Subtle Disruptors

Positive change is what John Chambers is enabling through his life's many aspects: start-ups; helping corporates innovate in a way that suits them best; working with people to help them grow; seeking ways to grow awareness and connection with Aboriginal Australians.

Nature can provide inspiration to many of us, but it’s been particularly significant to Naturepreneur, Ian Banyard, who been discovering how reconnecting with the natural world is key to saving both ourselves and our planet.

In many ways, this podcast series is about creating change in a way that is accessible to all of us, and which is aggregate has an amazing impact. This episode encapsulates this beautiful, both through the guest Athalia Zwartz, and the organisation she is part of, Initiatives of Change

There is something that we have forgotten. Something that came naturally to us when we were kids. Something that came naturally to our ancestors. Through carefully listening to ourselves and to others, we can find a way back to loving the earth again.

What happens when we slow down and write a letter? Not just to us in the act of writing it, but after posting it for the person who receives it? Melanie Knight creates settings where we can reconnect with analogue forms of communication, and rekindle our creativity.

Some of the best work I have ever done has been working in tandem with somebody I connect with, have values aligned with, and most of all have a lot of fun with. The two Adams have found this in each other, with it manifesting in an excellent podcast called 'What you will learn'.

How much of the best thinking we have to offer, and that others have to offer, is being missed by the environments we create for our discussions? Candice Smith embodies what it means to tap into our collective best thinking.

New models of organisation are emerging, where things like self-direction, autonomy, and bringing your whole self to work are highly valued and shown to bring rewards. Back In Motion Health Group is one of these organisations.

"The performer is a member of the group, who is nominated by the group, to stand up on behalf of the group and say something of value." Luke Hockley embodies these aspects of being a performer and curates moments that draw this out of others as well.

Conversations that gently help people have a realisation; sharing with others about your voting intentions; writing letters to local members of parliament: In themselves, they are not glamorous, they are not new, nor innovative. But they are the simple, difficult, actions that in aggregate can make a significant difference.

As he listens, Oscar enables the speaker to uncover meaning inside them they were previously unable to articulate. And he is on a mission to enable millions to interact in this way.

Lina Patel plays well with edges: between joy and ferocity; between what is permitted and what is possible; and between power and purpose.

Gilbert Rochecouste has played an enormous, behind the scenes role in shaping Melbourne to be the city it is today.

For forty years David Holmgren has been part of a worldwide movement of subtle disruption through co-originating permaculture. His latest book is a handbook on how to apply permaculture principles to the living arrangements most of us occupy today: suburbia.

Garry Williams has navigated his way out of the corporate world, through General Assembly, Inspire9, FuckUp Nights Melbourne, and now working to help nurture Melbourne's innovation community at the University of Melbourne.

Women are becoming the dominant driving force of many economies. From education, to salaries, to being the decision maker on purchase: women are turning the tables. But business is slow to catch on, with many brands still connecting to the masculine over the feminine. Bec Brideson is helping to correct this.

Stories of impending doom can have a numbing and resigning impact. But there are changes we can all make that will not only help create a movement that averts environmental crisis, but can enable us to live more connected, flourishing and well lives.

Most organisations have a mission statement, vision statement, values, and now even a purpose. But as useful as they are in setting the direction of an organisation, they can be very difficult to recall without having them in front of you. They tend to become dry bits of information in and of themselves, but when brought together with a relevant story they become full of life and meaning.

There is a gender imbalance amount female entrepreneurs and business founders. One Roof is a coworking community designed specifically to help correct this, designed with intentionality to meet the needs of women in business leadership.

Kyrstie's book, Grow Just One Thing, is a perfect way to describe subtle disruption. If we are able to make one small change, the benefits of that change can be disproportionate to the change, and enable us to bring many other positive things into our lives. Kyrstie's way of doing this is to encourage all of us to start growing one thing in our garden or house.

Leather tanning is an ancient craft, which uses ancient tools and is embedded with ancient rituals and wisdom. Josh McLean is one of the people around the world preserving tanning, and using it as a way to help us reconnect with who we are.

In an age where we are told that technology is helping us connect in one way, and disconnect in another, The Good Karma network is helping neighbours connect in person, and help each other, using tech tools accessible to all of us.

Will probably has many audacious goals, but two that I know about are to travel to Mars, and to make a quality alternative education financially accessible to the masses, which he is currently doing through the Fitzroy Academy.

Rachel is embodying many of the themes running through this show: abundant living with frugality; connecting with other whole-heartedly; work on and with nature; and focusing on personal wellbeing.

Xian Han has decided to take on the momentous trend of ever increasing personalisation we all experience in our digital world. She has founded Refni, a start-up aimed to help people become aware of, and expand the boundaries of, their filter bubble.

Stepping into the workplace of Nathan Loutit is like stepping into the future: 3D printers everywhere; walls with which you can touch and move images around. The future is happening now, and the Centre for Design Innovation and Swinburne is helping industry to harness it.

Jaddan Comerford created the Unified record label over 15 years ago, around the time of the plunge in the music industry. Over that time he has helped shape an organisation that puts people at the centre of its every aspect.

Matt Devine and his family are living off-grid in a way that enables them to connect to the land, connect with each, and become net contributors to this ecosystem we are all part of.

Are the restrictions on expression, and involvement in activities outside of work, actually good for the organisations that impose them, or the people that are part of them? Ruby Lee thinks not, and is a living example of how removing them can help both individuals and organisations flourish.

Penny Locaso is on a mission to help 1 million women find happiness in life and work.

This family's way of living is an intentional response to the context the find themselves in. A context where technology is seen as saviour and Earth as foe. Where things like slowing down, reusing, and connecting to land are inferior to doing more, buying more, and putting distance between us and the dirt.

Eddie stopped me in my intellectual tracks: he was right...as I observed my words time was the topic I seem to talk the most about. And here he was telling me that reconceiving and redesigning time was within my power.

Special things can happen when we tell stories. Why do they seem to be prohibited from the workplace? A first hand experience of the power of story telling within the NAB planted the seed for a new career for this week's guest.

Although he followed a path of personal and spiritual development my guest for this week found that something was still missing. Something that only seemed to open up to him through the assistance of the Sharmantic and consciousness expanding plants.

Achievement through work was the only concept of success and joy that Rachel Service had. Burning out, and some compassionate friends, helped her to see the myriad of other ways she could experience joy in her life. Something she now helps others see as well.

The impression of Samuel Alexander that lingers most is his empathy for our planet and his fellow humans, his willingness to challenge what it means to flourish as a human, and the alignment of what he talks and writes about with the way he lives.

Caitlyn has a way of taking things that can be awkward, inaccessible and intangible, and making them safe, fun and empowering. Crucial when it comes to talking about mindfulness and play and sexuality.

Barry is one of the people that has helped open my eyes to the joy, wonder, and possibility of following my curiosity and being open to whatever the outcomes may be. His practice of this is through experimentation with the letter forms of the Latin alphabet, something he started doing 10 years ago and has now developed over 100 alphabets.

This century it is estimated there will be 1 billion tobacco related deaths globally. Many of us unknowingly support this through the investment of our superannuation in tobacco related industries. Dr Bronwyn King is going about denormalising this practise.

Can the world of financial planning be subtly disrupted? Corey Wastle and Verse Wealth do just this by getting underneath the spreadsheets and numbers and starting with asking why.

There is nothing about the way Summer lives that takes as accepted the status quo. From working on three projects concurrently, to empowering mothers to find flexibility and responsibility in their work, and to writing about bringing slowness and sustainability to fashion, Summer is the epitome of a subtle disruptor.

Its easy to critique a system from the sidelines without knowing too much about it. But what about really understanding that system, and then finding ways to use the system for good? This is the work of Andrew Macleod.

While simple in the steps that need to be followed, leaving the familiar confines of the corporate world is not typically an easy task. And once the move has been made, there are some many potential voices to listen to about what to do next. How to filter out the noise?

The feather, the brick or the steam-train. Life seems to give us progressively more obvious hints that something needs to change. Often it isn't until the crisis that we see the opportunity.

Jess had one of those moments when a question asked of her challenged fundamental aspects of the way she was living.

Creating ideas that spark conversations, and moving from conversations to meaningful change: The subtle disruption of the creative agency.

As I start releasing new episodes for 2017, I discuss what I have been pondering over my three month break and the two questions that will shaping the podcast this year.

The themes and learnings that emerged from year one of Subtle Disruptors.

There are options for spending well over the holiday seasons - spending so that you get something that benefits not just the person you are buying for, but others in need as a positive social by-product. Cliff Moss talks about The Good Xmas Trail, a social enterprise helping promote other social enterprises this Xmas.

There are obvious problems to the economic system we have created for ourselves, but no obvious solutions. Jodie has created a platform to enable a sharing economy, a system she sees as one they could help us transition from what we have now to something more inclusive and connecting.

N'fa Jones helped bring hip-hop to the mainstream in Australia. Now, with the same gentleness and assurance with which he create music, he helps lift the eyes and spirit of those he serves at his Northcote cafe.