#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 Katie@bennett-stenton.com.

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 Katie@bennett-stenton.com. Disclaimer this podcast is a personal passion 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 Katie@bennett-stenton.com. 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 Katie@bennett-stenton.com. 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 Katie@bennett-stenton.com. Disclaimer this podcast is a personal project, not associated with my professional role.

My guest today is Bronwyn Bate - CEO and Founder of Mettle Women, a social entrepreneur turning empathy into action. This is a remarkable influencer story. As a (former) court reporter Bronwyn met lots of inspiring women but realised that when domestic violence victims don't have financial independence, 52% who have escaped dangerous situations return to the system. Bronwyn made good use of her communications background and recognised that an important mechanism for success would be to get women into work. And so harnessing the power of a conscious consumer, she founded Mettle Women Inc a social enterprise which creates sustainable employment paths for survivors of domestic and family violence. I came across Mettle on Twitter in the lead up to Christmas and loved the concept, including the fact that many of their products are made by small local Western Australian organisations. The ingenuity of Mettle Gifts has been recognised by Marie Claire magazine, whose April Australian edition will feature Bronwyn and her team. You can read more and shop at https://www.mettlegifts.com/ Katie Talks is hosted by Katie Bennett-Stenton, who you can find at @KatiebMarketing on twitter or Katie@bennett-stenton.com. Disclaimer this podcast is a personal project, not associated with my professional role.

This episode of #KatieTalks is an interview with organisational psychologist, aka Cultural Change Whisperer, Board Capability advisor and beekeeper Stella Voules. If you're interested in culture this is the podcast for you. We cover a range of fascinating topics including the way that leadership has evolved over the last decade, with a significant increase in access (to leaders) and transparency. Stella talks about how this started in Silicon Valley with a firm antiestablishment movement which can be witnessed well beyond the corporate world. We talk about how this as created a shift in power dynamics, with employees having more of a voice than ever before.We explore the opportunities in all this for leaders and employers, citing Edelman Trust Barometer findings that people trust their employer much more than government or the media. We hear why Stella is such a big fan of futurists and about highly innovative organisations that employ them, without a position description and give them three months to explore the organisation and determine where they can have the most impact! Another interesting topic is why when founding JOST, Stella and her business partner ignored advice that they appoint one CEO rather than both act as co-CEO, and why this is proving to be a highly successful approach. Hosted by Katie Bennett-Stenton, who you can find at @KatiebMarketing on twitter or Katie@bennett-stenton.com. Disclaimer this podcast is a personal project, not associated with my professional role.