A warning that is episode mentions some themes that may not be suitable for all listeners. If you’re in Australia and experiencing domestic violence or need to speak to a counsellor, please contact 1800 737 732.

As the winner of AHIA’s Australia's Best Eco Salon in 2020 & 2021, sustainability and low-tox living is a huge passion for Tenille Lawrence. She is a multi-award-winning hair stylist that has been fortunate enough to travel the world as a global hair educator for over 15 years. 

 

While spending years styling hair at runway shows, fashion week events, and magazine shoots was an incredibly fun and exciting lifestyle, this mum of four slowly started feeling sick, stressed, and run down. Tenille was told that during three out of four pregnancies she had developed chemical poisoning from being exposed to harsh chemicals over the years in the hair industry.

 

Tenille’s experience with chemical poisoning motivated her to follow her heart and build the business on sustainable, eco-friendly and vegan ethos, free from harsh chemicals and nasty ingredients while still creating gorgeous hair. She set up the salon and decked it out with upcycled furniture and plants to give it an elective look and feel. A concept that was very popular with the community and environmentally conscious locals and quickly grew into a seven-figure business with 30 staff and another 3 QLD-based salons in a matter of a couple of years. 

 

In addition to this, seven years ago Tenille had to file for bankruptcy after leaving a domestic violence relationship, and this inspired her to set up a hair salon from home to be able to pay off her debts. This small salon in her garage quickly snowballed with people knocking on her door saying that “A little birdie told me you’re a hairdresser” and she quickly got busier and managed to open up her first Brisbane-based salon, called Little Birdie Hair Co, in a large warehouse. 

 

Tenille is now a spokesperson for sustainability within the hair industry, and she is passionate about the local community and making sure victims of domestic violence are supported in the workplace, being the first hair salon in Australia to work towards getting a White Ribbon Accreditation. 

 

We discuss:

 1. What parts of hairdressing have the most toxins and how easily can these items be replaced for less toxic options? Please give us some common examples – from hair colour to even the things like the tools you use.
 2. How long were you working in hairdressing before your started to feel unwell from being exposed to chemicals?
 3. What are some of the short- and longer-term health problems these exposures can create and how prevalent is that these days?
 4. Do clients need to be as aware of this when they visit a salon or products we use at home?
 5. What are the main challenges to making a hair salon successful in 2022 and how do you tackle these?
 6. Where else can the salon sector help protect its people better?
 7. Takeaway: What is your final takeaway message for us on The Politics of Salons?

 

CONTACT INFO:

LinkedIn: (48) Tenille Lawrence | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/tenille-lawrence-06aa70233/?trk=public_profile_browsemap&originalSubdomain=au]

Website: Little Birdie Hair Co - Australia's Best Eco Salon [https://www.littlebirdiehairco.com/]

163: The Politics of Salons - Tenille Lawrence

Mentoring can change your life and your career if done right. One of my standard guest questions asks who their #1 mentor has been and their impact. Most of my formal mentors have been local, as in the same city or at least country ad global mentorship has been limited perhaps by staid ideas of commonality, access and relevance in decades gone by.

Today I chat to Sahera Sumar, the Founder of a social enterprise (profit for purpose) called Worldwide SHEroes or WWS. It focuses on leadership capacity building, by empowering women of diversity and disadvantage to rise to their leadership potential. Their global mission is to support women to achieve economic equity and inclusive leadership and to measure our impact using the UN Sustainable Developmental Goals. In Sahera’s words, this is not your mainstream women’s mentorship program.  They provide mentorship through global mentors within 10 Industry categories, connecting women in the developed world, with women who are from emerging economies.  These Mentors are senior women in C-suite, or senior mgt roles who are passionately working with aspiring / emerging leaders from countries such as Egypt, Syria. Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Tajikistan and many more. Their mentees come from international developmental agencies such as Aga Khan Foundation, HOST International and Migrant Resource Centers.

The global vision is for WWS to grow, establish meaningful and aligned partnerships so they can fully digitize our platform; strengthen our learning and development programs and build a greater awareness.

She is drawing upon her own many years of global corporate experience in talent and leadership development to strengthen leadership capability for international development projects and capacity building projects. She Sahera utilises neuro-leadership, positive psychology, and values-based leadership to develop emotionally intelligent leaders and a well-being culture. Inclusive mentorship and a global vision is what has resulted.

We discuss:

 1. What are the main ways the way we access leadership development changed in your experience?
 2. How exactly does global mentorship work best at a practical and impact level from your experience?
 3. What led you to form SHEroes and why focus on female leaders only?
 4. SHEroes recently celebrated its first birthday, and you now have 550+hours of mentoring under your belt, 60+ mentors and working in 35 countries. How do you plan to expand your reach into new geographies, industries and to begin working with First Nations Women globally.
 5. Take away: What is your final takeaway message for us on The Politics of Global Mentors?

 

CONTACT INFO:

LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/saherasumar

W: https://www.worldwidesheroes.com [https://www.worldwidesheroes.com/]

162: The Politics of Global Mentors - Sahera Sumar

Customer service is everything for most businesses that last the distance. Our customer loyalty to a brand or business leader can be shaped by our experiences every day and sometimes our feedback is heard, noted, and more importantly positively acted upon, and sometimes, well it is not and the results can mean the end of the road for that business if that is a recurrent theme. After all there is always another airline to fly, another makeup brand to use or another car we COULD buy.

My guest today is Winston Tu, the Founder and CEO of Luxo Living, Australia’s leading online boutique furniture store. A trailblazer in the e-commerce sector, Winston has been selling products online since 1999, before the arrival of Ebay in Australia. Winston was an early facilitator of ground-breaking customer-service tools including built-in shipping platforms, which saw Luxo Living save over $300,000 within the first year.

As he commemorates 21 years at the helm, Winston has grown Luxo Living into a leading online retailer that boasts an annual turnover of $22million. Luxo Living offers impeccably made, comfortable home styling pieces at an attractive price point.

 

The brand has used its customer complaints as avenues to pinpoint areas of growth, allowing it to compete against top brand names within the Australian market such as Amazon, Catch.com.au and Temple & Webster.

 

We discuss:

 1. Customer feedback and customer service are interlinked – what is your view of each as a valuable way to manage your business (or essentially any business)?
 2. Is the customer always right?

 1. Customer complaints can offer ways to unravel pain points and make some decisions faster such as what stock to carry or delete and also how to do better for more customers. With online sales now such a mainstay for many products and services, is that harder or easier than ever?
 2. What systems are needed for excellent customer feedback to actually drive change?
 3. Take away: What is your final takeaway message for us on The Politics of Customer Feedback?

 

CONTACT INFO:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/winston-tu-26a0353b/?originalSubdomain=au

W: https://www.luxoliving.com.au/

 

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161: The Politics of Customer Feedback - Winston Tu

Shyness is something we rarely talk about let alone elevate in our loud, often brash, TikTok-fuelled all singing and dancing world.

Meet Melbourne-based Kaley Chu, the founder of 100 Lunches with Strangers, a movement she founded off the back of her best-selling book of the same name where Kaley shared her journey from a shy immigrant to a confident TEDx Speaker in just 2 years by getting out of her comfort zone and arranging 100 lunches with complete strangers.

When COVID hit she turned virtual and has arranged over 350 lunches with strangers (ranging from CEOs, billionaires and even celebrities like Shane Jacobson), and now works with others to help build their confidence, grow their network and unleash their potential.

Kaley has spoken at over 200 events, both in-person and virtual, over the last 3 years to spread positive energy and help others grow and connect. She’s also created two strong communities with over 4,000 members combined, with weekly events to help people connect and grow. (One targeted at personal development and the other supporting Asians in Australia). Kaley is in her 30’s, happily married and a proud mum of two boys.

Kaley shares in this podcast her responses to:

 1. Shyness is the tendency to feel awkward, worried, or tense during social encounters, especially with unfamiliar people. Is it a superpower because it can help us get prepared in a way, or something that we need to “fix” to succeed in careers, business and personally? Explain with some examples.
 2. Do you think shyness is cultural or in our DNA somehow? Share your view and why.
 3. For someone shy how do you convince yourself to meet 100 strangers for lunch? What did that teach you?
 4. Has your experiment meant you are now longer shy?
 5. Take away: What is your final takeaway message for us on The Politics of Shyness?

 

To connect (and maybe have lunch!) with Kaley go to:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaleychu/?originalSubdomain=au

Website: https://www.kaleychu.com/

160: The Politics of Shyness - Kaley Chu 

Workplace wellbeing matters more than ever, as people from all sectors are making health-led decisions that are more valuable perhaps than power, money and status.

Having experienced her own life-changing burnout, Sally describes herself as a Burnout Survivor now Thriver, her own journey to recovery inspired her health coaching practice, Health that Heals. Sally McGrath has not one experience with burnout but three. She beat each round and remains so far.

Sally has a lifelong passion for health and wellbeing and has guided and supported individuals and teams to treat burnout and prevent burning out, sharing resources that empower the individual to identify what needs to change to reduce the risk of burnout. Sally also shares strategies that support "mental health hygiene", something that can be ignored when a person is experiencing the spiral into burnout. 

Sally has combined her 30-plus years of managing and training teams with her preventative health beliefs & expertise to deliver sustainable workplace wellbeing programs that engage and empower individuals. Sally also coaches burnt-out self-employed and professional women, to restore their joy, energy, and focus for work and life. Sally is a published author of the book Health that Heals, Transform Your Life Before It's Too Late and is a graduate of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, in New York.

Sally's joy comes from empowering individuals and teams to create what she terms "work and life in synergy".

We cover off:
 1. Burnout treatment and prevention is what you talk a lot about on social media and in your work. How much is burnout about our workplace vs our greater lives outside what we do for money?
 2. I like your email signature that says:” Experiencing Burnout isn’t a reflection of your personal worthiness. It’s a culture that encourages people to put work ahead of their personal needs. What has been your experience with managing your wellbeing long term as a businesswoman?
 3. Workplace wellbeing has changed a lot over the years. Staff post-Covid restrictions, many seem to have empowered themselves more than ever – through quite quitting and resigning from workplaces they aren’t happy in or determining hybrid work arrangements before the boss offers them. How has that been facilitated do you think and will it last? Explain your view.
 4. What types of modern workplaces doing well overall when it comes to managing stress, fatigue, burnout and unhealthy habits, and are there a few examples of truly innovative workplaces that have made wellbeing #1 goal, and how. Must be more than leaving work early on a Friday or free yoga classes at lunch!
 5. Takeaway: What is your final takeaway message for us on The Politics of Workplace Wellbeing?

 

Contact details:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallymcgrath/

Website: www.healththatheals.com.au [http://www.healththatheals.com.au/]

159: The Politics of Workplace Wellbeing - Sally McGrath

Tel K. Ganesan is a self-made serial entrepreneur, engaging public speaker, philanthropist, mentor, film producer, and world traveller with a globally recognized reputation across multiple industries. He currently serves as Founder/CEO of multiple thriving enterprises, including Kyyba, Inc. - a Michigan-headquartered global IT company with over 700 employees and millions in annual revenue - Kyyba Films, Kyyba Wellness, Kyyba Innovations, Kyyba Fashions, and Kyyba Music. Infectious enthusiasm and courageous determination power his drive to do what others are afraid to do as he blazes a trail for the next generation of entrepreneurs with a simple secret to success: do what makes you happy. Ganesan earned a Mechanical Engineering degree from Wayne State University before getting his start at the Chrysler Corporation. Over 13 years, he earned multiple awards and promotions in manufacturing and product development. The desire to make a bigger impact and build something of his own then took Ganesan in the direction of entrepreneurship with the establishment of Kyyba, Inc. Ganesan is fuelled by a belief that entrepreneurs make the world a better place for everyone, founding TiECon Detroit - the largest entrepreneurial conference in Michigan. Today, TiE boasts over 56 chapters in at least 13 countries, with a specific focus on supporting women in male-dominated industries such as manufacturing, automotive, and financial services. Additionally, the Kyyba Kidz Foundation uplifts underprivileged women and orphans, providing vital education, skills, and on-the-job training opportunities.

Over a 30-year career, Ganesan’s ground-breaking work has earned him consistent national recognition, including: Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year finalist (2012, 2013, 2014) and a place among D Business Magazine’s “Detroit 500” most powerful business leaders. On any given weekday morning, Ganesan can be found in deep meditation and yoga poses before heading into his business ventures. He actively “levels up his comfort zone” with tennis, kayaking, and traveling to new places. After everything he has worked hard to achieve, Ganesan is still convinced that his biggest potential is yet to be realized, and he works hard daily to push the limits of what’s possible synonymous with the tagline of Kyyba, make impossible, possible.

We discuss:

 1. The term ‘comfort zone’ is firmly embedded in our everyday cultural discourse – say the metaphor of ‘leaving one’s comfort zone’ became popular in the 1990s, coined by management thinker Judith Bardwick in her 1991 work Danger in the Comfort Zone: How do you define a comfort zone and surely it varies depending on your risk appetite? Please explain your view and why.
 2. Within the comfort zone, there isn’t much incentive for people to reach new heights of performance. It’s here that people go about routines devoid of risk, causing their progress to plateau. Is that always a bad thing?

 1. Can you enhance your own sense of comfort zones and how do you push that beyond your basic level of comfort?
 2. How can we make the impossible seem possible and still remain balanced in how we live our lives and not say burnout?
 3. Take away: What is your final takeaway message for us on The Politics of Comfort Zones?

 

Connect via @TelKGanesan

www.TelKGanesan.com [http://www.TelKGanesan.com] www.Kyyba.com [http://www.Kyyba.com]

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158: The Politics of Comfort Zones - Tel K. Ganesan

Steve Hui was one of my early guests on this podcast back in 2018. How our experience of business, life, and travel has changed in four years. I wanted to invite Steve back as a refresher of how our experience as a society has evolved, for better or worse maybe, in a world battered by Covid19 and all the border closure pain that has plagued the airline sector. Airlines are posting record losses as we enter year three of the pandemic but also, lost experienced staff due to layoffs and restructures. Many of us just want to fly and not expect extensive airport delays or endless flight changes to do so.

A recap of who is Steve is probably in order. For over 17 years, Steve applied his skills solving complex problems in senior finance roles in corporations including Macquarie Bank but made the brave move to leave the corporate world to start his own business inspired by his innovative thinking, his passion for travel and a burning desire to optimise things. Steve is a CPA and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales.

Then a new business idea evolved. It all started when he flew for the very first time in business class over 14 years ago on a business trip, and he was hooked. Since then, he has religiously researched and tested his knowledge in extracting the best ways to maximise the points to fly (and ideally fly business class).

Established in 2012, iFLYflat is the leader in reward points management. They are the experts in Points Advice and Flight Bookings. iFLYflat provides a fully managed service helping businesses and individuals to uncover the true value of their airline and credit card points.

So let’s explore what that looks like in late 2022 including:

 1. How did iFLYflat survive and maybe even thrive in the past few years when the pandemic changed travel in many ways for a very long time?
 2. How have flyer points programs you work with changed and is that better or worse for most travellers?
 3. How can we maximise our flyer points if we travel less now that say Zoom meetings replaced a lot of business travel in particular?
 4. How else have reward programs had to create more value that we may not be aware of?
 5. Take away: What is your final takeaway message for us on The NEW Politics of Flyer Points?

 

CONTACT INFO:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/uas/login-submit

W: https://www.iflyflat.com.au/

 

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For everyone that signs up for the Pro Plan or higher, you will be receiving $10 for every month they stay on past the 14-day trial period, maximum of $30 if they stay on for at least 3 months on the Pro Plan.

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157: The NEW Politics of Flyer Points - Steve Hui

Sustainable architecture is also referred to as green architecture or environmental architecture. It challenges architects to produce smart designs and use available technologies to ensure that structures generate minimal harmful effects to the ecosystem and the communities. And with a world in the midst of climate change emergency, it has a big role to play. However, it no doubt has it challenges such as cost and accessibility.

To find out I am speaking to Ninotschka Titchkosky, an architect who has more than 25 years' experience leading major architectural projects, and developing innovation and research opportunities working with architects, academics and industry partners.

She co-CEO of BVN Architecture where she steers the firm’s research into robotics and digital fabrication. She wants to realize smarter and more creative solutions that are better for the planet, especially by using robotics, advanced technologies and new materials. Ninotschka is passionate about the role architects play in shaping our interactions, communities and cities. She is a whole systems thinker and approaches a brief from unique angles resulting in award-winning design.

Ninotschka is also co-leading the design of one of Sydney’s most famed projects, Atlassian’s future headquarters at Central Station. This low-carbon project will be the tallest hybrid timber building in the world at 40 stories. She is a commissioner on the Commission for the Future of Sydney CBD, which is tasked with examining the changing nature of the city in a post COVID-19 world.

We discuss:

 1. Decarbonization is a big deal. Explain how much waste there is in traditional building processes and how that contributes to climate change?
 2. How do you define sustainable architecture and why does it matter? Is it more than 7-star energy ratings and why?
 3. What role does 3D printing play in future architecture? Maybe this is something that can work for developing nations as well?
 4. Robotics are also important in sustainable architecture – give us an idea of what role they play.
 5. The new $1.4 billion Atlassian office building in Sydney is one of your high-profile projects. What makes that building so unique?
 6. Takeaway: What is your final takeaway message for us on The Politics of Sustainable Architecture?

 

CONTACT INFO:

LinkedIn: (42) Ninotschka Titchkosky | LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninotschka-titchkosky-0565774/?originalSubdomain=au]

W: BVN [https://www.bvn.com.au/]

 

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I love Zencastr for all my podcast recordings.

For everyone that signs up for the Pro Plan or higher, you will be receiving $10 for every month they stay on past the 14-day trial period, a maximum of $30 if they stay on for at least 3 months on the Pro Plan.

To use your code, go to this pricing page [https://zencastr.com/pricing] and enter promo code - thepoliticsofeverything at the Coupon Code field found underneath the individual plans.

156: The Politics of Sustainable Architecture - Ninotschka Titchkosky

JUST A LISTENER WARNING THIS EPISODE CONTAINS REFERENCES TO DRUG ADDICTION AND MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AUDIENCES.

Everyone loves a comeback story. From the late Steve Jobs being fired from Apple the company he started and then returned and then launching iconic products like the iPhone to basketball GOAT Michael Jordan coming out of retirement to lead the Chicago Bulls to championship glory not once but three times.

 

There is something magical, inspirational, and remarkable about any underdog coming from behind to knock down Goliath and become an icon.

 

My guest today has the classic comeback story that involves struggles, personal demons, and corporate glory, then failure and today an ultimate success.

 

Sean Castrina is a serial entrepreneur, speaker and author, He is the Founder of The Weekend MBA and host of The 10 Minute Entrepreneur Podcast a top 10 entrepreneurship podcast as well as the author of 4 bestselling books. He has been featured in Forbes, Inc. Money Magazine as well as an Instagram account with over 300k followers.

 

We discuss:

 

 1. How did your addition to prescription medication become your secret weapon when it comes to business?
 2. You have gone from a dream job to bankrupt and now a millionaire. How did that transpire?
 3. What does a comeback really involve and is it something we can all maybe also achieve? A few examples, please.
 4. What is in your business planning that you rate as vital, especially in the volatile start-up world?
 5. Take away: What is your final takeaway message for us on The Politics of Comebacks?

 

To connect with Sean:

W: https://seancastrina.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seancastrina/

155: The Politics of Comebacks - Sean Castrina 

Anyone of my vintage growing up in the 80s and 90s knows my guest today, Alison Brahe. As a teen who wanted a career in journalism, I consumed magazines like oxygen. Alison was the epitome a Dolly magazine cover girl everyone wanted to be. Even as I posted on my socials, I was speaking to Alison today childhood friends instantly messaged me in excitement and gushing recollections of how much they recall loving Alison Brahe. She was fresh faced and golden skinned with a naturally beautiful smile. Alison was as well-known as Aussie supermodel Elle Macpherson and was on covers everywhere.

Better still was that she fell in love with and married another Australian icon, former model, singer and actor Cameron Daddo in their early 20s and are together today.

The recap on her story is this. Alison Brahe began working as a model at 16 years old. She was an instant hit in both the magazine and commercial worlds and soon found herself in demand in Australia, London and Tokyo.

Big name clients like Coca Cola and Speedo came calling, as well titles like Cosmopolitan, Cleo and Dolly. In 1992, she graced the cover of Dolly seven times and in Cleo was voted among the "Top Most Influential Women of the Century" by its readers.  Alison was the face of Portmans through their most successful period and later became the face of the Jacqui E clothing label. In the 90's Alison became the host of one of Australia's most enduring and successful children's television programs, Here's Humphrey. She went on to host her own afternoon show for the NINE Network, Guess What?

Then Alison and Cameron moved to Los Angeles in 1992. It came as a shock to Alison's management when one day she walked away from lucrative modeling and acting career to follow her heart. In 2013, she achieved her degree from UCLA in Early Childhood and embarked on a successful career in childcare. Alison returned with her family to Australia in 2016 to spend time with her parents and unite her children with her homeland. She still teaches and has created a popular podcast called "Separate Bathrooms" with her husband and produced by Nova Entertainment.

Now in her 50s, Alison has experienced a lot of the changes every woman of a certain age does. Menopause. She wrote a book ‘Queen Menopause’ in fact. For a very long-time menopause was treated like a deeply hidden secret – my own mother barely talked about it in the company although she suffered through symptoms for a long time while working, raising me, and just trying to navigate life.

Hear from Alison on:

 1. Do you recall when you started to feel “the change” and how you managed it day to day?
 2. Communication is key when it comes to managing menopause – like all life matters really. You recommend choosing a time when you’re in a good headspace to share with your partner what you’re feeling. This can be hard for some of us independent types. Any examples of how you have done this successfully?
 3. Did you get help from a GP ad what did that look like in terms of treatment options?
 4. When was the turning point for you to want to make menopause a cause and even a book? A short story of how you wrote the book and what made you think it was something worthwhile?
 5. Take away: What is your final takeaway message for us on The Politics of Menopause?

 

CONTACT INFO:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alidaddo/?hl=en

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154: The Politics of Menopause - Alison Brahe-Daddo

A weekly podcast series asking newsworthy experts and leaders the tricky
questions about the politics of everything that matters to mankind in the 21st
century. Host Amber Daines is a former journalist turned media trainer, speaker,
and author who is also devoted to raising her young family.

The Politics of Everything