The Business Of

Podcasting has completely reshaped the audio landscape, pulling audiences away from other media and into a space where brands, businesses, and creators can connect directly with engaged listeners. 

Today, companies are leveraging podcasts as a powerful marketing tool—leveraging the medium’s popularity as an accessible platform for authentic storytelling.  

James Cridland is the editor of Podnews, a world-leadi...

In 2018, Lottie Dalziel scribbled down a New Year's resolution: Do better for the planet. Unlike most of us, she actually followed through. 

Frustrated by the lack of practical and authentic eco-friendly products on the market, Lottie decided she’d take matters into her own hands. While most startups take years to refine their product, test the market, and strategise their launch, Lottie built Banish – a marke...

Apple doesn’t sell computers. It sells creativity.  

Or maybe it’s more accurate to say people don’t buy computers, they buy the story a company tells about them – that they’re creative, clever, responsible, or anything else that might matter.  

Shane Currey, the founder of PRIME Collective Australia, learned this while working in the luxury brand space – without a powerf...

Game days start hours before the opening siren for Sydney Swans’ COO Drew Arthurson. His game prep usually includes hosting corporate events. And sometimes making coffee for the players.  

Everyone in the organisation has their own game-day rituals, but when you break it down, it’s the art and science of how individuals do their best work. 

Elite performance is what everyone at the Sydney Swans strives fo...

For decades, the world’s best brands have refined their techniques to reach new consumers and create loyal, life-long customers. But the modern consumer is smart and informed, maybe even cynical. So how do you grow your business without resorting to manipulative psychological tactics? 

Consumer behaviour expert Professor Nitika Garg says the key to earning consumer loyalty is authenticity and a holistic approach to ...

How can brands connect with the next generation of consumers?   

It's a question on the minds of many, especially in a bustling online marketplace. Yet, only a few have cracked the code. 

While most organisations have jumped on social media in a bid to attract young consumers, what they haven’t done – according to Sam Koslowski, co-founder of youth media brand The Daily Aus – is taken the ...

Lights... Camera... Spreadsheets?

Emile Sherman and his production company See-Saw Films have produced some of the most beloved films and TV shows of the last few decades, including The King’s Speech, Lion, Heartstopper and Slow Horses. It’s a job he loves, but it’s not all glitz and glamour. In fact, it's similar to running a business in almost any other field... 

Whether you're trying to spot the next big thing or learn when to s...

‘Dreaming is such an important thing. You have to have space to imagine what something could be.’ 

Carving out the time and space to imagine and ideate is crucial for all business leaders. The development and growth of their companies depend on it.  

And for contemporary artist Ramesh Nithiyendran, finding time to ‘daydream’ is only possible with the strong infrastructure he’s built around himself and his practice. 

Across the firs...

At seven years old, Hayley Saddington experienced an incident that became the catalyst for her whole career. 

Decades later, Hayley founded two companies – HALO Medical Devices and PeakMedical – but she’s not your typical tech entrepreneur. For one thing, she doesn’t come from a tech background. 

Both companies have tested her patience, her drive and her sleep schedule, but her deeply personal purpose has kept her going. And as a m...

It’s the early 2000s, and Roby Sharon-Zipser just wants his internet connection to cover his whole house. He’s on his hands and knees, trying to thread a cable through a hole in the floor, caked in white dust when he realises... I need some help! 

In that moment, the idea for hipages was born. And over 20 years later, it’s transformed from a Yellow Pages-style home improvement directory to an app-based marketplace, connecting tradi...

We’re finalists in the 3rd Annual Signal Awards! Help us win the Listener’s Choice Award by voting for The Business Of here.

Bigger is not always better, especially when it comes to data.  

In a digitised world, it is possible to collect reams of data on customers, but at what cost? Many companies don’t even realise they’re suffering an extreme case of ‘bad data hygiene’ which in the face of a cyber incident, could be critical.  

L...

How productive can you be if your working environment is bad for your mental health? 

Psychosocial hazards at work are often less visible than physical risks but can have a significant impact on employees' mental health and wellbeing and typically arise from the way work is structured, the organisational culture, and relationships within the workplace

How can workplaces be better designed to better care for employee well-being and ...

Tell the truth and tell it fast, especially when faced with a crisis that has the potential to put people – and an organisation’s reputation – at risk.   

Most businesses have some sort of crisis management plan to enact when threatened with turmoil, but what happens when the best laid plans fail?  

Sue Cato, one of Australia’s leading crisis experts, has been at the coal face of many of those incidents, guiding an array of compani...

Would you describe yourself as a right-brained or left-brained thinker? 

We’ve been conditioned to believe you’re either one or the other. And while we all know a math genius who couldn’t hold a paintbrush if they tried and some creative geniuses who’d be lost in the simplest of spreadsheets, we can all develop both our creative and logical abilities. And in business, having a balance of both is key to great leadership. 

Alexandra ...

In today’s attention economy, it’s all about getting and keeping eyeballs on your product or service. How do you capture attention in an increasingly crowded market? And once you have it, how do you convert a casual fan into a die-hard fan? 

Darren Werner is the Head of Marketing at Kayo Sports, an Australian streaming service that airs live and on-demand programming. He explains how to capture viewer attention by adapting your pro...

Business is an incredibly powerful force – how do you use it for good? 

How do you balance ambitious social impact targets with the realities of day-to-day operations? 

For Adam McCurdie, co-founder of social enterprise ticketing platform Humanitix, creating social impact was the priority from day one. How was he going to change the world? By starting a software company with a difference: one where he and his co-founder have no exi...

What will you need to know – or know how to do – to succeed in business over the next ten years?  

A decade ago, the answer would have been to up-skill in tech. According to Lee Hickin, the AI Technology and Policy Lead for Microsoft in Australia, the advances we've seen in the last decade mean that “technology is not this thing that happens as a segment of a business, it’s actually how a business runs today.” 

And mitigating the r...

Artificial intelligence becomes more powerful by the day – which means the dangers that come with it are growing too. If you’re using AI tools in your business, you need to know how to use them safely and responsibly. 

So where do you start? Dr Catriona Wallace, a world-leading AI expert and Adjunct Professor at AGSM, shares a framework for using AI ethically, and explains why that responsibility falls on the shoulders of leaders a...

So, you want to start a business.   

And no matter how big your ambitions are, chances are you’re going to start small as one of the 99.8% of businesses in Australia that operate as small-to-medium enterprises – or SMEs.     

Associate Professor Kristle Romero Cortés teaches people how to make confident financial decisions for themselves and their organisations every day at the University of New South Wales School of Banking and Fi...