Thriving Matters Podcast

Thriving Perspective - 'How am I being?"

It's the small things in life that put a smile on Gavin McCormack's heart each day.

 

My guest is one of Australia's highly respected and acknowledged educational leaders and a thoroughly genuine person with a passion for bringing communities together to create, learn and serve each other.

 

Listen in as Gavin shares the people in his life that have had a significant impact on how he views the world, views change and human behaviour. Gavin's 'perspective' on learning and teaching is based in self awareness and paying forward through our professional and personal expertise and gifts and talents.

 

'How am I being?" is a question he regularly asks of himself, his students and staff. 'if you want to see change then you have to 'be it, say it, walk it and talk it!'

 

You will thoroughly enjoy Gavin's storytelling as he takes us trekking to Nepal to build schools, train teachers and experience the gift of cultural diversity and possibility.

 

 

Every Second is Precious - Catalyst for Good

This amazing journey of thriving in life work that Sahan shares in this conversation will resonate with many, especially as it's a search for inner wealth and community contribution.

 

Sahan left a highly successful corporate career to pursue some deeply personal questions that shifted his mental focus from 'I to we'. "If I was to die tomorrow, would I have any regrets?' and "What can I do that would be of service?"

 

Sahan shares his fears during the first 18 months after leaving his corporate role, then his focus on sharing his expertise in resilience, emotional intelligence and mindfulness with prisoners in Sri Lanka with the audacious goal of transforming 1 billion lives through Emotional Intelligence.

 

Listen in as Sahan outlines 'SBNRR' - a practical strategy that everyone can utilise to 'pause' before acting irrationally when under stress and pressure.

 

Sahan is our Culture presenter on the Global Leaders Thrive Program on 30 March when we visit ASIA as part of the 8 session - 8 countries- 24 presenters leadership immersion. https://www.globalleadersthriveprogram.com/

 

 

 

 

EiSHT 'listening to give' life skills.

What a ride over the last 12 months! Caroline O'Connor is a 'Can Do Gal' who made a huge career change just as Covid 19 hit Ireland in March 2020.

 

In our conversation we talk about her thriving skills in navigating the set up a new business from scratch, leaving her successful job, taking on post school education, being a parent to her two teenage daughters and adapting to four lockdowns!

 

Listen in as Caroline illustrates how she has put into action, a safe mental health well-being program for youth that has a strong emotional intelligence foundation. Her strong belief in social and emotional competencies are also reflected in her personal 'volunesia' contribution and continual learning passions.

Making Everything Achievable!

In this episode with Kaye-Maree Dunn, we explore her thriving environment for Life and business within her Maori heritage of 'making everything achievable'. Kaye-Maree shares her journey of being an entrepreneur after many years in government and corporate. She cares deeply about people and their livelihood, community building and cultural heritage.

 

Thriving in life and work isn't always easy and Kaye-Maree is open about her vulnerability and openness to challenging how she leads and lives, and how putting in place systems and processes has been lifegiving for her personally as well as for her team members. We talk 'imposter syndrome', 'levelling up' and 'digging deep' and recognising 'blind spots'.

With a passion for clear communication, nurturing community relationships, self-directed growth and sustainable wellbeing - Kaye-Maree brings heart and mind together to create a legacy that benefits many.

 

"What Can I Learn from You?"

Our conversation today was richly cultural bringing education, community and student voice together so well. Thriving as an educational leader in New Zealand is deeply respectful of Maori traditions, honouring the heritage and nurturing a presence that younger generations can make sense of and learn from. Simon shared his recent welcoming and commissioning ceremony, the stunning Maori bone necklace and cape, gifts he received that were personally made for him. The strength of community care for each other between students, families, teachers and elders is evident. Listen on as Simon shares his 'thriving' rituals that have successfully helped him in balancing work and home life as well as his firm philosophy that the voice of youth should be encouraged and we should get out of their way. 'Show faith in your young people - they have more capacity to change the world than we ever did.'

True Leadership Has No Gender

I was keen to connect with Sarah on the release of her recently published book 'Gender Dimensions in Leadership - Reflections, Perceptions and Perspectives on Inclusivity.' It has been written for executives, coaches, anyone in a leadership role.

 

Our conversation focused on the premise, backed up by substantial data and research that true leadership has no gender. That equality matters to us all.

 

Understanding dynamics of inclusivity, equality and diversity is essential in the field of management & leadership. Sarah Drijfhout shares her ideas that will enable us to discover options and opportunities that we could not have imagined with traditional thinking and approaches.

 

I hope you enjoy our conversation- you can hear and feel the passion Sarah has for her work and her belief that we all can make a difference to leadership needed right now and for an uncertain future.

Our Rehearsal Room - 'Don't be Afraid to Arise to Meet!'

What a way to start our first Thriving Conversation for 2021 with one of Australia's award-winning director, writer and script developer who works internationally in theatre, TV and film. With the Arts industry being one of the first to shut down due to Covid 19 John and I talk about 'thriving' in this environment - the difficulties and the joys.

 

John is an educator and we discuss his rich skill set that brings other peoples stories to life on stage and screen. You will enjoy John's stories of building a family during production rehearsals, encouraging autonomy of interpretation, leading from the front, middle and back stalls and appreciate his sense of humour and lens on the world. There are a few metaphors added for effect as well!

 

We discuss his most recent stage production of Anne Washburn's 'Mr. Burns, a post-electric play' for Lightning Jar Theatre won Best Independent Production at the 2020 Green Room Awards after two completely sold-out Melbourne seasons just before covid restrictions cam into place.

 

Pop your headphones in and enjoy this 'ordinary guy doing extraordinary things!"

Don't Get Down - Get Ready!

Our conversation with Kingsley is refreshing and insightful - we talk human centred relationship in the advent of a pandemic and disruption where we are relying on technology to connect us when it has the potential to isolate us even more.

We discuss some personal wellbeing habits and the way he had to 'pivot' when all his business was whipped out and how a new way of networking and delivering workshops came about. Kingsley has worked all around the world and even married here in Australia in Kangaroo Valley. Many gems of wisdom are shared from a lifetime of continual learning fueled by curiosity and a good sense of humour. We talked resiliency and future focused skills for 'what if' scenarios that all our educators and school students will need to navigate cultural difference and the diversity of humanness.

The Year That 2020 Was - Learning to Adapt!

This is our final Thriving Conversations through an Education lens episode for 2020. And we finished with a great shoutout to educators across Australia.

 

Listen in as Rob Randall, a globally recognised educational leader, shares his insights and observations for beyond 2020. Rob is joined by some of our previous educators and the conversation is all about 'thinking outside the box' and 'big picture' for 2021...

 

Such a great way to acknowledge a year of swift adapationand change with the care and wellbeing of our students , teachers, staff and parents kept squarely in focus.

 

Our conversation acknowledged student voice; wellbeing fitness of students and teachers; curriculum review and change; decision making autonomy at local level; sustainability of current delivery methods; teacher capacity; hybrid learning, etc...

And...what really made their heart sing or challenged over 2020 and what they are looking forward to in 2021.

"From little things, big things grow!"

 

Intergenerational Learning - Is This New Thinking?

In this Thriving Conversation through an education lens, our guests, Adriano Di Prato and Yasmin Poole share their insights and experience in how we can create an intergenerational understanding of learning, where generations can draw from each other's strengths.

Both guests are educators who are focused on creativity and innovation for learning alongside advocacy for self direction and autonomy. Our conversation highlights an educational 'ecosystem' that is based in empathy, adaptability and voice. You will enjoy the sense of hope bith Adriano and Yasmin have for future focused education that will inspire and prepare our youth fand our teachers for a future that is unknown and exciting at the same time.