Decoding Purpose

In today's episode we will be zooming across the world to Phoenix Arizona to talk to an entrepreneur who I admittedly stalked on LinkedIn upon discovering the existence of a purpose driven leadership recruitment firm. When I landed on Brians Mohr's profile I instantly started jotting down a 1000 questions and I knew that I had to have Brian on the show!After all, never before has there been a poignant time for purpose when it comes to talent attraction and recruitment. With emerging trends redefining the future of work such as flexible working, and the gig economy as two examples and of course the millennials who are the most purpose driven generation to exist taking up 35% of the global workforce...hiring on purpose is a force for business success that cannot be ignored.With that in mind, If you are a business leader or entrepreneur looking to future proof your organisation then this podcast is for you. At the same time if you are an employee looking to apply purpose in your role, or you are seeking to work

Today’s guest Caroline Guillemain-Brunne is the founder of Organise.Curate.Design - an organisation dedicated to helping busy bodies not only get on top of those tasks we seem to constantly procrastinate, but also put in place strategies to manage the work life balance moving forward. Over the last few weeks I have spent hours decoding purpose personally, professionally, as a tool for transformation and a process that enables us to uncover our most authentic gifts to the world, but at the end of the day none of that is possible unless we get intentional about living a life of purpose and create the space for purpose in our lives. Why? Because we are all insanely busy in this fast paced modern world. For some we are riding the nine to five grind, for others we are working as freelancers or entrepreneurs and dealing with client expectations around the clock, and for the busy parents out there juggling the competing demands of kids, families, careers, and the list goes on. The must dos alone can be overwhelming,

Well, they say you should never do business with friends or family, but this week’s episode of Decoding Purpose says that it maybe working with a friend wasn’t a bad decision, but one that resulted in one of the longest and most diverse episodes of this podcast yet!Having known Tom Dawkins, co-founder of social enterprise crowdfunding platform Start Some Good for a number of years, I knew a few things coming into this episode:There would be no shortage of rabbit holes and tangents for us to jump intoHis incredible knowledge of the social enterprise space, and the importance of purpose in business would make for a spectacular conversationThat no amount of planning would guarantee exactly the outcome of this conversationFrom democracy, to finding your tribe, creating collective purpose through storytelling, the need for failure, the “new way” of doing business, collaborations, collective purpose and shoes, my conversation with Tom is everything you’d expect of a conversation between two old friends who are pass

Welcome to Episode 7 of the Decoding Purpose podcast. Over the last few weeks we have explored many facets of what it is to live a life of purpose. We have had conversations that define purpose, look at the science behind purpose, the role of storytelling, purpose in leadership, collaborative purpose, and of course in our last episode we looked at The Purpose Effect, a conversation with a core focus on the intersection between business and purpose. In today’s podcast I interview Carolyn Tate, a marketer by trade, turned author, with a passion for purpose-digging, writing, speaking, teaching and community. With 20 years in large organisations such as Westpac, Merrill Lynch and running her own business, her insight into our personal sense of purpose and the way this interacts with organisational purpose is unique and incredibly insightful. Her company, Carolyn Tate & Co. is an education and publishing company dedicated to unearthing a higher purpose in people and organisations. What I loved about interviewi

The Friday morning I spoke with Dan Pontefract wasn’t just the morning I recorded episode number 6 of Decoding Purpose. It was the morning I spent laughing and exploring big ideas with a new friend. One of my favourite things about this podcast is that it’s bringing together so many like minded, on purpose people. My world is so getting so much bigger, and the best part? I get to share that with my Decoding Purpose audience.Dan Pontefract is a renowned voice in organisational culture and leadership - in a past life he got the staff engagement levels to almost 90% at TELUS, one of Canada’s biggest telecommunications companies! He’s now authored several books, spoken at a number of TED events and regularly writes for the likes of Forbes, Harvard Business Review and The Huffington Post. Having now founded his own firm, The Pontefract Group, Dan and I enjoyed a conversation about all the incredible things he’s learnt in his career, and lifetime, about finding our sweet spots as humans.“you know you’re in the swee

There is an age-old saying that 'Two heads are better than one' and that is why in episode 5 of The Decoding Purpose Podcast I wanted to unlock everything there is to know about collaboration. The art of creating shared purpose.Today's guest is a self-proclaimed marketing geek with a passion for playing cupid in the world of brand partnerships. Her name is Jess Ruhfus and she is the founder of Collabosaurus, a brand-to-brand matchmaker for marketing partnerships.Jess founded Collabosaurus in 2014, and since then the business has grown core revenue at an average of 157% year on year. That said, a very down to earth Jess would tell you herself that while she is extremely proud of her entrepreneurial success....her adventure has only just begun. Jess is undoubtedly the Aphrodite of brand partnerships and I have watched in awe from the sidelines as this 'match making' goddess continues to rise.Collabosaurus was built with the intention to source and create growth opportunities in any industry via collaboration, a

There’s nothing more exciting than finding somebody that not only matches, but maybe even levels up my enthusiasm when discussing the topic of purpose. With such a big topic it’s not often that you come across an “expert” in the matter, and when you do, it doesn’t necessarily mean that our ideas are going to align. But thankfully, in the case of Zach Mercurio, I found a kindred spirit!Zach Mercurio, is one of the leading experts in the role of purpose and meaning in organisation’s, work and life. Through speaking, consulting, and research, Zach has helped diverse organizations and individuals around the world understand how purpose and meaning unleashes human potential to create thriving organizations and lives.The author of “The Invisible Leader: Transform Your Life, Work, and Organization withthe Power of Authentic Purpose”, founder and author of PurposeSpeaks.com, thepopular blog on purposeful leadership, Zach serves as a researcher and Adjunct Faculty at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado

If you’ve tuned into the first few eps of my podcast, you’ll have heard by now that Decoding Purpose is all about exploring every avenue I can find about this idea of purpose. Already, in our few short weeks we’ve delved into organisational purpose, and taken a trip down science lane to explore what our bodies and science can teach us about this concept of purpose, and in this conversation with international journalist Amy Molloy, we delve into what I see as a huge part of the heart and soul of this conversation - our personal purpose, and how our stories continually transform the way we approach our reason for existence.Amy’s sell-out book, The World is a Nice Place: How to Overcome Adversity Joyfully was the product of ten years' worth of research, interviewing empowered survivors about their coping mechanisms for overcoming the worst experiences of your life whilst still hoping for the best. To date, she has written 14 books under her own name as a ghost-writer for high-profile entrepreneurs, entertainers

The word purpose has worked its way into part of our everyday vocabulary. Not just in business, but also in our personal lives, the concept of delving into the very existence of ourselves and our organisations has become something that we as humans crave. But where do we begin with such a big, lofty concept? What are some of the steps we can take to explore our purpose, and apply it to our lives? Today’s guest, Tané Hunter, is a self confessed science geek, a cancer researcher, bio-informatics, and science communicator. He’s a co-founder of Future Crunch, as well as a data analytics startup, Lighthouse. He holds a Masters in Bioinformatics from the University of Melbourne, and has worked for the Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital diagnosing rare genetic diseases. In short, this guy knows a lot about the way our bodies work.But what do our bodies have to say about the idea of purpose? In today’s conversation Tane and I take a look at what this intersection is of biology and existence, and what the impact of b

It feels like there’s no better place to start for exploring the concept of purpose, than with a discussion with Karen James. This absolute powerhouse of an author, facilitator, consultant and keynote speaker has thrown all that she’s got at elevating our conversations of purpose as a society, and enabling everyone to tap into the power of examining existence. An engineer by background, a passionate social advocate by choice, a champion for women’s rights and a proud single mother, it’s no surprise that my conversation with Karen was not only filled with soulful insight, but with stories, practical advice and tools for what it means to identify and implement purpose in our lives. We dove in on some of the biggest questions possible surrounding the idea of purpose, like is discovering purpose a choice or chance? When truly switched on, how can purpose help guide some of our day-to-day actions, not just our overarching strategies? What role does storytelling play in the role of purpose?“It [discovering your pur