

The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal
Vidit Agarwal
The High Flyers Podcast is a global top 10% ranked show, launched in 2020.
Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, our 200+ episodes to date go beyond headlines and fluff to unpack the real journeys behind influential leaders and companies — from their earliest beginnings to the decisions, failures and inflection points that shaped how they think, lead and build.
Listeners often describe the show as “meticulously researched” and say “I learnt more about the guest from this episode, even after knowing them for 10+ years.”
We're proud that more than 60% of our 200+ guests have trusted us for their first-ever public interview — or to go in-depth on their personal story for the first time. These include:
➝ Malcolm Turnbull: Prime Minister of Australia
➝ Jean-Michel Limieux: CTO, Shopify and Atlassian
➝ Jason Collins: Head of BlackRock (Asia Pacific)
➝ Brad Banducci: CEO, Woolworths
➝ Anil Sabharwal: Global VP Product, Google (Built Google Photos)
➝ Elena Verna: Head of Growth, Lovable
➝ Stevie Case: Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta
➝ John Haddock: Chief Business Officer, Harvey
➝ Michael Schneider: CEO, Bunnings
➝ Andrew Penn: CEO, Telstra
➝ Mark Suster: Partner, Upfront Ventures
➝ Bowen Pan: Creator, Facebook Marketplace
➝ Craig Tiley: CEO, Tennis Australia
➝ Peter Varghese: "One of Australia’s most influential architects of foreign policy"
➝ Ben Thompson: Co-Founder & CEO, Employment Hero
➝ Sweta Mehra: Executive GM, NAB; Ex CMO, ANZ Bank
➝ Niki Scevak, Partner, Blackbird
➝ Paul Bassat: Partner, Square Peg
➝ Trent Cotchin: 3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC
➝ Jack Zhang: Co-Founder & CEO, Airwallex
➝ Holly Kramer: Board Director, Woolworths & ANZ
➝ Sam Sicilia: Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus
➝ Ahmed Fahour: CEO, Citi, NAB & Australia Post
➝ Andrey Khusid: CEO & Co-Founder, Miro
➝ Bill Bartee: Co-Founder Blackbird + Main Sequence
➝ Rod Hamilton: Chief Product Officer, Culture Amp
➝ Brendan Hargreaves: CFO, Officeworks
➝ Simon Baume: COO, Eucalyptus
➝ Osher Gunsberg: Renowned TV personality
➝ Lisa Sthalekar: 4x Cricket World Cup Winner and ICC Hall of Fame Member
Contact us via:
Email: contact@curiositycentre.com
Website: https://highflyerspodcast.com
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/vidags10
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viditag/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehighflyerspodcast/
Hosted by Vidit Agarwal, our 200+ episodes to date go beyond headlines and fluff to unpack the real journeys behind influential leaders and companies — from their earliest beginnings to the decisions, failures and inflection points that shaped how they think, lead and build.
Listeners often describe the show as “meticulously researched” and say “I learnt more about the guest from this episode, even after knowing them for 10+ years.”
We're proud that more than 60% of our 200+ guests have trusted us for their first-ever public interview — or to go in-depth on their personal story for the first time. These include:
➝ Malcolm Turnbull: Prime Minister of Australia
➝ Jean-Michel Limieux: CTO, Shopify and Atlassian
➝ Jason Collins: Head of BlackRock (Asia Pacific)
➝ Brad Banducci: CEO, Woolworths
➝ Anil Sabharwal: Global VP Product, Google (Built Google Photos)
➝ Elena Verna: Head of Growth, Lovable
➝ Stevie Case: Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta
➝ John Haddock: Chief Business Officer, Harvey
➝ Michael Schneider: CEO, Bunnings
➝ Andrew Penn: CEO, Telstra
➝ Mark Suster: Partner, Upfront Ventures
➝ Bowen Pan: Creator, Facebook Marketplace
➝ Craig Tiley: CEO, Tennis Australia
➝ Peter Varghese: "One of Australia’s most influential architects of foreign policy"
➝ Ben Thompson: Co-Founder & CEO, Employment Hero
➝ Sweta Mehra: Executive GM, NAB; Ex CMO, ANZ Bank
➝ Niki Scevak, Partner, Blackbird
➝ Paul Bassat: Partner, Square Peg
➝ Trent Cotchin: 3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC
➝ Jack Zhang: Co-Founder & CEO, Airwallex
➝ Holly Kramer: Board Director, Woolworths & ANZ
➝ Sam Sicilia: Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus
➝ Ahmed Fahour: CEO, Citi, NAB & Australia Post
➝ Andrey Khusid: CEO & Co-Founder, Miro
➝ Bill Bartee: Co-Founder Blackbird + Main Sequence
➝ Rod Hamilton: Chief Product Officer, Culture Amp
➝ Brendan Hargreaves: CFO, Officeworks
➝ Simon Baume: COO, Eucalyptus
➝ Osher Gunsberg: Renowned TV personality
➝ Lisa Sthalekar: 4x Cricket World Cup Winner and ICC Hall of Fame Member
Contact us via:
Email: contact@curiositycentre.com
Website: https://highflyerspodcast.com
X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/vidags10
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viditag/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehighflyerspodcast/
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 18, 2021 • 58min
Stretchable boundaries w Michael Spiegel - Raised in the US, 15 years in Europe, 14 years in Australia, medicine, biotech & new experiences!
“I had supervision from social workers and councillors who mentored me , what it is to support a young person at risk, being there for the right reasons, showing them how their behaviour is under their control and how the world is. A real experience for a young man figuring it out” - Tune in to hear the full story! Take flight into Michael's journey - upbringing in the US, Growing up in a family that was not the traditional household with various challenges, finding a way out of that and going to uni & finding other interests including language and culture. I loved Michael’s experiences in different parts of the world - how they came about, what he learnt from it and how we can learn from it. Michael also shares his wide ranging career experiences in Medical and health research, biotech and international community work. Enjoy! -------- I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show. Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter for more! This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any shape or farm to fly high, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Mar 10, 2021 • 58min
Be bold w Amanda Neilson - teaching, consulting, MBA, asking for help & fostering change inclusively & so much more!
Take flight into Amanda's journey - growing up on a farm in Canberra (Australia) followed by high school in Melbourne, learnings spending time with the Aboriginal community in Darwin as part of her law degree and several years as a teacher in Shepparton in regional Victoria, Aus. We talk about intriguing concepts including intuition vs deliberate thinking in Amanda's journey, asking for help and saying I don’t know, fostering change by co-founding the Champions For Change at BCG, finding your passion which can be by trying many things and so much more! Enjoy! -------- I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show. Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter for more! This episode & show is to inspire all us to be high flyers in any shape or farm to fly high, learning from value creators to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

Mar 4, 2021 • 1h 9min
Always believe w Mike Boyd - The Business of family, being shy to building global businesses, Asia & Aussie culture, desiging your life & more!
Take flight into Mike's journey - growing up in Brisbane, Australia as a shy kid with an entreprenurial itch. Hear about his journey to go on to become school captain, preferring street smarts to book smarts but persevering through academic study, scaling various businesses such as Vroom in the car rental industry! Mike talks about his first hand knowledge of cultural differences between Australian & Asian society (having lived in Hong Kong and now Singapore), his biggest failures and learnings and tune in to his podcast (The Business of Family) to hear from families that have succeded in building generational wealth and a culture of integrity and a values driven system to life. Enjoy! -------- I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for more! This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Feb 23, 2021 • 47min
Be 1% better w/ Dionne Holder - Cross cultural influences growing up in Barbados, 1 way ticket into 20+ year stay in China, learning mandarin fluently, 2008 olympics & more!
Take flight into Dionne's journey - cross cultural influences of south african mum and carribean dad, growing up in Barbados! Curious to find the practical side of study, taking a 1 way ticket to China that turned into a 20+ year stay which included having to learn mandarin to be able to study her degree, meeting her husband and having big leadership roles in global companies. Dionne's authenticity, rich personality & fun loving nature shines through in his conversation, despite all her success. Hear about getting out of the dreaded comfort zone, international leadership and the 2008 olympics! Enjoy! -------- I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for more! This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Feb 19, 2021 • 55min
Be 1% better w/ Josh Blanksby - Gold Coast childhood, lawyer to the business of sport, learning America with his wife, breaking the taboo of horse racing & gambling
Take flight into Josh's journey - growing up in the Gold Coast (Australia) with an outdoor lifestyle, playing every sport - starting out as a lawyer and then moving into his passion of the business of sport, living and working in Ireland, various fork in the road moments where Josh backed himself and took on bold challenges like joining Betfair at its infancy in Australia. It was refreshing to hear Josh talk about meeting his American wife and the influence of the US on his thinking and also the differences between sports coverage in the US and Australia, two markets Josh knows well. And as a bonus, tune in to hear Josh share some candid learnings he's had as a leader and tips he gives people coming up the ranks. Curious about the horse racing and betting industry? Josh shares insights into what the future holds, how they continue to be more community oriented and grow collectively with a focus on all involved. Enjoy! -------- I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to see the episode ads, guest quotes & more! This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Feb 7, 2021 • 55min
Be 1% better w/ Scott McLaughlin - Asking for help to be a better person, Advertising & data driven insights, Sweat, courage & tenacity!
Take flight into Scott's journey - This was a wide ranging conversation of growing up with a big influence of his family, particularly his father and grand father. Building a career in advertising followed by data and insights. We talk extensively about Scott’s self reflection, going deep within and questioning his own beliefs and behaviours with a desire to improve and be a better person. Having conversations, opening up, owning your shit, permission to share feelings, relationships, who we’re supposed to be and the permission for imperfection, mens health. Enjoy! -------- I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to see the episode ads, guest quotes & more! This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Jan 28, 2021 • 1h 4min
Be 1% better w/ Matt Dwyer - Not fitting in, Selling beers & chocolates to the heights of world sport, working w ex England cricket captain & so much more!
Take flight into Matt's journey - from not really fitting in growing up & seeing his mum struggle with mental health to studying Business and making a foray into FMCG working at companies including Lion, Mars & Nestle. Matt then made a transition into the world of sport working at Cricket Australia, The England Cricket Board and now Tennis Australia as Chief Tennis Officer (being a massive tennis fan, this sounds like a cool role!) I absolutely loved Matt's way of living life, his humility and passion to succeed doing it in a very team oriented way. Hear some very candid stories about his transitions in work, moving countries with a young family and learning more about himself and his leadership style through some interesting team excercises! Enjoy! -------- I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to see the episode ads, guest quotes & more! This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Jan 25, 2021 • 52min
Be 1% better w/ Brianna Casey - Curious about the world, CEO at 23, Forging a path in farming as a female, social policy and so much more!
Take flight into Brianna's journey - growing up in Byron Bay being curious about the world with a strong passion for social policy and change. Being offered a CEO opportunity at 23 and how she went about it with no real experience but a belief in herself and supporters backing. I love Brianna's open refreshing perspective on various matters including being a parent with a successful career, being female in farming, "shiny bum" and the role her Company Foodbank is playing in fighting hunger in Australia during a pandemic. Enjoy! -------- I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to see the episode ads, guest quotes & more! This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Jan 16, 2021 • 53min
Be 1% better w/ Michael Karakatsanis - Greek heritage, politics interest in primary school, pencils and creativity & cross functional moves
Take flight into Michael's journey - being influenced by his greek heritage, a strong passion for politics and philosophy in primary school and his belief to succeed. Hear about his various cross functional moves from Industrial relations and HR to Sales, Marketing and building a start up within a multinational. Actionable tips include keeping Friday mornings to be creative, a pencil being the bridge to ideas and creativity and living the examined life. Enjoy! -------- I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to see the episode ads, guest quotes & more! This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.

Jan 10, 2021 • 49min
Be 1% better w/ Rob Hango Zada - Pulling apart toys growing up, taking risks moving from a corporate life to build Shippit, one of the hottest start ups in Aus & much more!
Happy new year! Make 2021 your best year - continue to believe, back yourself and be 1% better every single day. Take flight into Rob's journey - growing up in Sydney to immigrant parents, being curious from a young age to break apart things to figure them out, starting out in tech roles which is a full circle back to his business now, thinking twice before sending an email, family support and sacrifices to build Shippit into one of Australia's fastest growing and in demand companies. Enjoy! -------- I would really appreciate if you can help by rating this podcast on iTunes, as it helps others find us and convince guests to come on the show. Follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to see the episode ads, guest quotes & more! This episode & show is to inspire you to fly high, learning from value creators to help you be 1% better everyday.


