How I Work

My favourite tip from my chat with award-winning magician Simon Coronel was on how he pays people to give him negative feedback.You can find the full interview here.If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.coVisit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My guest on today’s show is Dean Swan. Dean is the Country Manager of Dropbox, where he oversees Dropbox's business operations across Australia and New Zealand. And in case you haven’t heard of Dropbox, it’s one of Silicon Valley’s unicorns, which is a company valued at over $1 billion. Dropbox provides file hosting and I’ve been a customer of Dropbox for many years.I got connected with Dean as Dropbox Australia have been experimenting with how they work and challenging a lot of the working norms that exist. This has resulted in the launch of Dropbox's ‘Enlightened Summer’, which is a summer-long initiative encouraging workplaces across Australia to reimagine a more enlightened way of working.In my chat with Dean, we start by talking about how Dropboxers have changed their approach to work, and we then delve into how Dean has adapted his own working behaviours too. And if you like the sound of what Dropbox is doing, I finish my chat with Dean talking about advice he has for listeners who are trying to influence their boss on changing the working norms. So on that note, over to Dean to hear about how he works.We cover: Dropbox’s Enlightened Summer campaign How Hack Week’s work at Dropbox The range of productivity techniques that Dropbox Australia have been trialling Why Dean moved the Dropbox office to the Bondi Surf Life Saving club for a day Why Dean had to unlearn everything he learned in his corporate life at Microsoft when he moved to being a start-up founder How being a chef helped Dean think about how he manages his energy during the day How Dean uses his runs for problem solving How Dean combined Manager and Maker time when he moved to Dropbox as head of sales for Asia-Pac Dean’s ideal weekly schedule How Dean uses walking meetings to change energy levels The importance of retrospectives at Dropbox Tips on how to convince your boss that the current way of working is broken and that change needs to happen. Find out more about Dropbox’s Enlightened Summer campaign and download the toolkit.Visit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.auIf you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.coSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My favourite tip from my chat with Marcus Buckingham was about why work-life balance is a useless concept - and how we should think about it instead.You can find the full interview here.If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.coVisit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My guest today is Wendy Stops. Wendy is a Non Executive Director at the Commonwealth Bank (Australia’s largest bank), Coles Group, and Fitted for Work. Prior to her board career, she spent sixteen years with Accenture, most recently as the Senior Managing Director for Technology in Asia-Pacific.I was really keen to have Wendy on the show to understand more about what it’s like to have such high profile board positions. If you have ever wondered what it’s like to be a board director, or perhaps you are considering this kind of career for yourself, I think you’ll get a lot out of this interview with Wendy.We cover: How to get onto a high profile board The recruitment process for becoming a board member How Wendy coped with being on the board of Australia’s biggest bank during the royal commission Wendy’s surprising approach to managing stress Wendy’s approach to protecting her personal time How Wendy makes sure her voice is heard in amongst the other confident, capable and dominant personalities on the boards she sits on Wendy’s approach to influencing people The role of intuition versus data in making big decisions Wendy’s “should we” test for ethical behaviour Wendy’s experience with Imposter Syndrome, and her approach to overcoming it The most challenging thing about sitting on a board Wendy’s top tips for having a great career. Connect with Wendy on Linkedin.Visit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.auIf you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.coSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My favourite tip from my chat with Clinical Psychologist Dr Doris Brett was on how stories can help us deal with failure.You can find the full interview here.If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.coVisit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My guest today is Scott Young. Scott is a writer who undertakes interesting self-education projects, such as attempting to learn MIT's four-year computer science curriculum in twelve months and learning four languages in one year. Both of which he did successfully.Scott is a fascinating person who has basically dedicated his adult life to hacking learning and challenging a lot of the assumptions and beliefs that are held about how best to learn something. Scott is a science nerd like me and one of the many things I loved about Ultralearning is that it pairs a lot of scientific research with some fascinating real world case studies of ultralearners.If you have ever wanted to get better at learning something, or if perhaps at this point in your life you are looking at getting better at a new skill or maybe taking up a new project or hobby, I think you will find my chat with Scott incredibly helpful. We unpack quite a few different learning strategies that Scott has applied in his own life, and which after reading Ultralearning, I’ve now been applying to my own life.We cover: Why Scott spends time learning skills that he has already mastered Why retrieval is a critical skill for learning, and how to get better at it Scott’s approach to reading non-fiction books to optimise learning The importance of “directness” when it comes to learning a new skill The big problem with many training programs The best way to start a learning project How Scott mastered portrait drawing The importance of creating procedural memories and how to do this How Scott has improved his ability to stay focused Why focus comes down to managing emotions and developing good habits Scott’s tips to push through difficult tasks when you just want to give up The keys to giving effective feedback - and why most people who ask for feedback don’t actually want it How to solicit useful feedback How Scott decides which feedback to take on and which to ignore Find out more about Scott right here, and grab a copy of Ultralearning here.Visit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.auIf you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.coSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My favourite tip from my chat with Broad City co-creator and star Abbi Jacobson was on why imposter syndrome can be a good thing.You can find the full interview here.If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.coVisit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My guest today is Sandra Sully. Sandra is one of the most recognised and respected faces on Australian television. A journalist, senior editor and presenter with Ten Eyewitness News First at Five, she has been part of the TEN News team since 1990. Since 2018, she has also been the Managing News editor at ten daily. And she recently launched a podcast called Short Black through Network Ten, where she chats to various women who have something interesting to say.We cover: How Sandra manages her calendar and why she puts exercise time in her diary How Sandra decides what to say yes to and what to say no to Sandra’s strategy for saying “no” politely Sandra’s approach to social media, and which channels she finds the most useful How Sandra gets across the news in the morning Sandra’s cure for insomnia and winding down from the rush of reading the late news The hardest part about reading the news Why Sandra watches most of her news reading “performances” back Why being as inoffensive as possible is critical when it comes to visual appearance on television How Sandra manages criticism on social media Sandra’s approach to preparing for interviews How Sandra builds rapport quickly with her interview subjects Find Sandra on Twitter and check out her podcast Short Black.Visit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.auIf you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.coSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My favourite tip from my chat with New York Times editor Tim Herrera was on his strategies for beating procrastination.You can find the full interview here.If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.coVisit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today’s show was recorded live in Melbourne in October at Inventium’s HQ in Melbourne. And it was with Adam Ferrier, someone who I have known for over a decade and I was very excited to have on the show. Adam is a consumer psychologist and the co-founder of Thinkerbell - an agency that fuses together marketing sciences and hard-core creativity – or as they like to put it – ‘Measured Magic’. Thinkerbell also happens to be the current 2018 Adnews' Creative Agency of the Year.Adam is also the author of 'The Advertising Effect: How to change behaviour, sits on the boards of Tribe, Good Thnx and PIJI.Where you might have seen Adam is on your TV set because he is a weekly guest on Australian national TV shows Sunrise and Your Money, and regular panellist on others such as Gruen and The Project.I found this chat with Adam an absolute delight. Adam has very contrarian but also very useful views on things. And if you have ever thought about your own personal brand (and if you haven’t, you probably should), I think you’ll find this chat incredibly helpful in refining what it is what you stand for.Follow Adam on Twitter and Linkedin, and check out Adam's agency Thinkerbell.If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.coVisit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.