Empowering Leaders

Aleda

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In this series, Luke Darcy is joined by iconic leaders to unpack learnings and life lessons from these game changers in their chosen field, whether it’s sports, art, business or education. We’ll break down the fundamentals of the new style of leadership, such as collaboration, integrity and innovation, through the stories of these iconic leaders.

2d ago

Lexi Edmondson: Running Towards Danger, Finding Love - What Bondi Taught Us About Leadership & Life

When Lexi Edmondson walked down to Bondi Beach to celebrate finishing her master's degree, she had no idea her life was about to change forever. What began as a summer evening by the water for hundreds of people became one of Australia's most devastating acts of violence - and Lexi ran towards it. In her most in-depth interview since the December attack, Lexi sits down with Luke Darcy to take us inside the night itself. She talks about the chaos, the moment her training kicked in, and about how the iconic Bondi community responded in the aftermath. Lexi shares the healing power of reconnecting with the people she helped, and the extraordinary gesture from Rabbi Levi Wolf and the Jewish community that brought everyone together. Armed with fresh surf lifesaving training and sheer instinct, Lexi and fellow volunteer Jimmy McIntosh became part of the community of first responders who helped treat and carry 60 people to safety that night. In the days that followed - amid the grief, the trauma processing, and the slow work of rebuilding - Lexi and Jimmy fell in love. In the six months since Lexi has been able to identify what a tragedy like the deadly Bondi attack can strip away - the corporate ambitions, the performative rituals of modern dating, the conditions we place on living fully. Lexi shares why she has walked away from a path she thought she wanted, returned to clinical practice to help people one-on-one, and said yes to a relationship that moved at the speed of life. Plus: the ChatGPT proposal fail, the ring they promised not to buy (and then bought!), and the moment Lexi's mum clocked Jimmy before Lexi even had a chance. Lexi speaks beautifully about the importance of community, finding courage, championing feminine leadership, and finding the light when everything feels so dark. Learn. Lead. Collaborate. Start your leadership journey today. Head here to find out more about our signature, cross industry collaboration program, Aleda Connect. Curated and facilitated by experts, running for 8 fortnightly sessions, Aleda Connect is the learning experience of a life-time. Empowering Leaders is proudly partnered with Victoria University. Find more information about studying at VU here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

24 min
May 26

Harry Moffitt: Former SAS Operator on High Performance & What We've Forgotten About Living Well

Harry Moffitt spent decades inside one of the world's most demanding institutions - Australia's Special Air Service Regiment. He's served in conflict zones across the Middle East including Afghanistan, lost friends, mentored some of the country's most elite operators, and now works as a corporate psychologist helping leaders, athletes, and organisations perform under pressure. He's also the author of Eleven Bats and The Fourth Pillar, a book about a pillar he believes most high performance programs are missing entirely. In this conversation on Empowering Leaders, Luke and Harry explore what it means to train the whole human. Not just the body or the mind, but the philosophical and moral interior that most people never think to tend to. Harry traces the idea back to a remarkable Australian coach named Percy Cerutty, who in the 1950s and 60s built what might have been the world's first institute of sport from a tin shack on the beach at Portsea. His STOTAN philosophy blended the best of the Stoics and the Spartans into a radical approach to resilience and human performance. Harry also speaks candidly about the Ben Roberts-Smith war crimes case, one of the most significant and divisive legal proceedings in Australian military history. Harry has worked closely with people on both sides of the investigation and brings a perspective that is measured, informed, and unflinching. He talks about what the case has done to the SAS community, why he believes there is worse yet to come, and what integrity looks like when loyalty and accountability are in direct tension. Harry speaks with the kind of hard-earned clarity that only comes from actually living what you're writing about - the cost of being away from home, what he now understands about presence, about community, about the difference between chasing things and building a life. He talks about grief for his friend Lochlan Muddle, about leadership under pressure, about walking the floor as a leader, and about why talking to yourself out loud might be one of the oldest and most powerful practices a human can cultivate. 03:29 The four pillars of high performance05:50 Percy Cerutty and the STOTAN philosophy09:33 The whole human: Ancient wisdom and modern performance14:46 A philosophy for living a meaningful life18:41 Absence, regret and family20:45 The SAS brotherhood22:33 Lochlan Muddle: loss and pride25:42 Ben Roberts-Smith and a divided community31:51 Fog of war, moral armory and where the line is35:17 Afghanistan: did we win?40:37 What great leaders do consistently45:50 The ancient art of talking to yourself51:15 Routines, habits and self first57:05 Walk the floor: the one piece of advice1:00:14 Who would Harry collaborate with?1:04:34 The greatest leader in Harry's life Learn. Lead. Collaborate. Start your leadership journey today. Head here to find out more about our signature, cross industry collaboration program, Aleda Connect. Curated and facilitated by experts, running for 8 fortnightly sessions, Aleda Connect is the learning experience of a life-time. Empowering Leaders is proudly partnered with Victoria University. Find more information about studying at VU here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1h 7m
May 19

Phil Hopley: The Burnout Tipping Point Every Leader Needs to Recognise

What separates the leaders and athletes who perform under pressure from those who crack? According to Dr Phil Hopley, it comes down to one overlooked discipline: daily recovery. Phil is a consultant psychiatrist and one of the world's leading experts in mental performance. Through Cognacity - the specialist psychology organisation he leads - Phil has worked inside elite sport, global boardrooms and high-performance teams across Premier League football, Formula One, rugby and Olympic sport. His organisation was the appointed specialist team for the London Olympics and Paralympics. In this conversation with Luke Darcy, Phil unpacks the science behind sustainable high performance, the hidden cost of distracted working, and why the greatest predictor of long-term leadership success isn't intelligence or ambition - it's self-awareness. Phil explains the "tipping point" that separates productive pressure from burnout, shares what Kenyan distance runners can teach every corporate leader about recovery, and reveals the Big Five personality assessment his team uses to identify high-risk hires before catastrophic cultural damage is done. He also talks in-depth about building psychological safety, dialling up kindness in competitive environments, and why the greatest leader in his own life is his 90-year-old father. Learn. Lead. Collaborate. Start your leadership journey today. Head here to find out more about our signature, cross industry collaboration program, Aleda Connect. Curated and facilitated by experts, running for 8 fortnightly sessions, Aleda Connect is the learning experience of a life-time. Empowering Leaders is proudly partnered with Victoria University. Find more information about studying at VU here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

47 min
May 12

Alisa Camplin: The Extraordinary Mind Behind Winning Gold

Alisa Camplin is one of Australia's most decorated and driven high performance leaders - an Olympic gold medallist in aerial skiing, Australia's first female winter Olympic gold medallist, and most recently, the first woman to lead an Australian Winter Olympic team as Chef de Mission at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games. Alisa shares so many of the mental frameworks that powered her greatest performances - and how those same skills carried her through the unimaginable loss of her son Finnan, who passed away after just 10 days following open heart surgery. Together with her husband, she channelled that grief into Finnan's Gift, a foundation that has now raised over $4 million for paediatric cardiac care. She opens up about recovering from two knee reconstructions in the lead-up to her second Olympics - the last one just 56 days before the Games - and why she believes the most important thing you can do after any setback is get up, find a plan, and be all in. She also shares what 16 years at IBM, a boardroom career, and leading an Olympic team have taught her about honest conversations, coaching people as whole humans, and the small daily habits that create real, lasting change. This conversation is a masterclass in what it means to lead with integrity, show up with discipline, and keep going when life gets hard. We’re privileged to have Alisa as part of the Aleda Connect community - connecting inspiring leaders from across Australia and around the world. Learn. Lead. Collaborate. Start your leadership journey today. Head here to find out more about our signature, cross industry collaboration program, Aleda Connect. Curated and facilitated by experts, running for 8 fortnightly sessions, Aleda Connect is the learning experience of a life-time. Empowering Leaders is proudly partnered with Victoria University. Find more information about studying at VU here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

47 min
May 5

Alex Carey: When the Setback is Actually the Setup - for International Success

The AFL dream ended in tears at 20. A decade later, he was lifting the World Test Championship. Alex Carey's journey to becoming one of Australian cricket's most trusted performers is one of the sporting world’s great second-act stories. A talented junior who played both codes at a high level, Alex took a chance on AFL and moved to Sydney as one of the GWS Giants' foundation players - only to be let go with barely 24 hours' notice. Back in Adelaide, he drifted through a football pre-season and a stint in finance before a quiet conversation with the South Australian Cricket Association gave him one more shot. He almost didn't take it. He nearly quit that too. But he didn’t and what came next … is all part of Alex’s incredible story. In this episode, Luke Darcy and Alex Carey hit: Growing up in a sporting household and the father who shaped his values The AFL dream, and the brutal moment it was taken away How two delistings and a finance job led him back to cricket… and eventually to Test cricket The 2023 Ashes 'spirit of the game' incident at Lord's: online threats, mental battles, and what he'd do differently Working with performance psychologist Ben Crowe, and the value of having someone outside the system Fatherhood, sacrifice, and how he and wife Eloise make it all work Learn. Lead. Collaborate. Start your leadership journey today. Head here to find out more about our signature, cross industry collaboration program, Aleda Connect. Curated and facilitated by experts, running for 8 fortnightly sessions, Aleda Connect is the learning experience of a life-time. Book a discovery call today. Empowering Leaders is proudly partnered with Victoria University. Find more information about studying at VU here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

43 min
Apr 28

Jakara Anthony: What It Takes to Win Gold Twice

Jakara Anthony is Australia's most successful Winter Olympian…ever. A two-time Olympic gold medallist in mogul skiing, she's the first Australian to defend an Olympic title, doing it on the world stage against competitors from countries where skiing is practically a birthright. And she's 27. In this conversation with Luke Darcy, Jakara pulls back the curtain on what being that successful actually takes. The four-year Olympic cycles planned down to the finest detail. The mental side of the sport that can't be measured or counted in reps. The broken collarbone in the lead-up to her second gold. The fear every time she drops in. And the coach she's worked with since she was 12 years old who she credits as the greatest leader in her life. Jakara gives a masterclass in performance, resilience, and what it means to do hard things consistently… even when it's uncomfortable. 04:20 What it means to be in a club of her own06:04 The four-year Olympic cycle - how it all gets planned08:21 Dropping in - what's going through her mind at the top of the course09:27 The edge - why consistency separates her from the field10:19 Carrying the target - defending Olympic gold at Milano Cortina11:12 Beating the Europeans at their own sport12:10 What she's found in herself at 2712:54 The hard things - fear, the mental game, and learning to cope14:33 Advice for young people who want to push themselves15:31 What's next - planning for the French Alps in 203016:38 What keeps her balanced outside the sport18:00 The curiosity rabbit hole - coffee, latte art & sustainable performance18:57 Her mantra - "be where your feet are"20:02 Sponsorship & who's backing Australia's greatest Winter Olympian22:42 Greatest leader in her life - coach Pete McNiel Learn. Lead. Collaborate. Start your leadership journey today. Head here to find out more about our signature, cross industry collaboration program, Aleda Connect. Curated and facilitated by experts, running for 8 fortnightly sessions, Aleda Connect is the learning experience of a life-time. Book a discovery call today. Empowering Leaders is proudly partnered with Victoria University. Find more information about studying at VU here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

23 min
Apr 21

Peter Malinauskas: Why Leaders Must Spend Their Capital or Lose It

Recorded live at Adelaide Oval in front of a packed Aleda Connect audience during one of the most talked-about weekends in Australian sport, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas sits down with Luke Darcy for a rich and candid conversation. In this episode, he reflects on: What it actually means to lead at the highest level The difference between authentic leadership and the kind people see straight through Why compassion in political leadership is mistaken for weakness and why he thinks the opposite is true What it looks like to build a small circle of people brave enough to tell you you're completely wrong. The Premier also talks about the discipline required to stay focused on big-picture vision when crises are landing on your desk every single day… from child protection to hospital systems to policing. He shares a defining leadership miscalculation that taught him to trust his instincts. And he makes a brilliant case that in a world of uncertainty, the leader's job isn't to commentate the problem… it's to Make. The. Call. And... there's also the story behind his now-legendary "Trump-style" negotiation tactic deployed in front of the AFL commission. That one you'll have to hear for yourself. Gather Round. Adelaide Oval. The Premier of South Australia. 00:00 Welcome to Adelaide Oval01:20 Taking office - the vision for South Australia02:25 Defining great leadership04:19 The crisis of global leadership05:46 Who do you turn to when things get hard?07:59 A defining leadership mistake10:30 Long-term vision vs short-term fires12:21 Legacy - what does he hope South Australia looks like?13:48 One piece of advice for every leader in the room16:31 Greatest leader in his life - Bob Hawke20:08 Q&A - Federal ambitions?22:59 The Gather Round negotiation with the AFL26:51 Where does he switch off?29:01 Q&A - Immigration, growth & South Australia's identity See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

38 min
Apr 14

Ian McKeown: Why Composure Is the Ultimate Superpower

If your team wins, who gets the credit… and what does your answer say about the culture you're building? Ian McKeown has spent more than two decades at the cutting edge of elite sport… from the AFL to the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers, and back to Australia as General Manager of Performance at the Adelaide Crows. He holds a PhD in strength and conditioning, has published extensively on ecological dynamics and applied sports science, and is widely regarded as one of the most sophisticated performance architects in global sport. But spend five minutes with him and what strikes you most isn't the credentials… it's the human. In this episode, Ian unpacks what he's learned across three continents about the conditions that allow people - and teams - to truly thrive. He talks about why you can smell a dysfunctional culture the moment you walk in, and why the fanciest facility in the world means nothing if it doesn't feel right. He shares the Seth Godin book he read on the plane from Ireland to Australia that changed the way he thought about his career along with the winning philosophy he's carried ever since. He explains why shared goals, shared ownership and shared success are the only things that actually build something sustainable. He also gets into the butterfly effect of great leadership, the two words he comes back to every single day - kindness and composure - and why he believes the scariest person in any room isn't the loudest one. It's the one who doesn’t flinch. Ian’s belief in the power of connection, curiosity and genuine human relationships runs through every single minute of this conversation. Learn. Lead. Collaborate. We are privileged to have Ian as part of our Aleda Connect community. Start your leadership journey today. Head here to find out more about our signature, cross industry collaboration program, Aleda Connect. Curated and facilitated by experts, running for 8 fortnightly sessions, Aleda Connect is the learning experience of a life-time. Empowering Leaders is proudly partnered with Victoria University. Find more information about studying at VU here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

49 min

Trailer

Empowering Leaders - Trailer

In this series, we’ll unpack learnings and life lessons from people who are game changers in their chosen field, whether it’s sports, art, business or education. We’ll break down the fundamentals of growing new style of leadership, such as collaboration, integrity and innovation, through the stories of these iconic leaders. So start your leadership journey today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

S1, E1

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2 min

In this series, Luke Darcy is joined by iconic leaders to unpack learnings and life lessons from these game changers in their chosen field, whether it’s sports, art, business or education. We’ll break down the fundamentals of the new style of leadership, such as collaboration, integrity and innovation, through the stories of these iconic leaders.

Creator

Aleda
Years Active

2022 - 2026
Episodes

247
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© 2026 Aleda
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