The Company Road Podcast

Send us a text“At the end of the day, it's about what is the goal or purpose both these people in the room are in for? If that is not aligned, everything else won’t make sense.”Ishani NigamIn this episode, you’ll hear about:Taking your first step in change and careers: Avoiding overwhelm & knowing how to take action to make change in your life, work and build the future you desireBuilding functional & fruitful teams: How to structure and manage a team for success & mitigating the common barriers that get in the wayHandling curveballs within business: Being prepared for change ahead of change and the right mindset to take advantage of unexpected circumstancesVulnerability in the workplace: Understanding the boundaries between work and personal life and how much vulnerability to bring into your work life and whenGen Z in business: How the next generation can make it work for themselves and how businesses can make it work for themKey linksMyGigsters https://www.mygigsters.com.au/Benjemen Elengovan https://newstateofmind.com.au/benjemen-elengovan-gig-worker-start-up-founder/ThincLab Initiative by Uni of Adelaide https://www.adelaide.edu.au/thinclab/My First Step Ever podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFnNw24cE1CuAj7DMjBEDDwMy First Step Ever Instagram https://www.instagram.com/myfirststepever_in/About our guestIshani Nigam (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ishaninigam), originally from Mumbai, India, is a dynamic individual who passionately believes in seizing life's opportunities and nurturing one's inner calling. After completing her bachelor's degree, she ventured into the worlds of advertising, production, and project management before pursuing a master's degree at Unimelb in Melbourne, Australia.Ishani's journey has been marked by both challenges and moments of inspiration. Her determination led her to create the "My First Step Ever" podcast, where she empowers young people to embrace conviction and cultivate action-oriented mindsets.In addition to her podcasting endeavours, Ishani serves as a content creator and community outreach officer at MyGigsters, a leading FinTech start-up in Australia, dedicated to helping self-employed individuals achieve financial security.Outside her professional life, Ishani is a trained Bollywood dancer and choreographer who has graced the stage with her performances. She's an avid adventurer, embracing activities like hiking and extreme sports, while also indulging in her love for dark chocolate. Ishani's diverse interests and commitment to personal growth make her a proud youth empowerment advocate.About our hostOur host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX,For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us a text“Being technology agnostic is crucial. Don't assume that your playbook from one business will magically work at a different one. There's no one-size-fits-all approach.”Charlie CarpinteriIn this episode, you’ll hear about:Technology agnosticism: How to remain agnostic and flexible in making tech decisions based on specific circumstances and contextsChallenges in tech adoption: Highlighting common challenges faced in adopting new organisational technology and how to manage them for smooth transitionDigging change tunnels: Why it’s can be necessary to invest time in digging ‘tunnels’ to allow for big change initiatives to be successfully implemented Adopting a tech-friendly mindset: Strategies for building organisational culture that is open, excited and on-the-front of technological change and innovationHuman-AI collaboration: Confronting key fears about AI and how humans can pave a safe, beneficial collaborative path forwardKey linksRolling Labs https://rollinglabs.com/RedFlex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redflex_HoldingsSwinburne https://www.swinburne.edu.au/Industry Based Learning https://www.swinburne.edu.au/study/courses/units/Industry-Based-Learning-HEA30005/localTesla https://www.tesla.com/en_auAbout our guestCharlie Carpinteri (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ccarpinteri/) has over 20 years of experience as a leader, an entrepreneur and a passionate technologist, which require creativity, collaboration, and lateral thinking. A strong and transparent communicator, data and insight decision making and driven by delivering an exceptional customer experience, Charlie enjoys working closely with customers to understand their perspectives and leverage a combination of existing and emerging technologies to meet their digital requirements.Throughout Charlie’s career, he has worked with a combination of start-up, medium and large corporates and organisations, and has been known to challenge traditional processes and ways of thinking; actively driving cultural and technological advancements using innovative methods and tools. As a highly effective business leader, Charlie is adept at engaging and influencing across all levels of an organisation; working with customers, technology partners and cross-departmental teams to recommend and advise on best-practice solution delivery.About our hostOur host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally. For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us a text“When you're looking at innovation and especially experimentation, the goal is to effectively fail. You really want to be able to push for failure for your ideas because it's the ones that don't fail that are the ones that you want to be able to push through.”Tash ReidyIn this episode, you’ll hear about:Establishing a culture of experimentation: Strategies to foster experimentation in the workplace and seeing invaluable innovative outcomes as a resultSetting up innovation processes: Working examples of how to effectively set up innovation practices, the role of leadership in making this happen & the importance of storytelling to convey the value of innovationThe customer vs business centric approach: Knowing how and when to prioritise business issues vs going all in on putting the customer firstFormulating a meaningful and impactful business vision: How to align diverse perspectives on corporate values and recognise and combat the interpretive nature of company visionPersonal attitudes for success: Tips to build trust, respect and positive reputation among co-workers and higher ups and increase opportunities while maintaining agencyKey linksFunny Business Pod http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/funny-business/id1508669714PEXA https://www.pexa.com.au/Exponentially https://www.exponentially.com/Mike Dyson Podcast Episode  https://youtu.be/zvlPDZaZqvwJane Curtain Podcast Episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O9zQyvsmvg&t=2258sAlberto Savoia https://www.linkedin.com/in/albertosavoiaThe Right IT book https://www.amazon.com.au/Right-Many-Ideas-Yours-Succeeds/dp/0062884654Leslie Barry https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesliebarry/Pawel Huryn https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawel-huryn/Dan Olsen https://www.linkedin.com/in/danolsen98/About our guestNatasha (Tash) Reidy (https://www.linkedin.com/in/natasha-reidy/) is an energetic innovation leader. Having executed over 200 experiments and saving over $7 million by stopping ideas, Natasha's love language is definitely experimentation!With a laser focus on solving customer problems, she looks for opportunities to enhance customers' experience by uncovering the things they love - and the things they don't. One of her favourite sayings is 'customers don't care about your business problems, they care about their problems' and sets about instilling customer empathy all along the innovation funnel to idea delivery - taking numerous teams on the journey.About our hostOur host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking andFor weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us a text“It's about awareness; it breaks my brain and it breaks my mind, how often people just blindly move into stuff without that self-awareness of what it is that they're trying to achieve.”Ben PrinslooIn this episode you’ll hear about:Prioritising organisational challenges: Identifying issues in the workplace and knowing what to solve first and what’s possible to solve firstLeading diversity/inclusion initiatives: Knowing where to start in championing diversity and recognising when genuine inclusivity is actually being achieved Transparency vs oversharing: Walking the line between openness and oversharing by knowing when information is purposeful and how to be tactful in your communication approachManaging customer experience in academia: How to identify the needs of your customer base (particularly in higher education) and balance engagement with Employee engagement & forced fun: Why the term ‘forced fun’ needs to be banished and the trick to motivating employees toward team initiativesKey linksPearson https://www.pearson.com/en-au/International Women’s Day https://www.internationalwomensday.com/D&I https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/glossary/diversity-and-inclusion-d-i-Forced Fun https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/is-forced-fun-actually-fun-5797796/About our guestBen Prinsloo is a passionate and strategic leader, primarily in customer experience and retention, having spent the last 7 years in the online education sector. Ben previously lead student engagement and retention at Pearson and Chisholm Online.Within his numerous roles, Ben has successfully delivered key initiatives for business enhancement, optimization, and expansion, as well as developed new operating models to demonstrate improved cross-functional collaboration and performance.About our hostOur host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co).Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally.  For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us a text“I think we're at our least efficient when someone else is driving everything that we're doing. And that's a situation you can wind up in when you don't have the confidence to say, yes, I can actually do this.”Brendan DonoghueIn this episode you’ll hear about:Building influence as a design leader: The four things you must have in your tool kit to establish influence within an organisation that may otherwise undervalue your roleActively practicing risk-taking: Increasing your willingness to do things differently in order to stand out and have your voice heardMisalignment in organisations: Dealing with differing perceptions of direction & how to  engage in ‘courageous conversations’ with leadership to navigate differencesRelationship building for success: Knowing how, when and with whom to establish yourself relationally within a workplaceDriving lasting change: How to make change within big organisations through a strategy of small, but powerful stepsKey LinksKRAs https://www.smartsheet.com/content/key-result-areasThe Twits - Roald Dahl https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31456.The_TwitsWieden+ Kennedy https://www.wk.com/Geelong Cats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geelong_Football_ClubThe Art of Innovation - Tim Brown https://www.amazon.com.au/Change-Design-Transforms-Organizations-Innovation-ebook/dp/B002PEP4EGUniSuper https://www.unisuper.com.auAbout our guestBrendan Donoghue (https://www.linkedin.com/in/btdonoghue/) is a Digital Executive, CX Thought Leader, Transformation Agent and ‘eternal optimist’. Brendan has worked at some of Australia’s biggest and most exciting organisations, with experience gained in telecommunications, superannuation and banking. He has built and led some of the largest design teams and transformational digital programs in the country, including at the likes of Telstra, NAB and currently UniSuper, as Head of Digital & Customer Experience, delivering complex and innovative customer-centred experiences across the board.About our hostOur host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally.  For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us a text“Creativity is also definitely a superpower in one way or another, and sometimes you can control it, sometimes you can't.”Sarah MoteIn this episode, you’ll hear about:The role of design in the workplace: Why designers are essential to a functional and thriving teamProtecting creativity while ageing: How to maintain child-like creativity as you age and your career develops and prioritise approaching work and life through a creative lensInviting & navigating feedback: Knowing when is the right time to invite input and how to receive and respond to both positive and negative feedbackOrganisational transparency: The value of open-door cultures and how to cultivate transparency and collaboration in a historically individual minded organisationInnovative problem resolution: How to develop an agile, problem-solving mindset that allows you to unearth objective, creative solutionsKey LinksDieter Rams philosophy https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/dieter-rams-10-timeless-commandments-for-good-designADPList https://adplist.org/Mark Richardson https://www.monash.edu/mada/design/people/mark-richardsonSelby Coxon https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/selby-coxonSarah’s White Night 2015 piece https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2L_0JUmWtYIInstantScripts https://www.instantscripts.com.au/Oliver Grabes (Head of Braun Design) https://minimalissimo.com/creators/oliver-grabes, https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-grabes-947aba5/About our guestSarah Mote (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahmmote/) is a Senior Product Designer at Bendigo Bank and Lead Product Designer for InstantScripts, as well as a Mentor through Monash University, Melbourne University, Academy XI and more. She is a detail-oriented, award-winning designer, maker and ‘put-it-togetherer’, having worked internationally and within organisations such as NAB, MYOB and Oral-B Braun.Sarah is motivated by meaningful and emotive problems that create better futures, and ultimately works to shape and contribute to the design world and craft exceptional experiences through the pushing of creative boundaries.About our hostOur host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally.  For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us a text“I think there are times to go in hard, be really forceful, drive change. If you can see a problem, you really need to state that and work towards driving that change.”Carly NeubauerIn this episode, you’ll hear about:Identifying and aligning your personal ‘why’: Gaining clarity on your personal purpose and motivational values, and ensuring alignment with an organisation's values.Organisational weak spots: Keys to spotting areas of weakness within a business and making steps toward change no matter the position you’re inAddressing toxic workplace behaviour: How to identify the root causes of toxicity and frustration in a workplace and manage the greater problems that may be evidencedBalancing commercial focus with culture: Maintaining a healthy, thriving culture without sacrificing business outcomesRecruitment & employee retention: Ways to manage turnover and associated costs and prioritise employee experience for retentionKey linksWIIN Global https://www.wiin.global/IMA https://www.incentivemarketing.org/Australian Loyalty Association https://australianloyaltyassociation.com/Elevate Loyalty https://www.elevateloyalty.com/About our guestCarly Neubauer (https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlyneubauer/) is the Co-Founder and Director of Elevate Loyalty and Pay2Elevate, delivering digital payment technology solutions to the loyalty industry. Holding additional roles as Co-Founder of WiiN Global, Board member of IMA MEAPAC, Representative of the ALA, and 2024 host of Let’s Talk Loyalty podcast, Carly is actively engaged in the loyalty, incentives and payment industry locally and globally.To date Carly has developed and managed more than 30+ consumer and employee loyalty and incentive programs in the insurance, energy, retail and finance sectors. About our hostOur host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally.  For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us a text“I always thought that part of my job was to get fired, but for doing something I would be proud of. My job was to push the boundaries with a stick, and if I wasn't getting in trouble, I wasn't sure I'd be fulfilling that.”Max KalisIn this episode, you’ll hear about:Balancing provocation and irritation: Knowing how and when to challenge the status quo and use provocation to your advantage Breaking down intrapreneurship: What it means to be an intrapreneur and the positive and negative connotations the title carriesReframing challenges: Strategies for readjusting how you view and respond to perceived risks and challenges to extract value from every situationEvolving career stages: The importance of checking in with your own motivations, to realign your values with your work as you grow through time and your career Working with boundaries and risk-taking: How to fruitfully set, follow and push boundaries within innovation, and remain trusted by higher upsKey LinksMax’s Website: https://maxkalis.com/Llyod’s Banking Group: https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/Design Strategy: https://www.toptal.com/designers/product-design/design-strategy-guideLSE: https://www.lse.ac.uk/Jack Teagarden’s A Hundred Years From Today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_TDW8PePGMAA Serenity Prayer: https://www.hazeldenbettyford.org/articles/the-serenity-prayerIf– Poem by Rudyard Kipling: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46473/if—Find a 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting: https://meetings.aa.org.au/near/If you require treatment, information or advice for alcohol and drug-related issues, contact DirectLine on 1800 888 236 or find a helpline here: https://findahelpline.com/au/topics/substance-useAbout our guestMax Kalis (https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxkalis-career-coach/) has 10 years experience working in strategy, culture & experience design. During this time he has mentored countless start ups, colleagues and clients. He is now employing experience design principles as a Career Coach and Playbook Creator to help athletes and other exceptional people to unlock progress, change and satisfaction in their careers.About our hostOur host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally.  For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us a text"Recovery is a program of action. It's about action. It's not about thinking your way out of a problem or wishing yourself better. It's about doing stuff.”Olly LynchIn this episode, you’ll hear about:Olly’s personal journey with addiction: How he found himself at a career high yet in deep alcohol and drug addiction & the personal and professional impacts that came with it.Finding your space in new roles: The challenge of joining a new organisation and how to establish yourself as a powerful and valuable presence who is comfortable questioning the status quo.Ego and self-esteem: How ego and low-self-esteem can feed into addiction, but also influence/mask the way people present themselves in a work context.Stagnation in large organisations: The common issue of stagnant thinking and competitiveness within large organisations, and the need to break free from it to foster creativity and innovation.Applying recovery principles in work: How principles from addiction recovery, such as self-reflection, honesty, and taking action, can be applied effectively in a work context to drive improvement and change.Key LinksIf you require treatment, information or advice for alcohol and drug-related issues, contact DirectLine on 1800 888 236.Find a 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting: https://meetings.aa.org.au/near/Omnico https://www.linkedin.com/company/omnico-group/TravelPort https://www.travelport.com/Lucid App (Now Imprint) https://imprintapp.com/Avante Marketing https://avante.marketing/Find a Helpline: https://findahelpline.com/au/topics/substance-useAbout our guestOlly Lynch (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ollylynch/) is a marketing leader, Fractional CMO and consultant with over 12 years of experience, working across B2B and B2C brands in agencies, client side and as an independent consultant. He’s worked alongside some of the biggest brands in the world including IBM,Thomson Reuters, Motorola, Fujitsu, CA and Interflora and is the founder of Avante Marketing.He is driven by the belief that we only control two things in life: mindset and effort. “There is very little that cannot be achieved with positivity, hard work and an iron will.About our hostOur host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally.  For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/

Send us a text"Your success is only limited by your own ambition... It's very much about autonomy, mastery, and purpose beyond the backlog."Andrew BroughtonIn this episode, you’ll hear about:Balancing business metrics and social impact: The challenge of but need for aligning social impact measures with business metrics to demonstrate the value of socially focussed projects.Finding intrinsic value in your work: How to find alignment between your work’s outcomes and impact with your own personal goals and aspirations.The role of design in problem-solving: How intrapreneurs can garner influence in the workplace and influence outcomes by focusing on problem-solving and delivering tangible results.The art of storytelling: Recognising storytelling as a pivotal business skill for designers to elucidate complex ideas, quantify metrics and convey design’s value… and how to step up your own storytelling capability.Handling Curveballs and Side Agendas: How to consider and handle unexpected inputs and side agendas from various sources and repurpose them to the benefit of your project.Key links:WorkSafe https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/Strategic Design https://today.design/approach/strategic-design/Accenture https://www.accenture.com/Power of 10 model http://www.placemakingchicago.com/about/power.aspIdeo Design Thinking https://designthinking.ideo.com/About our guestAndrew Broughton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/anmbroughton/) is a Strategic Designer and Senior Manager of the Innovation Center at WorkSafe Victoria, managing the innovation portfolio, design practice and governance across a team of strategic, service and experience designers.He has worked as a design consultant with a portfolio of international clients, and created impacts for many people, clients and projects in social innovation and strategic design. His current mission is to leverage design from a civic perspective, empowering and enriching our community in every possible way. About our hostOur host, Chris Hudson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-hudson-7464254/), is a Teacher, Experience Designer and Founder of business transformation coaching & consultancy Company Road (www.companyroad.co)Chris considers himself incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world’s most ambitious and successful companies, including Google, Mercedes-Benz, Accenture (Fjord) and Dulux, to name a small few. He continues to teach with Academy Xi in CX, Product Management, Design Thinking and Service Design and mentors many business leaders internationally.  For weekly updates and to hear about the latest episodes, please subscribe to The Company Road Podcast at https://companyroad.co/podcast/