The Inner Chief

“When you start paying attention in a handshake, it actually tells you something about the general openness and willingness to trust, even momentarily.”

In this Best of Series episode of The Inner Chief podcast, we feature Isabelle Nüssli, author of the book, “Cockfighting” on the CEO-Chairperson relationship and overcoming the drivers of conflict.

🎧👉 chiefmaker.com/321 👂

DOWNLOAD THE CHIEF MAKER OPERATING RHYTHM HOW TO GUIDE AND PUT YOUR VISION AND MISSION INTO ACTION FAST: chiefmaker.com/operatingrhythm

I interviewed Isabelle for this podcast in 2018. She is the former US CFO and chairperson of the NUSSLI Group, a leading international provider of portable and permanent infrastructures for sport and cultural events like the Olympics. They built the iconic Bondi Beach Volleyball Stadium at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and have been involved in FIFA World Cups.

Isabelle is the author of the Amazon bestselling book “Cockfighting: Solving the Mystery of Unconscious Sabotage at the Top of the Corporate Pyramid“ and “Beyond Corporate Governance”.

Drawing on the latest research and interviews with more than 70 chairpersons and CEOs, Cockfighting presents Isabelle's findings on the conscious and unconscious drivers of conflict, and provides invaluable tools for overcoming differences.

Isabelle has an MBA from Kellogg School of Management and she also sits on a number of Boards, including as Chairwoman of the European chapter of the Chief Executives Organization.

In this episode we talk about:

✅ The sheer simplicity and beauty of a handshake, but why you still need a contract

✅ That doubting yourself is absolutely normal, and how to use these thoughts productively

✅ The contradictions of power and its relationship with your actions, and

✅ How she developed the Chairperson-CEO Collaboration Contract to build trust.

Deal hope,

Greg

You can reach Isabelle on LinkedIn.

• Cockfighting - by Isabelle Nüssli
• Beyond Corporate Governance - by Isabelle Nüssli

📝 Subscribe to the Finish Strong monthly newsletter and podcast drops

🎧 Subscribe to The Inner Chief Podcast on your favourite app

👍 Follow Chief Maker on LinkedIn

🍏 Give The Inner Chief podcast a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts

🎵 Give The Inner Chief podcast a 5-star rating on Spotify

🎬 Subscribe to the Chief Maker YouTube channel

🤝 Connect with the Chief Maker

“You are best defined by what you say no to.”

In this episode of The Inner Chief podcast, I speak to Juliette Wright OAM, Founder and Director of GIVIT and Recovere, on revolutionising misguided charitable giving, having a million conversations, and leaning into anxiety.

🎧👉 chiefmaker.com/330 👂

DOWNLOAD THE CHIEF MAKER GUIDE FOR SENIOR LEADERS ON HOW TO HAVE DIFFICULT PERFORMANCE CONVERSATIONS: chiefmaker.com/difficult

Juliette is an Australian social entrepreneur who has devoted herself to alleviating poverty and addressing crises since founding GIVIT in 2009.

What started as a simple desire to donate baby clothes evolved into the creation of a groundbreaking world-first platform that offers efficient and effective disaster relief across Australia.

Under Juliette’s leadership, GIVIT grew into one of the country’s largest and most successful donation platforms, garnering endorsements from government bodies and facilitating over 8.5 million donations and supporting over 4,500 non-profit organisations nationally during crises and disasters.

Juliette's experience in developing innovative IT platforms, navigating stakeholder and government relations and managing rapid growth, positions her uniquely in her current role as CEO of Recovere, a social enterprise that supports international communities to manage donations post-crisis.

Juliette has been recognised with numerous awards, including being named an Australian of the Year Local Hero in 2015 and receiving the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2019.

In this episode we talk about:

✅ The origins of GIVIT, which was born out of addressing the negative side of donations

✅ How she handles the “million conversations” rule of social enterprises and getting past bureaucracy

✅ Why and how she leans into anxiety in order to be happy, and

✅ Her new role with Recovere and solving the biggest headache in disaster events.

Thanks to former guest, Natalie Cook OAM OLY, for introducing me to Juliette.

Deal hope,

Greg

You can connect with Juliette via LinkedIn.

• Shoe Dog - by Phil Knight

• Rochelle Courtenay, Founder of Share the Dignity on Leading volunteer armies, witnessing female trauma inside prison, and eradicating period poverty
• Casey Lyons, Co-Founder and CEO, LIVIN on The rollercoaster of grief, being not weak to speak, and practising self-care
• Hetty Johnston AM, Former CEO of Bravehearts on Passion, resilience and negotiating with Prime Ministers

📝 Subscribe to the Finish Strong monthly newsletter and podcast drops

👍 Follow Chief Maker on LinkedIn

📈 Join the waitlist for the Chief Maker MiniMBA

🎓 Take one of the Chief Maker Academy courses

🍏 Give The Inner Chief podcast a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts

🎵 Give The Inner Chief podcast a 5-star rating on Spotify

🎬 Subscribe to the Chief Maker YouTube channel

🤝 Connect with the Chief Maker

“The reason you want to build a model is because people have all these assumptions that aren't actually true.”

This is a special episode only available to our podcast subscribers, which we call The Mini Chief. These are short, sharp highlights from our fabulous CEO guests, where you get a 5 to 10 minute snapshot from their full episode.

In this edition of the Mini Chief we feature a snippet from our Best of Series with the Chief Science Officer of ACSILabs, Dr Lia DiBello Ph.D.

Her full episode is titled Debunking the 10,000 hour mastery rule through accelerated learning, and how this will drastically improve business outcomes.

You can find the full audio and show notes here:

🎧👉 chiefmaker.com/318 👂

GET THE FREE CHIEF MAKER TOP 30 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS: chiefmaker.com/interview

I interviewed Lia for this podcast in 2018, when she was the President and CEO of WTRI, an organisation that builds cutting-edge cognitive science into products that can improve performance in business. Currently, she is the Chief Science Officer for ACSILabs.

She has developed many innovative non-verbal methods of assessing skill and business judgement among executives, such as the FutureViewTM Profiler, which has been recognised as a theoretical and methodological breakthrough in executive intelligence.

Lia is best known for the development of an activity-based “strategic rehearsal” that has been shown to greatly accelerate learning through cognitive reorganisation, in some cases by several months.

She received her Ph.D in cognitive psychology at CUNY Graduate School in New York, and her work at WTRI has attracted 17 research funding awards from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and The Russell Sage Foundation.

In the full episode we talk about:

✅ Unlocking your potential for accelerated learning

✅ How it is possible to cut the 10,000 hour rule of mastery down to 16 hours in a business context

✅ The number one mistake most leaders make in their learning that is costing them

✅ Using learning to drastically improve business outcomes.

Deal hope,

Greg

You can reach Lia on LinkedIn.

• Accelerated Expertise: Training for High Proficiency in a Complex World - by Dr Lia DiBello Ph.D
• The Oxford Handbook of Expertise Research - by Dr Lia DiBello Ph.D

📝 Subscribe to the Finish Strong monthly newsletter and podcast drops

🎧 Subscribe to The Inner Chief Podcast on your favourite app

👍 Follow Chief Maker on LinkedIn

🍏 Give The Inner Chief podcast a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts

🎵 Give The Inner Chief podcast a 5-star rating on Spotify

🎬 Subscribe to the Chief Maker YouTube channel

🤝 Connect with the Chief Maker

“I am grateful for everything I have. But for me, feeling lucky is a lot more animated and holds a lot more curiosity and open-mindedness to opportunity and possibility.”

This is a special episode only available to our podcast subscribers, which we call The Mini Chief. These are short, sharp highlights from our fabulous CEO guests, where you get a 5 to 10 minute snapshot from their full episode.

Our latest guest is Mark John, Founder & CEO of frntlne.

His full episode is titled Partnering with the world’s top performers and business people, what a leader’s natural state is, and feeling lucky every day.

You can find the full audio and show notes here:

🎧👉 chiefmaker.com/309 👂

DOWNLOAD THE CHIEF MAKER OPERATING RHYTHM HOW TO GUIDE AND PUT YOUR VISION AND MISSION INTO ACTION FAST: chiefmaker.com/operatingrhythm

Mark is the CEO of frntlne, an edutech business he founded in 2021 that makes it easy to train frontline staff across a variety of industries, with engaging and memorable TikTok-style content.

frntlne boasts a number of high-profile global and multinational retail and consumer clients including Coles, L’Oreal, P&G, Swisse and Mumm Champagne.

In May 2023, Mark was successful in securing a consortium of strategic investors, closing a AU$4.6million seed funding round. He has also established an impressive advisory board, including professor Dr Mathew Knowles PhD, who is the architect behind the careers of his daughters Beyoncé and Solange, as well as supergroup Destiny's Child.

Mark, who was born in Singapore, has had careers in entertainment, retail and video technology and now calls country Victoria home.

In this episode we talk about:

✅ How he has delivered value to global music superstars

✅ How he has built partnerships that create sustained value for all involved

✅ His fascinating career path and early life and how he came to be at the helm of an edtech company

✅ What he means by a leader being in their natural state, and

✅ Unlocking your inner creative and why he feels lucky every day.

You can connect with Mark via LinkedIn.

• Elon Musk - by Walter Isaacson
• My Life in Full: Work, Family and Our Future - by Indra Nooyi

📝 Subscribe to the Finish Strong monthly newsletter and podcast drops

👍 Follow Chief Maker on LinkedIn

🍏 Give The Inner Chief podcast a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts

🎵 Give The Inner Chief podcast a 5-star rating on Spotify

🎬 Subscribe to the Chief Maker YouTube channel

🤝 Connect with the Chief Maker

“People just want to hear the truth and just want to be talked to as humans by brands.”

In this episode of The Inner Chief podcast, I speak to the CEO of Havas Red Australia, Shane Russell, on how to avoid PR disasters through campaigns that build your company brand and customer engagement, and the ever-changing media landscape.

🎧👉 chiefmaker.com/317 👂

DOWNLOAD THE CHIEF MAKER OPERATING RHYTHM HOW TO GUIDE AND PUT YOUR VISION AND MISSION INTO ACTION FAST: chiefmaker.com/operatingrhythm

Shane is Chief Executive Officer of Havas Red Australia, which merges best-in-class PR, social media, influencer and experiential storytelling, with content at the heart.

In a 20+ year PR career that has spanned both Australia and the United States, Shane has a track record for leading high-growth teams and brands that aren’t afraid of taking creative risks.

Through specialised practice areas, Havas Red represents world-class brands across health and wellness, corporate, technology, automotive, travel, and more.

For a decade prior to joining Havas Red, Shane served as Executive Vice President at New York-based 5W Public Relations, helping it become one of the largest independent firms in America.

In this episode we talk about:

✅ His early years in the PR world and how he strived to be a person of value with some incredibly famous individuals

✅ Taking the plunge by selling everything and moving to New York

✅ How not to stuff up a PR campaign while still standing for causes that are important to you, and

✅ The rapid pace of change in the media world and how to keep adapting.

Deal hope,

Greg

You can connect with Shane via LinkedIn.

• Red Sky Predictions 2024 - by Havas Red
• Shoe Dog - by Phil Knight

📝 Subscribe to the Finish Strong monthly newsletter and podcast drops

👍 Follow Chief Maker on LinkedIn

🍏 Give The Inner Chief podcast a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts

🎵 Give The Inner Chief podcast a 5-star rating on Spotify

🎬 Subscribe to the Chief Maker YouTube channel

🤝 Connect with the Chief Maker