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Episode Notes [03:47] Seth's Early Understanding of Questions [04:33] The Power of Questions [05:25] Building Relationships Through Questions [06:41] This is Strategy: Focus on Questions [10:21] Gamifying Questions [11:34] Conversations as Infinite Games [15:32] Creating Tension with Questions [20:46] Effective Questioning Techniques [23:21] Empathy and Engagement [34:33] Strategy and Culture [35:22] Microsoft's Transformation [36:00] Global Perspectives on Questions [39:39] Caring in a Challenging World Resources Mentioned The Dip by Seth Godin Linchpin by Seth Godin Purple Cow by Seth Godin Tribes by Seth Godin This Is Marketing by Seth Godin The Carbon Almanac This is Strategy by Seth Godin Seth's Blog What Does it Sound Like When You Change Your Mind? by Seth Godin Value Creation Masterclass by Seth Godin on Udemy The Strategy Deck by Seth Godin Taylor Swift Jimmy Smith Jimmy Smith Curated Questions Episode Supercuts Priya Parker Techstars Satya Nadella Microsoft Steve Ballmer Acumen Jerry Colonna Unleashing the Idea Virus by Seth Godin Tim Ferriss podcast with Seth Godin Seth Godin website Beauty Pill Producer Ben Ford Questions Asked When did you first understand the power of questions? What do you do to get under the layer to really get down to those lower levels? Is it just follow-up questions, mindset, worldview, and how that works for you? How'd you get this job anyway? What are things like around here? What did your boss do before they were your boss? Wow did you end up with this job? Why are questions such a big part of This is Strategy? If you had to charge ten times as much as you charge now, what would you do differently? If it had to be free, what would you do differently? Who's it for, and what's it for? What is the change we seek to make? How did you choose the questions for The Strategy Deck? How big is our circle of us? How many people do I care about? Is the change we're making contagious? Are there other ways to gamify the use of questions? Any other thoughts on how questions might be gamified? How do we play games with other people where we're aware of what it would be for them to win and for us to win? What is it that you're challenged by? What is it that you want to share? What is it that you're afraid of? If there isn't a change, then why are we wasting our time? Can you define tension? What kind of haircut do you want? How long has it been since your last haircut? How might one think about intentionally creating that question? What factors should someone think about as they use questions to create tension? How was school today? What is the kind of interaction I'm hoping for over time? How do I ask a different sort of question that over time will be answered with how was school today? Were there any easy questions on your math homework? Did anything good happen at school today? What tension am I here to create? What wrong questions continue to be asked? What temperature is it outside? When the person you could have been meets the person you are becoming, is it going to be a cause for celebration or heartbreak? What are the questions we're going to ask each other? What was life like at the dinner table when you were growing up? What are we really trying to accomplish? How do you have this cogent two sentence explanation of what you do? How many clicks can we get per visit? What would happen if there was a webpage that was designed to get you to leave? What were the questions that were being asked by people in authority at Yahoo in 1999? How did the stock do today? Is anything broken? What can you do today that will make the stock go up tomorrow? What are risks worth taking? What are we doing that might not work but that supports our mission? What was the last thing you did that didn't work, and what did we learn from it? What have we done to so delight our core customers that they're telling other people? How has your international circle informed your life of questions? What do I believe that other people don't believe? What do I see that other people don't see? What do I take for granted that other people don't take for granted? What would blank do? What would Bob do? What would Jill do? What would Susan do? What happened to them? What system are they in that made them decide that that was the right thing to do? And then how do we change the system? How given the state of the world, do you manage to continue to care as much as you do? Do you walk to school or take your lunch? If you all can only care if things are going well, then what does that mean about caring? Should I have spent the last 50 years curled up in a ball? How do we go to the foundation and create community action?…
Content provided by Helen Dalley. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Helen Dalley or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Candid interviews with successful Self-starters. On Build It. They'll Come, you'll hear from some amazing Australian entrepreneurs who bet big to build great businesses. Journalist Helen Dalley interviews business innovators and visionaries on how they turned their lightbulb idea into a viable, sustainable enterprise. This podcast is about the human face behind taking a simple idea and turning it into a business or movement. It's the beating heart behind what it takes to build an empire, from concept to execution, and how they actually achieve it. Fuelled by blind faith and hard slog, how they transform their dream idea into concrete reality.
Content provided by Helen Dalley. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Helen Dalley or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Candid interviews with successful Self-starters. On Build It. They'll Come, you'll hear from some amazing Australian entrepreneurs who bet big to build great businesses. Journalist Helen Dalley interviews business innovators and visionaries on how they turned their lightbulb idea into a viable, sustainable enterprise. This podcast is about the human face behind taking a simple idea and turning it into a business or movement. It's the beating heart behind what it takes to build an empire, from concept to execution, and how they actually achieve it. Fuelled by blind faith and hard slog, how they transform their dream idea into concrete reality.
How do you revolutionise medicine, helping develop an entire new field of medical science in this country? Well, back when he was a young doctor Professor Gab Kovacs did just that. By starting small and taking 1 step at a time he helped change the practice of reproductive medicine, by pioneering IVF in this country – “test tube” babies they used to be called - as an option for infertile couples to have children in the late 1970’s. Professor Kovacs worked with the greats, lead by Dr Carl Wood and Alan Trounson, those doctors and scientists who researched, tested, achieved breakthroughs and broke down barriers, to change the way infertility was treated and managed. This team was so successful, after years of hard work they built a thriving business that has enabled thousands of Australian women, and many more around the world, to have babies when their bodies’ biological doors seemed closed forever. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
In late 2023 we brought you an interview with serially successful entrepreneur Mark Woodland, who co-created and built the Kismet platform to provide digital tools to help NDIS participants easily link up with approved providers, reducing fraud and overcharging & improving compliance along the way. Kismet only began life as a business in August 2022, after Mark had kept the idea in his bottom drawer for 13 years. Then in early 2023 Mark raised a whopping $4 million from venture capital veterans AirTree Ventures, Daniel Petre AO and others, an enormous tick of approval for Mark Woodland, a former soldier and proud product of a single mum household. Now the latest news in September 2024, is Kismet completed a successful $32.5 million seed funding round from venture capital investors. Wow. Not bad for just over 2 years in business! Then again, Mark had already built successful childcare business, xplor, to streamline the admin process for parents and childcare operators alike, which he sold in 2020 to US private equity, reportedly making xplor worth $100 million, and putting Mark onto the Financial Review Young Rich List. Mark’s is such a remarkable startup journey, we thought we’d share it with you again. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
Babak Moini came to Australia with his family as an 8 year old, from Iran. He studied hard, went to university and became an actuary, earned good money. So far a fairly typical immigrant story. But Babak’s journey diverged considerably when he discovered retailing, of all things – his first foray was a small souvenir shop in Cairns - and he fell in love with the world of business, buying and selling. He dumped his actuarial career and with a co-founder friend, they ended up building a non-invasive beauty treatment empire, in Laser Clinics Australia, with some 80-plus clinics. What a wild ride it has been. Hope you enjoy Babak Moini. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
After coming to Australia with just $600 in her pocket and a dream to see the world, young Mandy Foley fell into waitressing. What she found was a haphazard industry for workers, with little structure or professionalism. So over the past almost 4 decades Mandy set about changing that, building up her Stedmans Hospitality Services business, which she a couple of friends started from scratch in the mid-1980s. Stedmans agency essentially offers outsourced hospitality staff for events, parties, caterers and boardrooms, thereby she says, taking the worry out of hiring casual staff. For the workers she offers them structure, training, professionalism, and a family-type environment. Though she’s lived through many ups and downs, which she happily shares in our interview, Mandy has not only survived, she’s thrived, and gives back a hell of a lot, to charities and the community. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
You’ve probably never heard of GROW Super or GROW Inc. And that’s just the way co-founder and CEO Mathew Keeley likes it. But GROW Inc is solving some of the logjam problems in the “back office” administration of our massive Superannuation Funds. GROW Inc instigated a new way for Superannuation fund customers like you and I, to better access and engage with our Super Funds, by creating and building an innovative administration software using blockchain, or Distributed Ledger Technology. GROW Inc claims its platform transforms legacy systems and business models and allows fund managers and their funds to offer more streamlined, real time information to customers about their Super. So how did a 5th generation farm boy, end up revolutionising the way Superannuation Funds interact with clients and members, giving as easy an experience for fund members as Amazon gives their online shoppers? And how the heck did Mat Keeley, with a tiny team of only 36 employees at the time, persuade one of the world’s biggest wealth managers, the US giant Vanguard – with something like $10 Trillion in their care – to take a punt on his Super fund “back office” platform GROW Inc? Well, tune in right now and you’ll find out. Enjoy Mathew Keeley’s extraordinary journey with GROW Inc. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
Tasmania born, schooled in Hong Kong, now working in Melbourne, scientist Nick Murphy is on the frontier of IVF reproductive medicine. Nick and his small highly skilled team developed a world-first genetic screening test for IVF embryos capable of detecting several thousand severe genetic diseases and life threatening conditions. And it’s done in one single, simple test, via whole genome sequencing of the pre-implantation embryo. It’s commercialised by Nick’s startup, GenEmbryomics. Dr Murphy will offer this test through existing IVF clinics, at as low a price as possible, and to as many couples going through IVF as need it. While not available commercially yet in Australia, GenEmbryomics is in the process of securing patents for the test in the massive IVF market in the USA, worth some $9billion. There are plans to list the startup on New York’s NASDAQ exchange by mid-2024. It’s been a wild and fascinating journey for this genetic scientist turned entrepreneur, since the GenEmbryomics business began in 2019. Hope you enjoy Dr Nick Murphy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
An immigrant child of Polish Jewish parents, Jack Gance ended up disrupting several entire industries with HIS model of shopkeeping through suburban Australia. The pharmacist turned into an entrepreneur by chance really. After gaining his Pharmacy degree, Jack and his brother Sam started with just 1 pharmacy in the early 1970’s, which they slowly built on. Along the journey, Jack Gance totally upended the way traditional pharmacies in Aussie suburbs operate, by essentially making all the other products chemists sell aside from prescriptions, much more enticing and cheaper for shoppers. He also built a distribution business in the process. After 51 years in business Jack Gance, with Sam and co-founder Mario Verrocchi spent the past two-plus decades building their Chemist Warehouse business and brand into a household name, thereby revolutionising not just the pharmacy model, but the entire retailing landscape, by offering discounts on every product in the store. Now with 500 partner/franchise stores and a recently announced deal to merge with Sigma Healthcare, in order to expand the business, we’re replaying the interview we did in 2023 where Jack reflects, just a little, on that amazing entrepreneurial journey. And why he can’t stop! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
Host Helen Dalley interviews plenty more inspiring Aussie entrepreneurs in new episodes coming up in 2024! Both established superstars and newbie startup founders who have nurtured an idea from scratch, building it from nothing into a sustainable successful business. In each episode Founders reveal deep frustrations, challenges, their doubts and near failures but also how they overcame them, offering up practical insights on how to create and build a fantastic business. Be sure to stay tuned to Build It. They’ll Come in the new year, after we take a little break. Thankyou for being great listeners and supporters. See you in January 2024! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
Not every budding entrepreneur wants to start a new bank. Banking is risky, highly regulated, and in this country dominated by the big 4 banks that could squash any little minnow that tries to challenge them. But my guest Joseph Healy has been a career banker, in fact a successful senior executive in 2 of those the big traditional banks, and his disillusionment with their modus operandi led him to start his own. After extensive chats with mate David Hornery, over beers at the local on a Friday, the pair decided on a vision for a new bank to service small to medium sized businesses, a neglected sector in their opinion. So they set out to back themselves into building that vision into something successful and sustainable. Healy and Hornery founded Judo Bank in 2019, in the eye of the Covid storm. But they say that made the bank stronger, and they claim to have delivered what they promised for small to medium-sized businesses. Now a higher interest rate environment produces new challenges for the minnow bank. Despite its shares being marked down, Judo’s lending book is now $9bill (as of June 30, 2023), and it achieved a strong 2023 profit. And Joseph Healy reckons they are building the culture, mind-set and model to ensure Judo grows into a sustainable success. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
Soldier-turned-entrepreneur Mark Woodland reckons he learned some tough lessons in the Army. The most fundamental that he brought with him into the startup world was how to be resilient. This self-confessed university dropout draws on his internal resilience he reckons every day, while scaling up his Kismet healthcare platform. Resilience, coupled with setting in stone the internal culture of your business right from the get-go, and staying humble are foundation stones for Kismet’s success. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
Serially successful entrepreneur Mark Woodland, co-created and built the Kismet platform to provide digital tools to help NDIS participants easily link up with approved providers, hopefully reducing fraud and overcharging & improving compliance along the way. Kismet only began life as a business in August 2022, after Mark had kept the idea in his bottom drawer for 13 years, but in early 2023 it raised a whopping $4million from venture capital veterans AirTree Ventures, Daniel Petre AO and others, an enormous tick of approval for Mark Woodland, a former soldier and proud product of a single mum household. Then again, Mark had already built substantial childcare business, xplor, to streamline the admin process for parents and childcare operators alike, which he sold in 2020 to US private equity, reportedly making xplor worth $100million, and putting Mark onto the Financial Review Young Rich List. Hope you enjoy his remarkable startup journey. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
What’s next in Jack Gance’s Chemist Warehouse journey, is Optometrist Warehouse, yes indeed, his latest venture to disrupt the Optometry landscape is coming to a suburb near you. And could an IPO still be on the table? Plus, he explains how hocking everything in the early days was crucial to build up his retail and distribution chain, but how being completely debt-free since the early 1990’s has its advantages. And he pays tribute to his wife Evelyn, his family and his Jewish faith as the foundation stone in his life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
An immigrant child of Polish Jewish parents, Jack Gance ended up disrupting several entire industries with HIS model of shopkeeping. The pharmacist turned into an entrepreneur by chance really. After university he and his brother started with just 1 pharmacy in the early 1970’s, which they slowly built on. Along the journey, Jack Gance totally upended the way traditional pharmacies in Aussie suburbs operate, by essentially making all the other products chemists sell aside from prescriptions, more enticing and cheaper for shoppers. He also built a distribution business in the process. Over 51 years in business Jack Gance built up his Chemist Warehouse business and brand into a household name, thereby revolutionising not just the pharmacy model, but the entire retailing landscape. Now with 500 partner/franchise stores and around $8billion turnover a year, Jack reflects, just a little, on that amazing entrepreneurial journey. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
When you sell your small successful travel startup to one of the world’s biggest companies, isn’t that when the champagne pops and you sit back to revel in your success? Well no, according to serial entrepreneur Zac Altman, that’s when you effectively take on 2 full-time jobs. Navigating the transition presents a whole new set of challenges to meld both companies together seamlessly. In Part 2 of our interview Zac explains just what it takes. He also elaborates on how to scale up and why years of hard work iterating a product is the reality is preferable to the dream of the “overnight success”. Zac also believes founders need to protect their employees’ well-being and care for their own mental health, to avoid burnout. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
Sydney-sider Zac Altman’s first legit startup was a taxi booking app called Taxi Pro that Zac developed and built in his final year of high school. Before Uber had hit the ground running in Australia. Greater success was to come with his 2nd venture. Still in his teens Zac moved to San Francisco and created and co-founded with 2 new mates the travel startup called LoungeBuddy, which enabled travellers to discover, book, and access over 400 airport lounges around the world, via the LoungeBuddy website or app. After 7 years of slogging it out building up the business, with myriad challenges along the way, the trio built LoungeBuddy to have over 100,000 users every month. In 2019, the young founders sold LoungeBuddy to global giant American Express, reportedly for in excess of $100million. Zac Altman was in his mid-20’s. So how do you build not 1, but 2, successful startups, and where to from here for Zac Altman? 1/2 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…
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