Leonie is a China-Educated Strategist, a Business Consultant, Internationally Published Author, Workshop Presenter, and Keynote Speaker. She lived in the Greater China Region for several years, learning Mandarin and immersed herself in Chinese culture. During her time in China, she noticed a trend that all Chinese people have, at their core, Knowledge of the timeless Chinese Negotiating Strategies, known as the 36 Chinese Strategies, derived from Sun Tzu's – The Art of War, that she became obses...
Oct 13, 2021•1 hr 19 min
George Freney is an experienced entrepreneur who is passionate and curious about how rapidly accelerating technology, combined with changing human behaviour, creates challenges and opportunities for people, businesses and governments. George is fascinated with the idea lifecycle and the best way to generate worthwhile ideas, quickly assess if they are worth testing and validating if they are worth launching. George has been involved with many technology-centric businesses as an investor, advisor...
Oct 06, 2021•1 hr 32 min
Fiona is the People Executive Lead at OZ Minerals after joining the forward-thinking mining company in February 2019, and she believes the focus on corporate culture can no longer be seen as an optional extra. For the past two decades, Fiona has worked with organisations to help build cultures that create value for all stakeholders. With a Masters in Org Psych, an MBA and 20+yrs multinational corporate HR experience Fiona is passionate about evidence-based practices to help leaders build the cul...
Sep 29, 2021•1 hr 34 min
Sep 23, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Michelle T Holland is an international best-selling author, speaker, consultant, and the Founder and Creative Director of Synergy IQ. With over 20 years of experience and as a leader in creating business excellence through people, Michelle has helped thousands of leaders to build their confidence and skills in change. In addition, she is an experienced culture change expert, a certified Dare to Lead™ facilitator, an accredited Human Synergistics practitioner, and a strategic advisor. The author ...
Sep 16, 2021•50 min
Dr James Muecke AM is an Adelaide-based ophthalmologist with over 35 years of experience, having practised all over the world in countries Kenya, Jerusalem, and London. Through his profound experience, James has taught the diagnosis and management of eye cancer in ten countries in Asia. He founded the not-for-profit organization Sight For All in 2008, turning his boundless energy into a fight against blindness in the Aboriginal and mainstream communities of Australia and some of the poorest coun...
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Wendy Perry is the Managing Director of Workforce BluePrint and Entrepreneur Facilitator for Adelaide – West, Switch Start Scale. Wendy is an entrepreneur herself, with her business doing work all over the world. Further to this, she is also an author, educator, explorer, innovator, mentor and speaker on Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Wendy is also a renowned expert in Workforce Planning and Development, Vocational Education and Training (VET), International Capability and Capacity Development...
Aug 26, 2021•1 hr 41 min
Katrina Webb is recognised and acknowledged for her success as a Paralympic athlete. She has won Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in athletics at three Paralympic Games. She was the first torchbearer to enter the Stadium for the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games and in 2006 Katrina was selected on behalf of the International Paralympic Committee to speak at the United Nations in New York. Off the track, Katrina is the Director of Silver 2 Gold High-Performance Solutions which sp...
Aug 19, 2021•1 hr 57 min
Daniel Gannon is one of South Australia’s leading and most influential industry executives - an expert and strategic leader in membership-based organisations. Over the past seven years, Daniel has spearheaded successful historical campaigns to abolish commercial stamp duty, reform land tax and defeat punitive taxes on CBD car parks and banks. Advocacy outcomes like these have increased South Australia’s investment attractiveness - particularly the state’s property and real estate sectors. In 202...
Aug 11, 2021•1 hr 36 min
Nicola Lipscombe is a global professional speaker and facilitator who bridges the gap between western science with eastern philosophy and ancient wisdom. She is known for her ability to blend cutting edge research and storytelling into practical and engaging tips her audiences love. She is the Creator of HeartWise™ Leadership, Powerful Listening, Powerful Speaking and Friday’s Mindful Moments, and works with leaders who genuinely care about their people first. Her work has recently been featured...
Jul 29, 2021•1 hr 29 min
Adam Vonthethoff is the current Chief Operating Officer at Adelaide Oval and works to implement the company strategies, supporting management and staffing teams, external stakeholder engagement, and looking for new business development opportunities and has been working at Oval for the past 10 or so years. Adam has spent all of his 25-year career in hospitality, having worked in hotels and casinos before moving to the Stadium. His career kicked off when he was 17 years working at the Lakes Resor...
Jul 21, 2021•1 hr 28 min
Vincent Tarzia is the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services of South Australia, appointed in July 2020. He was elected to the South Australian Parliament as the Member for Hartley in 2014 and 2018. Since entering politics, Vincent has been the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Business Start-ups, and Shadow Cabinet Parliamentary Secretary. In May 2018, he was elected as the 35th Speaker of the House of Assembly, the youngest Speaker i...
Jul 14, 2021•1 hr 5 min
Rebecca currently holds the position of CEO of Civil Contractors Federation SA and an Executive Director of Civil Apprenticeships and Careers Ltd. Rebecca had worked in the civil, commercial building and construction industries for over 22 years, project managing in various roles before she fulfilled her entrepreneurship streak by starting her own consultancy company an operated it for 10 plus years. Rebecca's early projects played an integral part in the Olympic Dam Expansion Project, Southern ...
Jul 08, 2021•1 hr 45 min
Special Episode in the last Australian HR Institute (AHRI) SA State Conference, we had the opportunity to interview some of the attendees discussing all things the Future of Work. Listen to Daniel Franco interviewing 13 wonderful attendees of the event and was able to pick their brains on their thoughts about the future of work. Their responses were far and wide with some really great perspectives with the common theme that the future work will be all about the people. Michelle Holland, Executiv...
Jun 30, 2021•1 hr
Andy Keough grew up in Sydney, and always had a dream to serve his country. After finishing high school, he decided to join the Royal Australian Navy where he served for two decades and built and illustrious career, which included the commanding of two Collins Class submarines and an exchange with the US Navy Submarine Force in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In 2006, he was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross Award (CSC) for leadership in a recent deployment. In 2007, Andy decided to try his hand at co...
Jun 24, 2021•1 hr 51 min
Erin Faehrmann is the Chief Executive of Youth Opportunities and a leading speaker on personal leadership and coaching to help our inner superhero shine. Her experience spans from the utilities & public industries to the youth, education and the not-for-profit sectors. As a kid from humble beginnings, Erin has a passion for working with young people facing complex challenges. She is known for her refreshing approach to encouraging purposeful play in our organisations and our lives to boost h...
Jun 16, 2021•1 hr 47 min
Susan Stewart , also known as Sue is an out of the box thinker, a strategy, business transformation and change management specialist having championed major projects in multinational professional services, government and private organisations, including global design firms Aurecon, Woods Bagot, Hood Sweeny and Unispace, Ernst & Young and also Chaired the Change Connect Group for 7 years. Sue is an accomplished and confident leader, driving the implementation of a range of projects across Ame...
Jun 08, 2021•1 hr 29 min
Jamie Getgood is the Founder & CEO of Getgood Consulting and an Ambassador of The People Shift. Jamie specialises in Senior HR Leadership, employee redundancy and workforce transition, organisation restructure and rebuilding company culture. He bagged the Australian Leader of the Year award in 2017, as well as multiple accolades & nominations from lead leadership bodies, after contributing to the workforce transition in GM Holden. Following Holden’s closure, Jamie became an international...
Jun 02, 2021•1 hr 30 min
Sara Siami is the Head of People & Culture at SWEAT , developing and leading the people strategy across the organisation. Having been there from very early in the companies Journey, Sara has contributed immensely to the success of Sweat, helping it grow to be one of the world’s largest communities of women in the fitness arena. Sweat is an innovative technology company in the health and fitness sector, founded in South Australia by Tobi Pearce and one of the world's most influential fitness ...
May 26, 2021•1 hr 20 min
Steve Testar is currently the CEO and Co-Founder of Showcase SA, which supports and connects South Australia's business community, and showcases SA's industries, people and events. Showcase SA’s mission is to build business connections between members, allowing them to work together and prosper. With the defunding of Brand SA in June 2019, Steve saw the opportunity to continue supporting and fostering the success of local South Australian businesses. Thus, Showcase SA was born. Steve’s passion f...
May 18, 2021•1 hr 26 min
Francesco Vassallo, also known as Frank, is the founder of effektiver ppl. (which stands for - more effective people), where he works together with his clients providing them with bespoke consulting services in agile coaching, training, mentoring, facilitation and workshops. Frank is a Highly qualified Agile Coach and IT Delivery Leader with extensive experience over 25 years in public and private sectors in Australia and the United Kingdom across a number of industries, including Utilities, Nat...
May 10, 2021•1 hr 16 min
Elaine Bensted is Chief Executive of Zoos SA which operates both Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Safari Park and has been in this role since September 2012. Since being in the role Elaine has led an improvement in the financial position of this conservation charity and an increase in Zoos SA membership base from 26,000 to over 50,000. She also led the work that culminated in the release of a 20 year Master Plan for both Adelaide and Monarto Zoos in early 2015. A wife, a mother and a proud owner of Germ...
Apr 29, 2021•1 hr 36 min
Cassandra Gannon , also known as Cass, is an Experienced Senior Leader and Innovation Specialist with a background across multiple sectors in mining, manufacturing, not for profit and local government. Currently working for the City of Marion Council as a Project Manager and Performance and innovation leader, Cass Gannon is known for her ability to scan the external environment for opportunities, particularly within the emerging technologies space. Besides being a mother of two 10-year-old twin ...
Apr 15, 2021•1 hr 29 min
Thomas Mitchell is a global biotech executive who has recently relocated to Adelaide, Australia, after spending time leading drug development programs in Boston, USA and Cambridge, UK. He works in an interesting area of medicine - developing microbial therapies for many gut-related conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease. Previously, Thomas held important positions at Finch Therapeutics and Microbiotica, both microbial therapy companies. Having grown up in Newcastle, Australia, Thomas h...
Mar 17, 2021•1 hr 20 min
Leesa Chesser is a non-executive director, advisory board chair, skilled senior leader and mentor. She served as the Minister for Disabilities, Mental Health and Substance Abuse leading the NDIS decision making, delivery of service reform and transformation in South Australia. As Chair of the Public Works Committee, Leesa oversaw large public infrastructures construction projects such as the $450M Adelaide Oval redevelopment with consideration of economic evaluation, procurement, project managem...
Mar 03, 2021•1 hr 11 min
In this episode, we have Stuart Snyder who, on his business cards, describes himself as an unemployed lazy bum. He states that this title gives him the freedom to do what he wants to do. Stuart grew up in Cupertino California, a place we now know and refer to as Silicon Valley, where he went to school with what he describes as a "long-haired hippy dude" called Steve Jobs. Growing up in a dysfunctional family, Stuart wandered out into the world by himself at the young age of 19 and a few years la...
Feb 04, 2021•1 hr 13 min
Connor O’Rourke is the Director of Sales and a founding member of Nuago, a strategic IT partner which helps businesses transition IT by aligning strategic business objectives with technology solutions. Connor has more than a decade of experience in the IT industry and has considerable expertise in all elements of Sales and customer service across market segments in South Australia. He brings a strong customer-centric leadership style and an entrepreneurial mindset which means that Nuago’s custom...
Jan 27, 2021•1 hr 16 min
As 2020 ended, there was a sigh of relief across the globe and high hopes for a more relatively normal year ahead. In this episode, Michelle Holland and Daniel Franco discussed the challenges and the best lessons for 2021. Michelle and Daniel also talked about moments they are proud of last year, achievements, and a great conversation about self-care and boundaries. Join the conversation on Synergy IQ LinkedIn , Facebook and Instagram (@synergyiq) and please support other leaders by liking, subs...
Jan 14, 2021•54 min
Mick O'Rourke has worked in varying business environments ranging from start-ups to the largest firms in the world, primarily in the computer industry. His roles have included project management, marketing, sales, senior management, and small business ownership. Mick started as an engineer with Exxon in Alaska, then obtained his MBA and switched to marketing. He worked 15 years for Hewlett-Packard and as Vice-President of Marketing for several Silicon Valley companies. He permanently moved to Au...
Dec 10, 2020•1 hr 29 min
Adam is a consultant in strategy and organisational design, writer and video producer. He's known for having a deep knowledge of people and organisations and delivering this is in a way that is straightforward, understandable and practical. He helps leaders who are both reflective and results-oriented create a strategy that will work and then build the capability in their organisation to deliver. Founding his practice in 2012 after a successful executive career focussed on rebuilding teams, depa...
Dec 03, 2020•1 hr 17 min
