#KatieTalks

The night before her 33rd birthday, today's guest Elle Sproll had just finished a half marathon in Hawaii, returned from a work trip to New Zealand and was about to meet a friend for an early birthday dinner (featuring plenty of rosé and karaoke).

Then, she found a lump in her breast. It turned out to be Triple Negative Breast Cancer: very rare and very aggressive. Definitely not the birthday present she had hoped for.

Elle was young, fit and excelling in her career as a Senior Marketing Leader at a Big 4 bank. We discuss some of what followed and how Elle, ever the deep thinking cstomer centric marketer, came to form Own Your Health, supporting women on their journey back to health from cancer & career burnout. We also cover:

• The chemo care kits that Elle has created. They include the products that by by trial and error she found to be the most helpful to combat some of the horrific chemo side effects.
• Tips on being a kick ass support human when a friend is going through rough stuff
• How corporates can help their people who are in the depths of difficult times

You can read more about Elle's coaching and buy her chemo care kits here https://www.ownyourhealthcoach.com.au/

Hosted by Katie Bennett-Stenton, who you can find at www.linkedin.com/in/katiebennettstenton or [email protected].

Katherine Newton is a CEO doing impactful important work. 

Some of the key topics we cover are:

• When people stop doing things that they love, this can be an indictor that they're struggling
• Venting and discussing small issues can go a long way to stopping them becoming big problems
• If you do ask if someone is ok, really listen to their response and be genuinely interested (don't ask five minutes before a meeting or while scrolling on your phone)
• Prioritise staying in touch with people
• If you're a corporate and the only activity you to do to support mental health is put up RU Ok posters, don’t.  Instead be authentic with a variety of activities throughout the year, build support of mental health into everyday culture.

One insight that Katherine shared that particularly struck me as a marketer and mental health advocate was that when she's wearing the bright yellow RU OK tee shirt people approach her and want to talk.

Hosted by Katie Bennett-Stenton, who you can find at www.linkedin.com/in/katiebennettstenton or [email protected]

If you're limping towards the end of 2021, in need of some recharging and downtime, this is the podcast for you.

This is an extremely insightful conversation with a professional whose superpower is helping humans and workplaces slay the energy vampires that cause burnout, crush creativity and stifle inclusion.  We discuss the elusive concept of balance and Sean talks us through three very specific practices to put in place to set boundaries and manage our energy. 

Listeners are encouraged to document how they will implement boundaries to manage:

• Technology and email: what time you'll put devices away and when you'll pick them up again, and when you'll open your first email of the day and what time you'll send the last one.
• Social media and news: approach social like you're joining for the first time and deciding how to use it, including only engaging with positive forces (no energy vampires).  Decide how often and when you'll consume news and avoid 'doom scrolling'.

People's access to you: embrace your chronotype (what most people understand as being an early bird versus a night owl) and share this information with colleagues.  Protect your optimal deep flow working time in your diary and  ask your team mates and respect those boundaries.

As I round out a second year in my beloved Melbourne, when we became the most locked down city on the globe and we hopefully farewell home schooling forever, I was really energised by this conversation.  It has given me lots of food for thought, which I plan to noodle over while I'm having a summer break.  I hope that you feel similarly inspired. 

Thanks for sticking with #KatieTalks over this most frenetic of years, wishing you a wonderful festive season and I look forward to being back in your ears in 2022.

Hosted by Katie Bennett-Stenton, who you can find at @KatiebMarketing on Twitter or [email protected].

Disclaimer this podcast is a personal passion project, not associated with my professional role.

My guest today, who provides a great deal of food for thought about the impact of Covid and how we emerge from it is formidable psychologist Leah Fogarty.

We cover a lot of topics including the work that Leah has done supporting mental health as people grapple with Covid.  When the global pandemic was first impacting Australia last year, Leah developed a program for patients to support them in really uncertain times, which we discuss at length.

Leah's work is influenced by the fact that she is a former elite athlete.  A lot of her practice supports current athletes and we talk about this and some of the influences that we can all benefit from, irrespective of level of fitness.

We are hearing a great deal about how much mental health is suffering at the moment and we explore the post-traumatic stress program that Leah has created.  There are some incredibly beneficial messages that I took from this discussion and continue to adopt in my own life.

One of Leah's comments that has particularly stayed with me is that humans are the only species to judge things to be good or bad and that nature has designed us to see the negative.  This is a constructive message for many people to ponder.

We also explore some positive learnings from the impact of Covid, which has stripped back our needs.  Leah guides us that life should be designed, not a default we've fallen into.  Excellent food for thought. 

Katie Talks is hosted by Katie Bennett-Stenton, who you can find at @KatiebMarketing on Twitter or [email protected].

Disclaimer this podcast is a personal project, not associated with my professional role.

This is an enriching conversation with a deep thinker who does a lot of work advising Boards and CEOs.  Or as her bio says she "gets sh*t done for equality and inclusion."

We explore a number of themes that Michelle focuses on with leaders.  She talks me through a common question that she asks about whether leaders would build an organisation the same way again, the answer is frequently intriguing.  In exploring this theme, Michelle invites leaders to think about the person they care most about and whether they would want that person to work with their organisation.  More often than not, asking senior people to think about a time about when they had no influence is the 'ah hah' moment that precedes a more diverse approach.

A key area of focus for Michelle is coaching clients to examine  how be thoughtful and create high performing teams while working remotely.  We discuss the fact that people feeling included, valued and respected are absolutely key in attracting, retaining and advancing all parts of a diverse workforce.

We talk about careers that 'soar' and the global platform that Michelle is establishing to support professionals who don't have access to women's leadership training program.   This is a really inspiring listen which really energised me seven months in to working from home and home schooling during this global pandemic.

Katie Talks is hosted by Katie Bennett-Stenton, who you can find at @KatiebMarketing on Twitter or [email protected].

Disclaimer this podcast is a personal project, not associated with my professional role.

If you're feeling the need to turbocharge your motivation as you settle into month sevenish, dealing with Covid, this is the conversation for you.  My guest has 14+ years pedigree of Fortune 500 companies and advises organisations and leaders on creating environments where smart, self-motivating, innovative individuals thrive.

We discuss the concept of interconnected, distributed teams which  is an interesting concept.  It is also critical to the way that we're working now as many of us have lost that regular 'in person' way, incidental communication with our colleagues. 

We cover a lot of interesting topics, but most inspirational for me was our discussion about the five levels of distributed teams.  This concept was created by Matt Mullenweg who founded WordPress.  You can read more about it here.   https://ma.tt/2020/04/five-levels-of-autonomy/

While change is a constant, this has been a year of greater than normal change, with COVID-19 disrupting our personal lives and work in a way not seen in recent history. This has created some lasting impacts but also some opportunities for the better.  Hiam talks about the way that workplaces are taking time to think about the value they create in the world and she is  starting to see some of this in her work, reigniting passion in their people, really connect back to that core piece.

Katie Talks is hosted by Katie Bennett-Stenton, who you can find at @KatiebMarketing on Twitter or [email protected].

Disclaimer this podcast is a personal project, not associated with my professional role.

My guest today is the formidable Maz Farrelly, former Executive Editor of Format Entertainment at the BBC in London (think Big Brother,  Celebrity Apprentice + Q+A on ABC) and now CEO Whisperer and Social Commentator.  Maz's content has over 8 billion views and you're going to want to take a listen, she's fantastic.

We cover a lot of topics including the work that Maz does with senior business leaders.  The starting point in any such gig is a 'boring audit' a concept that I love.  We discuss the fact that many professionals and leaders consciously make themselves less interesting  and tone themselves down in professional settings.  Whereas, the way to be most impactful is to be charismatic and interesting, Maz draws stories out of leaders. 

Drawing on the 10,000 plus interviews that she has conducted over her career Maz coaches leaders to be more impactful saying that when she first meets a person she knows from our attire how wealthy, educated and confident a person is.  We all make these judgements, and Maz teaches how to improve the way that you come across.  The other key components that she teaches are:

• Body language what does it say about you - do you smile, make eye content
• Content what you say
• Delivery how you deliver it?

We also discuss the fact that Covid19 'stay home and wear a mask' messaging isn't hitting the mark.  Maz talks me through the way that she's approach it: scary, called 'how to kill your friends', infrared - virus moving, then one little domino, very scary.  We recorded this during stage four lockdown in Melbourne, I'm a strong advocate of her suggestions; Dan and Brett if you're listening!

Katie Talks is hosted by Katie Bennett-Stenton, who you can find at @KatiebMarketing on Twitter or [email protected].

Disclaimer this podcast is a personal project, not associated with my professional role.

Back on the podcast is Richard Yetsenga Chief Economist and Head of Research at ANZ.  The first time I interviewed Richard turned out to be the last week that we were working in an office. 

I have been listening to a lot of Richard's commentary and analysis through the pandemic and I was keen to explore some of it in more detail.  We talk about inequality, technology, climate change and geopolitics - all of which are being particularly impacted by the pandemic.

We also cover the 20 minute suburb, social housing and the increasing influence of voters under 35.  We cover a lot of interesting ground, you'll be smarter at the end of the episode. 

Katie Talks is hosted by Katie Bennett-Stenton, who you can find at @KatiebMarketing on Twitter or [email protected].

*You can follow Richard at @ricyet.

Disclaimer this podcast is a personal project, not associated with my professional role.

In this Covid19 period of significant change, how we work and connect with each other, both within and outside our organisations, is critical to the success of the strategy. 

My guest today is Jon Burgess a thought leader in people advocacy and collaboration.  Jon is also a guest lecturer at Harvard Business School.  This podcast is a conversation about connectedness.  Jon's great passion is helping leaders and organisations to develop and maintain a competitive advantage through a deeper approach to relationship building. 

Since the world and business landscape have changed so dramatically, Jon has been engaged by organisations globally, who have started reinvesting in greater connectivity during, for post COVID, both within and outside their organisation.

Our podcast includes some additional expertise from Deloitte chairperson Tom Imbesi and Senior Deloitte Partner Grant Hyde. 

Grant. Partner Deloitte.         https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/profiles/grant-hyde.html 

Tom. Chairman Deloitte.       

https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/profiles/tom-imbesi.html

Jon. Founder, Kwan              

https://www.kwan.com.au/people

We examine blind spots and how an organisation determines that their leaders and teams have the connectedness required, with relevant people around them to deliver on the organisation’s strategy.

Katie Talks is hosted by Katie Bennett-Stenton, who you can find at @KatiebMarketing on Twitter or [email protected].

Disclaimer this podcast is a personal project, not associated with my professional role.

My guest today is Richard Yetsenga Chief Economist and Head of Research at ANZ Bank.  This was always going to be interesting, throw into the mix a slightly tumultuous global pandemic and voila you have a great conversation.

We discuss Richard’s approach* to using Twitter in terms of the way that he publishes and influences dialogue. It was also interesting to hear that Twitter has been a key source of information for him as Covid19 evolves at a rapid pace. Central to this discussion is the importance of trustworthy content and we talk in detail about this critical issue. 

The ability to stay informed about news across the globe is vital for Richard and it’s always interesting to hear how influential time poor people do this. We discuss ‘reading aggressively’ and his go to publications.

We also talk about the fact the Alanis Morissette has a lot to answer following a study that Richard describes which charts song lyrics from the 1990s to now show a steady move from focus on love to more around hate. Isn’t it ironic?! 

Katie Talks is hosted by Katie Bennett-Stenton, who you can find at @KatiebMarketing on Twitter or [email protected].

*You can follow Richard at @ricyet.

Disclaimer this podcast is a personal project, not associated with my professional role.