Episodes

I’m saying the quiet part out loud: the most valuable asset in your business isn’t your Instagram, it’s your email list. I share how Con Con happened because of my list, why social posts rarely convert on their own, how I use Substack weekly (and why unsubscribes are healthy), plus the big mistake I made for years—never making offers—and how I’m fixing it. In this episode, I cover: Why subscribers > followers (ownership, attention, trust). The Con Con example: proof your list is your leverage....

Two super quick reflections today. First up: the settling in period. Whether I’m running, or just switching tasks at my desk, those first 10 minutes always feel clunky. You’re questioning yourself, wondering how you’ll keep going. But if you can just hold out, your body (and mind) adapts faster than you think. Don’t judge yourself in that early stretch—just celebrate that you started. The second thing? I’ve realised I really struggle to record or take calls when there are just one or two peopl...

Big weekend for me — and my Oura Ring confirms it with my lowest recovery score ever (48 out of 100 🙈). Between a four-hour training hike (with that brutal post-lunch slog) and Riverfire fireworks with friends, sleep wasn’t really on the cards. But what I really wanted to share today is a Con Con update. Tickets went live, and within 21 minutes the first 15 were gone. Nine days later, we’re completely sold out — all 50 spots! 🎉 So here’s the thing: the event itself is still 280 days away. What...

Today I’m joined by Germany-based facilitator and psychologist Nadia Petronov, founder of More Shiny Eyes—and yes, her mission is exactly what it sounds like: helping people light up at work (even on Mondays). We riff on visual facilitation, why listening beats lecturing, and how to guide groups through messy moments without losing the room. Nadia also shares the story behind her Wonder Cards—a pocket-sized set of go-to activities you can run anywhere, any time, with any group. We discuss: How...

Today I riff with Brisbane dynamo Melanie “Mel” Loy—founder of Hey Mel Comms & Training, co-owner of a gym, President of IABC Queensland, and host of Less Chatter, More Matter. We bounce across crisis comms, workshop design, and group fitness—aka how to stay calm when everything goes sideways, and how to bring “Mel 2.0” energy to a room. We also dig into running international workshops (Malaysia! Canada!), tailoring for culture, sketch-noting live instead of relying on slides, and simple ways to...

Today’s walk-and-talk episode is all about a brilliant story that came out of a Work Fame webinar I ran this week. One of the participants shared how, in her very first week at a big multinational, she got asked to get a CEO’s signature. Instead of following “the process,” she simply went upstairs, knocked on the door, and asked directly. The CEO was delighted, signed the papers, and she came back down to a horrified manager asking, “How did you do that so fast?!” This story lit me up for a fe...

So… five minutes before I hit record today, I did something I’ve never done before: I pre-ordered a piece of tech that hasn’t even been made yet. Yep, I dropped $299 USD on a pair of Halo glasses from a startup called Brilliant Labs. Why? Because the potential of these open-source AI glasses absolutely blows my mind. In this episode, I riff on: Why I skipped my usual “wait for reviews” approach and jumped in early All the cool use cases I’m excited about—from hands-free directions to instant...

Tonight’s episode wasn’t meant to be this one. I was planning to reflect on my Virgin Australia workshop (and my friend Sally Prosser’s brilliant cameo on voice skills)… but then dinner happened. I’ve got this little ritual: when I’ve had a big delivery week, I treat myself to a vegetarian plate from the local Greek takeaway. It’s my cozy, carb-loaded indulgence — chips, pita, zucchini fritters, the lot. And after five years of reliable, perfect orders, tonight they messed it up. Twice. Here’s...

Today’s episode is a wild update on something I experimented with a few weeks back: my “job interview with the enemy.” If you missed it, I shared how I jumped on a tool called Tavi.ai that lets you do job interviews with AI avatars. Yep—imagine logging into Zoom and instead of a person on the other side, it’s a robot interviewing you for a role. Clunky? Sure. Fascinating? Absolutely. When I posted about it, I copped a bit of backlash. People weren’t too happy that I was “promoting” AI in recru...

I was driving the other day, catching up on some old Alan Weiss recordings (yep, I upload them into my own private podcast feed so I actually listen to them instead of letting them die in a Dropbox folder). One simple but powerful Consulting 101 lesson hit me right between the eyes again: define your Min and Max before every conversation. Alan calls it MinMax — your minimum measure of success and your maximum. It sounds obvious, but most of us don’t do it. We just show up to a meeting thinking ...

I’m joined by Mark McKeon—ex-AFL player, high-performance coach with Collingwood, creator of The Go Zone and Everyday Counts. We dig into the real-world parallels between elite sport and facilitation: preparation, energy management, room design, AV (yes, batteries!), and what it truly means to be audience-centric. Why listen If you want practical, field-tested ways to run the room (from set-up to mindset) and still have fuel left in the tank, this one is gold. What we cover Serendipity to st...

If you’ve been hanging around here a while, you’ll know I love sport. Playing it, watching it, analyzing it—I’m in awe of what athletes and high-performing teams pull off under pressure. That’s why I was so excited to chat with today’s guest, Dr. Fergus Connolly. Fergus is a coach, teacher, mentor, author, speaker, and lifelong student of resilience. He’s worked with some of the biggest sporting and business teams in the world—think the San Francisco 49ers, Liverpool FC, the University of Michi...

Hey, thanks for tuning in today! Yesterday I shared my crazy little experiment with you—what would happen if I gave myself just 12 hours to see if a brand-new event idea had legs? No venue, no speakers, no fancy marketing—just a vision, a date, a location, and a cap of 50 people. Here’s what went down: I put the idea out quietly—via a Substack PS, a couple of LinkedIn + Insta posts, and a waitlist (78 people). At 8:00 AM tickets opened. By 8:21 AM, we’d hit the threshold of 15. Game on. By 2...

Today’s episode is a first: I’m recording this while riding my exercise bike (training for Nepal waits for no one!). I wanted to share what’s happening in real time with Con Con. At this stage, it’s still a fictional event—but I’ve set up a 12-hour experiment to see if it should actually exist. Here’s the deal: I’ve locked the event at 50 spots only. I’m putting “Bold Action” tickets on sale for 12 hours. If 15 people sign up, Con Con is on. If 14 or less, I refund everyone the next day. ...

Truth be told, I had no idea what I was going to talk about when I hit record. So, I did what I often do when I’m stuck: I asked ChatGPT to give me 10 episode title ideas. Instead of choosing one, I decided to read them out loud and riff on each for about 30 seconds. We cover everything from my “two-drink test,” spotting everyday Work Fame moments, and why B-roll is actually the real show, through to my constant battle with perfection when using AI. It’s a bit of a grab bag — but that’s kind of ...

Today I’m answering a great question from a friend: “Do you decide to write a book and then pick the topic, or do you already have the topic and then decide to write?” For me, the answer was simple — I just wanted to be an author. That identity was important to me. The easiest path? Writing about something I’d already been talking about for years: workshop design. That’s how The 2-Hour Workshop Blueprint came to life. In this episode, I share: Why author identity came before topic for me The ...

What this one’s about: I riff on a killer Diary of a CEO roundtable (Codie Sanchez, Alex Hormozi, Daniel Priestley) and share a study on grooming, attractiveness and pay—plus my $150 Mecca “makeup school” hack I used before a 350-person talk. My big takeaways: You don’t need capital to start — pre-sell, validate fast, borrow audiences, and use relationships as leverage. That was the common thread from all three guests. A The beauty premium is (mostly) a grooming premium for women. A 2016 paper ...

We’re all doing great work… but is it working? Today I chat with Kevin M. Yates, the global L&D detective who measures whether learning fulfills its purpose. He shows us how to move beyond smile sheets and activity metrics to evidence that behaviour changed and business goals budged. What you’ll learn North Star clarity: Define results up-front as “measurable activation of behaviour/performance that advances a business goal.” Discovery before delivery: How to run a pre-workshop “investigation...

Guest: Nikki Bush — human potential & parenting expert, bestselling author of Future-Proof Yourself, Certified Speaking Professional, and the first woman inducted into the Professional Speakers Association of South Africa Hall of Fame. Why this episode? If you run virtual workshops and want fast, practical ways to read the room, dial up energy, and keep people with you (without circus tricks), this conversation is your new playbook. Nikki shares smart ways to “test the emotional temperature,” ...

I shared fresh stories from last night’s IABC Queensland event where I road-tested my Work Fame concept—no slides, just prompts, energy, and a few spicy truths about standing out. In this episode The serendipity start: rocking up to u&u Recruitment on Queen Street and reuniting with Erica Brush—we played state school netball together at 15 (Met West, Roma!). The recruiter reality check: 9 out of 10 jobs aren’t advertised—your reputation does the heavy lifting. When roles are posted? Hundred...

I’ve just left Day 1 of the Queensland Association of Special Education Leaders conference (QASEL) at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre. I’m speaking on Day 3 (“The Dark Arts of Engagement”), so I snuck in early to get a feel for the room—and wow, the energy is brilliant. My big takeaways Housekeeping ≠ snoozefest. Use memes/pop-culture to make admin memorable. Simone modelled this perfectly (Coldplay, Taylor Swift, even “no horses in the bathrooms”—gold). Secondary trauma is real—a...

I recorded this one from the couch—with the heater blasting and my iPad out—while rejigging workshop sequences. Today I confess something small-but-useful I was wrong about: Strava. For years I resisted it (I thought you needed special gear), then a hike with Kirsty flipped the switch. Now I’m loving the seamless Apple Watch sync, the community vibe, route ideas when I travel, and the cheeky status hits (hello, Local Legend 🏅). Plus, a bigger reminder: before we dismiss something, get curious fi...

Today I broke my own rules from The 2-Hour Workshop Blueprint… then remembered why they exist. I tried to type a workshop outline straight into a doc at the café (hello, friction and tab-opening). So I shut the laptop, ordered a long black, and went old-school: one idea per index card. Suddenly the ideas poured out, the structure revealed itself, and now the only problem is what to cut. What I cover Why linear tools (docs/slides) can choke early-stage ideas My café routine: long black, closed...

Today I’m handing the mic to my friend (and brand wizard) Jason Knight. If you’ve ever looked at my site and thought, “Whoa—this is… different,” you’ll love this one. Jason and I share a long backstory—from L&D days to Red Carpet Campout—and in this episode he unpacks a super simple, ridiculously useful framework for becoming dangerously distinctive in how you show up. What this episode is about Jason shares a three-step “newspaper” playbook you can steal for LinkedIn posts, Substack intros, y...