become more effective and productive by showing you how to remove all the ‘stuff’ that gets in your way. She can help you get cut through by effectively managing everyone you work with. She shows leaders how to become better by driving performance, increasing accountability, having higher quality conversations, building trusting relationships and working towards a clear common goal.   Leaders who work with Wendy are able to engage in constructive conflict, be more collaborative within and outside of their business, and make better higher quality decisions. During the conversation Julian explores Wendy’s book in detail. Episode highlights include: Why Wendy decided to write this book The Six Levels of Leadership and why it is important to be courageous Leaders being the catalyst for change The top 5 trust killers and wh

Jo Burston is one of Australia’s most successful female entrepreneurs.   She has launched six businesses - the standout being Job Capital which went from $0 to $40-million turnover in five years and has kept her on the list of Australia’s top 30 female entrepreneurs since 2013. Jo has worked in partnership with the Prime Minister and Cabinet and Office For Women as well as global brands such as Microsoft, Google, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Xero. Her most recent launch is www.startup.business which runs entrepreneurial Learning in Action programs for school-aged children both in curriculum and as school holiday programs in every state and territory in Australia. Jo is passionate about the idea that you can’t be what you can’t see and uses these programs, as well as her globally recognised social impact business Inspiring Rare Birds, to inspire, support and educate entrepreneurs with the goal of giving every woman the opportunity to be an entrepreneur by choice. During the conversation Julian

Ashleigh Alsadie is the founder and CEO of The PromoDonna, a Melbourne based boutique agency which provides businesses with effective marketing communications programs aimed at generating new business opportunities and the acquisition of new clients. She is also the founder of Sales Sistas, a membership-based organisation and support network which enables women to implement effective sales and marketing strategies into their business. Sales Sistas also aims to develop the superstar sales persona to enable women to run the successful business that they’ve always dreamt of.  Ashleigh has held senior leadership roles such as General Manager and Sales Manager and has a degree in Public Relations. And, a bit of a fun fact - she has appeared in on television in shows such as Neighbours and City Homicide! Episode highlights include: The challenges associated with Ashleigh’s first leadership role The importance of understanding the difference in people’s business styles and behaviours The challenges of being a leade

One of the biggest challenges all leaders face is making sure they are communicating effectively. It is one of the biggest complaints staff have - that their managers do not communicate effectively. It is also one of the biggest issues that our clients talk to us about. During the episode Julian introduces a straightforward process which looks at the process of communication. Episode highlights include: The importance of being clear on your outcome and what barriers might get in your way. Why we need to understand who we are delivering the message to and being crystal clear on what the actual message is. Feedback - why it is a vital component of effective communication. Links: Julian's LinkedIn Profile Purchase Julian's book - Give Back. Lead Forward

Toby Hall returns to The Synergen Leadership Podcast to share his thoughts and views on his leadership passion: Purpose. Toby is Group CEO of St Vincent’s Health Australia, the nation’s largest not-for-profit health and aged care provider.  They operate six public hospitals, nine private hospitals and 17 aged care facilities in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. St Vincent’s Health Australia employs over 20,000 staff and has revenue in excess of $2B. Prior to joining St Vincent's Health Australia, Toby was CEO of Mission Australia – Australia's largest national community welfare services organisation. Toby has an extensive background working as a senior executive in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. Toby's commitment to the poor and vulnerable, both in Australia and internationally, has seen him in leadership roles at World Vision and governance roles with two regional hospitals and the health care services provider, Sterihealth. He is a director of UNICEF Australia and holds an MBA from

Travis Jones is the founder and CEO of Results Based Training (RBT) Gyms, a business with over 20 locations around Australia and overseas. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Attain Digital, which is a digital marketing agency already having great success in delivering big results for their clients. He is also the founder of Think Tank, a business coaching firm specialising in working with small businesses to grow and dominate their industries. In addition to these roles, he is also the founder of “If Not Now, Then When” a not-for-profit charity foundation with a mission to establish and maintain relationships and business hub's to support entrepreneurs and other like-minded not-for-profit organisations throughout Australia. During the conversation Julian and Travis explore several different aspects of Travis’s leadership journey. Episode highlights include: When Travis was first in a leadership role and also the link back to his early sporting experiences. Feedback and how important Travis believes it is.

Darrell Hardidge is the author of The 10 Commandments of Client Appreciation. AS founder and CEO of Melbourne based business Saguity, Darrell is passionate about working with businesses who are committed to providing exceptional client service. Saguity enables companies to define their unique point of difference from an independent market perspective and help businesses to create a new standard of KPI’s that connect team engagement, customer loyalty and turn revenue into a one number focus that everyone in the company understands and is committed to. During the conversation Julian explores Darrell’s book in detail. Episode highlights include: Why Darrell decided to write this book Client appreciation and what it really means, including the impact it has on both customer and supplier The idea of the first 15% and how Darrell has taken learnings from some of the lean six sigma methodology How to avoid the price trap Links: Darrell's LinkedIn Profile Saguity Website

Join Julian as he introduces part 2 of a special content series on Emotional Intelligence – Awareness of Others. Emotional Intelligence is becoming more and more accepted as a critical component of effective leadership and management and in today’s episode Julian explores how we can work towards being more aware of others and the impact this can have on the way we lead. Episode highlights include: The links between behaviours, emotions, actions and outcomes The distinctions between social awareness and relationship management The value of recognising emotional cues Psychological safety and what it really means in practice Links: Julian's LinkedIn Profile Purchase Julian's book - Give Back. Lead Forward Part 1 - Emotional Intelligence, Awareness of Self

Sandra Aloi is the founder and director of the Bureau of Business, a boutique PR, marketing, events & lifestyle agency.  The Bureau of Business breathes new life into brands to create, refresh or re-position them, developing authentic brand stories and memorable visual languages to bring out their best. Sandra is a highly experienced professional with almost 20 years experience in protecting and enhancing the reputation of multinational organisations servicing markets in Australia, New Zealand, Asia Pacific and North American regions. She has worked for organisations such as Fairfax, BASF, Dow Chemicals and the EPA. As well as being the CEO of Bureau of Business, she has recently launched a new venture, The Mind of Femme - a new initiative that is committed to increasing the visibility of women in Australia (and abroad) who are capturing our attention through their determination to drive change in the world as we know it. Episode highlights include: Sandra’s leadership journey beginning with when she was

Mike Adams is the author of Seven Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell. AS founder and CEO of The Story Leader,  Mike helps their clients grow revenue by systematically leveraging the most important human communication mechanism – Story. Having worked for organistions such as Nokia, Siemens, Motorola and Spotless Group, Mike’s significant global experience and leading of sales teams has put him into a unique position where he is qualified to talk about all things sales and leadership. During the conversation Julian explores Mikes book in detail from a leadership lens. Episode highlights include: Why Mike decided to write this book How stories can change our minds and how the mind has a natural language The simple story framework and how we can use it to build connection How we can learn from other people’s stories Links: Mike's LinkedIn Profile The Story Leader Website Purchase Seven Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell