People My Dog Would Like lizziemettam@me.com

This week I had a chance to speak with Dr David Chong, a brilliant paediatric plastic surgeon at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne. David also works tirelessly in the charity space, including with Operation Smile and the Mercy Ships organisation. 
I was particularly keen to talk to David about the incredible work he's been doing with Operation Smile and Mercy Ships. David regularly volunteers his time and expertise on the Mercy Ships, an organisation that brings life saving medical assistance to developing countries irrespective of their socio-economic status. David's schedule takes him abroad regularly, so I was grateful to meet up, and was surprised to discover just how much time he dedicates to helping the world's poor, why it's a priority for him, what led him to do the work he does today, both at home and abroad.
We talk about the value of doing what you love, life changing mentors and the miracles he experiences in his everyday life. It was so brilliant to sit down and find out more about what makes David tick, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Shownotes
Royal Melbourne Children's Hospital
Mercy Ships
Dr Gary Parker
Operation Smile
Shenton College
Dr Fiona Wood
Gordon Baron Hay - paediatric surgeon
Mark Edwards - cardiac surgeon
Robert Larbelestier - cardiac surgeon

This week I had a chance to speak with Boyd Cohen, an author and urban strategist focused on the areas of urban innovation, sustainable development, entrepreneurship, smart cities and the Internet of Mobility. He's lived everywhere, he's published 3 books (Climate Capitalism, 2011; The Emergence of the Urban Entrepreneur, 2016; Post-capitalist Entrepreneurship, 2017) and speaks regularly in the smart city space globally.  Currently based in Barcelona, Boyd co-founded IoMob in 2017, a blockchain startup seeking to decentralize the mobility sector by providing an open protocol for the Internet of Mobility (IoM).

It was super interesting drilling down on his current project, IoMob, a tech mobility startup combining open source and blockchain technology to aiming to decentralise mobility. They are talking with significant players in the mobility services sector and are due to beta test in global blockchain mega hub, Singapore, later this year.

My biggest take away was the optimism Boyd has that entrepreneurs now have the tools and technology to address some of our intractable urban problems, through collaboration and smart partnerships between city administrators, entrepreneurs, educational institutions, commercial players and civic organisations. Great ideas come and go, but Cohen says if we can work to nail the execution of ideas, encouraged by city leadership, who are in a position to create a framework for entrepreneurs to work with them and other partners, including private, to solve issues such as waste, congestion and climate change, we will go a long way to securing a better future.

We talk about the challenges faced by urbanisation, and how these challenges can be met by local entrepreneurs who are now able to tackle current issues by tapping into hubs like FAB Labs, which inhabit cities globally. Fab Labs provide widespread access to modern means for invention. They began as an outreach project from MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA), and has now morphed into a collaborative and global network. All Fab Labs share common tools and processes in order to build a global network which has become a distributed laboratory for research and invention. Machines available to use by any team accessing the Lab include 3-D Printers, laser cutters, milling, scanning and digital sewing machines.

Cohen brought up several interesting projects where local entrepreneurs are working collaboratively both locally and globally to solve local problems. His own start up is testament to this, and if successful, will be a game changer in the urban mobility issue. If they pull it off I have a feeling we'll be hearing a lot more from Cohen in the future.

He is also the current Executive Director of the Blockchain Cities Alliance which launched in June 2018. He's coming to Australia and New Zealand in early September to give a keynote at the Melbourne's Blockchain Centre, the details of which are in the show notes below. Any one who ones to touch base with Boyd, please just connect with him on his social media handles below.

Hope you enjoy the episode.

Follow Boyd on Twitter
Follow Boyd on LinkedIn

Shownotes

Boyd Cohen Smart City Wheel
Fab Labs
Centrality - NZ
Blockchain Centre - Event Sept 3rd - Smart City Blockchain City 6-7.30 venue to be confirmed
New Urban Mechanics

This week I had fun speaking with Monica Kang, Founder and CEO of InnovatorsBox® based in Washington DC. For several years Monica has been a powerhouse of a creative educator, transforming today’s workforce through the power of creativity. She's driven by the belief that everyone is innately creative and that creativity can be used to catalyze personal and professional change.

Monica and her company work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, including Facebook, IBM, John’s Hopkins University, Booz Allen Hamilton and Georgetown University to name a few and her work has been awarded across numerous platforms including The White House, Women’s Business Enterprise National Council and Ashoka Changemakers. She also works as an adjunct professor at BAU International University where she teaches entrepreneurship and leadership.

We talk about Monica's upcoming book called "Rethink Creativity: How to Innovate, Inspire and Thrive at Work" which has already received powerful endorsements from a number of senior leaders. It comes out this September and challenges the reader to access their creativity a little every day to help you transform. I can't wait. At a time when innovation and strategy are the power metrics for future success, it's great to drill down on just what some of the tools and activities are that you could apply to be more creative personally and professionally. 

Gallup estimates that actively disengaged employees cost the US up to $605 billion each year in lost productivity. In 2016 87% of the workforce survey said they felt disengaged at work. In Australia the percentage is similar. I know myself feeling disengaged at work is a serious drain on my productivity and ability to come up with new ideas. The stats indicate It's a problem of epic proportions so I was pleased to spend some time talking with Monica, a game changer in our transitioning, fast paced economy, who shared some powerful tips on tapping into your creative self and why it's becoming more and more important to do it.

I was astounded Monica had been a nuclear nonproliferation policy expert in the past, yes that’s right...... so I was intrigued how she flipped her career and moved towards helping professionals be more creative. She's experienced how transformative the power of creativity can have in a life when we take the courage to be more creative each day. She will share just what she went through before she started InnovatorsBox®. 

So much of what we talked about resonated with me, I really hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Laters!

Show Notes:

Monica's contact:
LinkedIn: Monica Kang
Twitter: @monicahkang
Rethink Creativity: How to Innovate, Inspire and Thrive at Work 
InnovatorsBox®

This week I had the BEST time catching up with Genevieve Leveille, Founder and CEO of Agriledger.     Agriledger is a social impact startup creating crypto ledger and mobile technology solutions for agricultural providers globally. Genevieve is also Co-Chair of the UK's Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) working group. She's an ex-banker and identity management professional, she has been a major change agent throughout her career and as such has super useful insights on how DLT can solve current problems in both agriculture but throughout other industries.

In our chat Genevieve talks about how important it is to get your head around the language of new technologies as a first step to learning more and to potentially be a dynamic player in the new economy, irrespective of the industry you've come from or what skills you have. AI, the Internet of Things, blockchain technology and a tokenised market will have a huge impact on our culture and economy, the way we interact and the way we transact. So we both talk about the value in learning as much as you can about it, to participate and also to invest. A couple of useful examples were discussed to explain how it will apply in our daily lives, and where there are live applications of it globally. It was really interesting to hear about new innovative models were being applied in the agri industry, ultimately improving the producers' liquidity, thereby creating more resilient, sustainable businesses on the supply side and transparency and legitimacy for customers across the supply chain.

What I loved about our conversation was the pragmatic way Genevieve explains the tech. It's well reported that farmers can suffer dire outcomes due to the inflexibility of traditional financial/banking lending cycles. Potentially, through companies like Agriledger, farmers will be in a position to generate income through the creation of their own futures market providing great liquidity when they need it most.

Having worked in the banking sector for many years, I found it really interesting to hear Genevieve's take on the future of finance in the the economy, and explains why she feels they will still have a major role to play. And brokers too. We talk partnerships, the 4th industrial revolution, husbands who support us and so much more.

Unfortunately my cat Alfie cut the conversation short, I'm really going to have to put the animals away..... such a distraction ;-)

Hope you enjoy the show, and of course, let me know if you have interesting people you think I should interview in the tech series, am always up for meeting new people who are doing great things for a compassionate future!! And so is Cha Cha.

Ciao for now!

Show notes

Contact details:
Genevieve@0TenTic8.com
Genevieve.leveille@me.com

Twitter:     https://twitter.com/GinouInLondon
LinkedIn:  https://uk.linkedin.com/in/genevieveleveille
Telegram: @gleveille

Distributed Ledger Technologies working group - UK
x.509
Stellar
Miss Blockchain
Akasha Indream
Provenance

This week I had a chance to chat with Jennifer Sertl, an internationally recognized influencer in social media. She is President and Founder of Agility3R, a leadership development company dedicated to strengthening strategic skills and helping leaders become more resilient and responsive and she's a respected thought leader in the emerging field of corporate consciousness. Such a joy having her on the show.

We talked about a few things that excited us and troubled us.

Jennifer shared some insights that were big take aways for me.

"Our issue today is not information overload....it is filter failure." So true.

"Life is a blood sport and truth telling is hard."

"You are not a node, you are a frequency."

I just love her leadership framework using your ‘Elite 18’:

“Every single person has a leadership model. They just need to be asked their elite 18 are and from there create their leadership model - if they emulate who they admire they will actually act in a way conducive to progress, collaboration, and be their personal best.” It made so much sense - it really blew me away.

Jennifer even worked on me during our chat. A value I hold dear is generosity - and it was so uplifting to drill down on what to do with that quality - exploring what journaling and expressing being generous every week could do to enhance my life, my relationships, my work and my ability to lead. Pretty inspiring and made me think of how much I could achieve if I started to apply this kind of practice in my life. Really cool.

We talk about her own elite 18. She includes Elinor Ostrom in it who's acclaimed work outlines brilliant frames for organizing commons.

Jennifer's 'capacity model' is brilliant too. She’s impeccable in how she uses her ‘wattage’. Honestly, this woman is on fire. So many people she mentioned in our chat, I am going to spend some time myself learning more about who they are and what makes them part of her story and world. It would be worth it.

I love how she feels the work I'm doing is "the compassionate use of wisdom at scale." Honestly, Jennifer needs to move into branding, she's sharp and characterises so fast its breathtaking.



We talk about the tokenised world, even down to Mark Pesce and his PAT token - a wild idea, but one that sounded feasible. Super interesting. She threw it out there that if David Bowie was still around she was sure he would have tokenised himself in much the same manner. And we all know how ahead of his time Bowie was. God I loved that man.

Love her 'reading model' - she says choose books across all genres - business, philosophy, history, fiction/poetry - shake it up but make sure you read one book a month and stay diverse to keep interested and open. Sage advice.

So loved having Jenn (yeah I'm feeling she's a soul mate already) on the show, speaking to people like her restores my faith in humanity.

She's a good one, doing good things, Hope you enjoy the show!

Show Notes

Best way to connect with Jennifer is twitter
Here's a David Bowie post about tokenisation
Blue Cross Blue Shield
Koby Huberman - co-author of Strategy, Leadership and the Soul:Resilience, Responsiveness and Reflection for a Global Economy

Michel Bowens - Founder of the Peer to Peer Foundation
Mark Pesce - Personal Attention Token
Elenor Olstrom - Eight Principles of the Commons
Hayden O'Shaunessey author of Shift
In Time - by Roger Ebert
Eric Hoffer

This week I had the opportunity to sit down and speak with Dr Nicole Lee. Dr Lee is an expert in alcohol and other drug treatment and policy. She is Director at Australia’s leading alcohol and other drug specialist consultancy, 360Edge, and Professor at the National Drug Research Institute. She currently serves on the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and other Drugs. She has published more than 100 journal articles, guidelines, chapters and books on alcohol and other drug treatment, and is a regular contributor to The Conversation.

Dr Lee has over 20 years experience in the both the treatment and policy space of drugs and shares with us where the status and conversation is globally around decriminalisation and regulation of drugs. When having our discussion it was interesting to talk about how strong the moral position has been driving policy in Australia - and we all know now the War on Drugs has been a monumental failure.

We talk about what the future holds, and the pros and cons for decriminalisation, and Dr Lee runs through a process she believes will be the mechanism for change. Test cases. A solid way forward, and one where data is fully available.

Famous stock analyst, author and podcaster, James Altucher, recently talked about where the new millionaires come from - in context several year's ago he predicted a wave of crypto millionaires and he was bang on…

Now Altucher predicts the NEXT round of millionaires - and says they will be cannabis millionaires. He sites a Canadian businessman who’s amassed a $115 million portfolio of pot stocks and another a New York asset manager who’s snapped up pot stocks and ballooned the fund he runs to $830 million. Don't forget of course about PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel, with undisclosed millions invested in pot-based Privateer Holdings…

There are so many reasons drugs, particularly cannabis, should become legal. Certainly in Australia, where I watch the debate with interest, the first stage should be decriminalisation in all states to free up the criminal justice system at the very least.

What's not discussed enough is the next stage - legalisation. The economic opportunity for growth, a greener economy and one that is creating a sustainable revenue stream for governments and business' globally is enormous. The data also points towards the use of it providing greater health benefits than current pharmaceutical drugs for people suffering from various mental health disorders and other serious health issues which have driven the medical marijuana debate in Australia.

Having written about the advantages of decriminalisation and legalisation of hemp and cannabis for medicinal, sustainability and economic reasons more than 20 years ago - I was perhaps more passionate than in other podcast conversations recently. What's crystal clear is the data tells the story - and one would hope we strive for a data driven policies, that are apolitical, for a smarter more compassionate society. It's a more human approach, and one would hope policies are framed with the context of being human as its north star.

Lots of ideas to ponder. It was interesting to hear that Dr Lee has been encouraged and somewhat surprised at the speed the conversation is changing around the issue of drug legalisation in Australia and globally, so I'm keen to have her back on in a year to assess how far we've got, hoping our strong relationships with Canada, the US and New Zealand will have provided the guidance our partisan politicians need.

Hope you enjoy the episode!

Show Notes

David Caldacott
Matt Noffs
Dr Alex Wodak
Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation
The Australian Greens
Senator Di Natale
Groovin in the Moo
Monica Barrett
Dr Nicole Lee
360 Edge