Rooster Radio - Business & Personal Growth Insights & Stories From Entrepreneurs And Leaders In Business, Health, Tech & More

Where is the editor-at-large and futurist at Forbes, the world's most recognised business magazine, investing his money? Rich Karlgaard, entrepreneur-turned-publisher, columnist, author, television commentator, private investor and board director, reveals the industries that he believes are in the gun. Disruption has only claimed "low hanging fruit" industries so far but we're about to reach the middle of the tree, he says. Rich tells Rooster Radio that he's also interested in companies addressing all of the issues that are arising from our ever-increasing population growth, and what that means for Australia. Rich offers a unique vantage point on the trends driving the business and investment climates. His insights will help you gain a greater understanding of the global marketplace. Rich is a past winner of Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year Award," and understands firsthand the difficulties of navigating in today's business climate and the opportunities available to those who have the courage

Mark Knowles is the captain of Australia's men's hockey team, the Kookaburras, who were gold medal favourites at the Olympics. After an enormous build up, the Kookaburras crashed out in the quarter finals. As a leader, Mark has been dealing with the fall out - What went wrong? What would he change? What next? For Mark, Olympic failure is even more bitter because he's tasted ultimate success - winning gold in 2004. A junior team member at the time, Mark admits he was naive about it all - only now does he realise the significance of what was achieved. For a semi-professional sportsman, much more than a medal is on the line. If you don't succeed, your team doesn't get government funding. At $250 per week the Hockey player pay packet is already meagre and Mark talks about how he juggles cash flow, including Indian Premier League contracts, sponsorships and a coaching business. Mark is a true champion, not only a gold medallist but a World Player of the Year and world cup winner, but still a humble lad from Roc

Democracy, as we know it, is under threat, says DemocracyCo's Emily Jenke. We only have to look at the world around us, with Trump, Brexit and even the political uncertainty in Australia. The public is disengaged because politicians aren't listening. All that's left for the public is opinion, and opinion is ineffective and at times dangerous. Opinions swirl in the social media vortex leading to knee jerk reactions and a decision making process that is, at best, broken. In response, Emily, along with her friend Emma Lawson, started DemocracyCo, a company aiming to give all sectors of the community a voice in the key decisions affecting them. It is DemocracyCo's job to get involved in some of the most contentious community issues. Emily and Emma have facilitated Citizens' Juries to tackle reducing the numbers of unwanted dogs and cats, road safety for motorists and cyclists, and the high profile Nuclear Waste debate in South Australia (which we also talk about back in Ep 34), with the world's largest Citizen

Attractiveness has become a bit of cliche in marketing and advertising. But does the attractiveness of a sales person really impact a consumer's buying decision? Do looks matter? The short answer is yes, and there's a science behind it, which is the key focus for Dr Bianca Price, who shares her fascinating insights on Rooster Radio. Bianca is a Lecturer in Foundation Studies at UniSA and holds a Ph.D. in Business. Her thesis and ongoing research explores the role of physical attractiveness for women in the staff customer interface ... and draws on elements of advertising theory, psychology, consumer behaviour, as well as general management and marketing theories. When Bianca applied to focus her PhD on attractiveness, which at the time was largely viewed as subjective, she was laughed at by many of her peers. But Bianca's learnings, shared in this episode, are interesting and important particularly for those who are in business, sales or marketing, or just interested in human behaviour. This episode is b

Asian culture is firmly entrenched in Australia, particularly in business, education and food industries. And yet Asian art is yet to have much of an impact in our country. Joseph Mitchell, Director of OzAsia Festival, Australia's largest Asian culture event, says we lack diversity in this area and suggests that perhaps unknown prejudices see us favour European and American art. Europe and America have been our biggest influences in the last two centuries, but the Asian century is now upon us and understanding and appreciating art from the region could help us unlock the benefits. Joseph says art teaches us cultural lessons and breaks down important barriers that will help us foster the key relationships that will drive Australia's economic growth through Asian countries such as Indonesia, China, India and beyond. OzAsia Festival, on it's tenth anniversary, is big and ambitious. It features a host of world class acts across dance, theatre, film, visual arts and numerous free public events, including a nig

Tammy Barton, who you'd likely know as Tammy May, is one of Australia's top entrepreneurs, but we get the feeling there's still much more success to come. Tammy is the founder of MyBudget, a personal budget management company that has served more than 50,000 clients with a turnover of $34 million. When you know how thousands of people use their money, including history and future plans, the possibilities are endless, and Tammy talks about her plans to use their incredibly powerful and unique data set to create the future of money management. Central to the growth strategy for the company, which is headquartered in Adelaide with offices across Australia, is global expansion. For the BRW "Young Rich Lister" (a title Tammy disputes, by the way), it's a long way from her modest upbringing in Adelaide's southern suburbs, where she lived with a brother who has an intellectual and developmental disability, and a Dad who instilled Tammy with the self-belief she has today. Tammy also talks about the early days of

Wayne Lewis' company, the globally acclaimed Rising Sun Pictures, has produced visual effects over 100 films including blockbusters such as X-Men and the many others in the Marvel series, Gravity, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and even THAT explosive scene from the most recent Game of Thrones series. Working on the world's biggest movies, with the biggest names in Hollywood, sounds glamorous. Speaking at a live Engine Room event with Rooster Radio, Wayne reveals just how complex his business is. RSP's work is project based, which means revenue has rollercoaster-like peaks and troughs. As such, staffing is freelancer driven. In a couple of weeks, his team can grow from 50 to 200 staff from 30 different countries. Wayne shares how RSP maintains quality control and culture, and how he works with Hollywood and runs a global company from Adelaide. Ultimately, it comes down to systems and project management. Does that kill creativity? In Wayne's words: "That's crap", and he tells you why. Prior to the

If a man sleeps only five hours a night for a week his testosterone levels plummet as if he has aged a decade, says Professor Danny Eckert, one of the world's leading experts in sleep apnoea. Sleep, along with diet and exercise, is one of the three pillars of health. Sleep apnoea is as common as asthma and diabetes. And yet Dr Eckert and his team are amazed that sleep is not prioritised. In fact, in business a lack of sleep is often glorified. Danny says this is "crazy", and describes in detail the horrifying physical and mental impact. Sleep depravation impacts every organ, it has the affect of intoxication and can even shorten your life expectancy. Every part of life is impacted, from the bedroom to the boardroom. After listening to this, you'll be aiming for eight hours shut eye tonight. The life of a top scientist is not lab coats and test tubes. In his current role as principal research fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia, in Sydney, Danny travels the nation and the world talking about his team

It has become clear that we couldn't have timed this "Biggest Rooster" series more poorly. It has coincided with work trips to Sydney, Melbourne, and then at the time of recording this episode, we were about to head off to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Even though the travel has made sticking with our diet and training much more difficult, we think it is a good case study, so we're sticking with it. Jack Errington, personal trainer from Fit Factory, reviews our progress ... PLUS more tips about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle while traveling, some interesting information about the impact of caffeine .. and .. at the opposite end of the spectrum to us .. Jack talks about how he's preparing for a bodybuilding competition. Session 3, upper body: Warm up rowing machine, body weight rows, seated row with superset "pulses", dumbbell benchpress, "dead stop" shoulder press, tricep pushdowns. Leading personal trainer Jack Errington, Founder of Fit Factory, has put together a five week diet and training program tailor

Nick Mitzevich is one of the most influential people in Australian art, making a name for himself as the young, innovative and sometimes controversial director of the Art Gallery of South Australia. No one, including Nick, could've imagined he'd be where he is today. Born to Greek/Macedonian farmers in rural New South Wales, who had no interest in art, a chance discovery at school sparked his artistic interests. He'd then spend hours on buses and trains just to get to the nearest gallery. Nick found it difficult to fit in at school. "I was a freak and a second class citizen," he says. But it didn't stop his growing love for art. In fact, he was inspired to become a school teacher, but it was a career which only lasted a few months. However, teaching is at the core of what Nick does today. He's passionate about helping people learn about art through "thinking, feeling and looking". It's part of Nick's commitment to smashing the "snobby" art stigma and throwing open the doors to children and the wider publi

Ed Cowan opened the batting for Australia, and has been one of the country's leading cricketers for many years. He's also an author, commentator, business man, student and father, who is known as the thoughtful, intelligent and articulate alternative to the cliche athlete. Because he's different, Ed has become known in the media as "the thinking man's cricketer". He bristles at the title. He says it has come about because journos are inherently lazy, and therefore nicknames stick. Ed talks about media misrepresentation, where former Test captain Ricky Ponting was also a victim. He was known as a "tough bastard", but Ed says he was really the "loveliest human being you'll ever meet". Ed has lived in a world of high performance which now helps him as the founder of Tripod Coffee. He's prepared to have "tough conversations" and also reflect, which he says isn't done enough in business. Ed also shares learnings about self doubt, fear, mental preparation and much more, in our final interview from Mumbrella's S

Session 2 of our "Biggest Rooster" health and fitness experiment confirmed that this series is much more difficult when we expected. We didn't prepare - for our diet, or to integrate our program with our interstate trip - and we paid the price. Remembering that our primary goals for this experiment are: - Establish healthy habits and routines - Be consistent (with training and healthy eating, irrespective of work, kids, messy schedules etc.) This short episode is from the gym floor after our second personal training session, reviewing the program and where we're at. Session 2: 1km rower time trial Max Chin-ups superset with walking lunges Slam Balls (6, 9, 12, 15kg) 2 rounds 1 min walk ball 2 rounds Leading personal trainer Jack Errington, Founder of Fit Factory, has put together a five week diet and training program tailored for the Roosters. Each week or so we're going to record an episode updating our progress, and continue to update via the podcast and our blog. No BS - we're going to be real.

Mark Mathews says facing the enormous wall of water is "terrifying". The big wave surfer knows that, even though everything in him wants to keep paddling, he must hold his position as the wave approaches. It's what he describes as the "Braveheart moment". If he gets the strategy right and manages to ride the wave, the terror still continues until he gets into the barrel and he knows he's going to make it out safely. That gives him a few seconds of elation. This is what Mark does for a living. He chases storms, surfs the huge waves, captures the content then distributes it to the media. And he's one of the best in the world at it. It's an uncommon career but Mark says it is all about overcoming fear, a battle that is no different to anyone else. Mark talks through his process for managing fear, which involves significant preparation before getting into the water. This was put to the test after a near death experience on a brutal break near Tasmania, where he almost drowned after being knocked unconscious on

Australian sports stars joined James Begley for a discussion about sports marketing and branding at the Mumbrella Sports Marketing Summit 2016. The panel: - Ed Cowan, cricketer, former Test batsman - Sharni Layton, Australian Diamonds netballer - Carol Cooke, Paralympian - Mark Mathews, big wave surfer - James Begley (moderator), PickStar founder, Rooster Radio co-host, former AFL footballer It was a fascinating and insightful chat with intelligent and thoughtful athletes. There's a lot to learn here about their worlds, and how brands and the community can best engage them. Among the issues discussed: - Sexualising female stars - Sponsorship and funding issues for Paralympians - Cricket Australia "controlling" player brands - Creating compelling content with athletes - How to best utilise athlete ambassadors - Much more! PickStar is the place to connect with sports stars and high profile people for any commercial engagement or experience you can imagine, and was was proud to work with Mumbrella to pull t

While we talk a lot about high performance here on Rooster Radio, talking only gets you so far. We also want to get really practical about self-improvement and personal development. So we're launching some experiments, with James and Andrew as the guinea pigs, and we hope our listeners can learn from the failures and some of the wins too. Our first series focuses on health and fitness so we're calling it "The Biggest Rooster" (see what we did there ..). It doesn't matter what you do, your physical health impacts your performance in ALL areas of your life. And let's be honest, many of us don't look after ourselves as well as we should. We're not interested in boot camps, getting a Kardashian ass, or building up our biceps for the beach. While we do hope our physical numbers improve over the five weeks, our primary goals for this experiment are: - Establish healthy habits and routines - Be consistent (with training and healthy eating, irrespective of work, kids, messy schedules etc.) Leading personal

When Donny Walford started her career in banking, the barriers for women in business were overtly part of company culture. Donny was told that, as a woman, career progression was not an option. But rather than accept it, or sit back and complain about it, it seems that Donny was energised by it. Donny tells Rooster Radio that the knock backs and the rejections only made her more determined and resilient, until sheer will and new leadership forced the culture to change, and she was able to rapidly rise up the ranks. Fast forward to today, and Donny is using these experiences as the founder of Behind Closed Doors, an invitation only membership organisation designed to support women in business through the barriers that unfortunately, says Donny, still exist today. Donny is also a highly regarded Director, holding a high profile board position at the ABC, and numerous other board roles with both companies and not-for-profit organisations. Donny reveals what it takes to be a successful director, and also wha

On the surface, Michael Cameron is living every man's dream. He's an owner and CEO of Pirate Life Brewing, an Adelaide craft beer startup that is winning fans all over Australia. Pirate Life has raised significant funding, expanded and acquired a distribution arm, and mostly importantly, they're selling lots of tinnies (beer in cans is back in vogue). But Mick tells Rooster Radio it is not all beer and skittles. There's the huge cost of equipment, cash flow management, thousands of tasting events and doing everything possible to get the Pirate Life name out there. But ultimately the family company, run by Mick, his son Jack and Jack's best mate Red, brings it all back to one key goal - make the beer that they want to drink. It's the Pirate way of doing business on your own terms, and it is key to the team's values. The journeymen have, quite literally, come a long way. Western Australia, the United States, Scotland before finally settling in Adelaide - which Mick says is the perfect location for a craft b

TED talks are a creative force. With the mantra "ideas worth spreading", TED's short and powerful presentations, published on video and shared via social media, have enormous global influence. Robin Freeth, who is taking the phenomenon to a local level with TEDx Adelaide, discusses about the TED talks that have impacted him and the importance of engaging and executing ideas. Robin has a story to tell, in his own right. He led a UK web company through the highs and lowest of lows of the dot com boom, and has held senior marketing roles with major brands in both the UK and Australia. While working with Vodaphone, Robin played a key role in the company's major sponsorship agreement with Port Power, and talks about how corporates measure success in significant branding deals. Now running his own business, Robin is sought after as a leader and mentor, and shares some interesting views on the importance of establishing a personal board. This interview is brought to you by PickStar, the place to connect with sp

"I'm an unbearable asshole! I get really wound up when I go out for dinner and (staff) don't give a damn." So when British restauranteur Max Mason was hiring staff for the Henry Austin, perhaps Adelaide's most ambitious hospitality project, he turned experienced applicants away. He brought in an acting coach to teach staff about human interaction, and also taught staff chess to entertain guests while they wait for their date. This unconventional approach isn't unusual for for Max. In England, he once employed a homeless man as his head chef and convicted murderers as kitchen staff. He also thinks differently about the business of hospitality. After being lured to Adelaide's historic and vacant Chesser Cellars building by a friend and also the South Australian government's Renew Adelaide department, Max adapted to his surroundings. He called it the Henry Austin, and moulded his ideas for the restaurant, bar and bottle shop around the dilapidated building and turned it's weaknesses into strengths. The small

"There's so much more to life than football," Australian soccer star Bruce Djite says. And he means it. While helping Adelaide United claim the A-League championship, Bruce was also studying business, working with corporates and charities, investing and taking an interest in local and world politics. Bruce is truly a global citizen, born in the US to a Mum from Togo and a father from the Ivory Coast, and fluent in three languages. It mean't that moving his career to Turkey and China was taken in his stride. These experiences along with intelligence and a charismatic personality make Bruce a marketable property, and he shares personal brand insights with Rooster Radio, as well as the economics of the A-League and sport in general. This thoughtful and broad conversation also covers: - Being the son of a professor at the cross roads of study or sport - Business and branding - Political views and witnessing Clive Palmer at work - The emotion of a grand final win, and cashing in on success - Much more Connec