The Spotlight Series - Don’t just survive, thrive!

Nicola Steel

Welcome to "The Spotlight Series – Don’t Just Survive, Thrive”. Season 1 was launched to help people through the pandemic by talking to a variety of experts about topics such as psychology, finance and health. Season 2 focused on more work related issues including HR, marketing and leadership. Now it is time for Season 3! Season 3 is centred on the IT industry, specifically tech startups. There are also Career Spotlights from senior IT people revealing the secrets to their impressive career trajectories.Your host is Nicola Steel, founder of JJP Talent Solutions, an Australian IT recruitment company. For over 20 years, she has helped tech startups and innovative SMEs to attract, recruit and retain technical talent. read less
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Episodes

Improving workplace performance and engagement with Henry Boulton from FocusBand
Apr 4 2023
Improving workplace performance and engagement with Henry Boulton from FocusBand
Henry Boulton is the Chief Innovation Officer and CoFounder of FocusBand. He is an innovator, entrepreneur and performance coach. FocusBand has created a wearable brain sensing headset that helps people improve their performance. Henry explains that only 2 out of 10 people are actually engaged at work.  Many people are "time travelling" into the future or they are stuck in the past rather than being in the present moment. We need tools to overcome this with neurofeedback to train the brain. Many people are leaving work feeling exhausted or stressed. FocusBand helps people enjoy going to work and being more efficient so that they can get the best out of their day in the shortest amount of time!Henry explains how he was obsessed with golf growing up.  He studied electronic engineering and wanted to take technology into sports. He initially developed 3D sensors on the body and realised that something was still missing so he started measuring the brain and mental processes with wearable products that could be used in motion on the golf course. Henry also talks about other career highlights such as working with Facebook/ Meta. Henry describes how the headsets can help people improve their performance by picking up brain frequencies. He talks about flowstate which is an optimal state where you are free of emotion and judgement and can get things done faster. We also talk about brain analytics and how his workplace engagement platform provides insights and training for people to sustain optimal performance. Henry believes that the secrets to his success are having a pioneering spirit and believing that anything is possible. If he was to do anything differently, he would simplify his offering. Building the right team has been very challenging and he would ensure that he had a dedicated sales and marketing team together with a good UI/ UX and Data team.
Career highlights and building high performing teams in early stage tech startups with Rav Raniga, Elara.AI
May 11 2022
Career highlights and building high performing teams in early stage tech startups with Rav Raniga, Elara.AI
What would you say is the secret to your success?  Which of the following resonates most with you:  ⭐ Being in the right place at the right time ⭐ Knowing when to quit and when to quit early ⭐ Being willing to take risks in decision making  Rav Raniga, Partner Lead at tech startup ELARA, believes all of the above are the secrets to his success.  After a brief break from podcast recording, I was thrilled to speak to Rav who has extensive expertise in Mathematics and algorithmic software solutions.  I find it fascinating how he has the ability to deconstruct complex problems and create elegant solutions using customer-centric design.  Rav is also just a fantastic and humble person so it is always a delight to speak to him!  Rav tells the story of his father’s upbringing in Fiji and how his determination and work ethic led him to a career in pharmacy and then a pivot to law!  The family moved to Australia and Rav says that he had a privileged life which allowed him to follow his interests in arts, sciences, mathematics and the science of decision making.  We talk about his role at Elara.AI, a well-funded early-stage tech startup which has a totally unique proposition.  It is a programmable AI platform which is bridging the gap between business and technology by improving the developer experience and providing business with the best insights so it can make intelligent decisions.  Rav and I discuss his predictions about AI, Machine Learning and data optimisation.   Rav talks about the highlights of his career including the opportunity to travel, meet different types of people and making an impact.  We talk about the problems of communicating with both technical people and the business to provide the best solution.  Rav is helping build a highly talented team at Elara.  The characteristics he looks for in new team members are:  ⭐ Passion for problem solving  ⭐ Customer first ⭐ Trust ⭐ Innovative  I ask Rav what his advice is for attracting and retaining high performance tech teams.  He starts by saying use a really good recruiter who takes the time to understand the business (I didn’t pay him to say this, I promise!).  He also says that paying a competitive salary should be a given as well as the opportunity to work on exciting tasks with clear end goals.
"The Spotlight Series - Don't just survive, thrive" Highlights of 2021
Dec 7 2021
"The Spotlight Series - Don't just survive, thrive" Highlights of 2021
That’s a wrap for Season 3 of “The Spotlight Series – Don’t Just Survive, Thrive” podcast for 2021.  Here are podcast mashup highlights from this year talking to startup founders and senior tech leaders.  ⭐Maree Beare, Founder of Wanngi (and more recently Clinials) talking about disrupting health tech and her purpose behind Wanngi (0:33- 2:58)⭐Tony Ryan, Education Futurist, talking about the future of work and if there is a 50% chance that we live in a computer simulation (3:02-5:12)⭐Stewart Marshall discussing how SaaS companies can scale and grow (5:15- 7:15)⭐🦜 Jeff Jaraved and Taryn Syratt, Founders of CAAsie, talking about how they are revolutionising billboard advertising and their purpose behind CAASie (7:18- 10:13)⭐Rosie Attwell discussing how she went from a degree in Art to a career in AI (10:16- 12:20)⭐Mike Seidle from Pivot CX providing advice to aspiring entrepreneurs about how to start up, persevere and succeed (12:23- 13:44)⭐David Davies, Founder of AgUnity, talking how smartphone and blockchain technology helps smallholder farmers lift themselves out of poverty (13:47- 15:26)⭐Ken Auer, Founder of Role Model Software, talking about the key characteristics of high performers (15:29- 18:36)⭐Simon Keefe, former Atlassian tech leader, advising how to recruit and retain high performing teams (18:39- 21:18)⭐Justin Falk, Founder of TalentVine, provides about hiring in a highly competitive market (21:20-24:46)⭐Adam Amos, Founder of Robotic Systems, telling his story and how his company was ranked in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 (24:49- 26:19)⭐Madhu Sundararajan & Abhinav Raje talking about their humble beginnings in India to successful IT careers in Australia and tips for migrants (26:22-28:04)⭐Leanne Kemp ★★★      康灵安, Founder of Everledger, about why she turned down an investment (29:07-30:56)⭐Vijay Solanki🦄, Founder of Parental EQ, about being an older startup founder and how Parental EQ helps with children’s emotional health (30:59-34:16)⭐🤖 Yaniv Bernstein Bernstein, former Head of Engineering at Google and Airtasker, talking about the highlights of his career (34:19- 36:58)⭐Miriam van Heusden, Founder of Maralytics, and how her core values have driven her culture (37:01- 38:56)⭐Eli Harrell, Founder of Valhalla.team, advising how to grow and nurture high performing remote teams (38:59- 42:01)⭐Evan Cummack, CEO of Fin.com, providing advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and succeeding in Silicon Valley (42:04-43:55)⭐Mary Callaghan, Senior Director of Product Management at Hitachi Energy, discussing what the key characteristics of high performing product teams (43:58- 45:13)
Mary Callaghan, Senior Director of Product Management at Hitachi Energy, discusses her career and the secrets to her success.
Nov 23 2021
Mary Callaghan, Senior Director of Product Management at Hitachi Energy, discusses her career and the secrets to her success.
Mary Callaghan, Senior Director of Product Management at Hitachi Energy, talks about her career and the secrets to her success.Mary was born in Dublin and was the youngest of 7 children! She visited Australia for a year of adventure and has been here ever since. One of the key highlights of her career was being awarded Global Product Manager of the year in 2019. She believes that the secrets to her success are:⭐ Having a strong foundation in her childhood and upbringing⭐ Being true to her core values and treating people equally⭐ Being respectful⭐ Learning to keep her ego in check⭐ Being open to change Mary discusses her experience as a woman in technology and how it has changed over time. She talks about the comprehensive programme at Hitachi Energy including the female talent development program where female participants are assigned mentors for professional and personal development. Mary’s team’s core values are:⭐Authenticity⭐Connection⭐Kindness⭐Harmony⭐Gratitude Mary finished the podcast with this final advice for listeners:⭐ “Every day is an opportunity to learn whether its technology, meeting new people, new habits.”⭐ “This is the gig, it’s not a dry run or practice. This is it.”⭐ “I believe that we are all responsible for our own happiness so keep it real.”⭐ “Everybody has challenges but its how you deal with the challenges, that defines you.”
The secrets to success in Silicon Valley with Evan Cummack, CEO of Fin.com
Nov 9 2021
The secrets to success in Silicon Valley with Evan Cummack, CEO of Fin.com
Would you be bold enough to leave a small suburb north of Wellington, New Zealand, borrow some money from your mum to fly to San Francisco and then contact VPs of leading software companies to introduce yourself over a coffee?! This is the bold (and successful) move Evan Cummack made at the end of 2010.  He moved from a small team at NEC creating fingerprint identification technology for the New Zealand police department to then join Twilio as one of their early employees in 2011.  Evan is now the CEO of Fin, a company shaping the future of work which was founded by former Facebook VP Sam Lessin and Venmo Co-Founder Andrew Kortina.   In this latest episode of “The Spotlight Series – Don’t Just Survive, Thrive” podcast, Evan and I discuss a variety of topics including: ⭐ Transitioning from NEC Corporation to a tech start-up, Twilio, as one of their early employees ⭐ His recent experience of raising US $20 million capital for Fin in San Francisco⭐ Evan’s thoughts on the future of work⭐ His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs  We finish by talking about the secrets behind his success.  Evan explains that he was very attracted to the software industry when he was young and the tech industry has had unbelievable growth since then.  He didn’t have to go and teach himself the fundamentals as an adult.  Basically, he believes that it is really hard to have influence inside technology companies if you don’t understand technology at a fundamental level.