Roll With The Punches

Leon Purton strolled in for a chat in today's ep and we tumbled straight into that familiar territory you and I love... identity, leadership, masks, messy middles, self-belief, crucible moments, and why so many of us chase gold stars instead of growth.

Leon unpacked how the Air Force shaped him, how a divorce cracked him open, how perfection cost him connection,...

This one starts with the world's best cookies and ends with an existential gut check, which feels just about right for Roll With The Punches. I'm chatting with Dr Dinesh Palipana, who just casually happens to be a doctor, researcher, advocate, Australian of the Year and absolute legend who is also living with a spinal cord injury after a car accident at 25.

We tal...

This one hit me right in the feels. Sally Pymer and I went full circle... from addiction and trauma to the power of one simple, radical act: smiling. What started as a keynote-writing journey turned into Sally birthing this contagious 'Smiles with Sally' movement that’s flooding social media (and the Bendigo Times) with genuine human connection.

We unpacked how a smile can break barriers in hospitals, shift the mood in a room...

Janine Shepherd. Holy snapping ducksh*t, where do I even start? This woman’s story isn’t just about resilience, it’s about rebirth. From Olympic hopeful to being hit by a truck and told she’d never walk again… to becoming a pilot, flying instructor, and now deep in her PhD on the in-between spaces of life - literally and spirituall...

As my feet begin to hit the ground after last week's speaking event I landed in this very human chat on resilience, the kind you actually feel in your bones, with Harps. We opened with the usual chaos, long nails, zero filters, and shenanigans... and from there we went straight into the good stuff. We talked about walking your talk when life is messy, why personal development isn’t a brand but a practice, and how sometimes li...

I sat down with Matt Formston and came away both humbled and absolutely wired. Matt’s story is next level... losing most of his sight as a kid, getting shoved into hard places, then using all of that grit to become a world class athlete, speaker, executive and dad. We talk about the ugly bits too... getting lost for a decade, raging at bullies, and learning to stop fighting everyone. There are mad moments, breath holds of nea...

Dr Cam McDonald is back, and we’re diving deep into what really drives behaviour... in kids, classrooms, and us grown-ups too. 

Cam breaks down how stress, environment, movement, food, and connection shape focus and behaviour. We unpack why punishment doesn’t work, why every kid (and adult) has their own 'best learning environment,' and how the ri...

I’ve known Holly since the boxing gym days when she was belting pads like an absolute weapon. Now she’s the founder of Wable, a social app built for neurodivergent humans to find love, friends, work and real support. We talk couch-to-global-startup, capital raises, late nights pitching investors from the car, imposter noise, and the grit it takes to keep moving when you’re wrecked. She shares the crap bits too&hel...

I sat down with Keith Banks and, mate, what a ride. From joining the cops at 17 to going deep undercover in the 70s drug world, then tactical ops, corruption, grief, survivor guilt, and the long road out of PTSD. We got into the messy middle most people skip over… the drinking to sleep, the hypervigilance, the identity crash, and the moment a stranger handed him a psychiatrist’s card that changed everything.

This one&r...

Kel’s back from Italy, jet lagged and pasta-happy, and we get into the real guts of confidence. We talk travel as a reset, ditching the Apple Watch, eating the damn spaghetti, and remembering how good life feels when you stop performing and just live it. Kel shares how she went from second-guessing herself to using her voice at work, online, and in life. We get honest about external validation, doing it scared, and why the ac...

This one’s a raw and real continuation of the chat Mark and I had in episode 952. Mark’s back in the hot seat talking burnout, identity and doing the bloody work when your brain would rather watch cats play piano. We unpack the homework his coach set him, how much of his worth had hitched itself to work, and what it takes to sit in the mess without judging yourself. We talk fear of loss, walking your talk, Ben and Jerry...

I think you know the gist by now... Bobby and I have fallen into quite the rhythm of kicking off every podcast with an unlikely chat about cats, but once we get that out of the way we launch into a fun banter on all things comedy, keynotes, keeping your pants on (maybe), and learning new skills. 

Enjoy!

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When oncology nurse and mum of three, Lauren Rayner, found a lump on her neck, she never imagined it would flip her world upside down. Diagnosed with a rare and aggressive stage 4 neuroendocrine carcinoma, she was given 14 months to live - but Lauren wasn’t having it.

In this raw and powerful chat, she shares what it’s like being both the nurse and th...

Mark LeBusque dropped back in for an impromptu chat this week and we went straight to the guts of it. He’s had a massive year, hit burnout, and is here to say it out loud. We unpacked the quiet creep of overdoing it, nervous systems on the red line, the ego hit when your worth is tied to your work, and the awkward bit where you’re the person who teaches this stuff and still end up cooked. 

Right now, Mark's pulling...

Dr Bruce Perry is back! Every time I chat with him, I end up walking away with my head spinning (in the best possible way). This time we’re unpacking why everyone feels so bloody fried right now... and well, how doom scrolling, violent content on our feeds, and the pressure to be 'resilient' 24/7 sure isn't helping.

Bruce explains why our brains literally ca...

My third place, the St Kilda PCYC, is closing its doors after more than 75 years, and it hit me harder than I expected. That gym wasn’t just a space to train, it was where strangers became mates, where effort felt like belonging, and where so many versions of me have walked in and out over the past decade and a half. Waking up to that news felt like grief – the same kind of ache I&rsquo...

Kylie Lynch came in swinging on all things women's sport, and I’m all for it. VFLW player, coach, and host of the 4TG podcast, she’s using an ACL year to build leaders, not excuses. We talk identity beyond the jersey, why your mind is your gym, and how choosing purpose can look like a 60k pay cut that actually buys your life back. Kylie breaks down permission vs initiative, the trap of chasing linear 'success,' and why ...

Dr. Carrie Jones isn’t just another voice in the hormone space... she’s been prescribing and teaching HRT for over 20 years, and it shows. In this episode we cover some epic ground when it comes to perimenopause and hormone replacement therapy with straight talk on what works, what doesn’t, and why so many women are being dismissed or mismanaged.

We dig into the real differences between bioidentical vs synthetic h...

We set out to talk deadlifts and gym bro nonsense… but before I knew it, we’d skipped the weights entirely and started lifting something way heavier - the big questions of faith, spirituality, and existence itself.

What began as banter turned into a deeply honest dive into Harps’ innermost thoughts on God... from religious upbringings to strang...