Don't Stop Us Now! Podcast

This week’s guest was named IT Woman of the Year for the APAC region in 2020 and despite her illustrious and super busy career in senior regional leadership roles at Google, Twitter and Cloudflare, Aliza Knox also managed to find time to mentor many women along the way. 

As a result of all her rich experience, Aliza has just published a book on the 6 essential mindshifts you need to rise and thrive at work. The book is called Don’t Quit Your Day Job. 

These days, Aliza serves as a non executive director on Boards in multiple countries and is a senior advisor to her old consulting firm, Boston Consulting Group. 

We were fascinated to catch up with Aliza to learn more about her own career lessons as well as the 6 key mindshifts she’s identified in her book. We think you’ll be fascinated too. 

Hear unique advice and stories including: 

• Why a bad job situation led to Aliza moving countries
• Why reflecting on your career options at any point in time is so valuable 
• What job dating is
• And, which of the 6 essential mindshifts Aliza believes has been the most influential in her own career. 

Aliza has some amazing career advice so sit back and enjoy this episode.

Links

Aliza’s website

Aliza on Twitter

Aliza on LinkedIn

‘Don’t Quit Your Day Job’ on Amazon, Booktopia

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It’s not everyday you come across a global marketing leader who trained as an engineer and computer scientist! But that’s true for our visionary guest this week, Lucinda Barlow. 

Lucinda is Senior Director, Head of Marketing for Asia Pacific for Uber. Before joining Uber two years ago, Lucinda was global Marketing Director for YouTube, with its 2 billion daily users.

With more than 20 years of experience working in Internet and mobile in Asia, the US and UK, Lucinda has some incredible and varied experience coupled with a true passion for championing creativity. 

In this episode you’ll hear how:

• How Lucinda changed her life, and her job, after receiving some wise advice from fashion designer and icon Diane von Furstenberg
• How she thinks about making big career transition decisions
• Why she believes failure should be celebrated more
• And how Lucinda brings creativity out in her teams. 

Enjoy this episode with the incredibly passionate and creative Lucinda Barlow. 

P.S. A reminder that our mini episodes are taking a little break right now so we’re back with a new episode every 2nd week. 

Links

Lucinda on LinkedIn

Lucinda on Twitter

Uber.com

Uber on YouTube

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We’re back from Covid (hooray!) and so even more excited about this week’s inspiring guest! 

Joanna Flint is Chief Commercial Officer for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group where she’s responsible for its global marketing, sales, revenue management, brand and distribution functions. She is also a member of the company’s Board. 

Joanna joined the luxury brand last year after more than twelve years with Google in Asia where, amongst other roles, she was Managing Director of Google Singapore. Based in Singapore with her family, after 20 years living in Asia, Joanna is also a member of YPO and a mentor to early stage start-ups. 

If you’re contemplating your career or thinking about changing roles then you have come to the right place because Joanna has some of the most thoughtful musings on this topic we’ve heard. 

In this episode you’ll learn:

• The incredible story of why Joanna nearly didn’t apply for the top job at Google in Singapore and what happened to make her change her mind
• The opportunities she feels she wasted because she wasn’t super clear about what she wanted next in her career
• Exactly how Joanna got that clarity on what her next role needed to look like
• And how she manages the challenges of leading a truly global team without working 24/7.

We know you’ll love the amazing insights and advice shared in this conversation, so enjoy this episode with the insightful and passionate Joanna Flint. 

A quick P.S. from us that we are giving our mini episodes a little break for a while, so we’ll be back in two weeks time with our next conversation with an amazing, pioneering female leader. Hint - she’s ‘uber’ cool. 

Useful Links

Jo on LinkedIn 

Mandarinoriental.com 

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This week’s mini episode explores what it takes to build a successful partnership with a co-founder. 

One thing we’ve noticed with numerous early stage startups is the challenge in those very early days of finding a co-founder, or co-founders, whom you can really work with for the long term, even when the pressure’s on. 

So often you hear of acrimonious founder breakups and it got us asking ourselves, how do you create a good working relationship over time if you have co-founders? 

One person who’s brilliantly navigated the co-founder challenge is serial Scottish entrepreneur Lesley Eccles, who with her 4 other co-founders built a blockbuster business called FanDuel. We spoke to Lesley on the podcast a year ago and she has some amazing stories and experiences if you haven’t heard that episode.

In this mini episode you’ll hear how Lesley and her co-founders made a success of working and pivoting together for more than ten years to create a business that has ultimately been valued over $11 billion. 

We also share some of our observations from the four years of producing this podcast and from years of observing and advising numerous startups first hand. 

As the saying goes: “it takes two to tango” and it typically takes two or more to build an epic business. So enjoy this mini episode on Succeeding with Co Founders. 

Links

Link to Lesley Eccles original episode

Link to Adina Jacobs orig episode 

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We have a smart operator and a great champion for women on the show this week. 

Her name is Vered Raviv Schwarz  and she’s spent the past 20 years in disruptive tech companies, based in Israel. 

These days Vered is President and Chief Operating Officer for Guesty, a property management platform offering software that’s used by people renting out short term and vacation rental properties around the world. With Guesty’s multiple features they can easily list and manage their rentals on multiple sites such as AirBnb and Vebo. 

Before Guesty, Vered spent nearly 6 years at the freelancer marketplace Fiverr as Chief Operating Officer. And prior to that she was a lawyer and General Counsel at other tech companies.

We’ve been struck by what a smart operator and thinker Vered is. 

In this episode you’ll hear a lot of great advice including:

• How some of the best advice Vered was given, and now gives herself, changed the course of her entire career
• Why she’s passionate about making tech companies more diverse and what she’s doing about that
• How she helps companies successfully scale and grow globally 
• And why Vered’s a great believer in being able to make decisions quickly. 

Without further ado enjoy this episode with the switched on and dedicated Vered Raviv Schwarz. 

Links

Guesty Website

Vered on LinkedIn 

Vered on Twitter - @VRavivSchwarz

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This week’s mini episode is all about the value of having a mindset of ‘keeping on going’ even when you stumble. Now that isn’t always easy is it? 

One woman who’s really mastered the knack of telling herself constructive stories when things don’t go to plan, is US-based international Uber executive, Julia Paige. Julia is Uber’s global head of Social Impact and she also happens to be a mum of triplets. 

When Julia was on the show 18 months ago we were really struck by how good she is at constructive self-talk and her ability to dust herself off and keep moving. 

At the heart of Julia’s outlook on tackling tough times is the powerful idea that we all control our own stories. We get to write our narrative and we get to say how our stories end - and, for Julia, she makes sure that the story never ends with failure. 

Enjoy this mini episode.

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We’re super excited about our first guest for the year. Speaker, author and storyteller, Briony Benjamin, is known for the amazing and purposeful viral videos she creates, as well as her book, ‘Life is Tough But So are You’, which came out last year. 

Briony is a master at her craft and she’s also incredibly inspiring when she talks about her cancer journey.

In this episode you’ll hear about: 

• The moment when Briony realised a career in accounting or commerce wasn’t for her
• How her life changed in an instant with a diagnosis everyone dreads
• What she thinks about when it comes to getting her creative work out into the world
• And what habits she cultivates to stay on top of her content game. 

Enjoy this episode with the irrepressible, funny and delightful Briony Benjamin.  

Useful Links

Briony on Instagram - @briony_benjamin 

Website: www.brionybenjamin.com

Must Do - watch this amazing viral video from Briony - ‘You Only Get One Life’: 

Briony’s Book - ‘Life is Tough! But so are You’

Books Briony mentions:

Big Magic: How to Live a Creative Life, and Let Go of Your Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert 

Get Rich, Lucky Bitch!: A Guide for Exceptional Women to Create Outrageous Success by Denise Duffield-Thomas

Atomic Habits by James Clear 

The Artists Way by Julia Cameron

Jerry Seinfeld Interview with Tim Ferriss 

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“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”. 

Oscar Wilde 

Being genuinely yourself sounds good but it’s not always easy to do is it? 

It takes strength to resist the societal pressures and norms we all operate under, and it also takes real clarity on what actually is important, deep down, to each of us as individuals.

It’s always so interesting to hear how different people define success for themselves and this week’s mini episode shares some wonderful examples. 

Hint, the two extraordinary women we hear from have very different but equally beautiful answers. 

Be fired up hearing Oatly Executive Creative Director for North America, Heidi Hackemer’s personal success definition and inspired by entrepreneur and passionate womens’ advocate, Bobbi Mahab’s very different version.

The key truth is, there’s no one right answer. So what would yours be? 

Enjoy. 

Useful Links

Heidi's full interview with us - Heidi Hackemer - Navigating the Worst

Bobbi's full interview with us - Bobbi Mahlab - Defining Success on Her Terms

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Career decisions can be tricky things can’t they? Often they can be some of the most stressful decisions we make; decisions such as: ”Should I say yes to this project or transfer?” Or “Should I stay in my job or should I go?” 

These times come to nearly all of us . . . unless you’re the Queen of course who’s just reached her 70th year anniversary in her job! Can you imagine that? 

Our How To episode this week explores all that’s involved in making great career decisions and with a lot less stress. Huge apologies to Her Majesty as we know this probably isn’t the episode for her 😁.

In this episode you’ll hear us share: 

• Traps we can fall into when searching for the right answer,
• What to do when you have multiple options to choose from,
• How to make sure you’re not leaving for the wrong reasons,
• And, a simple process and lots of practical ideas for your next big decision.

As Tony Robbins says, “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” 

Enjoy this episode!

Useful Links

Adam Grant’s new book ‘Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know’

Article on ‘Why you need a Challenge Network’

Daniel Kahneman’s great book  - ‘Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow’

A past episode of ‘Don’t Stop Us Now!’ you might also like ‘How to Feel Less Stuck in Your Job’

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What better way to start a new Lunar Year than by dusting off any Omicron blues and ensuring you have the right mindset for the day and week ahead? 

Our first mini episode for the year brings you self-confessed ‘rabid optimist’ and former Australian of the Year, Dr Fiona Wood. This inspiring powerhouse manages to stay incredibly positive despite her very confronting and life-saving work as a world-leading burns surgeon. Learn some tactics that she uses to bring back happy memories and change her own mood.

In this short but sweet episode you can also contemplate whether or not you agree with Voltaire on what our most important decision of all is. 

Enjoy! And if you haven’t already, why not connect with us on LinkedIn... just mention “Don’t Stop Us Now! podcast” and we’ll be right there.

Links of interest 

Fiona’s full interview with us

If you enjoy this episode, an interview you might like too; Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas - Humour as a Super Power

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