Team Guru Podcast

Paul Oosting is the National Director of Get Up! He took the reins about a year before the 2016 federal election and brought a brand new clever, aggressive and effective strategy to an organisation that was already playing a leading role in the national political conversation. Paul is an incredibly impressive guy. Going in to this conversation I was hoping to understand how he landed such a high profile job, at the head of one of the most important progressive organisations in the country. It didn’t take long before that question was answered. Paul’s gift is his ability to balance brilliant strategic planning, personal and organisational values and a deep ambition to make a difference across the political landscape. If you’ve ever wondered what lies at the heart of Get Up! - Australia’s most successful grassroots organisation - you are going to love this episode of the Team Guru Podcast.

Grant Dale played a crucial role in the much needed cultural refresh that took place in the Navy over the past few years.  Grant spent more than 30 years in the Australian Navy - much of it at sea as a Commander of a ship. During his long career Grant experienced the entire gamut of leadership styles. From robustly authoritarian to thoughtful engagement. A powerful experience with a formal feedback tool sent him on a path of discovery that saw him fall in love with the discipline of leadership development. In the late stages of his Navy career he was part of a team that was tasked with developing an organisation-wide leadership program that would change the dated culture of the entire Navy. Cultural reinvigoration on a grand scale…this is an intriguing story.

This episode 2 of the Pat Farmer story. If you haven't listen to Part 1 yet, head back to episode 39 before you listen to this one - you won't want to miss a moment of Pat's story. In this episode Pat takes us inside his 9 years in Canberra as a Federal MP. He also gives us some tremendous tips on running and training, answers some audience questions about running and shares his philosophies on life.

If Pat Farmer’s story was a movie you’d think it too far fetched to believe. For more than 20 years he has been running ultra-marathons. Crazy, long runs - the length and breadth of entire nations. Continents. Even the globe. Among his epic journeys, Pat has run the length of India and Vietnam. He’s run from Lebanon to Jordan. Across the entire USA. He has even run a lap around Australia. And - believe it or not, he has run from the North Pole to the South Pole. More than 20,000km - averaging 65km per day for more than 10 months. Amongst all of those incredible events, he found time to spend 9 years in Canberra as a Federal Member of Parliament. During our conversation Pat tells us all about his running career, how he got started, how he trains, what he eats and drinks, why he loves running for charities and how running has shaped his philosophies on life. He also tells us - with astonishing honesty - about his time in politics. The lessons he learned and the forces that really drive our political system. And, as a huge bonus for the podcast, Pat gives us the scoop on the next epic run he has planned. This conversation was recorded in front of a live audience at an event in Pyrmont hosted by Techni-Clean Australia and Bounce Rehab.

We are only days away from the Rio Paralympics and our guest in this episode will be there. And what an incredible story she will take with her. After experiencing degenerative hearing loss from a young age, Katie Kelly learned in her 20s that she was also going blind. A few months before her 40th birthday, she was declared legally blind. Katie’s response - get on the phone to Triathlon Australia to and learn about paratriathlon eligibility. That phone call sparked a remarkable journey - from Weekend Warrior to competing on the world stage, winning events and becoming a world champion. And now Katie is on her way to compete in the pinnacle of her sport - but not before she dropped in to the Team Guru Podcast to tell us all about it. Katie’s story is probably the most uplifting I’ve ever heard - and she is certainly the most positive person I have ever met. Enjoy!

Positive phycology. Positive leadership. Who wouldn’t want a piece of that? In this episode of the Team Guru Podcast Michelle McQuaid treats us to a masterclass; a brilliant guide to understanding and pursuing a life defined by the positive. Michelle defines, in an incredibly real and accessible way, positive psychology and the science that sits behind it. We talk explicitly about what it means to be a positive leader, the common barriers well-meaning leaders will face in the workplace - and how to deal with them. And we delve in to Appreciative Inquiry - a strength based approach that guides change on a personal, professional and organisational level.

Wow - what a response to Part 1 of the Andrew Mewing story. The timing was pretty good - coming as so many Australian swimmers failed to convert their dreams into gold at the Rio pool. But from the feedback we got, listeners were just so impressed with Andrew’s story and the way he told it. This is Part 2 of that story. Andrew talks us through his experience at his second Olympic trials - Beijing 2008. He tells us about the expectation he placed on himself, the way his races played out and he gives us the inside story of the events that led up to his challenge of Swimming Australia in court. And of course we talk about Andrew’s post-swimming career. His work as a lawyer and his path to founding his own law firm.

As we soak up all the colour and thrills from the Rio Olympics, it’s worth spending a moment to consider that every athlete that flashes across our screens represents scores of would-be-Olympians who didn’t quite make it. Those who pursued their Olympic dream and failed. They each have a story to tell. My guest in this episode of the podcast is Andrew Mewing who has one cracking yarn to share about his path in swimming that took him to every major international meet - except for the Olympic Games. A medalist at multiple World Championships and the Commonwealth Games, Andrew fell agonisingly short of his Olympic dream on three seperate occasions and at one point he found himself in the court of arbitration challenging Swimming Australia over his non-selection for the 2008 Beijing Games. But this is not a story of doom and gloom. Andrew is impressive in the way he is able to constructively reflect on his career in the pool and process what many would see as heartbreak. In this conversation he talks us through, blow for the blow, the physical torture of a high-stakes 200m freestyle final. He tells us what it’s like to get caught in the wash of a determined Ian Thorpe. He tells us of the physical toll of backing up to swim through heats, semi finals and finals in multiple events over consecutive days. And he talks us through how he managed to juggle studying two degrees while training full time and traveling the world to compete. This is an incredible insider’s story of everything is takes to strive, to succeed, to fail and then to pick yourself up and do it all again.

Innovation. It rates pretty highly as a business buzzword of our time. So I wanted to dig into it. To find out what it means for organisations. For individuals. And in the context of the modern commercial environment. My guest in this episode is Gaia Grant who - along with her husband Andrew - published 'Who Killed Creativity' in 2011 and this month will release 'The Innovation Race'. I hit Gaia with all the big questions - Who killed creativity? Is it even dead? What’s the link between creativity and innovation? Is innovation a race - and if it is, who’s winning? And most importantly, what can leaders in organisations do to ensure they are giving themselves the best possible chance to create an environment that supports purposeful innovation? Not only does Gaia provide some impressive responses to these questions, she provides a tangible framework to help you assess, develop and monitor the critical innovation enablers amongst your people and your organisation.

Any conversation worth having about Millennials must equally delve into the characteristics and workplace habits of Baby Boomers and Gen Xers. For at least another 15 years these three generations will share the workplace. The survival of many organisations will hinge on their ability to work out how they will play nicely together – to form positive intergenerational teams. Lee Caraher is an expert in managing Millennials – mainly because when she first tired she failed miserably. She realised how significant the challenge was to the future of her business so she dug into it. Deeply. What Lee first discovered was a bunch of bitter Boomers and Xers whinging about Gen Y in an unconstructive way. So she went about doing her own research and creating her own model for intergenerational success. And she joins me on the podcast to share the story what she discovered and tips for making intergenerational teams work in your organisation.