You're going through your fridge and you realize it's time for a bit of a cleanout. You get rid of the yogurt that you haven't touched in a couple of weeks, some leftovers, and then some vegetables that are no longer holding their shape.
But it's not that much food to.
Throw away, right But when you hear that one third of all food in the world gets wasted, you might see some more potential in that wrinkley capsicum.
Ronnie Carnt shorted.
She was at the top of her game, running a very successful events business, but night after night she'd see all this beautiful food going in the bin. She got absolutely sick of seeing that waste, and it led to her throwing in her business and firing up the international charity OZ Harvest, Australia's leading food rescue organization. Ronnie's been saving food and giving it to those in need for almost twenty years in Australia now, and she started replicating that model.
All over the world world.
Ronnie Kahn is the ultimate efficiency expert, and so I was very excited to learn how she applies that to food and her time as she runs her multinational charity OZ Harvest. My name is doctor Amantha Imba. I'm an organizational psychologist and the founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium. And this is how I work a show about how
to help you do your best work. Anyone who meets Ronnie Kahan is immediately exposed to her warmth and passionate energy, and she has set some big targets for oz Harvest as a business. So how does Roddy approach goal setting?
I would not call it goal setting, but I call it manifestation.
H tell me more so.
The only time I've ever really set a goal was to buy a particular house. And I know that it'll sound weird, so I absolutely envisaged that house. I envisaged it, and I actually did manifest that house. So what I mean by manifestation is when one sets an intention and works towards it. So it is a type of gold setting. I just I prefer to couch it in terms that a little less. You know, I don't think in corporate terms.
Talk me through it, because like when I think manifestation, I think, wow, that's.
Something we wore.
Yes, yes, let me tell you that ours Harvest is a total manifestation of a belief that there should be this organization. And when I talk manifestation, I'll give you an example. An organization might call me and say we need hamburgers and roles for Thursday, and I remind them that I'm not a catering company. I am a food rescue organization. However, I say, you never know what is possible.
And honestly, it has almost never failed that somebody will call and say, we've just canceled a barbecue or so. I know that sounds absolutely like a really strange example, but it is a small example that can can grow to the really big. And I truly believe that OS Harvest is a manifestation of what I saw naively in my head when I decided to start it, and it just didn't occur to me that it could fail, and it didn't occur to me that it wouldn't come to be.
Wow, how do you get to be like that?
That seems like very unusual, that like you don't even consciously think that failure is an option.
It is going to be like how do you get there? Roddy?
You know they're definitely the caveat to that is. I think when one adds an element of cause related factor to what it is. You know, I did build a business prior to os Harvest, and again it as an entrepreneur, you set out to do things because you're kind of driven. You know that there's you see a need and you
fulfill that need. I think that when one definitely when one adds this notion, and I believe every single business, and certainly not only in the for purpose world, but there isn't a business today that doesn't and should have, but doesn't have an element of cause related that is
authentically value driven to it. And I think when you add that and you set out to create a business where the staff are going to be well treated, that the purpose of the business is to add value to customers in whatever way.
Now, something that you've been incredibly good at doing, Ronnie, is forming amazing partnerships with very influential companies and people like Woolworths and the Duchess of Cornwall. Like, talk me through the Duchess of Cornwall.
How does that start? Do you just like pick up the phone? Do you look her up? Like in the white pages?
What's so amazing about our relationships? As it is with the press, people don't understand. They think I have like a full time pr company who are out there trying to look for opportunities for me or for us, and every single one of those come to us. So, for example, with the Duchess, we got a call from the Premier's department saying a very important person is considering coming to visit you. We need to come and see your premises and we need to talk to you, And they wouldn't
tell us who it was, and we were speculating. We thought was it Obama? Who could it be? Because it us during that time and lots of police were visiting. The police came, the sniffer dogs came, the every department came, and finally we were sworn to secrecy and told that it was du Chess. We weren't allowed to tell anybody. I wasn't even allowed to tell my staff because of security.
And so they chose. She was given as far as I understand, a number of possible places that she could visit, and she chose us, and she wasn't disappointed and nor were we. Wow, she fell in love with yellow, she fell in love with what we do to that, to the extent that she said, I'd love to see this in the UK. And that's why we have UK Harvest. She's the patron in the UK.
I could imagine that with partnerships there would also be times when the partner is perhaps not fulfilling on their promises or following through on what they said they would do, and then that would lead to some confrontational conversations like what is your approach to having those more difficult conversations?
Well, I certainly never shy away from difficult conversations. However, if you set up a partnership right, you really want to want to prevent the notion it's like getting into a relationship. Obviously down the track things can go off the rails, but you try and work all along the way to make sure that there's transparency, that there is communication, that there is you know, with any of our partnerships, the first thing we ask, it's pretty obvious what we need.
We need money, right, everything revolves. The more funding we get, the more we can actually do. But we also need skills and we also need added value things. So the first thing for us with any relationship is what can we give you? In any of those major partnerships, what when we bring to you? Because it's about the value exchange. So one we get funding, but two we also want to get their skills. They're volunteering. We want we want their business to get added value by the relationship with us.
And so really, I don't think I've ever had to have a confrontational conversation with one of our partners because we really try and be as clear as possible about the expectations what you can expect from us and what we expect from you. One of the things I always say to people in that very first interview or that very last interview, I always ask them how they how are they feedback? Now, I don't know about you, but I've never heard a single person not say to me, oh,
I love feedback. It's an opportunity for growth. And I say, really, So, when I'm going to come back to you and say remember this conversation, I want you to remember this conversation.
Do you have an approach for giving people tough feedback?
Yeah, kindness, respect with an opportunity for growth personal growth and development. Every single difficult conversation is an opportunity for growth. And so that's really the way I like to look at it.
So what's an example of that, Like, let's just say I was working for you, Ronnie, and I don't know. I'm like, maybe I.
What if I done wrong?
I don't know, Like maybe I didn't deliver on a project when I said I was going to because I don't know, I got distracted with other things.
So we talk about I would I would call you in and say, look, I think we we there's something that's challenging me. We looked at this deadline we thought we were going to commit. Can you tell me what tools did you not have? What do you think we could have done better to allow you to achieve? So you're first of all taking away the guilting. You know, I really try and look around and say could we
have done better? Obviously, if if there's no other reason other than that person didn't do it, I'd say, well, what do you think you'd need? And also we've never I've never been in their shoes. How do I know what challenges they had along the way? So my job is to try and find out what were the what were the reasons they did fulfill? If it's lack of capability, why did we give them a job that they couldn't fulfill? If it was disrespect on their part, we need to
talk about culture. We need to talk about attitude. We need to talk about what it means to work in an environment where everybody is committed, connected and dependent on the other.
H that's very nice.
Now, before we started recording, I was asking how your day had gone, and it sounded like to me it had been a very full on day with everything that you've done.
And I said, what's your what's your headspace?
Like? Are you feeling shattered? And You're like no, I'm full of energy. And we're recording this at four o'clock in the afternoon, So I wanted to like, what habits or rituals or routines do you have for staying so energized.
So first of all, I wake up every morning with gratitude. This morning had happened to be at about five point thirty, But it is gratitude that I'm in a bed, Gratitude that I have roof over my head, Gratitude that I have a window that I can look out if it's black or sunny. So that's it's my choice, my choice as to how I'm going to deal with the day. And I've chosen every single day to make my choice. A day that's filled with goodness, joy, excitement, respect, all
of the values, courage, opportunity for growth. That's how I set up my day This morning. I went for a walk at six o'clock to watch the sunrise, came home, had my first meeting at eight, and have been in meetings ever since. But each one is stimulating, is challenging their problems to solve. There's joys to share.
And with waking up feeling grateful, like is there is there a conscious process that you go through or is it just now unconscious where you wake up and your mind is just filled with the things that you are grateful for?
What does that look like?
It is a conscious it is now just part of my life. But you know, I've been practicing mindfulness, aware of spirituality, working on look. I've always had a lot of energy and I've always been a very very positive person. I don't know if you've read my book, but you know I've had some extraordinary role models around seeing the best in every situation. And I think that by this age, I'm very grateful to say that it's part of my life, but I think it's achievable. I think it's a bad attitude.
I think knowing that we have a choice every single day. So I'll share a story.
I was talking to five thousand and sixteen year olds and I'm thinking, Holy moly, what on earth am I going to say that's going to just excite and interest five.
Thy sixteen year olds in an auditorium. Anyway, I came on stage. I don't know why, but I must have rocked it. There was dead silence, they listened, they were seemed to be inspired, and it was just a beautiful, beautiful atmosphere and vibe. And then there were questions and one kid from the very back of the auditorium in a hoodie couldn't see any I couldn't see his face, couldn't see anything, just could see a little shape in a hoodie, says, could you please tell me what happens
when you have a bad day? And so I said, well, I've made a conscious choice that when I wake up in the morning, I could be grumpy or I could be happy, and I've chosen to be happy, and I make the choices through the day. Anyway, this kid just said, I think you might have just changed my life. And then he bounded down. He said, could I please have a hug? It's a sixteen year old boy.
Wow.
He bounded down and I reached the stage. I jumped off the stage and we had this beautiful hug. Anyway, I thanked him for his courage because he also shared that he had received food from US Harvest. Now, to say that in front of five thousand others, it's pretty brave. Anyway. I then somebody shouted out and said, how would we get hold of you? And I said, oh, Ronnie dot com at osharvest dot org. It didn't even occurred to me to say info at or not give my anyway.
I got, honestly a few hundred emails, but you know what most of them said, I wish I could have had a hug. Ah. Wow, power of connection.
That's beautiful.
Wow.
Now you said you've had a lot of really great role models, and I imagine you've received a lot of really great advice. I want to know what are some of the best pieces of career or life advice that you've received along the way.
I think the most powerful Israeli. Some my spiritual teacher who I met just after i'd started US Harvest, just said, Ronnie, go out and do good. It's the most important thing you can do. Go out and do good, and I've been committed to doing good ever since.
You make it sound so simple when you.
Are consciously aware that you want to try and respect people and intentionally, yeah, you want to bring out the best in people. Obviously, I'm sure that many times I failed, But all you can do is do your best and try and be the best you can be every day.
Are there any other pieces of advice that have that have really stuck with you and influenced you.
Both my parents had serious challenges along the way. My dad had an accident, he was in hospital for years. My mother had to manage the family, and you know, my mother always just said you could just put your next foot forward, just go out and do it. You know, she wasn't one for sitting at home and saying, oh my god, what the hell's going to happen to us? How are we going to make a living? How are we going to do this? She just went out and
said do it. And so, in a way, I think that gives you courage when you see that around you.
Ronnie will be back in a moment talking about where her best ideas come from and why she almost never watches TV.
And by the way, If you haven't.
Connected with me on the social channels, you might want to because I share a lot of content. I'm on LinkedIn. You can find me just search for Amantha Imba. You can find me on Twitter at Amantha and you can find me on Instagram at Amantha I which I've recently gotten back into Instagram after a several year hiatus, and I'm enjoying it quite a lot.
Now.
As a leader, you talk about the power of authenticity, and I feel like you are one of, you know, perhaps few leaders.
That really walk the talk.
So like, what are you doing and what advice would you give to someone who is trying to I don't know, be a more authentical lie.
All I can tell you is I am the same person if I'm with the Duchess of Cornwall, or I'm with you, or I'm with our Prime Minister, there is only one me, and I've committed to bring my whole self to work. And I think they're in that sentence. If every single person felt comfortable to bring their whole selves to work, I think they would find that there is no other way to be.
And why do you think people find it so hard to bring themselves to work?
Because I think that when we brought up the fear around, there's fear around admitting one's weaknesses, one's strengths. There's this notion that you know, you have to put on a front, and I think that very it's very challenging for many people to not be who they think other people would be. You know, so much goes back to our childhood. So much goes back to how our parents inadvertently who while they were trying to do their best, shaped to the kind of people we were going to be, our teachers,
the demands made on us. You know, we came to school, nobody said, just you know, be as creative as you want to be. If you were sitting in maths and you were drawing, you were told you were dumb at maths. You know, you weren't told, wow, that's a beautiful drawing. Spend more time being creative and let's try and get you through the math.
Now.
I want to talk about creativity because I've heard that you say that you have I have new ideas every day, and I want to know for you, like, what how do you deliberately I guess foster your creativity and your ideas.
But being in my bliss by doing things that bring me joy, by surrounding myself with people who stimulate me and excite me, and giving myself the space to think about what else could we do? How could we do this better? You know, I think entrepreneurs are always always looking, looking and thinking and dreaming. You know, when I think pre ores harvest, you know, I'd hear about a nail bar, I think, oh my god, I'm going to start nail bars all over Australia. I taced yogurt, I think, oh
my god, okay, we're going to do yogurt. I just never. I don't know why. My mind is always open to thinking why couldn't we do that even better? And so everything stimulates me from walking around and hearing chattering in the in the background, looking at nature, or reading leadership books, self help books, motivational books. I don't have a TV, so I barely watch I barely watch TV. I spend time thinking and being creative.
It's like I'm hearing you describe that, and I'm imagining someone who's just really present, Like you're walking along, you're listening to conversations and looking at things that you can see, as opposed to just being sort of off with the fairies and not present.
I'm not on a podcast, I'm not got earphones in my ears.
That's interesting.
Definitely, definitely try and be as present. Being present is all I've got. This is all we have right here and right now. It's the only time I can be the best I can be now.
I don't think you've got an EA who has helped make this interview happen. And I'm always really curious as to how people use their assistance.
Like I first had an assistant many.
Years ago, and I reckon it took me years to actually work out how do you work really well with an assistant? And I want to know what, like, how do you work with yours? What are some of the things that your assistant helps you with.
It took me a long time to understand how that would be of benefit and how to allow someone to help me manage my life. But as the days got more for an eteic, I'd say yes to everything. Yes, yes I'll do this podcast, Yes i'll meet you, Yes, of course we'll do this. And of course I was either letting people down or being in the wrong place at the wrong time, because there was just an enormous amount going on through my through my daily life. And so when Mala came into my life, she saw that
and started making order. She'd say, you need to be here at this time, and that meant I could be present doing exactly what I needed to do at that time, and then not having let somebody else down because I wanted to be present for both of them at the same time.
What else does she do that, I guess, you know, would surprise people in terms of how how she sort of helps you be amazing at what you do.
Oh well.
In organizing my life now and certainly through COVID, she puts she makes sure their little gaps, so she'll put in take a break. Really absolutely, so when today I had a full, full day, she had put in there was forty five minutes that was take a break. Now, sometimes it doesn't work out because that's when I can make phone calls or that's when something can happen, but it is also the time when I could grab a sandwich or make myself a cup of tea.
Now, before I logged on for this interview, I was looking in my fridge and I've got some lettuce that is looking very ordinary.
I've got some cute numbers that are very soft, shall we say yes?
And also some cherry tomatoes that have had better days. Like So, Ronnie, I want to talk about what people can do at home and what I can be doing to reduce waste and what I'm throwing out because I feel like, oh, how do I make something out of that wonderful?
So with your lettuce? Do you have an onion?
By any chance, I can't eat onion. It doesn't agree with me.
Not a problem. Take your lettuce, put it in a pot with some stock, aha, and hush it up. If you had a potato, if you had any other veggies other than the cucumber, we won't put the cucumber in there. You carrots, carrots beautiful, throw them in there because you will have beautiful soup. Beautiful.
Give me give me some other tips that okay, a common things that people would normally throw out, but what can we do to rescue them?
Well that this is the first thing that everybody throws out because it sits in the bottom of the fridge till it goes sludgeye, and then we forget about it, and then it's too late to do anything, and then we kind of throw it in the bin, and we don't even put it into compost. Do you know that if you throw a lettuce in the bin, it will take twenty five years to decompose. Put it in compast it'll take two weeks.
Oh my goodness.
Wow, you tell me if you're ever going to throw a lettuce away again into the bin.
I'm never going to do that, Ronnie, never ever. Good.
So don't ever buy the two for one specials if you think you might not use you both your lettuces unless you're going to make lettuce soup.
Wow? What else? What else can I be doing?
So? Tomatoes when they go a little funny, are divine grilled. You can add them to free Tata with your cucumbers. If you think they're a little soft. All you have to do is you can cut them into rounds, or you can slice them and put them into a little bit of vinegar, water, pickles, pickling peppers, bay leaves and pickle them. These things are not hard to do. I'm sitting with a couple of apples that look a little soft.
As soon as I get off this call, I'm just going to chop them up, put them with some sultanas, cinnamon stick, a little bit of water, cook them up, and I have the most beautiful stewed apples.
Wow.
What are some other things that you find are pretty common in households that get thrown out when you could be doing something pretty amazing with them.
Bread's another big one that we throw out. It's obvious that you could make bread and butter pudding, but you could use it for French toast. You can freeze bread beautifully. So if you buy a loaf of bread and you think you're not going to use it all, slice it. Put half of that bread in the freezer. Don't buy the next two days later. Use what's in your freezer. You know, our freezer is like the pores button. We're not using our freezers well enough.
I like that. How about shopping?
Like, what should I be thinking about when I'm at a supermarket or at the paran markets where I do a lot of my shopping and I'm buying produce.
What needs to be going on in my head?
The most important thing is nothing should be going on in your head, because you should have a list in your hand. Because before you go shopping, you want to check your fridge, you want to check your pantry, and you want to make a list. It's going to save your money and you're only going to buy what you need, which you can then use within the next few days. So really we've got this beautiful mantra. Look by cook store, Look what's in your fridge and pantry. Buy what you need,
store it properly. So for example, if you've bought too many herbs, freeze, if you've bought too much, or you think you're not going to use it, allocate and work out how but store it and then cook it and eat it and of course use the leftovers.
So simple like how many times a week would you be doing food shopping.
So I don't do big shops. I do little shops. I buy what I need. I'd rather go past the organic shop or at my market I now do. We're very fortunate in New South Wales because US Harvest does a fruit and vege box, so I get my fruit and vege once a week from ours Harvest, so it's veggies with a cause and I make that last through the week. So I try not to buy other things through the week. My supermarket shopping, I buy very little
processed food. I mainly buy fresh, so I don't do big supermarket shops, and I'd rather go and buy my milk every few days if I'm I use almond milk or you know, I buy my eggs fresh from the market once a week, so I'm really try not to do a lot of shopping. If I'm going to buy fish, I'll buy it on the day for the day.
I love that, so.
Fresh, local and as little as possible, and stretch it as far as possible.
Fantastic.
I'm loving those tips and I'm very excited to get to my floppy lettuce in the fridge after this chat now running. My last question for you is for people that want to find out more about oz Harvest.
And connect with you, what is the best way for people to do that?
So the best way is to go on to our website, which is usharvest dot org. There should be every frequently asked questions. There's a way to find out where we are, what we do, how people can volunteer. Obviously we've got some beautiful programs like I Fight Food Waste program. We've got you know, my memoirs out a Repurposed Life that will give deep insight into really where we can find purpose,
you know, how we live a meaningful life. It's really I wrote the book because I can't mentor everybody and hope that people would find some answers there. So I think that's you know, really, those are the best ways to find out more about us.
Fantastic. That's awesome. Well, Ronnie.
I have loved chatting with you and learning about how you think and do things. It is very inspiring. So thank you so much for your time.
Thank you so much. I know it's a little unusual, but hopefully I'm not put in the mental home yet. Definitely not awesome.
I hope you enjoyed my chat with Ronnie, And if you have not hit subrill follow to the How I Work podcast, you might want to do that because next week I'm very excited to have Norman Swan on the show and we talk about how Australia's best known health journalist is coping in Sydney's Lockdown and his tips for staying healthy in what are very tough conditions. Sorry, hit subscribe or follow if you haven't already. How I Work is produced by Inventium with production support from Dead Set Studios.
The producer for this.
Episode was Jenna Coda, and thank you to Matt Nimba, who did the audio mix and makes everything sound awesome.
See you next time.