iThink - A Podcast All About Leadership

iTHINK is hosted by Melissa Brown and Crispin Blackall, series three is explores the importance of "Professional Networks" for your leadership career.  As with our previous series we will be interviewing a range of leaders from Academics to Founders, Corporate Executives to Scale Ups, Government and Public Service.Colin Lewis is a highly experienced Chief Marketing Officer who has worked all over the world for blue-chip brands as well as startups and NASDAQ quotes tech firms. He is a marketing coach and trainer in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Dubai. Clients include Unilever, Samsung, Kingfisher, Britvic, TK Maxx, Bayer, Oracle, Europcar, Facebook, Experian.Colin has also worked as well as eCommerce and is an adviser and active investor in eCommerce business. He ran his first eCommerce website - in 2006.He is the Author,Best Practice in eCommerce (54,000 word /160-page guide to the best in eCommerce today) and Digital Marketplaces Best Practice (30,000 words 100-page guide to Digital Marketplaces)Colin is the Founder and Programmer, DMX Dublin, Ireland's largest marketing conference in 2013 and is a Fellow of the Marketing Institute of Ireland.Colin has been a Marketing Week Magazine - writer & columnist - since 2015. Colin joins us from his home in Dublin.

iTHINK is hosted by Melissa Brown and Crispin Blackall, series two is asking the question "Do You Have a Start-Up In You?"  interviewing founders of startups small and large, leaders who have taken their business offshore and those that have stayed in Australia.  Beyond the founders we talk to advisors, accelerators, educators, marketers and funders.In this last episode for the series we talk to Omar Khalifa. Omar started his career as an engineer working with NASA at the Kennedy Space Centre on the Space Shuttle Program, he went on to work in Silicon Valley with Hewlett Packard and Apple.   And if that is not impressive enough he went work for The World Bank in Washington DC where he was working for the Global Environment Facility.    After that Omar also spent two years in Switzerland at the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Geneva. But it is Omar's contribution to innovation and the start up community that has been his passion in recent years.  For the last five years he has been CEO of iAccelerate a business accelerator and incubator that helps entrepreneurs take ideas and build successful companies. Omar talks about innovation, Silicon Valley, the challenges of COVID, the wealth of talent in Australia as well as the Indigenous Business Hub Yarpa and opportunities for start-ups in regional Australia.  This is an episode not to miss!Our next series is on networks and how they fit into leadership.

iTHINK is hosted by Melissa Brown and Crispin Blackall, series two is asking the question "Do You Have a Start-Up In You?"  interviewing founders of startups small and large, leaders who have taken their business offshore and those that have stayed in Australia.  Beyond the founders we talk to advisors, accelerators, educators, marketers and funders.In this episode we talk to Joanna Bloor.   Joanna is CEO and Founder of the Amplify Lab, she is on the board of Women Entrepreneurs Global and was a board member of Leading Women in Technology for 6 years.Joanna was at Pandora for 4 and half years as VP Sales Operations, overseeing its meteoric growth from $100m in revenue to over $1b in revenue.Her experience of working at the beginning of some of the biggest start ups of the Dotcom era make her a fascinating guest.  Please listen to hear how she describes the potential future you..

iTHINK is hosted by Melissa Brown and Crispin Blackall, series two is asking the question "Do You Have a Start-Up In You?"  interviewing founders of startups small and large, leaders who have taken their business offshore and those that have stayed in Australia.  Beyond the founders we talk to advisors, accelerators, educators, marketers and funders.In this episode we talk to Murray Hurps.   Murray launched his first startup Ad Muncher from his bedroom at the age of 16.  He grew the company substantially over 15 years before moving on to put his skill into developing the startup industry.  As CEO of Fishburners he helped establish Australia's largest startup community, growing it to over 750 desks for startup companies in Sydney, Brisbane and Shanghai.Murray broadened his commitment by leading the Westpac Accelerator Program (FUELD)  and then as Co-founder of Startup Muster.Today Murray is the Director of Entrepreneurship at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and he joined us from his home in Sydney.

iTHINK is hosted by Melissa Brown and Crispin Blackall, series two is asking the question "Do You Have a Start-Up In You?"  interviewing founders of startups small and large, leaders who have taken their business offshore and those that have stayed in Australia.  Beyond the founders we talk to advisors, accelerators, educators, marketers and funders.In this episode we meet Holly Cardew the founder of two start-ups PixC and Vop.    Holly who is based in San Francisco was recently back in Australia and talked to us about the gig economy, building and leading highly distributed virtual teams.  As well as the challenges and opportunities associated with building a start-up.

iTHINK is hosted by Melissa Brown and Crispin Blackall, series two is asking the question "Do You Have a Start-Up In You?"  interviewing founders of startups small and large, leaders who have taken their business offshore and those that have stayed in Australia.  Beyond the founders we talk to advisors, accelerators, educators, marketers and funders.In this episode we meet successful serial entrepreneurs Euan Prentice and Craig Joyce from Cyber Security Start-up Cythera.   Euan and Craig were two of the founders of another successful start-up O2 Networks which had a very successful exit when it sold in 2014 and now they are establishing a new exciting venture.  We talk to them about what they learned with O2 Networks and what they have changed this time around.

iTHINK is hosted by Melissa Brown and Crispin Blackall, series two is asking the question "Do You Have a Start Up In You?"  interviewing founders of startups small and large, leaders who have taken their business offshore and those that have stayed in Australia.  Beyond the founders we talk to advisors, accelerators, educators, marketers and funders.In this episode we talk to Maria MacNamara, Chief Executive Officer of Advance, Maria spent over 25 year working in the professional services sector before her transition to government and sparking her passion for innovation and start ups.She is an active participant in and supporter of the Australian innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.  Maria sits on the board of the Spark Festival, and the International Women's Forum (Australia). She is also a Voting Mentor for the Genesis program at the University of Sydney, a member of the Board of Advisors for Idea Spies, and an Advisory Council Member for the Future Minds Accelerator.  Maria is also the inaugural Convenor of the Australian Innovation Council.  She was recognised in the 2018 International Women's Day Showcase, was a nominee in the 2018 Women of Influence Awards and is the winner of the Startcon Australiasian Community Most Valuable Person Award in 2018.

iTHINK is hosted by Melissa Brown and Crispin Blackall, series two is asking the question "Do You Have a Start Up In You?"  interviewing founders of startups small and large, leaders who have taken their business offshore and those that have stayed in Australia.  Beyond the founders we talk to advisors, accelerators, educators, marketers and funders.In this episode we interview Mark Sherman, Joint Managing Director of Telstra Ventures, which is the largest Australian VC firm with offices in Australia, California and China.  Mark joins us from his home in Silicon Valley.Mark explains how the Venture Capital process works, what they look for when considering successful candidates to invest in.  He explains how to land a great VC pitch, what makes a Start Up a great candidate for growth and what attributes might have them concerned about investing.A must listen if you are a startup or interested in how startups are funded and scaled.

iTHINK - A Podcast All About Leadership is hosted by Melissa Brown and Crispin Blackall. In this special one-off episode Global Coach and Change Expert Vicki Townsley talks about leadership and the pandemic.Vicki Townsley is Director of Ethical Quest and a regular lecturer at the London Business School she joins the interview from her home in England.Our next series is 'Do You Have A Start Up In You' and will release on the 22nd October 2020.References:Amy Edmondson - The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and GrowthMegain Reitz - Speak Up: Say what needs to be said and hear what needs to be heardBrene Brown - Dare to leadYerkes Dodson Law - How anxiety affects performance (HBR)

iTHINK - A Podcast All About Leadership is hosted by Melissa Brown and Crispin Blackall. Series 1 explores the paths that executives and managers take when they choose to move into a non executive board career.In Episode 4 (the final for Series 1) we talk to Suzanne Ardagh and Kathy Townsend.Suzanne Ardagh FAICD is an experienced board director and also leads the board recruitment practice for executive and board search firm Lester Blades.  Previously she led the AICD International Division and WA Division.  She is on the board of the Cancer Council, Netball WA and Independent Chair of Stanley College.Kathy Townsend is also an experienced board director she has led executive and board search firm Kathleen Townsend Executive Solution for over 20 years and is on the board of  Pacific People, she is chair of Australian Volunteering International and also chair of the Victorian Magistrates Appointment Advisory Panel.This slightly longer episode closes out the first series providing a much richer understanding of the board role, what makes for a good board director, the risks associated with this career choice and lots more.

In this episode iTHINK hosts Melissa Brown and Crispin Blackall interview Phil Aiken about his significant experience on Australian and global boards.   Phil is on the board of Newcrest Mining and is Chair of industrial software company Aveva and British construction company Balfour Beatty.Phil talks about the transition from an executive career to a board career and what makes a good non executive director. 

iTHINK A Podcast All About Leadership is hosted by Melissa Brown and Crispin Blackall.   In this episode we continue to explore the career transition from an executive or management career to a non executive role. Our guest is highly experienced non executive director and chairman Doug Snedden who provides us insights into how he made the career transition and what he has learned along the way.  Doug has a significant and impressive portfolio career, he is Chairman of Isentia and Odyssey House McGrath Foundation, Chris O'Brien Lifehouse and a Non Executive Director of OFX, UXC, Frisk, OzForex, and a Director of the National Library of Australia.

"iThink - A Podcast All About Leadership is hosted by Crispin Blackall and Melissa Brown.In the first series we look at the journey professional leaders take as they transition between an executive career and a board role.Here in episode one we talk to two inspiring and very different leaders about their board careers. Sue O'Connor has had a distinguished executive and board career, Sue is non executive director at Mercer, Treasury Corporation Victoria, Kordia and ClimateWorks Australia and Chair at Yarra Valley Water and Bush Heritage Australia. Our second guest is Lisa Cook. Lisa is the founder and Managing Director at Get On Board Australia, she has held numerous board and advisory roles for Australian College of Professionals, Western Business Leaders and Inclusive Sport SA.