Send us a text “This is the next big industrial revolution, and leaders will have never experienced this before…” Annie Johnson has seen the evolution of People & Culture from every angle - in-house, consulting, product, leadership - and she’s now building humaneer, a next-gen AI platform reshaping how HR teams work. In this episode, we dive into: Why 73% of HR’s time is still spent on adminThe reality that 70% of tasks will be automated in the next 5 yearsHow Annie's approach to “practis...

Send us a text This week I’m joined by Jo Vohland, the brains and heart behind ATC Events & Media - the team that’s been curating conversations, conferences and communities for TA pros long before it was trendy. We get into: How the role and toolkit of TA leaders is shifting.What AI might mean for the function - both now and over the next few years.Why in-person events still matter (and probably more than ever).And how ATC continues to evolve with the industry - not just talk at it.J...

Send us a text From pioneering one of the world’s first crowdfunding platforms to supporting the next wave of Aussie startups, Alan Crabbe has always had one foot in community and the other in innovation. In this episode, we explore Alan’s journey – from building Pozible and Birchal into household names in the startup scene, to his latest venture, Frontcover, which aims to redefine how we support early-stage founders. We chat through: Why Australia’s startup ecosystem needs more communi...

Send us a text After starting his career as a neonatal intensive care nurse, Ben Lai made a bold move - swapping the ward for the world of sales. It wasn’t a straight line. He spent years honing his skills in corporate environments and client-facing roles before finally discovering his calling: helping introverted business owners sell with confidence. Now, as the founder of Sales Ethos, Ben combines empathy, ethics, and strategy to train leaders who often feel out of place in the sales world....

Send us a text Welcome back to scalr sagecast. This week, I’m joined by Martyn Hill - award-winning recruiter, startup founder and community leader with deep roots in WA’s mining and blue-collar space. Martyn’s had a huge year. He’s won multiple industry awards (including RCSA Recruitment Professional of the Year 2024), launched Refereez - a smart, human-led reference checking platform - and somehow still finds time to coach jobseekers, support fellow recruiters, and champion the community th...

Send us a text Joining me on scalr sagecast this week is Peter Treloar, founder of TALY Australia, a platform rethinking how we use personality profiling in the workplace. Peter’s career started in market research and insights, including building and successfully exiting Telmy. Along the way, he realised a problem that’s plagued HR for years: organisations invest in personality assessments, but the results often sit unused in systems and filing cabinets. More of a tick-box exercise than infor...

Send us a text After a short break, I'm delighted that scalr sagecast is back - and we’re starting off strong. This week, I’m joined by Scott Allan, founder of TalentTech, who has spent a significant part of the last decade helping companies derive value from their HR and TA tech stacks. From agency roots to global projects with SmartRecruiters, Avature and Gloat, Scott’s career blends creative recruitment know-how with deep implementation experience. It means he doesn’t just understand the t...

Send us a text This week on scalr sagecast, I’m joined by the brilliant and always energetic Mark Puncher, CEO of Employer Branding Australia and one of the most passionate advocates for building workplaces where people actually want to be. In this episode, we dig into all things EVP - what it is, what it isn’t, and why so many companies still get it wrong. We unpack the tension between aspiration and reality, the blurred lines between EVP and commercial branding, and the common traps busines...

Send us a text Bit of a milestone for scalr sagecast this week - 50 episodes in, and what an amazing experience it's been so far and I couldn’t think of a better guest to mark this point than Marrin-Boyd Andrews (MBA)! I still think back to our last encounter at ATC 2024 in Melbourne. He presented on prompt engineering, and the packed room was on tenterhooks for the whole session. You could almost hear the collective mind being blown, such were the insights and takeaways he provided tha...

Send us a text This week, I’m joined by Simon Kearney, co-founder of Readiness and former elite sports performance coach. Simon spent over two decades in high-performance roles across AFL, NRL and professional tennis. Over the last 7 years, he's brought that experience into the workplace - helping organisations proactively support mental health and wellbeing through data-driven tools and human connection. We cover a lot in this one: His transition from elite sport to co-founding readine...

Send us a text This week on scalr sagecast, I'm joined by Megan Luttrell, Founder of Kairos Recruitment and the driving force behind the Aussie Founders Club (AFC). Megan has carved out a niche in the startup ecosystem, helping founders make sense of the often chaotic world of recruitment, with clarity, focus and a real understanding of the pressures they face. With over a decade in IT recruitment, Megan’s journey hasn’t been linear. From launching her own ventures to building communities tha...

Send us a text This week, I had a fantastic catch-up with my good friend and talent trailblazer, Lauren Sharp. She's the co-founder of TaPod and, along with the equally legendary Craig Watson, the driving force behind the Internal Talent Awards. We talked about all things talent, community and building something that matters. We cover a lot in this one, from Lauren’s early career in the air to her move into recruitment, how TaPod came to life, and how she’s played a huge role in building one ...

Send us a text This week, I’m joined by Brendan Lee. He's the Founder of BE Digital Group, a consultancy established to support businesses by implementing clear, scalable digital marketing strategies. With over 20 years' experience across marketing, sales and digital, Brendan has worked with countless businesses - from early-stage to established - across a variety of industries. His sweet spot is the ability to shift organisational mindsets, helping to modernise their approach and grow ...

Send us a text Welcome to a very special episode of scalr sagecast! This week, we’re pausing the usual guest format to celebrate something close to my heart - the Melbourne Talent Meetup. Over the past nine years, this community has grown into something pretty special. With 30+ in-person events, countless conversations, and an incredible group of people behind it, we thought it was the perfect time to take a moment and reflect. I’m joined by my fellow organisers and legends of the meetup scen...

Send us a text In this episode of scalr sagecast, I had the pleasure of chatting with Rita Anagnostopoulous, CEO at Transform and Grow, to dive deep into what it really takes to build high-performing teams and great cultures - especially in growing businesses. Her career has taken her around the world and spanned sales, leadership development, and organisational transformation. Rita brings a wealth of experience in helping businesses scale, develop leadership capability, and create workplaces...

Send us a text In this latest episode of scalr sagecast, I chatted with David Yip, an "optimistic technologist" and early-stage tech adopter, to explore how businesses need to rethink their approach to AI. David has overseen large, complex transformational projects at some of the world’s biggest multinationals, including IBM. Now, through Impactive Systems, he helps organisations embrace AI in practical, impactful ways, navigating the hype to find real opportunities for growth and efficiency....

Send us a text The latest episode of scalr sagecast features a truly insightful conversation with Megumi Miki - an accomplished leader who carved her own niche by challenging traditional leadership norms. Through her professional, and personal, experiences, Megumi recognised that leadership isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room - it’s about authenticity, influence, and harnessing quiet strength. This realisation led her to build Megumi and Associates, where she now helps organisatio...

Send us a text In the latest episode of scalr sagecast, I caught up with Natalie Flynn, Founder of equidi, to talk about equity, inclusion and the evolving conversation around gender pay transparency. With WGEA confirming 4 March as the next release date for employer gender pay gaps, the focus on workplace equity has never been sharper. Organisations will soon be under greater scrutiny, and the businesses that take proactive steps towards transparency and fairness will attract and retain top ...

Send us a text On this week's episode, I’m joined by David Neal, a leader whose career has been anything but conventional. After a distinguished decade-long military career, Dave didn’t take the usual transition period. Instead, he finished his service on a Friday, and by Monday, he was leading IT projects in the not-for-profit aged care sector. Fast forward to today, where he's now CEO of The Eighth Mile Consulting. They specialise in training and education - helping businesses build stronge...

Send us a text On this week's episode, I caught up with the wonderful Dart Lindsley, a visionary leader and trailblazer in workplace design and employee experience. Dart is passionate about transforming how organisations think about work, shifting the focus from simply getting the job done to creating meaningful, fulfilling experiences for employees. A real thought leader, Dart believes that the key to a thriving organisation is understanding work as a product - one that must be designed with...