Slicing Through The Noise

Integrity and Values
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Entrepreneurship

This exciting channel dives into real leadership stories from Australia, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges, setbacks, and triumphs of business leaders. Hear firsthand how they navigated adversity and turned obstacles into success. Even more special, our guests are past clients of Integrity and Values who have been deeply influenced by our programs. Be part of an exciting new journey with our founder and podcast host, Jennifer Elliott.

  1. Sep 13

    EP 33 From a hardware store counter to leading 18 software businesses Mark Schmutter's 30y climb

    What do a hardware store, 18 software businesses, and a lesson in letting go have in common? In this episode of Slicing Through the Noise, Jennifer Elliott sits down with Mark Schmutter, Group Director at Vela APX, for a candid conversation about leadership, mentorship, curiosity, AI, and the hard-earned lessons that come from leading people through growth and change. Mark's leadership journey began far from boardrooms and software acquisitions. Working behind the counter of a hardware store taught him a principle that still guides him today: great leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about helping people find their own. Over three decades in the software industry, Mark has learned what happens when leaders step in too quickly, speak too often, or hold people back from opportunities because they aren't willing to take a risk. In this conversation, he openly shares the mistakes that shaped him, including a promotion decision he wishes he had handled differently and the lessons he learned about trust, coaching, and developing future leaders. Jennifer and Mark explore: • Why the best leaders create space rather than fill it • The difference between solving problems and coaching people • How curiosity drives better leadership and business outcomes • Why introverts often hold the most valuable insights in a room • The challenge of growing leaders without removing accountability • Building cultures where experimentation and learning are encouraged • Managing founder-led businesses through growth and succession • The role of humility in leadership • How Vela APX and Constellation Software develop people across a global network of businesses • Mark's practical approach to AI and why it should be used to eliminate repetitive work, not replace human thinking One of the most powerful moments of the conversation comes when Mark shares the question he now asks himself before responding to a problem: "Is this my problem to solve, or my person to coach?" If you're a leader, founder, business owner, or someone responsible for developing people, this episode offers practical wisdom, thought-provoking perspectives, and leadership lessons that can be applied immediately. Listen now and discover why creating space for people to think may be one of the most important leadership skills you'll ever develop. Real stories, real lessons, from the people actually doing it. Full chapter timestamps below. #Leadership #BusinessGrowth #PeopleDevelopment #AI #Coaching #SlicingThroughTheNoise #VelaAPX #LeadershipDevelopment #BusinessPodcast #MarkSchmutter #JenniferElliott #IntegrityAndValues 00:00  Intro / welcome 02:05  Growing up in Victoria — a hardware store counter 04:03  "Customer service business, not the software business" 06:42  Mentor Richard Brooks — learning the job hands-on 07:48  Teaching decision-making, not making decisions for people 09:12  "Swerve without crashing the car" — guardrails for delegation 10:19  The promotion he said no to 13:00  Herding 18 cats — decentralized leadership at Centaurus 14:45  What thought leadership actually means 18:02  Laying breadcrumbs instead of lecturing 18:37  Gauging curiosity in a leader 20:21  The only voice in the room 22:15  Buying founder-led businesses without flattening them 23:56  Hypothesis, not failure — running experiments 27:32  "Quit and stay" — the passive-aggressive retention trap 29:00  "Marlin fishing" — letting complaints run their course 32:57  AI and "more slop, faster" 34:20  Is it my problem to solve, or my person to coach? 37:26  The five whys 41:34  The power of a 1,200-business peer network 42:15  Staying available — and catching himself drift off 48:44  AI should do the grind you don't want to do 51:01  What Vela APX looks for before buying a business 53:22  Advice for founders thinking about an exit Thank you for listening to 'Slicing Through The Noise'  the podcast that uncovers real stories behind impactful leadership in Australia and around the world. Follow us: Apple PodcastsSpotifyLinkedinYoutubeInstagram

    EP 33 From a hardware store counter to leading 18 software businesses Mark Schmutter's 30y climb

  2. Sep 2

    EP. 32 He built a Top 10 insurance brokerage — then walked away with a team of camels

    At 26, John Elliott built a one-man insurance office in West Perth into a Top 10 Australian brokerage — ten consecutive years, two BRW Fast 100 appearances, Australia's first carbon-neutral insurance broker. At the height of it, in 2019, he walked away. For three and a half years, John walked 12,173 kilometres around Australia with a team of camels — the first person in Australian history to take a team of animals through all eight states and territories. He survived the Black Summer bushfires, a cliff fall, and a rescue-then-quarantine in Tasmania. A skin check he didn't ask for, taken just before he set off, found a melanoma — and reshaped what the whole trip was for. In this episode of Slicing Through the Noise, Jennifer Elliott sits with John on the mentor's advice that rebuilt his company from the ground up, the wild camel encounter that taught him to stop avoiding problems, and what five years of leading no one but himself taught him about leading a business. He's since returned to run Elliott Insurance again — while also captaining Australia's #1-ranked Camel Handball team. For founders who've ever wondered what's on the other side of walking away, anyone rebuilding a business around their people instead of themselves, or anyone who needs a reminder to book their next skin check, this conversation runs deep. Real stories, real lessons, from the people actually doing it. Full chapter timestamps below. 00:00  Welcome to John Elliott, the Camel Man 02:28  How Jennifer and John met — in Antarctica 04:00  The call to adventure 06:29  Mentor lesson: "less John, more Elliot" 09:05  12,173km, eight states, one team of camels 09:51  Second-generation broker: business talk at the dinner table 13:00  "Don't turn breakfast into a lesson" 16:32  Why brutal experiences build character 18:26  The pre-trek skin check that found a melanoma 20:46  The couple who found him again in the desert 23:21  A year of preparation before departure 29:41  Writing the book 30:22  Becoming world #1 in camel handball 36:46  The wild bull camel and the business lesson in avoidance 39:42  Surviving the Black Summer bushfires 43:15  The story you tell yourself to get through 44:46  Breaking down the goal into the next step 48:47  Slowing down to go faster 53:48  Separating identity from the company 53:53  Arthur Elliott House: honouring his father in Kenya 58:04  Advice for anyone standing on the edge of walking away 01:01:17  87,000 unread emails and full disconnect 01:06:41  Why every good story needs a roadblock Thank you for listening to 'Slicing Through The Noise'  the podcast that uncovers real stories behind impactful leadership in Australia and around the world. Follow us: Apple PodcastsSpotifyLinkedinYoutubeInstagram

    EP. 32 He built a Top 10 insurance brokerage — then walked away with a team of camels

  3. Aug 17

    Cameron Ryan on Leadership, Risk and Building Businesses That Last

    What separates a business that survives from one that thrives? In this episode of Slicing Through the Noise, Jennifer Elliott speaks with Cameron Ryan, Founder of Cality Care about the entrepreneurial journey that took him from recruitment consultant to founder of multiple successful businesses. Drawing on more than 30 years of experience, Cameron shares candid lessons on leadership, business growth, failure, risk, and the importance of understanding the mechanics behind every business decision. From scaling national operations and navigating highly regulated industries to selling a successful RTO and investing in people, culture, and systems, Cameron offers practical insights for founders and leaders looking to build organisations that are both resilient and values-driven. Thank you for listening to 'Slicing Through The Noise'  the podcast that uncovers real stories behind impactful leadership in Australia and around the world. Follow us: Apple PodcastsSpotifyLinkedinYoutubeInstagram

    Cameron Ryan on Leadership, Risk and Building Businesses That Last

  4. Aug 1

    EP 30. Building Better Teams, Not Carbon Copies

    The most expensive hiring mistake isn't a bad hire. It's hiring yourself. One of the most powerful insights from our latest episode of Slicing Through the Noise comes from David Kopycinski, CEO of Your Registered Training (YRT). After years of building teams, David learned a lesson many leaders discover too late: The people you click with most easily in an interview are often the people most like you. And that's a problem. When everyone thinks the same way, approaches challenges the same way, and shares the same blind spots, innovation slows and growth stalls. In this conversation with Jennifer Elliott, David shares the leadership frameworks shaped by eleven years in the classroom and years leading a high-performing training organisation with an impressive 88% completion rate. A few standout insights: • Learn the difference between being busy and moving the business forward • Hire for complementary strengths, not familiarity • Stop mistaking cultural fit for organisational value • Understand why most leadership programs fail to create lasting change • Focus on outcomes, not activity If you're leading a team, hiring talent, or looking to become a stronger leader, this episode is packed with practical takeaways. Full episode: integrityandvalues.com/podcast/ #Leadership #Hiring #SlicingThroughTheNoise #IntegrityAndValues #TeamDevelopment #WorkforceDevelopment Thank you for listening to 'Slicing Through The Noise'  the podcast that uncovers real stories behind impactful leadership in Australia and around the world. Follow us: Apple PodcastsSpotifyLinkedinYoutubeInstagram

    EP 30. Building Better Teams, Not Carbon Copies

  5. Jul 19

    EP 29. 80% comfy, 20% uncomfy — the team growth rule from Daniel Smith

    Daniel Smith chose his niche by accident. He was a student looking for part-time work, so he opened a phone book and cold-called architecture firms one by one. The one that said yes happened to design schools. He met a visionary educator. He got hooked on the research. He built a practice around it. Thirty years later, Daniel is the founding principal of Leaf Architecture — a practice that designs learning environments with measurable outcomes. Biophilic design. Bounded autonomy. Spaces that improve literacy rates and attendance figures. He knows the numbers because he ran the research. In this episode of Slicing Through the Noise, Jennifer Elliott sits with Daniel on what designing for learning taught him about leading people. The school that was debating whether to install a digital clock because kids couldn't read analog — and why that's a confession about adults, not a complaint about kids. The 80/20 comfort rule he uses to grow a team of creatives without breaking them. The hero architect habit — disappearing into the corner to perfect the work alone — and how he killed it at Leaf. For founders and leaders who care about the next generation, building creative teams, or designing culture that outlasts them, this conversation runs deep. Real stories, real lessons, from the people actually doing it. Full chapter timestamps below. 00:00  Welcome — Daniel Smith, Leaf Architecture 01:03  A child in kindy today won't finish school until 2040 02:41  Adaptation vs. flexibility — why the difference matters 07:37  How Daniel accidentally found his lane — the phone book story 10:14  Bounded autonomy and the disappearance of after-school freedom 12:34  The countdown clock moment — when schools dumb kids down 15:37  Designing for literacy: what architects hear from educators 18:35  Play as a value, not a juvenile indulgence 19:56  Biophilic design and the 16% learning gain 21:05  Daniel's niece: school was a struggle, but she consumed books 22:31  Climbing a tree to read — and what that means for design 23:04  Designing a gallery, not the artwork 24:19  Every surface needs a learning intent 24:36  "If you want to educate, you need to ventilate" 27:26  Leading creatives: bounded autonomy inside a practice 29:06  The 80/20 rule: 80% comfy, 20% uncomfy 34:07  IQ vs EQ — the friend from Mount Druitt 36:20  Schools designed 150 years ago for factories 42:51  Don't be the hero architect — show unfinished thinking early 51:43  The car ride conversation — side-by-side for hard topics 56:44  Monday ritual: plan on Friday, start the week human Thank you for listening to 'Slicing Through The Noise'  the podcast that uncovers real stories behind impactful leadership in Australia and around the world. Follow us: Apple PodcastsSpotifyLinkedinYoutubeInstagram

    EP 29. 80% comfy, 20% uncomfy — the team growth rule from Daniel Smith

  6. Jul 5

    EP 28: No money, no milk - Dana Dupere on the rule that runs Benedict Industries sixty years on

    Dana Dupere grew up in the back of a station wagon. Her dad was scouting sandpits; she was doing the road tax. She was seven years old. Her father built Benedict Industries from scratch - a quarry and landscaping business that's now sixty years old. He cleared out at 2pm every day. The two hours after he left is where Dana and Jill - handing out orders to the trucks together as teenagers - built the operational rhythm that's still running Benedict five decades later. In this episode of Slicing Through the Noise, Jennifer Elliott sits with Dana on what it actually takes to hold a family business together across generations. The mum who had one rule about cash - no money, no milk - that's still running sixty years later. The 24-year-old left alone on site when someone drove an excavator into the dam on her parents' first holiday. The Monday morning KPI that tells you your culture is slipping before anything else does. For founders building something to hand on, operators running site or field teams, and anyone who has ever worked in or alongside a family business, this conversation is full of quiet, named systems that have been stress-tested over decades. Real stories, real lessons, from the people actually doing it. Full chapter timestamps below. 00:00  Growing up in the sand business — decimal day and the station wagon 00:50  How Benedict started: Dad the entrepreneur, Mum the systems builder 04:00  The two hours after Dad left at 2pm — what Dana and Jill quietly built that's still running 06:07  What turned Dana on to business: the variety and the winning 07:01  Handing problems down — Elke takes the fuel crisis 08:14  The day Mum retired: fax machines, DOS systems, and the electric typewriter 09:00  Building systems as you scale — invoicing, allocations, collections 10:31  Cash flow discipline: paying subbies 14 days, collecting 30 11:53  No money, no milk — how Mum's rule became Benedict's culture 12:55  The customer who drove five hours every month without paying 15:04  Technology trust and the fraud gap — when systems create blind spots 16:29  Being a woman in a male-dominated industry: knowledge beats gender 18:28  Family barbecues as work — and why the siblings left 20:07  The 45-minute drive call: how a mentor passed on the model 21:55  Start at the bottom — Elke on the Weybridge, the nephew who couldn't raise a docket 25:04  COVID: skiers in Val d'Isère and being ready in January 28:48  Sustainability and circular economy in construction materials 31:05  Engineering timber-to-fuel — replacing coal with demolition waste 33:27  Sandy Point Quarry: community, tenacity, and leaving land better than found 38:15  Leadership at 24: excavator in the dam and the pub test 44:02  The Monday KPI that tells you your culture is slipping 45:02  The best leadership advice Dana ever received 46:10  Three moves if you're taking over a family business Thank you for listening to 'Slicing Through The Noise'  the podcast that uncovers real stories behind impactful leadership in Australia and around the world. Follow us: Apple PodcastsSpotifyLinkedinYoutubeInstagram

    EP 28: No money, no milk - Dana Dupere on the rule that runs Benedict Industries sixty years on

  7. Jun 21

    Episode 27: The cost of a day — the one question John Melvin asks every time he walks on site

    A 17-year-old apprentice asked his foreman how he was going. The foreman didn't answer. He asked a question back: "How many friends do you have?  Thirty years later, John Melvin still tells the story. This week on Slicing Through the Noise, I sat with John — now CEO of North Construction, a tier-two Australian builder with a 40-year history. Three lines from the conversation that stuck. 1) That foreman question. He didn't say "you're going great" or "you need to work harder." He asked one question, and the answer reframed what John thought a job site was for. "Why are you trying to make friends out there? You've got a job to do." 2) The mantra he uses in the half-second between trigger and reaction: "Don't get mad, get curious." The honesty is what makes it travel: "I've lost objectivity. I've become irrational to prove a point." Few CEOs will say that out loud. 3) The question he asks every time he walks on a site: "What does a day cost us?" If the site manager can't answer it, every call from there is a guess  A culture that survives a second office is one that's been named. North gave their process a label — Northification — and a duration: two years, with a buddy alongside every new hire. Real stories, real lessons, from the people actually doing it. Full episode: integrityandvalues.com/podcast/ Thank you for listening to 'Slicing Through The Noise'  the podcast that uncovers real stories behind impactful leadership in Australia and around the world. Follow us: Apple PodcastsSpotifyLinkedinYoutubeInstagram

    Episode 27: The cost of a day — the one question John Melvin asks every time he walks on site

  8. Jun 8

    Ep 26. The electric bike that changed everything — Es Chandra, Glide Agency

    In 2007, a man walked into Es Chandra's design agency with an electric bike and an impossible ask: raise $1 million in six weeks. Banks had said no. Es didn't know how to run a crowdfunding campaign. He said yes anyway.   The campaign worked. Then another founder came. Then another. Seventeen years later, Glide Agency has raised more than A$65 million for Australian startups — and Es runs the leading independent crowdfunding agency in the country.   In this episode of Slicing Through the Noise, Jennifer Elliott sits with Es to talk through what happened after that first yes — and the rules he has built from 17 years of saying yes to the hard things.   The conversation moves through the electric bike moment that reshaped a design shop into a crowdfunding agency, the phone call Es made to a founder crossing a line with his staff (and the international hotel account he fired for the same reason), the music festival where he realised his nervous system had changed, and the war-veteran framing he now uses to sit with failure without spiralling.   Underneath all of it is a quieter argument: the founder's nervous system shows up in the team, the team shows up in the client, the client shows up in the brand. If the top of the business is regulated, the rest can follow.   Real stories, real lessons, from the people actually doing it.   Full chapter timestamps below. The free Profile + 1:1 debrief (A$1,875 value) is at integrityandvalues.com/podcast/. Thank you for listening to 'Slicing Through The Noise'  the podcast that uncovers real stories behind impactful leadership in Australia and around the world. Follow us: Apple PodcastsSpotifyLinkedinYoutubeInstagram

    Ep 26. The electric bike that changed everything — Es Chandra, Glide Agency
See All (34)

About

This exciting channel dives into real leadership stories from Australia, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges, setbacks, and triumphs of business leaders. Hear firsthand how they navigated adversity and turned obstacles into success. Even more special, our guests are past clients of Integrity and Values who have been deeply influenced by our programs. Be part of an exciting new journey with our founder and podcast host, Jennifer Elliott.

Information

  • Creator
    Integrity and Values
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    34
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Slicing Through The Noise
  • Show Website
    Slicing Through The Noise