The Huddle Leadership Podcast with Kate Russell

Kate Russell
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A podcast by leaders for leaders, hosted by CEO and Founder of The Huddle, Kate Russell. This is a platform for leaders and specialists who work with leaders to share their knowledge and their skill, so that we can get better outcomes in your team, workplace or business.

  1. 12/01/2025

    Ep 64. Radical Humility and Addressing Narcissism in the Workplace with Dr Simon Moss

    In this episode of The Huddle Leadership Podcast, host Kate Russell sits down with Dr Simon Moss, psychologist and founder of the Radical Humility initiative, for a revelatory conversation about humility, narcissism, and the systemic changes needed to transform workplace culture. With 30 years of experience in psychology as both an academic and consultant, Simon brings evidence-based insights and practical strategies to one of the most critical—yet often overlooked—challenges facing modern organisations: how to foster humility and reduce narcissism to prevent conflict, enhance productivity, and create psychologically safe workplaces. The discussion explores the profound impact humble leadership can have on everything from workplace bullying to domestic violence, revealing how organisations can unlock extraordinary potential by prioritising people's development over immediate status. From understanding the roots of narcissistic behaviour to implementing systemic solutions that prevent conflict before it escalates, Simon demonstrates how humility isn't just a nice-to-have quality—it's the foundation for sustainable organisational success and societal wellbeing. Key Takeaways Humility solves multiple problems simultaneously: Most workplace issues—bullying, exaggerated claims, resistance to feedback—are virtually absent in people who are genuinely humble and motivated to learn from others Perceived drawbacks of humility are misconceptions: Humble people are actually more credible, not less, because they're less defensive, their arguments consider multiple perspectives, and they're aware of both their limitations and strengths Productivity can increase by 400-500%: Research suggests that in the right circumstances—when people feel valued and can work without constant disruption—they can be four to five times more productive than on difficult days Narcissism manifests differently across personalities: While grandiose narcissism (bragging, showing off) is easily recognised, vulnerable narcissism—characterised by extreme sensitivity to criticism and constant victimhood—is far more insidious and often goes unlabelled Time pressure erodes humility: When people feel rushed and overwhelmed, their motivation to learn from others drops, making them less humble and more focused on immediate needs rather than long-term development Narcissists excel in job interviews: Narcissistic individuals are more likely to exaggerate their qualities and, surprisingly, more likely to be hired because interviewers often fail to see through the performance Humility is more malleable than other qualities: Unlike many personality traits, humility can be systematically developed through specific exercises and environmental changes over several months Prevention trumps intervention: The ideal approach is fostering humility throughout organisations before conflicts arise, rather than attempting to address narcissistic behaviour during crises when people are defensive. Featured Discussion Simon's journey into the study of humility began 30 years ago with a simple mission: to collect every scientific discovery—intuitive or counterintuitive—about how to help people improve their productivity and wellbeing. Starting with fascinating findings like how people on your left shoulder are easier to read emotionally (because you process them with your right hemisphere), Simon accumulated thousands of research insights that ultimately led him to recognise humility as perhaps the most powerful yet underutilised quality in organisational life. The conversation takes a particularly compelling turn when Simon explains the two main premises of "radical humility." First, that so many workplace and societal problems dissipate when people are genuinely humble—passionate about learning from others and experiences rather than being narcissistic or arrogant. Second, and perhaps more revolutionary, is Simon's conviction that humility can be fostered systemically across organisations, communities, and families to address multiple problems simultaneously, from domestic violence to workplace malfeasance. Kate and Simon explore the fascinating paradox of narcissism: individuals who desperately seek status and importance through immediate gratification rather than developing genuine skills and relationships over time. Simon reveals how narcissism manifests differently depending on personality—extroverted narcissists show off and brag, whilst those high in neuroticism display vulnerable narcissism, becoming hypersensitive to criticism and adopting a victim mentality. This vulnerable narcissism, Simon notes, is particularly insidious because it's harder to identify and address. The discussion illuminates a critical challenge in conflict resolution: people are least humble precisely when humility would be most beneficial—when they're stressed, feeling defensive, or engaged in conflict. This creates a catch-22 where the moments demanding humility are the very circumstances that suppress it. Simon's solution is preventative: build humility into organisational culture before crises emerge, creating resilient people who perceive challenges as opportunities to grow rather than threats to defend against. Innovation Spotlight: Radical Humility as Systemic Change Perhaps the most ambitious aspect of Simon's work is the vision for fostering humility systemically across society. He proposes concrete examples like dating websites that incentivise humility through points systems, schools that embed humility training during critical developmental periods, and organisations that make humility a core competency rather than an afterthought. The genius of this systemic approach lies in recognising that individual interventions, whilst valuable, cannot address the scale of problems created by widespread narcissism. By building humility into the structures and incentives of institutions—workplaces, schools, families, even dating platforms—behaviour change becomes embedded in the environment rather than dependent on individual willpower alone. Simon's work addresses a critical gap in how society currently operates. Whilst people claim to value humility and research shows they trust humble politicians, the systems actually reward narcissistic behaviour: job interviews favour confident exaggeration, social media rewards self-promotion, and uncertain futures make people prioritise immediate status over long-term development. Radical humility seeks to reverse these perverse incentives. The research foundation is robust: humble people are more credible, more resilient, more trustworthy, better liked, and have more stable perceptions of truth because their emotions don't swing as wildly. They view challenges as opportunities rather than threats. They're open to feedback, making them aware of both limitations and genuine strengths. And crucially, humility appears to be more developable than many other important qualities, making it an ideal target for intervention. Quotable Moments "Most of the problems you experience at work, such as bullying, someone exaggerating their skills, someone resistant to feedback, and all of those issues are not really present in people who are humble, in people who really want to learn from others." "People who are genuinely humble, in that they're really motivated to learn from others, so they're not just acquiescing, it's more they want to learn from others, they tend to be more credible. It's partly because they're not as defensive. It's partly because most of their arguments have considered lots of different perspectives, so they're a lot more nuanced." "There are some studies that imply that, and it makes sense to me that in the right circumstances, people can just be about four to five times more productive than on a really bad day. And that may sound like a lot. I mean, that's a huge number if you think about increasing productivity by 500%." "Fundamentally, narcissism really is this pursuit for immediate status and importance and power. So the person is much more obsessed with sort of enhancing their status, their rank, how they perceive as soon as possible, rather than trying to develop the skills and the qualities and the achievements and the networks to develop that status over time." "We believe it is possible in society to foster this humility systemically in organisations, communities, families and so forth, to address many of these problems to some degree, at least simultaneously. I think that humility is probably more malleable than many other important qualities." "In a job interview, if you've got someone who's quite narcissistic, they're more likely to exaggerate their qualities and attributes in that job interview. And they're actually more likely to be chosen. You'd think that interviewers and hiring managers would see through that, but they often don't." "We do know that when people experience a lot of time pressure, so when they really feel rushed, when they feel overwhelmed with duties, which is pretty much all of us, not much of the time, we're not as motivated to learn from other people, our humility drops." "That vulnerable narcissism, the people that are incredibly sensitive to criticism and perceive themselves as victims and obsessed with their own needs is probably a lot more insidious in organisations and not labelled as much." "When people are more humble, they perceive challenges and difficulties as really as opportunities to grow. So they tend to be more resilient. And because of that resilience, their emotions are not too intense. And so their decisions are more likely to take into account a much broader range of context. So the truth is more likely to be a bit more stable over time." "In an ideal world, most organisations would try to prevent those conflicts by fostering that humility throughout the organisation first at a time before conflicts arise to prevent those sorts of disputes ever from escal

    39 min

  2. 11/25/2025

    Ep 63. Bridging Vision to Action with Annie Phillips

    In this episode of The Huddle Leadership Podcast, host Kate Russell sits down with Annie Phillips, founder of LUMN Consulting, for a thought-provoking conversation about innovation, strategy, and the art of bridging the gap between vision and execution. With experience spanning work with nonprofits, churches, and entrepreneurial ventures across London and Australia, Annie brings practical wisdom and a fresh perspective to the critical conversations around leadership clarity, organizational creativity, and developing the next generation of leaders. The discussion explores the intersection of visionary thinking and practical implementation, revealing how organisations can unlock untapped potential by creating clarity, building trust, and courageously pursuing big ideas. From working with creative teams at Renaissance to studying Pixar's approach to innovation, Annie demonstrates how the most successful leaders combine clear vision with genuine curiosity about their people's capabilities and passions. Key Takeaways Clarity is a profound gift: Clear vision that can be articulated by everyone from executives to cleaners, reduces stress, enables prioritisation, and prevents wasted energy spinning wheels Ideas follow vision: When organisations have a compelling, simply stated vision, teams can naturally filter good ideas from bad ones and stay "on the wheel" rather than being pulled in multiple directions Untapped potential exists everywhere: Organisations often fail to ask their people—especially younger generations—what drives them, what skills they possess, and what problems they could help solve Simplicity enables scale: The best visions are easily articulated, big enough that people buy in even after hearing them repeatedly, and clear enough to guide decision-making at every level Trust requires intentional time: Creativity and innovation don't happen accidentally—they require scheduled space, whether strategy days or structured meetings where "anything is on the table" Story builds trust better than stats: Starting meetings with stories and ending with KPIs (rather than vice versa) creates opportunities to understand intentions, context, and humanity 80% delegation unlocks growth: Leaders with 10x visions must delegate anything someone can do 80% as well, requiring a fundamentally different mindset than incremental thinking Courage is a muscle: Risk tolerance grows with practice; leaders who've experienced failure often build bigger, more sustainable ventures because they've learned what's truly worth fighting for. Featured Discussion Annie's journey from London to founding LUMN Consulting began with a recognition that while great ideas are plentiful, there's a critical shortage of people who can bridge the gap between vision and execution without losing what makes ideas compelling in the first place. Her work focuses on three key phases: discerning, designing, and delivering—with particular emphasis on that often-neglected discernment phase. The conversation takes a particularly powerful turn when Annie describes working with visionary leaders and the consistent pattern she's observed: the most successful aren't those with the most ideas, but those with the clearest vision. This clarity, she explains, must be simple enough that it can be articulated by anyone in the organization and big enough that people continue buying in even after hearing it hundreds of times. Kate and Annie explore the profound challenge many organisations face today—they exist, they're large, they keep functioning, but they've lost clarity about why they exist at all. This "missional drift" creates internal confusion, makes it difficult to steer the organisation, and robs people of the purpose that makes work fulfilling. Without a clear purpose, Annie notes, people are less concerned about work-life balance because they're not finding meaning in what they do. The discussion illuminates a critical gap in how organizations approach their people, particularly younger generations. Annie challenges the assumption that resistance to long hours equals entitlement, pointing instead to Gen Z's extraordinary creativity, their search for purpose and fulfillment, and their passion for meaningful causes like climate action. The question she poses is transformative: What if organisations asked their people what drives them, what other skills they possess, and what problems they think could be solved—rather than simply confining them to job descriptions? Innovation Spotlight: The Discernment Process and Creative Teams One of the most compelling elements of this conversation is Annie's framework for helping leaders move from ideas to execution through discerning, designing, and delivering. The discernment phase, often rushed or skipped entirely, involves deep listening, processing stakeholder input, understanding organisational context, and tailoring solutions to the specific people and systems already in place. Annie draws on lessons from Ed Catmull's Creativity, Inc., describing how Pixar built creative teams capable of producing exceptional films by establishing extraordinary levels of trust. With 30-40 people in production meetings needing to give detailed feedback ("that girl's hand moved too fast—it suggests she's angry"), they had to create environments where critique didn't feel like a personal attack. This required strategic meeting design, clear purposes for different gatherings, and intentional culture-building. The genius of Annie's approach lies in its practical application: Vision filtering: Creating "the wheel" that helps teams identify which ideas advance the vision and which are distractions, preventing the overwhelming influx of possibilities from paralysing decision-makingScheduled creativity: Recognising that innovation, like work-life balance, only happens when explicitly carved out—whether through strategy days, innovation hours, or structured brainstorming meetingsRelational outcomes over numbers: Prioritising people-centred metrics and purpose-driven work while still achieving financial sustainability, understanding that organisations with longevity are fundamentally relationalLeadership pipeline development: Working with organisations to ensure they're developing the next generation of leaders who understand, embody, and can carry forward the vision—preventing the sustainability crisis that occurs when founders realise there's no one to take the mantleEcosystem building: Recognising that courage requires community, and helping leaders surround themselves with trusted advisors, peers a few steps ahead, and people who can provide practical guidance and emotional supportThe system's success is evidenced by Annie's observation that the entrepreneurial space excels at this ecosystem approach—"the new needs friends"—and that every leader needs people around them who've done it before or are navigating similar challenges. Quotable Moments "There are plenty of ideas in the world, but I think there's a great need for people who can actually bridge that gap and say, take really great ideas and help bring them to execution without losing what's compelling about them in the first place." "Organisations are made up of people and you really have to work with the people who are already there, the systems that they're already operating in and with, because otherwise you can put something on the desk and at the end of the day, they're not going to implement that project or adopt the change." "If you can't articulate why the organisation exists from the top to the bottom, then it's much more difficult to steer the organisation and for people to have buy into the purpose if the why is not clear." "What other skills do you possess? What do you think might be possible? What kind of problem solving do you think we could do to actually help us as an organization function better? And I just wonder what that would actually unlock in our organisations." "Work-life balance, you often only achieve work-life balance when you schedule the fun and the time to catch up with people. And I think in the same way in organisations... it has to be put in the diary." "The legacy of leadership is the leaders that come after you... It's about the process of formation and development that happens along the way." "If you have a 10 times vision, you actually have to have a different mindset. You have to start delegating to people anything that someone can do 80% as well as you." "The bigger the risk you take, it's like a muscle that you exercise. You take risks, and you're like, that actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be." "We have agency to actually build across Australia, the businesses that should exist, the nonprofit organisations, the churches that should have courage and should take risks to connect with the communities around them." "Your staff have got lots and lots of opinions that they'd love to share with you if you made it safe for them to share. They care deeply, your people in your team care deeply. They want this to work well." - Kate Russell Connect with Annie Phillips LinkedIn: Annie Phillips LUMN Consulting OPEL COACHING PROGRAM thehuddle.net.au Follow us on socials: IG - @thehuddle.au FB - @TheHuddleAus YT - @TheHuddle5000 LinkedIn - The Huddle leaders and teams

    38 min

  3. 11/19/2025

    Ep 62. From Trauma to Transformation with Mario McDonagh

    In this deeply moving episode of The Huddle Leadership Podcast, host Kate Russell sits down with Mario McDonagh, founder of SALUSALL and creator of the Support Over Suicide program, for an unforgettable conversation about resilience, redemption, and the power of lived experience in creating meaningful change. With a background spanning from incarceration to becoming a nationally accredited suicide prevention educator, Mario brings raw authenticity and hard-won wisdom to the critical conversations around men's mental health, workplace wellbeing, and breaking cycles of trauma. The discussion explores the intersection of personal tragedy and professional purpose, revealing how Mario's experiences with childhood sexual abuse, drug involvement, and imprisonment became the foundation for his holistic approach to workplace mental health. From panel beating to drug and alcohol testing to suicide prevention training, Mario demonstrates how our darkest moments can illuminate the path to helping others navigate their own struggles. Key Takeaways Breaking silence stops cycles: Speaking openly about abuse and trauma—even when it's uncomfortable or challenges family dynamics—is essential to preventing these patterns from continuing across generations Self-worth is the foundation: Without self-worth, people make decisions that harm themselves and others; rebuilding it creates immediate, measurable improvements in behaviour and life choices Lived experience creates credibility: Mario's background as someone who "has been there" allows him to connect with people struggling with addiction and mental health in ways traditional approaches cannot Holistic solutions address root causes: The DAGS approach (Drugs, Alcohol, Gambling, and Suicide) recognises these issues are interconnected and must be addressed together rather than in silos Empathy transforms compliance: Approaching drug and alcohol testing with understanding rather than punishment creates opportunities for people to change rather than simply face consequences Observation skills are protective: Learning to read human behaviour patterns—whether through survival or education—provides critical tools for identifying mental health struggles in others Support is the foundation of success: Investing in people's wellbeing and mental health delivers measurable returns, both in human terms and through improved productivity and reduced costs Gotcha moments can be turning points: How we respond when someone is caught or fails determines whether that moment destroys them or becomes a catalyst for transformation Featured Discussion Mario's journey from wanting to belong to becoming a champion for workplace mental health began not with a single moment, but through accumulated trauma that stripped away his self-worth. Born in New Zealand and returning to Australia at age seven, Mario encountered a cascade of challenges: the death of an older brother he never knew, sexual abuse by an older cousin, relentless bullying at school, and a desperate search for belonging that led him into drug culture. The conversation takes a particularly powerful turn when Mario describes his arrest during a major drug sting operation, looking down the barrel of an assault rifle and immediately thinking, "What have I done to my mum and dad?" This moment of forced reflection, combined with advice from fellow inmates, became the pivot point that changed everything. Rather than returning to crime or spiralling further, Mario chose to "take stock of his life and work out what he wanted to do." Kate and Mario explore the profound irony of someone with a criminal record for drug offences becoming a drug and alcohol educator—and why this background is actually his greatest asset. His empathy, his understanding of why people use substances, and his ability to de-escalate tense situations during testing come directly from having lived through the same struggles. When he tells someone who's failed a drug test, "whatever you think you've done, I've probably done ten times higher than that," he immediately establishes credibility that no traditional expert could match. The discussion illuminates a critical gap in current approaches to suicide prevention and mental health: programs that check boxes without teaching practical skills, that avoid difficult topics like drugs and alcohol, and that create more barriers for people to seek help rather than removing them. Mario's Support Over Suicide program challenges this by focusing on definition, identification, and guidance to support, giving people practical tools rather than theoretical knowledge. Innovation Spotlight: The DAGS Framework and Stop the Video One of the most compelling elements of this conversation is Mario's development of the DAGS framework (Drugs, Alcohol, Gambling, and Suicide) and his "Stop the Video" methodology. This holistic approach recognises what the research confirms: these issues don't exist in isolation. They compound and feed into each other, creating cycles that traditional siloed approaches fail to address. The Stop the Video mind hack mastery technique emerged organically from Mario's work, discovered through an acronym in his learning outcomes: Video (Validate, Identify, Describe, Explain, Observe). This approach teaches people to recognise suicidal ideation at its earliest stages—when it's still just an abstract idea—and interrupt the thought patterns before they progress toward actualisation. The genius of Mario's approach lies in its practical application: Assessment tools that rate different life areas (food, sleep, self-worth) on a scale of 1-10, allowing both baseline measurement and progress trackingWeekly check-ins that identify patterns and improvements, with participants consistently reporting self-worth increases from 2-3 to 5-6 after just one weekEmpathy-based testing that approaches drug and alcohol compliance as support rather than punishment, explaining organisational policies while emphasising the goal of keeping people employedLearning outcomes with measurable verbs that ensure actual knowledge retention rather than just awarenessNational accreditation (Suicide Prevention Australia and Australian CPD standards) that validates the program's rigour while making it accessible across sectorsThe system's success is evidenced by the consistent, rapid improvements in self-worth reported by participants—the foundation upon which all other positive changes are built. Quotable Moments "The worst happened to me was sexually abused and I was by an older cousin... if someone doesn't stand up and talk against this stuff, it keeps going on and on and on. I was the last that stopped with me." "The first thing that went to my head was, what have I done to my mom and dad? And the second thing was, move slowly so this guy doesn't shoot you." "Belonging is so important to people. A sense of community and belonging is where self-worth resonates." "I let them know... we want to see you remain a contributing member of the community. And that's why I promote that strongly because if I was allowed to test everyone in Australia immediately 20% of the workforce would be fired on the spot." "After one week I stop the video they come back and their self-worth is 5 or 6 and I'm like wow when I got that four times in a row I you've got something here." "Support is the foundation of success. That's what I'm teaching within the Support Over Suicide is all about defining the issue, identifying it, the symptoms, so then you can guide people to support." "We can't keep running lean business and cutting a pound of flesh off of everyone to go thinner and thinner and save money because you end up with a skeleton crew, there's no meat on the bone." "For most of us in our careers, at some stage, it's been those people who have believed in us before we believed in ourselves that have had the positive impact on us." - Kate Russell Connect with Mario McDonagh LinkedIn STAH Group Screening On Site OPEL COACHING PROGRAM thehuddle.net.au Follow us on socials: IG - @thehuddle.au FB - @TheHuddleAus YT - @TheHuddle5000 LinkedIn - The Huddle leaders and teams

    55 min

  4. 11/10/2025

    Ep 61. Why Anxiety Might Be Your Superpower: A Performance Psychologist's Perspective with Caroline Anderson

    In this episode of The Huddle Leadership Podcast, host Kate Russell welcomes Caroline Anderson, Director of Performance Edge Psychology, registered psychologist, and former Olympian (Athens 2004). Caroline brings nearly 20 years of experience working across clinical and performance psychology, including her recent role as Lead Psychologist for the Australian Olympic Committee at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Caroline's unique perspective combines the lived experience of elite athletic performance with deep psychological expertise. From her early fascination with psychology in high school to becoming an Olympic taekwondo athlete while simultaneously studying and working full-time, Caroline has always straddled two worlds that she now brings together in her private practice and consulting work with organisations including the Victorian Institute of Sport, the AFL Players Association, Cricket Australia, and the Melbourne Mavericks netball team. This conversation challenges fundamental assumptions about what drives performance. Caroline reveals that the most common struggles facing high performers—whether Olympic athletes, surgeons, corporate leaders, or eight-year-old gymnasts—aren't what most people expect. The issues aren't about working harder or wanting success more. They're about learning to moderate relentless drive, managing the uncomfortable emotions that accompany ambitious goals, and understanding that confidence isn't a prerequisite for excellent performance. Through candid discussion about pressure, doubt, anxiety, and the misleading messages society sends about mental toughness, Caroline provides a masterclass in performance psychology that applies far beyond the sporting arena. Her insights reveal why telling someone to "just be confident" is unhelpful advice, why anxiety might actually be useful for performance, and how teaching children to be present might be more valuable than teaching them to win. Key Takeaways Working hard isn't the hard part: High performers are naturally driven, motivated individuals who set lofty goals and pursue them relentlessly. Working hard comes easily to them. The real challenge is learning how to moderate that drive—to understand when "more" stops being better and starts causing harm. The success paradox: Society teaches that the recipe for success is to do more and work harder. But Caroline argues there's far more nuance to sustainable high performance. Hard work without balance risks burnout, mental health decline, and physical health issues that ultimately undermine the very success people are chasing. Doubt is normal, not weakness: One of the most common challenges Caroline sees across all performance domains is people feeling bad about feeling doubt, worry, or fear. These emotions are natural responses to doing difficult things, yet performers often compound their anxiety by judging themselves for having it in the first place. Confidence is overrated: Caroline challenges the widespread belief that people must feel confident to perform well. Confidence is a feeling, and like all feelings, it fluctuates constantly. Someone can feel supremely confident one moment and lose it entirely the next. Performance depends on what you're doing and focusing on, not how you're feeling. Anxiety isn't the enemy: The fight-or-flight response that creates anxiety is the body's way of mobilising resources—giving you more energy where you need it and conserving it where you don't. This biological response isn't inherently bad for performance; it just doesn't feel comfortable. The problem isn't the anxiety itself, but how we respond to it. Get comfortable with discomfort: Athletes excel at tolerating physical discomfort—pushing through difficult training sessions because they know it makes them stronger. The same principle applies to emotional discomfort. Learning to accept and work through uncomfortable feelings in the service of performance goals is a critical skill. Focus determines outcomes, not feelings: When performers start worrying about how they're feeling—trying to change, fix, or eliminate anxiety—their focus shifts away from the task at hand. That distraction, not the emotion itself, undermines performance. The key is acknowledging feelings without letting them dictate behaviour. Experiential avoidance shows up as hesitation: Under pressure, teams and individuals naturally want to avoid the threat—not by literally running away, but through hesitant play, passing when they should shoot, or making safe choices instead of committed ones. Understanding this tendency is the first step to responding differently. Adolescence changes everything: Young athletes often start their sport with fearless ease—doing backflips and competing without worry. Around adolescence, brain development enables them to think about consequences, failure, and judgment for the first time. This normal developmental shift can create performance issues if not properly supported. Early success creates vulnerability: Children who win everything when young and find sport easy often lack resilience when competition increases and setbacks become inevitable. They haven't developed skills to handle difficulty because they've never needed them. High performers span all domains: Performance psychology isn't just for athletes. Caroline's second-biggest client group is doctors facing the immense pressure of exams, consultancy qualifications, and literally life-or-death surgical decisions. The psychological demands of high-stakes performance are universal. Outcomes must sit within context: While wanting to win Olympic gold or deliver a flawless presentation is natural, these achievements aren't survival needs. When performers start thinking "I need this outcome," their brain treats it as life-or-death, creating disproportionate pressure. Perspective matters. Values transform performance: Caroline points to Ash Barty's career transformation when she began focusing on humility as a core value—not just off the court, but during competition. Being herself and acting with humility on the court became a performance advantage, not a limitation. Present-moment awareness is foundational: One of the most important skills Caroline teaches young athletes sounds simple but is profoundly difficult: coming back to the present moment. This ability to redirect focus from past mistakes or future fears to current tasks is fundamental to performance. Parents need support too: Well-meaning parents, coaches, and clubs often give advice like "just calm down" or "be confident" that, while kindly intended, isn't psychologically helpful. Parents need accessible tools to support their children's mental approach to high-stakes situations. Featured Discussion The conversation begins with Caroline's remarkable journey from a psychology-fascinated teenager who convinced her school to offer VCE psychology (they declined) to a registered psychologist who simultaneously became an Olympic athlete. She describes walking into a taekwondo studio at 16 or 17 and immediately loving everything about it—the novelty of the sport, the relationship with her coach, and especially the competitive sparring aspect. Her first competition was a disaster, she admits with a laugh, but she couldn't describe the feeling of competing—the most challenging thing she'd done, yet also the most rewarding and fun. What started as a recreational sport accelerated rapidly: competing nationally, making the national team, becoming a reserve for the Sydney 2000 Olympics (where she watched her friend Lauren Burns win gold), and ultimately competing at Athens 2004. Throughout this athletic journey, Caroline was studying psychology full-time, then working full-time, doing both simultaneously with her training. She viewed them as separate worlds at the time. After retiring from competition, she intentionally moved away from sport, working in clinical mental health settings, hospitals, and early intervention programs in the UK. That grounding in complex clinical environments, she reflects, gave her essential experience before returning to the performance domain 10 to 12 years ago. Kate notes the impressive scope of Caroline's current work: a private practice with four psychologists seeing everyone from eight-year-old athletes to surgeons, corporate professionals, actors, musicians, reality TV contestants, politicians, and specialist military and police operations personnel. Caroline has held roles at the Australian Institute of Sport, spent eight or nine years with the Victorian Institute of Sport working with diving, cycling, and gymnastics, served as Lead Psychologist for the AOC at Paris 2024, and currently works with the Melbourne Mavericks netball team. When Kate asks about common challenges across this diverse high-performance landscape, Caroline immediately identifies two primary patterns. The first is that high performers are inherently hardworking and determined people. Working hard isn't difficult for them—they're naturally driven, set ambitious goals, and pursue them relentlessly. The challenge isn't motivating them to work harder. The challenge is teaching them to moderate. These individuals, Caroline explains, have a propensity to overwork, overtrain, overthink, and overdo. They default to quantity over quality, believing the recipe for success is simply to do more and work harder. But that's not always the path to success, she argues. There's nuance. She's not suggesting high performers shouldn't work hard, but there's more to sustainable performance than sheer effort. Without moderation, they risk serious negative impacts on mental health, wellbeing, and overall health—reaching absolute burnout or developing complex health issues while losing motivation and enjoyment for what they're doing. The second major pattern is how high performers deal with doubt, worry, and fear—the normal, natural emotions that accompany doing difficult things. Anytim

    32 min

  5. 11/03/2025

    Ep 60. From Breakdown to Breakthrough with Richard Miller

    In this deeply personal episode of The Huddle Leadership Podcast, host Kate Russell welcomes Richard Miller, founder of Tough Wolf Detailing. Richard's story is one of profound transformation, from successful marketing director to mental health crisis to building a business model designed to help others reclaim their self-worth through meaningful work. With over 35 years of entrepreneurial experience spanning marketing, recruitment, entertainment, and television, Richard takes us through his journey from running a thriving creative agency to losing everything—his business, his home, his financial security, and nearly his life. His transparent account of mental breakdown and recovery reveals the devastating impact of financial crisis on mental health, and more importantly, how creative outlets and purpose-driven work can become pathways back to self-belief. Now running Tough Wolf Detailing, Richard has transformed his personal experience into an innovative business model that combines traditional detailing services with a vision to provide employment opportunities, mentorship, and support for people recovering from mental health challenges. Through his planned franchise model with no fees and built-in mental health support systems, Richard demonstrates how entrepreneurship can become a force for social good without sacrificing commercial viability. Key Takeaways Vulnerability is leadership strength: Richard's willingness to share his mental health struggles openly demonstrates that authentic leadership doesn't come from perfection—it comes from being real. When leaders acknowledge their humanity, they create permission for others to do the same. Soul-destroying isn't just rhetoric: The loss of reputation, confidence, and self-worth that accompanies financial and business failure can be literally life-threatening. Richard's experience of having suicidal thoughts for the first time at age 50 highlights how severe the psychological impact of business failure can be. Creative outlets provide recovery pathways: Richard's decision to detail and flip a car wasn't just about making money—it became a therapeutic process that allowed him to achieve something tangible without excessive mental burden. The physical work and visible transformation provided a sense of accomplishment that rebuilt confidence. Don't punish people for bad days: Richard's planned business model includes support for operators who simply can't face a job some days, with backup systems to cover work without creating a spiral of shame and self-punishment. This approach recognises that mental health recovery isn't linear. Self-belief determines capability: Despite decades of marketing expertise and proven skills, Richard couldn't pitch himself for work because he felt unworthy. The gap between actual capability and perceived capability becomes the defining limitation for people experiencing depression and anxiety. You soon find out who your friends are: Crisis reveals character—both your own and others'. Some of Richard's closest friends actively made him feel like a failure during his most vulnerable period, demonstrating how stigma around business failure compounds mental health challenges. Choose responsibility over victimhood: While Richard's crisis was triggered by helping a family member, he reclaimed power by recognising his choice to stay in that situation. Taking responsibility—even for circumstances created by others—returns a sense of control. Customer validation rebuilds self-worth: The extreme positive feedback Richard receives from detailing work—including customers crying with joy—provides the external validation that helps counter internal negative narratives. Doing excellent work becomes both cause and effect of recovery. Hustling is a survival skill: Richard's ability to find money when rent was due, to start businesses from age 14, and to navigate extreme financial pressure came from a fundamental hustler mentality—the determination to make things happen regardless of circumstances. Lead yourself out of darkness: Richard wanted to model for his adult children that when life strips everything away, no one else will solve it for you. Self-leadership in crisis means taking whatever action is possible, even when it feels impossible. Everyone's in sales: Richard emphasises that his marketing and sales skills weren't optional extras—they were survival tools. Understanding how to position and sell a product (or yourself) becomes critical when starting from zero. Purpose creates resilience: Richard's personal mission—to live life PACKED (Purpose, Adventure, Credibility, Kindness)—provides a daily framework for decisions and actions. When every action needs to tick one of those boxes, the mission becomes an accountability tool. Combine profit with social impact: Tough Wolf operates as a for-profit enterprise, not a charity, while still providing meaningful support for vulnerable people. Richard's transparency about needing to earn money while helping others models sustainable social entrepreneurship. Mental health support needs practical solutions: Richard's observation that government mental health systems offer vague guidance like "volunteer at Salvos" instead of leveraging people's actual skills reflects a fundamental disconnect in recovery support systems. The Xavier syndrome compulsion: Richard identifies his compulsion to help others regardless of personal cost as a pattern (Xavier syndrome). Understanding this tendency helped him recognise both how he got into crisis and how he could channel it productively. Featured Discussion Richard's story challenges every comfortable assumption about business success, mental health, and leadership. His trajectory—from running three companies and living a millionaire lifestyle to being unable to afford milk—illustrates how quickly circumstances can unravel when mental health declines and how intertwined financial stress and psychological wellbeing really are. The catalyst for Richard's crisis was deeply personal: choosing to help a close family member experiencing severe financial difficulty. This decision, made from a place of love and responsibility, ultimately drained his business resources, affected his ability to lead his team, and triggered a cascade of failures. The companies folded. The staff lost their jobs. The mounting debt became insurmountable. The house, cars, and superannuation were all lost. But the most devastating loss was internal. Richard, who had been successfully self-employed since age 14, who had built and led creative teams, who had won recognition on programs like Gruen, suddenly couldn't bring himself to pitch for work. He felt unworthy. The external validation he'd always received disappeared, and without it, the internal narrative became toxic. Well-meaning friends contributed to this spiral by treating him as a failure rather than someone experiencing temporary difficulty. The turning point came during a routine medical appointment. Richard casually mentioned to his GP that he'd had thoughts of driving off the road. That admission—his first suicidal thought at age 50—triggered an immediate referral to emergency mental health services and ultimately a two-week stay in a mental health facility. What Richard observed during that stay fundamentally shaped his current business vision. He saw two types of patients: those who would cycle through the system indefinitely, and those who were there because of specific circumstances outside their control—people like him who had lost careers, businesses, partners, or financial security. These people wanted to recover, wanted to rebuild, but lacked the self-belief and confidence to take action. The nursing staff couldn't provide concrete pathways. When Richard asked how he could help others once he recovered, he received vague suggestions about volunteering in op shops—work that neither utilised his skills nor provided a sustainable pathway forward for people with professional backgrounds. Richard recognised that what these people needed was meaningful work that rebuilt confidence incrementally, combined with mentorship from someone who understood their experience. They needed an environment where having a bad day didn't result in catastrophe. They needed to prove to themselves—through concrete achievements—that they were still capable. His path to this realisation came through an unexpected source: a $2,000 car. During COVID, Richard had watched car renovation shows. In the depths of his crisis, he bought a cheap vehicle, spent time renovating it, and flipped it for profit. The work was physical rather than cerebral, creative without requiring intense strategic thinking, and produced a visible transformation from "wrecking filthy to pristine clean." That sense of achievement—seeing something tangibly improved through his own effort—proved psychologically powerful. Richard found himself enjoying the work, feeling fulfilled by customer reactions, and gradually rebuilding confidence. He'd found a business model that didn't require him to pitch his marketing expertise (which he couldn't psychologically face) but still allowed him to create something valuable. Six months into running Tough Wolf Detailing, Richard experienced an epiphany. Why not structure the business to provide the same recovery pathway for others? The franchise model he'd already envisioned could be adapted specifically for people recovering from mental health challenges—no franchise fees, shared revenue after costs, mentorship and support systems built in, and crucially, backup coverage for days when operators simply couldn't face the work. Kate and Richard explore the profound leadership implications of this model. Most workplaces punish absence or poor performance without understanding the internal battle people face. Richard's approach recognises that someone not showing up for work might be preventing a complet

    33 min

  6. 10/27/2025

    Ep 59. Lowen Partridge on Brand Strategy & Leadership

    In this episode of The Huddle Leadership Podcast, host Kate Russell welcomes back branding and marketing expert Lowen Partridge, founder of Pear Tree Brand Strategy. Lowen's holistic approach to branding goes far beyond logos and visual identity, revealing how clarity in brand strategy becomes the foundation for effective leadership, aligned teams, and sustainable business growth. With 25 years of experience developing brand-focused strategies, Lowen takes us through her journey from working with big accounting firms in the early 2000s to establishing her own practice. Her unique approach treats branding as reputation management—a strategic framework that encompasses everything from how you differentiate from competitors to how staff members embody company values in their daily work. Now specialising in both organisational and personal branding, Lowen works with businesses and professionals to develop clear brand identities that prevent conflict, reduce wasted resources, and create alignment across all levels of an organisation. Through her strategic workshops and brand reveal processes, Lowen demonstrates how proper branding becomes a leadership tool that empowers teams, attracts the right people, and naturally cultivates others. Key Takeaways Branding is a leadership responsibility: The brand falls squarely on the ownership, board, and senior leadership team—not the marketing department or external ad agency. Leaders must provide guidance and drive what the brand represents, even if they don't implement it themselves. Think reputation, not logo: Most people think brand equals visual identity, but branding is actually about reputation. When leaders shift from thinking about logos to thinking about how they want to be perceived, the real strategic work begins. Lack of clarity creates conflict: Without a clear brand identity, people do what they think they should be doing based on personal preference. This dilutes the brand, wastes money, and creates organisational conflict as team members work at cross-purposes. Staff are brand ambassadors: Every staff member is critical to exemplifying the brand. All employees must be able to live the brand values, making brand alignment a key factor in hiring, onboarding, and performance management. Use the brand document as an objective tool: When behaviours or ideas go off-brand, managers can reference the agreed brand document rather than making subjective judgments. This transforms "I don't think you're behaving properly" into "I'm wondering whether this aligns with our brand." Brand reveals naturally culture people in or out: When organisations get clarity on their brand direction through strategic workshops, employees who don't align often self-select out—not because they're bad workers, but because their values or approach don't fit where the brand is going. Create internal brand teams for momentum: Establishing a brand team with representatives from different areas of the business maintains enthusiasm after the brand reveal, collects implementation ideas from staff, and acts as a conduit between leadership and employees. Build your database, don't rely on platforms: While social media allows precise targeting, smart brands focus on building their own email databases. Platforms can change rules instantly, and you can lose your data, but your own database remains under your control. Personal branding follows the same principles: You already have a personal brand—the question is whether it's the one you want. Identify what you want to be known for, align your values, raise your profile in relevant circles, and develop a strategy before making tactical decisions. Strategy prevents waste: Getting the strategy right before taking action saves time and money. A clear plan helps manage expectations, enables relevant contributions from team members, and prevents the chaos of chasing bright shiny objects. Featured Discussion Lowen's approach to brand strategy reveals a sophisticated understanding of how businesses actually function. Rather than treating branding as a marketing exercise, she positions it as a holistic business strategy that touches every aspect of operations—from product mix to internal culture to external communications. The brand development process begins with market research, surveying not just clients and potential customers, but staff members as well. This early involvement primes employees to think about brand throughout the process, creating buy-in before the reveal. Lowen then works with leadership teams to develop and document the brand identity, including core elements, extended elements, brand personality, brand symbols, and ultimately a brand essence distilled down to one or two words. The implementation phase demonstrates Lowen's understanding of organisational psychology. She brings staff together in operational groups—admin, sales, engineering, board members—to workshop three critical questions: What are we currently doing that we must keep doing to live the brand? What are we not doing that we need to start? And what are we currently doing that's counterproductive and needs to stop? This process achieves multiple objectives simultaneously. Everyone understands their role in building the brand, not just the marketing department. The exercise surfaces practical implementation ideas from people who do the actual work. And most importantly, individuals who don't fit the brand direction recognise this themselves without being told—they simply see the misalignment and often resign voluntarily. Kate and Lowen explore how this brand clarity prevents the common organisational pattern where technical skills are prioritised over cultural fit during hiring, leading to toxic situations down the line. They discuss how confusion about brand direction manifests as workplace conflict, with well-intentioned employees either "going feral" or exhausting themselves trying to guess what they should be doing. The conversation also addresses the evolution of marketing channels, from mass-market legacy media to highly targeted social media. While acknowledging the noise and binary nature of online spaces, Lowen emphasises that modern markets are increasingly niche, allowing brands to reach specific audiences with precision—provided they understand who they are and who they're trying to reach. Innovation Spotlight: Personal Branding for Professionals One of the most practical sections of this conversation addresses personal branding for professionals looking to establish themselves as specialists in their fields. Lowen walks through a detailed example of an accountant from the Coonawarra who wants to specialise in advising wine companies. The strategic process mirrors organisational branding: identify your heritage and existing advantages (being from a wine region), determine what you want to be known for (specialist expertise in wine industry business development), assess what additional qualifications or credentials you need, and identify which groups and networks you should join to raise your profile. But it goes deeper than credentials and networking. Personal branding requires identifying your values—perhaps diligence combined with innovation—and understanding which elements of your personality you want to promote as part of your business brand. Only after this strategic work is complete do you make tactical decisions about things like how to dress, which courses to take, or which networking events to attend. This approach prevents the common trap of professionals taking random actions in hopes of building their reputation. Instead, every decision—from joining industry groups to engaging with the wine community (both professionally and as a consumer)—flows from a clear strategy about the brand you're building. Lowen emphasises that you can't manufacture your values, but you can identify what you want to achieve and be known for. The authenticity comes from aligning your natural strengths and genuine interests with a strategic direction that positions you effectively in your market. Quotable Moments "I don't even use the word brand; I talk about reputation. And when I start talking about your business's reputation, that's when they start to get it." "You save so much money, and you avoid disaster. If you don't know who you are and what you stand for, people in the organisation go off doing what they think they should be doing." "The brand really falls on the leadership of the organisation. They don't have to implement it, but they certainly need to provide the guidance and the leadership on what our brand is all about." "Most employees want to do the right thing. They want to be good workers. But if they don't have the guidance, then they either go feral or they try hard to double-guess what they should be doing." "It's not a manager saying, 'I don't think you're behaving properly.' There is an agreed brand document, and you can ask: 'Was what you did yesterday afternoon on brand?' It makes it an objective exercise instead of subjective." "You already have a personal brand. The question is, is it the one that you want?" "You will have a brand, but it could be a very weak brand because nobody knows about it, and there's total confusion. And that in fact is your brand—that you're confused." "I'm a strategist. I really like getting the strategy right and then going for it because I'm not into waste. I don't like wasting time or money." "Know thyself and communicate." "Clarity, everybody's best friend." Connect with Lowen Partridge LinkedIn PearTree Brand Strategy OPEL COACHING PROGRAM thehuddle.net.au Follow us on socials: IG - @thehuddle.au FB - @TheHuddleAus YT - @TheHuddle5000 LinkedIn - The Huddle leaders and teams

    34 min

  7. 10/20/2025

    Ep 58. From Startups to Purpose-Driven Branding with Milly Albers

    In this episode of The Huddle Leadership Podcast, host Kate Russell sits down with Milly Albers, Managing Director of MILCO, a branding and marketing agency in Adelaide. Milly’s remarkable journey takes us from San Francisco tech startups to purpose-driven branding in Adelaide, revealing powerful lessons about authentic leadership, building trust, and creating meaningful impact through business. At just 24, Milly found herself leading a San Francisco startup, navigating the complexities of venture capital, team building, and rapid growth—all while learning one of life's most important lessons: when something doesn't align with your values, you have the power to change it. Her transformation of a college messaging app into Boomcast, a story-sharing platform connecting changemakers worldwide, demonstrates the courage required to lead authentically. Now running a family business with her husband, Milly works primarily with healthcare, disability, and not-for-profit organisations—purpose-driven leaders who share her commitment to making meaningful change. Through her innovative approach to branding and team leadership, including implementing a four-day work week, Milly exemplifies how businesses can prioritise both people and purpose while delivering exceptional results. Key Takeaways Align your work with your values: When the original intention of a business doesn't sit with your core beliefs, it's okay to completely change direction to align with your values—and you shouldn't be afraid to make that change "Don't hate, create": Rather than complaining about what's wrong, channel that energy into creating solutions and building what you wish existed in the world Listen more than you speak: Great leadership isn't about being the loudest voice in the room—it's about being the one who truly listens, a skill that often develops from being the quiet observer Build trust through authenticity: Trust comes from being real and transparent—showcasing real photos instead of stock imagery, communicating honestly about capabilities, and taking people on your journey rather than faking expertise you don't have Three essential marketing rules: Look great and be intentional in everything you do; be real and useful in the content you share; and shout out—don't hide behind perfectionism or imposter syndrome Trust your team completely: When you implement flexible working arrangements like a four-day work week without micromanagement or rigid KPIs, trust becomes the foundation that allows people to deliver quality work while pursuing personal goals Purpose transcends profit: Every business contributes value to society, whether in the not-for-profit sector or providing essential services—when leaders recognise this inherent purpose, they create more engaged and fulfilled teams Enable creativity and wellbeing: Giving team members dedicated time for personal creative projects and wellbeing, like Mondays for passion projects or wellness activities, builds loyalty and enhances the work they do during regular hours. Featured Discussion Milly's startup journey offers a masterclass in authentic leadership under pressure. At 22, she joined a founding team in the Netherlands, quickly rising through the ranks before being asked to lead a San Francisco-based startup at 24. With absolutely no knowledge of what a CEO role entailed, no understanding of funding, and no experience managing teams, she said yes purely because it sounded exciting. The real transformation came when Milly confronted a fundamental misalignment: the company targeted "drunken college kids" with a group messaging app—a mission that didn't resonate with her values. Rather than continuing down this path, she and her graphic designer completely transformed the business into Boomcast, a story-sharing platform helping people overcome loneliness by moving beyond the superficial world of Instagram and Facebook to create authentic connections. The pivot was remarkably successful. Organisations like Change.org and the Rockefeller Foundation partnered with them, and influential figures like Jay Shetty (before his mainstream fame) collaborated on the platform, creating a movement of changemakers eager to do meaningful work. However, success brought unexpected challenges. As the platform grew, imposter syndrome set in, and Milly discovered one of our deepest fears: that something would become too successful for us to handle. This fear, rather than external obstacles, contributed to the venture's eventual decline. Kate and Milly explore how this experience shaped Milly’s current approach to leadership at MILCO, where she's applied hard-won lessons about value alignment, authentic communication, and sustainable growth. Innovation Spotlight: The Four-Day Work Week Philosophy One of the most compelling aspects of this conversation is Milly’s implementation of a four-day work week at MILCO, demonstrating how small businesses can set their own rules from the start. The team doesn't work on Mondays, designating them as creative and wellbeing days where employees can pursue anything they choose—one team member uses the time to learn about opening her dream ice cream shop and develop business skills, while another focuses on running, beach time, and building her illustration portfolio. This isn't simply about reduced hours—it's about acknowledging the whole person. Milly openly recognises that employees won't stay with MILCO forever and that's okay, because the four-day arrangement demonstrates understanding that team members have lives and goals outside the business that deserve support. The arrangement operates on flexibility rather than rigid rules. When tight deadlines require it, the team might work a bit later one evening or occasionally use their Monday to finish projects, but there's no debt-tracking or "you owe me" mentality. The only expectation is that clients receive quality work within agreed timelines—no KPIs, no micromanagement, just trust. This approach mirrors Milly’s experience with a previous CEO who led without KPIs or nitpicky check-ins, creating an environment where Milly stayed for six to seven years purely because of the trust and respect she received. Quotable Moments "Don't hate, create. Anything that's bothering you or something you wish you could change—if you could create it and change it, what would it be?" "I was always the shy type, super, super shy. But actually, I was just the kid who listened. And I think that is part of my leadership style." "We're all very smart, intuitive human beings, and we can sniff any little fakeness or BS from a mile away, especially with AI getting bigger and bigger." "One of our biggest fears is that if something becomes too big, we're not going to be able to handle it." "Look great and be intentional, be real and useful, and shout out and be proud of what you do." "If my staff just want to make money, they come to work to make money and then they go home again—that's an assumption about intention that fits with your narrative, but isn't necessarily true." "When I realised that I just love creating this whole feeling of bringing a vision to life through visuals... to see that sparkle in someone's eyes when they're so wanting to change lives or improve things—to know that I contributed to that is awesome." Connect with Milly Albers LinkedIn Website OPEL COACHING PROGRAM thehuddle.net.au Follow us on socials: IG - @thehuddle.au FB - @TheHuddleAus YT - @TheHuddle5000 LinkedIn - The Huddle leaders and teams

    32 min

  8. 09/29/2025

    Ep 57. From Rules to Relationships: The Dutch Approach to Horizontal Leadership with Paul Ter Wal

    In this episode of The Huddle Leadership Podcast, host Kate Russell welcomes our first international guest, Paul Ter Wal, joining us from the Netherlands. With nearly 45 years of experience spanning law, social security, and leadership development, Paul brings a refreshing European perspective on authentic leadership and employee engagement. As a self-employed consultant for over 30 years, specialising in sustainable employability and the founder of innovative "campfire meetings," Paul challenges traditional top-down management structures with his horizontal leadership philosophy. The conversation explores Paul's unique journey from lawyer to leadership revolutionary, examining how his legal background shaped his understanding of creating frameworks that enable people to flourish rather than constraining them. From working with individuals navigating social security to advising major corporations on core values alignment, Paul demonstrates how authentic leadership starts with self-knowledge and extends through trust-based relationships. Key Takeaways Authentic leadership begins with self-awareness: You can only lead people effectively when you truly know who you are—your core values, non-negotiables, and what drives your energy and passion Energy management trumps time management: Employee engagement should result in people leaving work with more energy than they arrived with, creating a surplus for their personal lives and relationships The manager vs. leader distinction: Managers make you feel they are important; leaders make you feel that you are important—this fundamental difference transforms workplace dynamics Trust enables performance: Creating psychological safety where mistakes become learning opportunities allows people to use their talents fully and take calculated risks Horizontal leadership is the future: The traditional vertical hierarchy is giving way to support-based leadership, where leaders stand behind professionals, providing resources and removing obstacles Core values require deep work: Authentic organisational values can't be created in weekend retreats—they demand months of reflection, discussion, and alignment between individual and corporate non-negotiables Campfire meetings over boardroom presentations: Replacing formal presentations with storytelling circles where everyone shares experiences creates genuine connection and collaborative problem-solving Rules should enable, not constrain: Like sports, organisations need clear boundaries and guidelines, but within those parameters, people should have freedom to play and innovate Featured Discussion Paul's transformation from traditional lawyer to leadership revolutionary began with his recognition that legal frameworks should serve human flourishing, not bureaucratic control. His decade working in social security taught him to see beyond rules to the human stories underneath, developing his philosophy that "we need rules to make the environment clear, but not to tell others how to play." The conversation takes a particularly powerful turn when Paul describes the "Rhineland movement" sweeping across Europe—Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium—where organisations are literally turning the hierarchy horizontal. Instead of CEOs at the top directing downward, leaders position themselves at the back, supporting frontline professionals who directly serve customers. This isn't theoretical; Paul shares concrete examples of how this approach transforms both employee experience and customer satisfaction. Kate and Paul explore the profound implications of Paul's "battery analogy" for engagement, where employees should operate in the green zone—gaining energy from work rather than being drained by it. They examine how this connects to Paul's four core values: transparency leading to integrity, family as central focus, fun as fundamental, and loyalty as foundation. Innovation Spotlight: The Campfire Meeting Revolution One of the most compelling elements of this conversation is Paul's description of replacing traditional board meetings with "campfire meetings." This innovative approach involves: Circular seating arrangements where hierarchy dissolves into equality of participation. No papers or laptops to encourage presence and authentic connection Storytelling focuses on where team members share experiences and challenges rather than receiving top-down directives. Collective problem-solving where the group's wisdom addresses individual challenges. An energy-first approach where relationship building precedes number analysis. Leader as facilitator rather than presenter, asking "What is your story?" instead of delivering monologues The success of this approach lies in its recognition that accountability flows from connection and energy, not from control and fear. When people feel heard and valued, they naturally take ownership of outcomes and contribute their best thinking. Quotable Moments "If I talk to managers, I have the feeling that they are important. If I talk to leaders, I get the feeling that I'm important." "Engagement is I go to work with a lot of energy, and I go to work with even more energy because I need that surplus in my private life to deal with my friends, with my family, with my kids." "You can only lead people if you know who you are." "We are trained to be scared to make mistakes. And that starts as little kids... Let the coaches and the referee make the playing field, and you as parents shut up." "Accountability starts with the flow of energy. And if I can meet with you on that level and we can have that open discussion, then we can use the last 15 minutes saying, and now looking back, this is what happened." "We see the best expert becoming leaders, and then we lose the best expert, and we have the worst manager." "I call it the triple A status. It's attention, attention, attention. And you can only give attention if you learn how to listen." Connect with Paul Ter Wal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulterwal/ Website: https://paulterwal.com/ OPEL COACHING PROGRAM thehuddle.net.au Follow us on socials: IG - @thehuddle.au FB - @TheHuddleAus YT - @TheHuddle5000 LinkedIn - The Huddle leaders and teams

    42 min
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A podcast by leaders for leaders, hosted by CEO and Founder of The Huddle, Kate Russell. This is a platform for leaders and specialists who work with leaders to share their knowledge and their skill, so that we can get better outcomes in your team, workplace or business.

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