Finding Meaning In Work

In this podcast episode, Landon Brown discusses his career journey from starting in executive search as a teenager to working for tech giants like Google and Airbnb, and eventually founding his own HR consultancy, Partner in Kind. The conversation explores key themes such as finding meaning in work, the challenges of pursuing passion versus purpose, and the importance of social impact. Landon emphasises the role of privilege, his commitment to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives, and the need to rethink hiring practices to give more opportunities to diverse candidates. He also encourages listeners to pursue meaningful work, whether within organisations or through entrepreneurship, by taking bold, confident steps to shape their careers.


Landon Brown is the Founder and CEO of Partner in Kind, a Talent and HR consultancy that places people and social impact at the heart of everything they do by donating 20% of all fees to charities and not-for-profits. Originally from and now based in Melbourne, but previously living in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and London, Landon brings 15 years experience scaling over 50 different pre-IPO companies across 29 countries, while also previously working internally at Airbnb and Google 

In this episode of "Finding Meaning in Work," I spoke with Michael Cullen, who shared his journey from nursing to leading Future Energy Skills, an organisation that provides licensing assessments and training for the energy sector, particularly electricians. He discussed how his nursing background shaped his empathetic leadership style, emphasising the importance of treating each person as an individual. Michael highlighted the cultural shift at his organisation towards a more supportive and holistic approach to licensing assessments. He also reflected on the evolving industry, particularly the move towards renewable energy and the increasing number of women in trades, and shared his thoughts on meaningful work, which for him means making a positive impact and fostering a culture of growth and happiness

About Michael (in his own words)

 

I have been the Executive Officer of Future Energy Skills for three years, following an operational background of approximately eight years. I am a licensed electrician and electrical inspector, and I spent several years as a registered electrical contractor, running a small business.

My passion is people—both the staff who work with me and the larger team that serves our Energy Industry. I firmly believe that culture eats strategy for breakfast. Respect and treat everyone for who they are.

I began my adult working life as a nurse, which taught me to appreciate that we all have unique life journeys. We need to be seen, heard, assisted when needed, and respected for what we bring. Our workplaces are made up of individuals who each contribute an important piece to the table, extending to the wider industry and forming the very fabric of our society

In this episode of 'Finding Meaning in Work', we sit down with Daniel Ajak, a defence lawyer and co-founder of the African Australian Legal Network. Born in a refugee camp in Kenya, his family having escaped from Sudan, he is now a lawyer working in Melbourne. His practise is devoted to helping African and other marginalised communities in Melbourne. Daniel shares his incredible journey from adversity to advocacy. Join us as he reflects on the challenges he's faced, the lessons learned, and his commitment to serving his community. 

Welcome to another episode of the 'On Meaningful Work' podcast.

In this episode I speak with Tom Campbell, AFL football star and the co-founder of Footy for Climate. 

 

About Tom

Tom Campbell is an AFL player with St Kilda Football Club, and has played 12 seasons with the Western Bulldogs, North Melbourne and St Kilda Football Clubs.

Over the past decade, Tom has been an ambassador for a number of charities including Stand Up Events (tackling homophobia and gender discrimination in sport) and The Les Twentyman Foundation (supporting at-risk youth) and he co-founded Footy for Climate.

Tom is passionate about protecting the future of the planet and footy, and  through Footy for Climate he supports AFL M&W players to use their public platform to advocate for greater climate action and give back to the grassroots of the game

 

 

 

Hello all and welcome to another episode of the On Meaningful Work podcast

 

We have a very special episode with the founder of the ethical fashion label etiko: Nick Savaidis

 

We have a wide ranging conversation touching on Nick's childhood in Melbourne in 50's, the Greek immigrant experience, the fledgling garment industry that sprang up in the suburbs, setting up social enterprises in remote communities, the reasons for ethical fashion and the trials of being an entrepreneur. We cover alot!

 

About Nick:

 

Nick Savaidis is the founder of Etiko which was recently voted Australia’s Best All-Round Sustainable Retailer in the inaugural National Online Retailers Sustainability Awards.

After working in the education field Nick was involved in establishing and managing a number of social enterprises on remote indigenous communities in the Northern Territory in the early 1990’s.

In the early 2000’s he introduced No Sweat the world’s first ethically focussed on to the Australian market place before launching his own Etiko brand in 2006.
A street fashion brand for conscious and conscientious consumers Etiko is not only Fairtrade certified, it’s also a B Corp and a registered social enterprise (via Social Traders). In 2016 Etiko became the first fashion brand to ever win an Australian Human Rights Award for its efforts in addressing the exploitation of workers and farmers in fashion supply chains.

 

 

Anna is a social strategist, storyteller and adventurer, starting her career in Social Work before moving into human rights law. Anna's nomadic lifestyle over the decade has allowed her to travel to nearly every nook and cranny in Australia, listening deeply to the stories of communities and working in partnership to translate these to government & business in creative ways. Anna’s lived experience of managing lifelong chronic health issues has influenced her drive to challenge the current business as usual paradigm. Anna works across Australia weaving her depth of experience, her personal story and her deep love of storytelling and nature to guide businesses into relational ways of being.

Dr. Leyla Acaroglu is an internationally-known sustainability provocateur, sociologist, and award-winning designer, focused on systems thinking, sustainability sciences and creative change-making. She was named Champion of the Earth by the United Nations, Change-Maker by Linkedin and is a mainstage TED speaker who leads presentations with leaders around the world on activating positive change for a sustainable, circular and regenerative future. He TED talk on Paper beats Plastic? has more than 1.4M views. As a serial social entrepreneur, she founded The UnSchool, an experimental knowledge lab for adults, developed the Disruptive Design Method and is CEO of creative agency, Disrupt Design.

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the On Meaningful Work podcast

We have an incredible guest this week in Simon Griffiths, the CEO and Cofounder of Who Gives a Crap.

Who Gives A Crap is an Aussie B Corp that sells good looking, forest friendly toilet paper, paper towels and tissues direct-to-consumer. Who Gives A Crap donates 50% of their profits to help build toilets for those in need. As much as Simon loves toilet paper, he helped start the business for its impact, with the company on a mission to improve access to hygiene, clean water and basic sanitation in developing countries. Since founding the company back in 2013, Who Gives A Crap has donated more than $10 million.

We cover a lot in this episode, from Simon’s childhood in Perth, his first jobs, his motivations for getting into social entrepreneurship and how the legendary Who Gives A Crap came to be. It is an incredible journey and I hope you enjoy this episode.

 

Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the On Meaningful Work podcast. In this episode I speak with Tony Corrales. Tony has an incredible story - he is originally from England and originally a punk musician , yes he headlined a punk rock band that toured the world. Since then and since moving to Australia Tony has spent the last 10 years working between online and offline marketing for not for profit organisations, along with consulting work in digital strategy and operations.

In 2020 he launched the ethical fashion label Noskin along with the Producing with Purpose podcast, which is now evolving into PWP Studios where he and his team provide consulting services and coming soon, online education to make your good business a great business. 

 

Please note: The thing I fear the most while recording a podcast to not happen..happened. The SD card got full and it stopped recording midway though. Tony was gracious enough to backtrack and re-record..but there maybe some continuity issues. So my apologies for that. 

Hello All and welcome to another episode of the On Meaningful Work podcast.

 

This one is a little bit different. Firstly its a live recording. Secondly the format is a little different. Rather than my usual formula of tracing a person's journey and trying to distil how they came to find meaning and purpose in the work they do, this interview traces a literal journey.  Dr. Chevez wanted to think about the future of work and the likely environments that will support our working lives without any distraction..so he walked from Melbourne to Sydney. It took him 42 days. The book he wrote is a distillation of his ideas and insights from that walk. This interview is a discussion about Dr. Chevez'z book and the ideas he captured about the future of work and how we can find meaning and purpose in the work that we do

 

About Dr. Chevez:

As an architect and academic, Dr Agustin Chevez has dedicated his career to understanding the notion of work and uncovering environments that best support our working lives. Agustin’s interest in the relationship between people, space and technology saw him pursue a PhD on the evolution of workplace architecture as a consequence of technology development. His work has been presented at various international forums and publications. Agustin is a workplace consultant, an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Centre For Design Innovation, Swinburne University, and an Honorary Fellow at the school of Management and Marketing, University of Melbourne.