Speaker 1: It's so important to surround yourself with amazing people that
Speaker 1: continue to not only inspire you, that back you and
Speaker 1: support you and give you that encouragement to say, hey,
Speaker 1: you can do this, this is pretty amazing. It's when
Speaker 1: you come into a role I think where you don't
Speaker 1: know and you pretend to know that you will fall
Speaker 1: flat on your face. It's about leveraging that incredible tapestry
Speaker 1: of talent that exists within the organization to become a
Speaker 1: stronger organization.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Sees the Yay Podcast. Busy and happy
Speaker 2: are not the same thing. We too rarely question what
Speaker 2: makes the heart seeing. We work, then we rest, but
Speaker 2: rarely we play and often don't realize there's more than
Speaker 2: one way. So this is a platform to hear and
Speaker 2: explore the stories of those who found lives. They adore,
Speaker 2: the good, bad and ugly, the best and worst. Day
Speaker 2: will bear all the facets of seizing your yay. I'm
Speaker 2: Sarah Davidson or a spoonful of Sarah, a lawyer turned
Speaker 2: entrepreneur who's walketor suits and heels to co found matcha
Speaker 2: Maidan and matcha Milk Bar. Cca is a series of
Speaker 2: conversations on finding a life you love and exploring the
Speaker 2: self doubt, challenge, joy and fulfillment along the way. Lovely Yighborhood,
Speaker 2: Welcome back to another guest episode of the show after
Speaker 2: last week's Yeas of our Lives download, with a thank
Speaker 2: you all so much for the beautiful feedback and support
Speaker 2: during this past couple of weeks and months since sharing
Speaker 2: our story and a little bit more depth and with
Speaker 2: a bit more rawness than normal, which is saying something
Speaker 2: given that I already share pretty much everything. This has
Speaker 2: been a little bit more vulnerable than usual and very special,
Speaker 2: So thank you all so much for sharing in that
Speaker 2: journey with us. As to our guest this week, they
Speaker 2: epitomize why I love doing this podcast so much and
Speaker 2: for all its possible downsides, really embrace the potential for
Speaker 2: connection that social media allows us in this day and age.
Speaker 2: I think if you use it the right way, it
Speaker 2: can still be the most powerful and amazing platform. And
Speaker 2: we actually met through the neighborhood online. After this guest
Speaker 2: became our number one purchaser of the Quote of the
Speaker 2: Day Flipbooks, and the support has been unwavering ever since.
Speaker 2: I don't know how he went from that to getting
Speaker 2: onto his incredible work. But it's somehow emerged through our
Speaker 2: chats that Simon went from being an architect to taking
Speaker 2: all the different chapters and dot points. You know, we
Speaker 2: always talk about how the dot points don't connect when
Speaker 2: you're going forwards, but sometimes in reverse you can understand
Speaker 2: them better. Simon went from being an architect of becoming
Speaker 2: the CEO of an incredible biotech company. And when I
Speaker 2: found out about his amazing work identifying diseases through a
Speaker 2: very simple, non invasive saliva based test called gene type,
Speaker 2: I just had to share that with you all, particularly
Speaker 2: given that he didn't come from a science background, and
Speaker 2: I love the idea that there is no conventional party
Speaker 2: ad to get to anywhere. After becoming friends over the
Speaker 2: interwebs four years, we finally sat down and chatted about
Speaker 2: the incredible work that Simon is doing. I hope you
Speaker 2: all enjoy it as much as I did. Simon, Welcome
Speaker 2: to CEZ THEA.
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me excited to be here.
Speaker 2: So this is a very special episode. Lovely neighborhood who
Speaker 2: are listening along because Simon and I have been Internet
Speaker 2: friends and Nick and Paul for like how many years now?
Speaker 1: Do you think two or three years. I think I've
Speaker 1: seen probably at least two or three really really awkward
Speaker 1: Christmas jumpers in your life. So at least.
Speaker 3: You're counting the number of terrible jumps.
Speaker 1: If that's a passage of time, I think they could
Speaker 1: be at least two or three of those.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, I mean, this is of all the things that
Speaker 2: are wonderful about creating this podcast, it's the people I've
Speaker 2: been able to connect with through the wonderful interwebs and
Speaker 2: the digital age that we live in today. And Simon
Speaker 2: and I connected through the show. And I mean, you,
Speaker 2: how did it begin? Was it you buying the flip books?
Speaker 2: I think was it? You know?
Speaker 1: I think it was the books and the flip books,
Speaker 1: and I think I started buying them, you know what,
Speaker 1: for my daughters to be able to give out as
Speaker 1: gifts for friends. So I started buying the flipbooks and
Speaker 1: the books of yours to share with some amazing people
Speaker 1: in my network, for my daughters to be able to
Speaker 1: give away to friends as gifts, and for people that
Speaker 1: start here at the office and they can have the
Speaker 1: flip books on their desks. So they're a really great
Speaker 1: gift to be able to share with people.
Speaker 2: Oh, Simon, You've been such a wonderful support, and it's
Speaker 2: just it's been so nice to connect. I think like
Speaker 2: your name kept popping up, and then we were following
Speaker 2: each other. And then it's only a little bit more
Speaker 2: recently that I started to hear more about what you
Speaker 2: actually do and the amazing journey you've been on. And
Speaker 2: then now we're here and we're like making bringing our
Speaker 2: friendship into like longer form.
Speaker 3: It's so exciting.
Speaker 1: Who would have thought that all those years ago that
Speaker 1: I'd then be published in some fashion magazine in the
Speaker 1: United States for some of the stuff that we do
Speaker 1: of that Ola league And there's a mile stone that's.
Speaker 2: Right, Oh my god, you sent me the link. We've
Speaker 2: been like following each other's journeys.
Speaker 3: Very closely, which is so nice.
Speaker 2: And Nick actually just came in guys and interrupted our
Speaker 2: recording and they had a good old chat about their bikes.
Speaker 2: So there's just a lot of common ground going on
Speaker 2: in this friendship.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, not awkward at all.
Speaker 3: Not awkward at all.
Speaker 2: Alsoon it's so nice to finally be able to catch
Speaker 2: up properly. And I think one of the really cool
Speaker 2: things about episodes like this is when I mean, as
Speaker 2: you know, I like to research people to it within and
Speaker 2: inch of their lives, but sometimes it's really nice to
Speaker 2: also be hearing someone's story and the nitty gritty of
Speaker 2: sort of how they got there along with everyone for
Speaker 2: the first time. Like I haven't heard a lot of this,
Speaker 2: so I would love to start by I mean, we'll
Speaker 2: get to the amazing things that you're doing right now,
Speaker 2: but I'd love to start all the way back at
Speaker 2: the very beginning, because I think it's so fascinating and
Speaker 2: also quite inspiring to hear where people began, what they
Speaker 2: thought their future would look like, and then how differently
Speaker 2: it often unravels. So take us back to maybe even
Speaker 2: your childhood. What did you what was your first job
Speaker 2: and what did you think you'd be.
Speaker 1: Wow, we're going back a while. The first job outside
Speaker 1: of while I was at school, it was stocking supermarket shelves.
Speaker 1: And you know what, it's when you get to meet
Speaker 1: some really cool people when you do those local community
Speaker 1: supermarkets and you're in the little grocery outlets and you're
Speaker 1: they're taking people's shopping out to their cars, and you
Speaker 1: get to really connect. It was not like a really
Speaker 1: big bullwhurser of calls. It was a little independent supermarket
Speaker 1: where you could pack their groceries and you could actually
Speaker 1: walk it out to the front of their car because
Speaker 1: they'd parp so close to the shop. And you know
Speaker 1: what that's That was just such a buzz of a job.
Speaker 1: You're fifteen years of age, You're meeting some of the
Speaker 1: local people around there, and that was one of my
Speaker 1: first favorite jobs when I when I started growing up,
Speaker 1: so while I was while I was in high schoo still,
Speaker 1: so it was really cool. From there, I went out
Speaker 1: and studied university and studied architecture and civil engineering, and
Speaker 1: well before that, I actually wanted to be a physio,
Speaker 1: but I wasn't smart enough. Very very clever people the
Speaker 1: people have become physios.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think you've since proven that you're smart enough, but.
Speaker 1: Smart in different ways. But from an academic point of view,
Speaker 1: I wasn't smart enough to get the masks to do
Speaker 1: to do physio. I loved sport when I was growing up,
Speaker 1: but from there I studied architecture, drafting, and civil engineering.
Speaker 1: I just loved building, a love construction, loved designing things.
Speaker 1: And from that it then morphed into being never became
Speaker 1: a job. It always became something that I loved to do.
Speaker 1: So my wife and I build a few houses and
Speaker 1: renovated a few houses together, survived all of those renovations,
Speaker 1: survived all of those building projects together over the years,
Speaker 1: which was just awesome. But I then fell into when
Speaker 1: I was probably in my mid twenties, into healthcare and
Speaker 1: for many, many years I worked with an amazing Australian
Speaker 1: business called for Black Maws. I worked with them for
Speaker 1: thirteen years, worked with the amazing Marcus Blackmoll and others
Speaker 1: would know the likes of Christine Holbate and a number
Speaker 1: of those really wonderful senior leaders in our community. And
Speaker 1: my love for preventative health, my love for health care
Speaker 1: and wellness really stemmed from there. From there, I went
Speaker 1: and then ran another company called Sonofi, which is a
Speaker 1: large pharmaceutical business, and again it was all about health
Speaker 1: and wellness and preventative health. And that sort of took
Speaker 1: me another ten years and then stepped into probably one
Speaker 1: of the most purposeful roles that I'm doing right now,
Speaker 1: and that's in biotech, and that's around looking at things
Speaker 1: like genetics and looking at the onset of serious disease
Speaker 1: where there may be no family history at all. So
Speaker 1: my whole career has been more around healthcare, preventative health wellness,
Speaker 1: and I just love it. It's really really excited.
Speaker 3: I think it comes through.
Speaker 2: I mean, even in the small interactions we've had so far,
Speaker 2: just how passionate you are about what you do. And
Speaker 2: I'm so excited to sort of start to share some
Speaker 2: of that with our audience because I found it fascinating.
Speaker 2: But just before we get there, I think when you do,
Speaker 2: I mean how often I know I say this over
Speaker 2: and over again to all of you guys, but I
Speaker 2: think often when we meet someone at the chapter they're
Speaker 2: in now, like you know, we meet Simon Morris and
Speaker 2: you're the CEO. You're the CEO of a genetic company
Speaker 2: that does this amazing, like crazily advanced innovative biotechnology work.
Speaker 2: And I would assume that either you've always known you
Speaker 2: were going to be a CEO, or that you always
Speaker 2: knew you were going to be in biotech or science,
Speaker 2: and that's kind of natural to you. But you just
Speaker 2: said to me that it was actually your wife who
Speaker 2: was kind of in the sciences. And as you mentioned,
Speaker 2: you started an architecture, So for anyone listening who's sort
Speaker 2: of a bit lost on their pathway or who might
Speaker 2: not feel that they could ever like even the fact
Speaker 2: that at so Nofi you were in sales rather than
Speaker 2: in kind of executive leadership to begin with along the way,
Speaker 2: how do you pivot into an entirely new industry? How
Speaker 2: do you go from architecture to healthcare and the sciences
Speaker 2: and deal with kind of like the self doubt that
Speaker 2: you didn't study that area, or the fear of change.
Speaker 2: I think we were really creatures of habit, and change
Speaker 2: is something that's scary but also something that obviously has
Speaker 2: led to you doing something you love.
Speaker 1: It's a really good point because that fear of the unknown,
Speaker 1: that fear of failure, and that fear of change and
Speaker 1: always thinking you have to do what you've always done.
Speaker 1: It's a real challenge, and as you get older, you
Speaker 1: become more and more risk averse in many many ways.
Speaker 1: But it's so important to surround yourself with amazing people
Speaker 1: that continue to not only inspire you, that back you
Speaker 1: and support you and give you that encouragement to say, hey,
Speaker 1: you can do this. This is pretty amazing, And I
Speaker 1: think it's an incredible network of key people. Not gone
Speaker 1: are the days of just having one mentor in your life.
Speaker 1: You can have so many different mentors in so many
Speaker 1: different aspects of your life. There's a role for lots
Speaker 1: and lots of wonderful people to play. Some of them
Speaker 1: in your career, some of them in your family, some
Speaker 1: of them your friends and networks, and some of them
Speaker 1: are just completely outside of that and just completely independent,
Speaker 1: and they give you that inspiration, that encouragement, and that
Speaker 1: confidence to make some of those life changing, life altering
Speaker 1: and career defining changes in your life. And I'm very
Speaker 1: fortunate that I've got those in my life and in
Speaker 1: my career and some incredible people. And I continue to
Speaker 1: meet some incredible people in my life and try and
Speaker 1: learn from them as much as I can, because it's
Speaker 1: just such an exciting journey that we're on.
Speaker 2: I think that's such a good point that you know,
Speaker 2: now it's sort of as a CEO, there's only one
Speaker 2: of you, and it seems like you know you're kind
Speaker 2: of you know that you didn't need anyone to get there.
Speaker 2: But I think it's such a good point that no
Speaker 2: one kind of gets anywhere without a whole village of
Speaker 2: people behind them, encouraging them and pushing them and telling
Speaker 2: you that.
Speaker 3: You can actually do this, because that's half the.
Speaker 2: Battle, I think, is not the doing, it's the believing
Speaker 2: you can do it and then taking the step to
Speaker 2: do it. So having gone from I mean, you mentioned
Speaker 2: that you fell into healthcare, So was that an accidental
Speaker 2: kind of shift?
Speaker 3: Did that?
Speaker 2: Was that just an opportunity that came up, or were
Speaker 2: you like, no, I am going to change. Architecture is
Speaker 2: not my vibe anymore, and I'm going to this is
Speaker 2: what I'm going to do.
Speaker 1: It's funny when architecture at the time. I still love building,
Speaker 1: I still love design, I still love construction, but I
Speaker 1: never saw myself as sitting there drawing, designing in the
Speaker 1: isolated world of say an architect. I'm someone who loves
Speaker 1: to interact with people, and I had to get out
Speaker 1: of that. Even though I still love building, I still
Speaker 1: love designer, still love all of those aspects of it.
Speaker 1: But I needed to be with people and I needed
Speaker 1: to get out there. And it was just through sport
Speaker 1: that a friend of mine worked for a company in healthcare,
Speaker 1: and I just through a throwaway line, we were going
Speaker 1: for a run together, and I was just a simple
Speaker 1: throwaway line that says you could do with someone like
Speaker 1: me and your company. And then from there it simply
Speaker 1: went from there to hey, you're right, and within I
Speaker 1: reckon a month. It started in this very very simple,
Speaker 1: basic grassroots job as a sales rep for a company,
Speaker 1: and then just continued that journey from there and it
Speaker 1: all came. I remember vividly the day that I was
Speaker 1: we'd finished a swimming training session, We've dis gone for
Speaker 1: a basic run together. He was the boss of this company,
Speaker 1: and I thought, I'm gonna try something different, and I
Speaker 1: just threw out this line, and then within a month
Speaker 1: it had started, and then that was it was about
Speaker 1: I think it was sort of December. I'll give him
Speaker 1: my age way here, nineteen ninety six. We're looking at
Speaker 1: some years ago now. It was just such a throwaway
Speaker 1: line that he bought it, and the rest is history.
Speaker 1: I've been a proponent of healthcare ever since since that dime,
Speaker 1: and I think one of the connections that you have
Speaker 1: on one of your other shows that you general quickly.
Speaker 1: I met him in December nineteen ninety six when I
Speaker 1: first started a blackmore and have just loved his journey
Speaker 1: ever since. So one of my very first people I
Speaker 1: got to meet from a healthcare perspective that continued to
Speaker 1: give me that inspiration and the education and teach me
Speaker 1: so much was was Gerald back many many years ago.
Speaker 3: Oh, we love Gerald.
Speaker 2: Guys. For those who don't recall who Gerald is, he's
Speaker 2: the incredible, incredible co host of mine on the House
Speaker 2: of Wellness. Who actually we also do a lot of
Speaker 2: work with Sophie and Blackmore's just incidentally, and Gerald and
Speaker 2: I do the radio show together as well with Joe
Speaker 2: for House of Wellness.
Speaker 3: He is just a gem. I love him so much.
Speaker 1: As a gentleman, absolute gentleman.
Speaker 2: So I love that you even use the word throwaway
Speaker 2: line because I think a lot of the times when
Speaker 2: we want to make a big change in your life,
Speaker 2: you think it's going to be this big momentous move
Speaker 2: that you know, like a movie scene. It's kind of
Speaker 2: like a clue that there's a big new chapter coming.
Speaker 2: But I think it is often in the throwaway moments,
Speaker 2: like the chance meetings or you know, I always call
Speaker 2: them like the sliding doors opportunities, or the moment where
Speaker 2: you just you just put yourself out there and you
Speaker 2: just say something kind of casual and it doesn't necessarily
Speaker 2: have to be a big thing. I think it's often
Speaker 2: in those just random conversations where you just put out
Speaker 2: an idea and that plants the seed for something. So
Speaker 2: once you did kind of make this shift and you
Speaker 2: started again, Like I think the other thing I love
Speaker 2: about this story is you have to not be afraid
Speaker 2: to be a beginner at something, Like you went in
Speaker 2: in sales and you went into a whole new industry.
Speaker 2: You are now a CEO. So what is that progression? Like,
Speaker 2: like how do you work your way up? And maybe
Speaker 2: another way to phrase this is you have daughters now
Speaker 2: if you were giving them advice on the way to
Speaker 2: make yourself I don't know whether it like scene, but
Speaker 2: how do you put yourself forward in a position to
Speaker 2: go from sales rep to CEO?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 3: How did you do that?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I think a lot of experience is putting yourself
Speaker 1: in positions where it opens the next door for you.
Speaker 1: I think being good at something and then being accomplished
Speaker 1: at that and then wanting to move on a case
Speaker 1: of doing it through speed and accomplishment versus haste. And
Speaker 1: I think that there's a couple of things that's really
Speaker 1: interesting about these days is kids are far more confident
Speaker 1: these days than what we were when we were kids
Speaker 1: earlier on. And they back themselves into situations even more
Speaker 1: confidently now in many instances as well. My daughters do anyway,
Speaker 1: which is are awesome. I love it. And they put
Speaker 1: themselves out there and say I can do this, and
Speaker 1: they do, which is really really cool. But from my perspective,
Speaker 1: it's about putting yourself into positions where you think I
Speaker 1: really want to have a go at that, backing yourself
Speaker 1: into that. And you talked about throwaway lines before. Don't
Speaker 1: over engineer things, don't overorchestrate things. Don't overthink things. And
Speaker 1: if it's meant to be or be, but back yourself
Speaker 1: into a situation and where you think I can do that.
Speaker 1: Have the confidence to back your own talent, back your
Speaker 1: own ability, and you'll get it ninety percent right. Don't
Speaker 1: wait to try and be perfect at something before you
Speaker 1: take that next step, Otherwise in many instances, nothing will happen.
Speaker 1: So I think that from that perspective, I got to
Speaker 1: experience so many different aspects of the Blackmaw's business, the
Speaker 1: Sonofi business, and when I got asked to be a
Speaker 1: part of this organization now as the CEO, it's a
Speaker 1: biotech business. I'm not a clinician. I'm not a medical professional.
Speaker 1: I'm not a healthcare professional or a doctor or a
Speaker 1: scientist in any way, shape or form. And I looked
Speaker 1: quizzically at them and I said, what do I have
Speaker 1: to offer that you don't have it? I said, please
Speaker 1: help me understand this. So they said, we need a
Speaker 1: commercial guy because we've got all the smart people, and
Speaker 1: we do. That's some wonderful smart people, super talented people
Speaker 1: in the business. All clinicians, scientists, epidemiologists, doctors, you name it.
Speaker 1: We've got them all and they're super clever. But translating
Speaker 1: that into a story that people can relate to and
Speaker 1: understand to become a commercial business is what they needed.
Speaker 1: And that's where I came into the business, not through
Speaker 1: my medical background or anything like that. And that's how
Speaker 1: I came to the see of this business. And now
Speaker 1: see of a publicly listed company comes with an incredible
Speaker 1: amount of fans out there. They're called shareholders, and you've
Speaker 1: got them in the US, we've got them here in
Speaker 1: Australia and they're incredible supporters of us technology in our business.
Speaker 1: But you've got the team to look after, to grow
Speaker 1: and to develop. We've got the patients to look after.
Speaker 1: We've got shareholders to look after. We've got an amazing
Speaker 1: stakeholder group that we actually have to continually consider and
Speaker 1: be focused on making sure that we address and look
Speaker 1: after all of those people. But that journey from starting
Speaker 1: with a carrying the bag, if you like, as a
Speaker 1: sales rep from a pharmacy sales rep at Blackmore, say
Speaker 1: twenty five years or so ago, into being the CEO
Speaker 1: of a publicly listic business to really help improve the
Speaker 1: health of populations worldwide with some of the things that
Speaker 1: we do is just what I find is my absolute
Speaker 1: purpose in life and a healthcare journey for me. It
Speaker 1: just continues to grow and I continue to learn every
Speaker 1: single day.
Speaker 2: I love that so much, and I love particularly what
Speaker 2: you said about not over engineering things like don't overthink it,
Speaker 2: because once you give yourself too much time to overthink
Speaker 2: an opportunity, like you think yourself out of it, you
Speaker 2: just have to kind of rip the band aid and
Speaker 2: just do it and figure it out.
Speaker 1: You'll come up with reasons why you shouldn't do it.
Speaker 1: If you can't do overthink it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, and.
Speaker 1: That's what You've just got to back yourself and have
Speaker 1: a go, and you'll fall flat on your face from
Speaker 1: time to time. But what you just said before, the
Speaker 1: village of people that actually help pick you back up again.
Speaker 1: If you've got the right network, you can safely fall
Speaker 1: beat a safe zone. You can safely fall on your
Speaker 1: face and then get back up and go again. It's
Speaker 1: that network of people that you have around you that
Speaker 1: won't blindly lead to it to the wrong path, but
Speaker 1: will be there to support you if you have a
Speaker 1: red hot go at something and fall over and then
Speaker 1: trip and then get back up and back on track.
Speaker 3: Oh we love that, the red hot go.
Speaker 2: And just favorite statement in life is just give things
Speaker 2: a red hot crack and think about the rest later,
Speaker 2: like you don't need to worry about it right now,
Speaker 2: before we get into the position you have now and
Speaker 2: the work you guys are doing. This is just such
Speaker 2: a random tangent, but it just came up as well
Speaker 2: speaking because I think you'd add such an interesting perspective
Speaker 2: to this. So something I speak about a lot on
Speaker 2: this show. In the you know, there's the n ATA
Speaker 2: like all the big challenges that you have along your journey,
Speaker 2: and one of them is obviously, you know, self doubt
Speaker 2: and confidence and imposter syndrome and all of that kind
Speaker 2: of thing.
Speaker 3: There's of course burnout.
Speaker 2: There's all kinds of barriers that we face in achieving
Speaker 2: our best life. But we speak about self doubt a
Speaker 2: lot in particular because it tends to be a bigger
Speaker 2: barrier than anything else. It's not really people's qualifications or abilities,
Speaker 2: it's their lack of belief in their abilities. And a
Speaker 2: statistic that I always talk about, but this is more
Speaker 2: focused towards women, is that Hewlett Packard's study about the
Speaker 2: idea that men will apply for a promotion when they
Speaker 2: have about sixty percent of the criteria. This is a
Speaker 2: mass generalization, but this was based on a study about
Speaker 2: applying for promotions. And you know, they'll apply at sixty
Speaker 2: percent knowing very logically that they can learn the other
Speaker 2: forty percent on the go, Like if they were at
Speaker 2: one hundred percent, you know, you don't wait until you're
Speaker 2: readywise why would.
Speaker 3: You need the promotion?
Speaker 2: Whereas women will wait until they have sort of ninety
Speaker 2: one hundred, one hundred and ten percent of the criteria
Speaker 2: before they even apply, and then they've lost the opportunity
Speaker 2: because time alone has meant they haven't applied. So in
Speaker 2: your experience, have you seen that kind of behavior in
Speaker 2: putting yourself forward for things? Do you see it in
Speaker 2: your daughters versus how you have applied yourself. Have you
Speaker 2: struggled with self doubt in that same way or not
Speaker 2: struggled as much?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: How have you found in your progression from the sales
Speaker 2: rep to the CEO that those kind of dynamics are
Speaker 2: putting yourself forward from things in a more gendered way,
Speaker 2: especially in STEM.
Speaker 1: I think that that mass generalization that you talk about
Speaker 1: there is absolutely alive still today. So you get two
Speaker 1: regimes for the same job, for a man and for
Speaker 1: a woman. For example, You're absolutely right. A guy will
Speaker 1: look at that and say, you know, I can do
Speaker 1: most of that, I'm going to have a go. A
Speaker 1: woman will look at that particular resume and they'll look
Speaker 1: for the thing that they can't do and then talk
Speaker 1: themselves out of applying for the job, which is really
Speaker 1: wrong because they'll probably be more qualified than the guy.
Speaker 1: In fact, ninety percent of the title. In that way,
Speaker 1: I've done that even with my wife. For example, she
Speaker 1: was applying for a role only two years ago and
Speaker 1: I looked at the position description, I think, wow, this
Speaker 1: suits you so much, and it's in animal health and
Speaker 1: she's in healthcare as well, it's animal health, and I said,
Speaker 1: this is just such a wonderful role for you should
Speaker 1: have a go at this, you should go for it.
Speaker 1: And then she looked and found the thing that she
Speaker 1: didn't think that she could do. I said, well, that's
Speaker 1: so far down the list that I don't think it's
Speaker 1: one of their biggest priorities. Because if you look at
Speaker 1: the top four or five things that someone writes on
Speaker 1: a position description, that's what they truly value is the
Speaker 1: most important there. So that thing down to the bottom there,
Speaker 1: I don't ever worry about it. Have a go. Two
Speaker 1: and a half years later, she's wonderfully successful in that job.
Speaker 1: But I think that that's not just a generalization. Women
Speaker 1: tend to look at things about what they can't do
Speaker 1: and sometimes talk themselves out of it, when again, I
Speaker 1: just encourage them to look for all the wonderful things
Speaker 1: that they can bring to a role, and even the
Speaker 1: that aren't on the position description that they can bring
Speaker 1: to a role because I had so much value and
Speaker 1: diversity and capability to many many teams. So I don't
Speaker 1: think it's a generalization at all. I think it's still
Speaker 1: sadly is alive and well in the progression of people
Speaker 1: in organizations.
Speaker 2: And then it's interesting that yourself, when you came to
Speaker 2: the most recent position, that you were then pointing out
Speaker 2: the things that you didn't think you had for the
Speaker 2: position a CEO, that you went straight to that mentality
Speaker 2: of like, well, I don't have a background in biotech.
Speaker 2: I don't have blah blah blah blah blah, Like how
Speaker 2: did you circumvent that?
Speaker 1: Well, it was more about trying to understand, well, what
Speaker 1: are they looking for? This is a biotech company. I
Speaker 1: thought this was this mythical creature that actually I thought
Speaker 1: it was so different because pharmaceuticals and vitamins and supplements
Speaker 1: and healthcare I understood that, but I didn't understand medtech
Speaker 1: or biotech. I thought that there was something quite different.
Speaker 1: And then when I got asked to have a to
Speaker 1: be put in the position of applying for this particular
Speaker 1: role and going into the selection process, I looked quizzically
Speaker 1: and said, well, what is it about me that you're
Speaker 1: looking for in this particular role. And until I understood
Speaker 1: what they really wanted, I then I didn't. I didn't
Speaker 1: back myself. And when I knew what they were looking for,
Speaker 1: I thought like, I'm in right, I'm all in, And
Speaker 1: I didn't worry about the science part because I knew
Speaker 1: I had a whole lot of people that could teach me.
Speaker 1: It's when you come into a role, I think, where
Speaker 1: you don't know and you pretend to know that you
Speaker 1: will fall flat on your face. It's about leveraging that
Speaker 1: incredible tapestry of talent that exists within the organization to
Speaker 1: become a stronger organization and the fabric of the capabilities
Speaker 1: and competencies that exist that the team becomes so powerful
Speaker 1: and so high performing. Knowing your role and doing your
Speaker 1: role and doing it very very well is key, and
Speaker 1: not pretending to be able to do someone else's role
Speaker 1: very very well. Get the person and recruit that person
Speaker 1: for that team, for you and that team. That's what
Speaker 1: I look for. As soon as I understood what they
Speaker 1: were looking for, I.
Speaker 2: Was all in, Yeah, that's so interesting. And I think
Speaker 2: in that moment where you know, women in particular. But
Speaker 2: many people get crippled with self doubt when they're about
Speaker 2: to apply for something new. I think that's such a
Speaker 2: good attitude. You just be like, Okay, well, those are
Speaker 2: the things I'm not, but these are the things I am.
Speaker 2: These are the things I do bring to the table.
Speaker 2: And this is where I feel a gap for the
Speaker 2: existing patchwork. I think that's just like, it's so straightforward,
Speaker 2: but it's just not what your brain automatically does. You
Speaker 2: automatically go to the fear kind of center. But I
Speaker 2: think that's so so refreshing, and obviously you've gone on
Speaker 2: to do incredible things with it. So tell us about
Speaker 2: the company, about what it does, about the amazing I mean,
Speaker 2: these non invasive saliva genetic tests like tell us everything.
Speaker 2: Tell us the science, tell us how it's come about
Speaker 2: and what it can do.
Speaker 1: Well, let me get tell you when I'm not not
Speaker 1: a doctor or scientist, so I'm going to the science.
Speaker 1: I won't go deep into the science. I'll keep it simple.
Speaker 1: I'll keep it relevant for what it's all about. But okay,
Speaker 1: it looks at an individual's risk of getting a serious
Speaker 1: disease where there may be no pathogenic mutation and no
Speaker 1: family history, because in many instances you find that in
Speaker 1: say some of the cancers that we talk about, eighty
Speaker 1: five percent of the cancers that are diagnosed or discovered
Speaker 1: each year with the individual are random or sporadic. So,
Speaker 1: for example, if we talk a little bit about say
Speaker 1: breast cancer, breast cancer and the Bracker gene, that many
Speaker 1: people would know about it bake famous through the likes
Speaker 1: of Angelina Jolie where she discovered she had bracco and
Speaker 1: then had the double nystectomy as a prophylactic surgery. That
Speaker 1: only accounts for about five percent of the cancers diagnosed anially,
Speaker 1: when you look at things like familial history, that only
Speaker 1: accounts for about ten percent. The other eighty five percent
Speaker 1: is random. So that's consistent with maybe cholorectal cancer, avarian cancer,
Speaker 1: breast cancer, and a number of other serious diseases. So
Speaker 1: the team have actually developed a combination of not only
Speaker 1: genetic markers beyond Bracker for example, plus clinical risk questions
Speaker 1: like your age mis BMI, things like menopausal status for example,
Speaker 1: that gives you that with the genetics as your own
Speaker 1: individual risk in the next five years or lifetime of
Speaker 1: getting that serious disease and the team have developed these
Speaker 1: tests through a saliva test and a simple questionnaire, so
Speaker 1: you can work with your doctor to create a really wonderful,
Speaker 1: proactive surveillance program for you if you're at high risk
Speaker 1: of any of those diseases. So I think one of
Speaker 1: the things that we're trying to do is making sure
Speaker 1: that we break down that fear of oh, I'm at
Speaker 1: high risk of getting breast cancer. Okay, if you're at
Speaker 1: an elevated risk of getting breast cancer, you can have
Speaker 1: an annual MRI, a mammogram, an ultrasound, and you can
Speaker 1: catch it early at stage one, where there's something like
Speaker 1: a ninety eight percent survival rate, Whereas if you didn't
Speaker 1: know that and it came on on st later on
Speaker 1: in life, stage three, stage four, this survival rates diminished
Speaker 1: so much so from our team, our science team, they've
Speaker 1: developed this wonderful tests which tests for a range of
Speaker 1: serious diseases approase, cancers, and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, where
Speaker 1: you can create a really proactive and preventative health plan
Speaker 1: with your doctor around these serious diseases and catch it early,
Speaker 1: so then early detection will ultimately save lives. And that's
Speaker 1: what we're about the test itself is not a diagnostic.
Speaker 1: It's not going to tell you whether you've got cancer
Speaker 1: or not. It's going to tell you your risk. This
Speaker 1: is the population and that's really what the wonderful team
Speaker 1: have done here develop these in My job now is
Speaker 1: to tell everybody about it so that they can take
Speaker 1: a really proactive approach to managing their health, which is
Speaker 1: ultimately what we want to do.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, it's absolutely incredible, and increasingly you see
Speaker 2: that half the battle in a lot of these areas
Speaker 2: and a lot of these cancers is the awareness like
Speaker 2: late detection is often part of the problem because people
Speaker 2: haven't you know, known that there was access to earlier
Speaker 2: kind of tests that you could do that could help
Speaker 2: manage things earlier. And I was particularly I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm adopted, so I was particularly fascinated by this because
Speaker 2: I've always thought I don't have any family history, like
Speaker 2: I don't know anything about my family background, thinking that
Speaker 2: that was a huge disadvantage. But learning that family history
Speaker 2: is really only ten percent of those cases anyway, and
Speaker 2: it's kind of tests like this that allow you to
Speaker 2: find out a full picture of your health regardless of
Speaker 2: what your family history is I think that it just
Speaker 2: fascinated me so much that this technology is even possible
Speaker 2: and with a saliva test as well, like something as
Speaker 2: simple as that is just remarkable. So I mean, how
Speaker 2: long has it been in the works and is it
Speaker 2: available to consumers? Like how can you go and get
Speaker 2: the tests?
Speaker 1: So the tests been developed over the last set of
Speaker 1: teen years from the team. We launched this new version
Speaker 1: of the test probably in about May last year, so
Speaker 1: just on twelve months ago, and we keep adding to tests.
Speaker 1: So this year we'll be adding probably three new tests
Speaker 1: through melanoma which is a really big important one, hand
Speaker 1: created cancer, and atrial fibrillation vessel no way, so we'll
Speaker 1: order that. We've got currentra uy diseases in there as well,
Speaker 1: prostate cancer for men as well chlorectal which is now
Speaker 1: becoming increasingly so the screening age of colorectal cancer in
Speaker 1: Australia is about fifty, but we can start to identify
Speaker 1: risk from the ages of forty about elevated levels of
Speaker 1: risk from about the ages of forty through this test.
Speaker 1: Talking to your doctor ordering this test online that can
Speaker 1: do it via our website to order that. We'll get
Speaker 1: in touch with them that results have to go back
Speaker 1: to an individual via their physician. We can't find somebody
Speaker 1: at a high risk of a serious disease and give
Speaker 1: them back the results and say, oh, good luck with that.
Speaker 1: It's just completely irresponsible. So you can order the test
Speaker 1: directly through us, give us your doctors details, the reports
Speaker 1: will go back. There's simple reports, there are a couple
Speaker 1: of pages, and I think most importantly, there's actionable outcomes.
Speaker 1: They're easy to understand the results, and if you're an
Speaker 1: elevator risk, there are things that you can do. And
Speaker 1: that's probably the fundamental philosophy behind all of the tests
Speaker 1: that we do. Every test that we do has to
Speaker 1: have an abilit bloy of action to be taken if
Speaker 1: somebody is at a high risk, whether it be increased
Speaker 1: levels of surveillance, increased levels of screening, potential with your doctor,
Speaker 1: risk reducing medications, whether it be breast in ovarian cancer,
Speaker 1: there's a number of different options that can be taken.
Speaker 1: I think one of the biggest misconceptions out there is
Speaker 1: that if I'm at high risk, there's nothing that I
Speaker 1: can do. In fact, there is. There's lots of things
Speaker 1: that people can do to minimize or reduce their risk,
Speaker 1: whether it be lifestyle changes, whether it be medication, and
Speaker 1: it's up to them. And they're doctors to talk about
Speaker 1: anything Bible radical with regards to say prophilactic surgeries and
Speaker 1: things like that where it becomes the breast of of
Speaker 1: aerian cancer. But yeah, with your doctor, with your doctor's consent,
Speaker 1: we can do the test. And there's actually our laboratory
Speaker 1: for all of our samples in the United States and
Speaker 1: in Australia are done here locally in Melbourne, so the
Speaker 1: tests are actually all done in our lab here in Melbourne.
Speaker 1: So it's really cool. The facility that we've got that
Speaker 1: we can do all these tests yet is really cool.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, it's so cool.
Speaker 2: I don't actually think I mentioned at the start, guys,
Speaker 2: but the name of test is gene Type and I'll
Speaker 2: make sure to put all the links in the show
Speaker 2: notes as well so you can find out more about it.
Speaker 2: But another thing, like, I'm sure if you google it, guys,
Speaker 2: you will also find that Simon has been in Gartia,
Speaker 2: which is the fashion magazine feature that we were talking about.
Speaker 2: So in your role as CEO, what is I mean
Speaker 2: for people who I think we hear the word CEO
Speaker 2: all the time and kind of understand that it's a
Speaker 2: big executive role and you make big scary decisions and
Speaker 2: you're responsible for a lot of stuff. But a lot
Speaker 2: of people don't actually understand what you do day to day,
Speaker 2: Like if you're not doing the science and you know
Speaker 2: that wasn't why they kind of came to you.
Speaker 3: What are you doing? What are you doing day to day?
Speaker 3: What are your responsibilities?
Speaker 1: There's probably plenty of people around here that ask the
Speaker 1: same question.
Speaker 3: Yeah, inside the company, what are you doing all day?
Speaker 1: What do you actually do?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: What does a CEO do?
Speaker 1: So I've just gome back from an amazing trip in
Speaker 1: the United States. We went to Boston, New York, and
Speaker 1: DC over the lastly eight days. It was a whirlwind
Speaker 1: trip and it focuses on probably four cay areas. Partnership
Speaker 1: opportunities with large biotech companies, meetings with doctors and physicians
Speaker 1: whether they be integrative and functional medicine doctors, meeting with investors,
Speaker 1: and a number of prs. So there's really four key
Speaker 1: areas to what we do with that. It's all about
Speaker 1: business development, whether they be near bestor community in the
Speaker 1: community with clinicians to talk with patients, hartnering opportunities with
Speaker 1: large biotech or farmer companies as well, and those investors
Speaker 1: there are critical to the support and advocacy of the
Speaker 1: brand and of the products out there. So that's my
Speaker 1: primary role is to set the strategy for the team
Speaker 1: and help the team execute the strategy as best they
Speaker 1: can by resourcing them with finances, the capital markets or
Speaker 1: through partnership opportunities out there, whether they be in the
Speaker 1: US or here in Australia. We focus on those two
Speaker 1: markets predominantly because that's where we need to get that
Speaker 1: right first, and then we'll expand up into other regions
Speaker 1: such as Europe and Southeast and some other countries as well.
Speaker 1: But at the moment, we've got to work cut out
Speaker 1: for us educating the likes of the United States and
Speaker 1: Australia first, get that right, and then we'll continue to
Speaker 1: lock it into other markets. But from a CEO's perspective,
Speaker 1: it's all about setting the direction and building the team
Speaker 1: around us to execute that plan as best we can
Speaker 1: in every aspect we can.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Oh my goodness, that's a huge, huge responsibility for
Speaker 2: you to be making, you know, those big directional decisions
Speaker 2: and guiding the company to where you want it to be.
Speaker 2: What is kind of the big vision, like what would
Speaker 2: you ideally like to see, like, for example, at the
Speaker 2: moment that you're testing for an increasing number of different conditions,
Speaker 2: what the ultimate goal to have it accessible to a
Speaker 2: certain amount of people or in a certain amount of markets.
Speaker 1: There's a few one is ultimately getting this as part
Speaker 1: of the standard of care. So at the moment we
Speaker 1: get at the age of fifty, they give you out
Speaker 1: an envelope for colorectal cancer to screen to see your
Speaker 1: risk of the color rectal cancer, we want to make
Speaker 1: sure that this particular test could be part of the
Speaker 1: standard of care from the ages of thirty or thirty
Speaker 1: five onwards for all of those diseases, so that we
Speaker 1: can then screen appropriately for those people that need the
Speaker 1: right surveillance. Because at the moment we're told that everyone
Speaker 1: has to screen and be protected against every disease. But
Speaker 1: if we can actually identify who's actually at the high
Speaker 1: risk of what disease, we can actually spend that taxpayers
Speaker 1: health care money much much better and far more targeted
Speaker 1: and to be far more efficient, because they need to
Speaker 1: save money somewhere, so we can say this group of
Speaker 1: people need an increased level of screening for breast cancer,
Speaker 1: these people need an increased level of screening for correctal
Speaker 1: cancer because we've stratified the population, and that means that
Speaker 1: even though there are average risk doesn't mean there are
Speaker 1: no risks, which is that their normal protocols will follow.
Speaker 1: But if you get an increased level of risk and
Speaker 1: then you then increase that level of surveillance, you're going
Speaker 1: to catch it early. Essays, you're going to be a
Speaker 1: cheaper cost to treat from a medication point of view,
Speaker 1: so we can actually add an amazing amount of efficiency
Speaker 1: to the healthcare systems around the world. The power is
Speaker 1: not just also in the test. The power is also
Speaker 1: in what you would do with your physician with that information.
Speaker 1: So the power is about what you do with your
Speaker 1: doctor about levels of surveillance and measurements and tracking your
Speaker 1: own health over the course of your lifetime with that
Speaker 1: based on your knowledge of what you're potentially at risk of.
Speaker 1: That's where we then have a true opportunity to increase
Speaker 1: the health of populations worldwide, and that's the ultimate vision.
Speaker 1: Have it as part of the standard of care stratify
Speaker 1: the population, make sure we screen the right people for
Speaker 1: the right diseases, have a better impact on the health
Speaker 1: systems around the world, and improve the health of populations worldwide.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a very very big goal, but it's
Speaker 1: one worth striving for because I think there's the tool
Speaker 1: and the technology not just with us, but there's so
Speaker 1: many smart, amazing people out there. When I mentioned before
Speaker 1: going to the biotech conference in Boston, there's just an
Speaker 1: amazing talent to people out there that you get to
Speaker 1: net with and collaborate with and link your tests with
Speaker 1: some other people outstanding talents out there. That's for sure.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, big, big goals, but incredible world changing
Speaker 2: goals and life changing goals. And I know that there's also,
Speaker 2: I mean, if you're comfortable to talk about it, a
Speaker 2: personal motivation as well in this kind of passion for
Speaker 2: screening for tests.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, from my perspective, I have an incredible
Speaker 1: motivation to have a positive impact on the health of
Speaker 1: the community's worldwide. Eye my family, we lost my sister
Speaker 1: at the age of forty through an aggressive malamona. Very
Speaker 1: very sad this type of test could actually identify her
Speaker 1: risk that an elevator is and maybe we could have
Speaker 1: actually intervened and screened more, screen more often, picked it
Speaker 1: up earlier, and then her survival would have been as
Speaker 1: a positive outcome of that. So from our perspective, this
Speaker 1: is where, regardless of the disease, the early detection, that
Speaker 1: provactive approach to surveillance and that saving of lives is
Speaker 1: something that's deep personal purpose for me with regardless regardless
Speaker 1: of which disease we're talking about, YEA as a heavy
Speaker 1: motivation for me to get this message out there for
Speaker 1: as many people as we possibly can, and I think
Speaker 1: that we can do it, so that its a massive
Speaker 1: motivation for me to make sure that we can improve
Speaker 1: the health as many times as we can.
Speaker 2: I think it's beautiful that that's it's kind of a
Speaker 2: legacy that's tidy in as well with your motivation to
Speaker 2: make these tests available and more widespread so that people
Speaker 2: do have early detection and earlier plans and don't feel
Speaker 2: like they can't do anything with that information. I think
Speaker 2: it's like knowledge is power when it comes to your health,
Speaker 2: and it's absolutely amazing what you're doing. But I'd also
Speaker 2: love to touch on I think it's when you're extremely passionate.
Speaker 2: I mean it's hard anyway, but when you're extremely passionate
Speaker 2: about what you do, especially if there's some kind of
Speaker 2: deeper personal motivation behind what you're doing, that then the
Speaker 2: inability to switch off, the lack of desire to switch
Speaker 2: off when you've got these big global goals and you
Speaker 2: know that the outcome is positive for people all around
Speaker 2: the world. Like, why would there be a motivation for
Speaker 2: you to sort of slow down or shut down? How
Speaker 2: do you bring yourself back to take a break when
Speaker 2: you know that every minute you put in is kind
Speaker 2: of actually changing lives at the other end, do you rest?
Speaker 1: Ever? Yes? Have to? You have to because burnout is key.
Speaker 1: I mean, when you work in a business that sort
Speaker 1: of transatlantic and you're across multiple countries, the desire or
Speaker 1: the risk of starting early in the morning from a
Speaker 1: different time zone, finishing late at night at a different
Speaker 1: time zone, and then working through the day, burnout is real.
Speaker 1: So switching off and I don't want to sort of
Speaker 1: throw away the line of balance. The balance is key,
Speaker 1: and I'm very fortunately we talked earlier about the sort
Speaker 1: of the commonality between Nick and I and bike riding
Speaker 1: and things like that exercise is key. Exercise is key,
Speaker 1: and I've got a wonderful group of mates who we
Speaker 1: come from all walks of life and we just enjoy
Speaker 1: each other's company out there on the bike, whether it
Speaker 1: be coffee or a beer or a ride. But that
Speaker 1: to me is critical from a switch off perspective, and
Speaker 1: I value that incredibly, whether it be a couple of
Speaker 1: mornings a week with the guys, have a very very
Speaker 1: social ride with them and a coffee before work, or
Speaker 1: a longer ride on the weekend or a weekend the
Speaker 1: way a couple of times a year, those types of
Speaker 1: things are just so important because you're in an area
Speaker 1: where work doesn't matter, that your make to do and
Speaker 1: those families do. And I think that's something that's really important.
Speaker 1: So whilst balance is overused so often, it is something
Speaker 1: that's really really important. So be able to switch off
Speaker 1: and do that that's incredible.
Speaker 2: I also think it's like the irony of working in
Speaker 2: healthcare and wellness for a lot of people, is it
Speaker 2: that they get so passionate about the work they're doing
Speaker 2: that then their own wellness and health care kind of
Speaker 2: just like falls to the bottom of the list because
Speaker 2: you're just you know, you're doing something so meaningful, it's like, well,
Speaker 2: I don't want to stop because I'm helping other people
Speaker 2: get well. And I think, like, you know, that was
Speaker 2: us at the start of match Imaden was I was
Speaker 2: trying to be a healthcare you know, wellness warrior and
Speaker 2: like burning myself into the ground ironically doing that. But
Speaker 2: I'm very, very glad that you found a plata in
Speaker 2: something that kind of gives you some semblance of balance.
Speaker 2: But I also think tied in with that is people's
Speaker 2: ability to kind of separate their identity from productivity and success.
Speaker 2: And like success is this huge buzzword that we've become
Speaker 2: obsessed within our modern society in a really good way,
Speaker 2: Like there's so much hustle. People are so ambitious and
Speaker 2: gold driven, and really the possibilities are endless. At the moment,
Speaker 2: you can kind of be anyone and do anything. But
Speaker 2: I think it's very hard to put in boundaries that
Speaker 2: stop the incessant pace of life kind of eating you up.
Speaker 2: What is your relationship to success? Is that the measure
Speaker 2: of kind of do you measure your life by success?
Speaker 2: Or what are your life metrics? And have they changed
Speaker 2: over time? Do you have a good relationship to success
Speaker 2: or do you not even use that word, Like, how
Speaker 2: do you kind of assess yourself?
Speaker 1: First and foremost, it's not about me. It's about what
Speaker 1: we can do to me, regardless about the organization. It's
Speaker 1: about what I can be for the organization. There's a
Speaker 1: work part of it, and then there's a home part
Speaker 1: of it. One of the things that I truly value
Speaker 1: in my life outside of work from a balance perspective,
Speaker 1: which I meet sure as a milestone of success, is
Speaker 1: that I take my middle daughter to school every day
Speaker 1: and we have a hot chocolate or a coffee on
Speaker 1: the way to school. Now sometimes I'm lucky enough to
Speaker 1: get a conversation now. Other times she's just sitting there,
Speaker 1: not so much sitting there right beside me. Sometimes she's
Speaker 1: just sitting there. But I see that as a wonderful
Speaker 1: to me. It's a personal and career and a life
Speaker 1: success that I prioritize making sure that we drive to
Speaker 1: school together. She'll get the bus home because I can't
Speaker 1: manage to figure up from school. But if I need
Speaker 1: to get up early, I'll do a couple of meetings beforehand,
Speaker 1: but I'll always have that half an hour with her
Speaker 1: on the way to school. We'll get a hot chocolate
Speaker 1: or a coffee on the way to school, and that's
Speaker 1: something that I think is to me an intangible measure
Speaker 1: of success for me personally, and I really enjoy value
Speaker 1: that time. Of really value that time. From a work perspective,
Speaker 1: the amount of it's a really interesting dynamic at the
Speaker 1: moment because we're seeing an incredible amount of staff turnover
Speaker 1: in organizations around the world at the moment. Turnover of
Speaker 1: organizations has probably never been so high, but it's something
Speaker 1: that from my perspective, when I look at the amount
Speaker 1: of people that have left our organization over the last
Speaker 1: two years, the amount of people that have gone on
Speaker 1: to more successful career moves and their motivations to move
Speaker 1: is wow. I've just been given this once in a
Speaker 1: lifetime opportunity and we've had a part to playing growing
Speaker 1: that person professionally. To me is an incredible, powerful and
Speaker 1: proud success moment of the organization because you're helping people
Speaker 1: become more to another organization and you've had a part
Speaker 1: to play in that. So there's some really important measures
Speaker 1: of success from me in my role and they're not
Speaker 1: about me, but they're about the people around us and
Speaker 1: the overall success of the older Now they're regrettable loss
Speaker 1: sometimes because they're such talented people, but you know that
Speaker 1: they're going on to do something so wonderful and so powerful,
Speaker 1: and for them it's a personal milestone that they've achieved,
Speaker 1: and for me you have played a part in that
Speaker 1: to help grow them, to get them to that position.
Speaker 1: I take that as a real badge of honor and
Speaker 1: a real proud moment there that they've become sort of successful.
Speaker 1: So from my perspective, there's a couple of measures of
Speaker 1: success in life that I hold very vdi from a
Speaker 1: family perspective and from a career at a work perspective.
Speaker 1: But setting people up for success and their next role
Speaker 1: in life. For work, to me is really what the
Speaker 1: purpose is My role is and to continue to grow
Speaker 1: that talent pool, whether they're my kids or whether they're
Speaker 1: people that work with me here at the office.
Speaker 2: That is such an incredibly well adjusted answer. I love
Speaker 2: that so much because most people like, it's a mess
Speaker 2: work life. It's all the same. It's tangled, bro, You're like, no,
Speaker 2: these are my delineated reasons in each area.
Speaker 3: I love it so much.
Speaker 1: I still get home, and it's a bit of a
Speaker 1: basket case at home too. It's a bit of a circus.
Speaker 3: Oh good, Okay, we love to hear this.
Speaker 1: It's still a circus. Welcome to the circus. But it's
Speaker 1: a couple of pretty exciting moments anywhere. And then when
Speaker 1: your eldest staugh is now so she's my eldest is
Speaker 1: nearly twenty. She's off overseas and she's over with a girlfriend.
Speaker 1: And I think another proud moment is when she's not
Speaker 1: afraid to send me her late night drunken videos from
Speaker 1: the nightclub and facetiming when she's at the clubs and
Speaker 1: loving her You know what, that's a pretty successful moment
Speaker 1: when she's very comfortable and happy to share that those
Speaker 1: types of videos with you, I think, I mean, that's good.
Speaker 3: Oh that is a great fatherhood success right there.
Speaker 1: I don't mind them my favorite videos. I'd rather get
Speaker 1: them than not get them.
Speaker 3: One hundred Oh that's lovely.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: I think the last thing that we usually finish up
Speaker 2: on is getting people to reflect on, you know, outside
Speaker 2: of your productive self and your successful self and you know,
Speaker 2: work identity, the things that just are your joy and
Speaker 2: it's beautiful that I haven't even had to ask you
Speaker 2: that question for quite a few of them to have
Speaker 2: already come out, because they are, you know, at the
Speaker 2: forefront of your priorities, like spending time with your kids
Speaker 2: and getting out and going for a ride. Is there
Speaker 2: anything else that helps you just switch off? Are you
Speaker 2: a Netflix binger? Do you watch TV at all? Do
Speaker 2: you read books like What's Your Just Downtime?
Speaker 1: It's funny, it's my I'm not a Netflix finger and
Speaker 1: I've never really got into that a lot from shows
Speaker 1: from time to time. I'm a bit of closet f
Speaker 1: one fan.
Speaker 2: Oh I do.
Speaker 1: And in fact, I've just booked a trip this week
Speaker 1: with my dad to go to the Singapore Grand Prix
Speaker 1: in September later on this year, stop it so he
Speaker 1: and I go into that race later in the year.
Speaker 1: We've done it a few times together. But I'm a
Speaker 1: big sort of Formula one fan.
Speaker 3: Don't tell Nick because he'll turn up.
Speaker 1: So I did, and I try and go and do
Speaker 1: a different race each year. So we're really fortunate over
Speaker 1: the years to have I did take my wife to Milan.
Speaker 1: It was for a birthday one year, and it just
Speaker 1: so happened that the Mon's of Grand Prix was on
Speaker 1: the same day.
Speaker 3: It just so happened.
Speaker 1: Surprise, I'd seen my life into my own hands. I
Speaker 1: said to her, you can go shopping in Milam while
Speaker 1: I go to the Grand Prix for the day and
Speaker 1: then we'll meet up for dinner. It was her birthday
Speaker 1: and we keep that one there a couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: But she came to the least you didn't go shopping,
Speaker 1: so good idea. So that's one of the things I'd
Speaker 1: like to do as a bit of a treat to myself,
Speaker 1: a bit of a ward for hard work, is to
Speaker 1: go and enjoy the f one around the world and
Speaker 1: do a couple of cool races from time to time.
Speaker 1: So so it's the jewel in the crown would have
Speaker 1: to be the Monaco race. That was just pretty incredible.
Speaker 3: Oh I love that.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I won't mention to Nink about Singapore because
Speaker 2: he might just turn up and be.
Speaker 3: Like, oh, Simon, I'm joining in on the tree.
Speaker 2: Well, very last question for you today, which I'm sure
Speaker 2: you knew, I was going to ask, what is your
Speaker 2: favorite quote? Oh, it doesn't have to be from the
Speaker 2: Flip books, by the way, because I know you've read
Speaker 2: them all.
Speaker 1: It's funny. I go back to that relationship moment that
Speaker 1: I have with my daughter and she only asked me
Speaker 1: this last two days ago. She said, Dad, give me
Speaker 1: a quote that I can get tattooed right hot, here
Speaker 1: we go, so open fatherhood moment there. So I think,
Speaker 1: and I think to myself, and we were just chatting
Speaker 1: about what could you write which is sort of indelibly
Speaker 1: linked on your body forever? And I think it was
Speaker 1: through very simple you are enough because she went through
Speaker 1: a challenging times that everything to me was one of
Speaker 1: those moments where yeah, you are enough, was where I
Speaker 1: think kids put themselves under so much pressure these days
Speaker 1: to benchmark themselves against everything else. Now, I think that
Speaker 1: probably not my favorite quote, the one that's favorite and
Speaker 1: most relevant to my kids, regardless of what life stays
Speaker 1: they're at. So she only asked me that two days ago.
Speaker 1: So let's see if she comes back from Bali with anyone,
Speaker 1: and I'll report.
Speaker 2: Back, Oh my god, they gave me goosebumps though, because
Speaker 2: I think that's all anyone needs to hear from anyone
Speaker 2: who loves them, you know, like that's the I think
Speaker 2: the root of a lot of most kind of issues,
Speaker 2: the self doubt, the lack of confidence, the fear, the
Speaker 2: uncertainty in life. Like someone who you love, just telling
Speaker 2: you that you are enough is truly the greatest affirmation
Speaker 2: I think you could you could ever give. So I'm
Speaker 2: almost about to go and get that tattooed on myself
Speaker 2: now because I think it's just such a beautiful, beautiful quote.
Speaker 1: You want to say, I'm enough.
Speaker 2: Yes, so I'm not constantly telling everyone else that they
Speaker 2: are enough. It's a selfless tattoo. Oh, Simon, thank you
Speaker 2: so much. This was absolutely amazing. It's been just so
Speaker 2: nice to chat with you, and I think you're doing
Speaker 2: such amazing work and it's a privilege to be able
Speaker 2: to share that with the neighborhood. I'll make sure to
Speaker 2: include all the links in the show notes to gene
Speaker 2: type and everything else that you're doing.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having me appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Wow. Wow, Wow, isn't Simon just amazing And the world
Speaker 2: of medtech and biotech, it's just people are literally saving lives.
Speaker 2: What an incredible, incredible story. I hope you guys enjoyed
Speaker 2: listening to this week's episode with Simon. You can find
Speaker 2: out more about his work in the links. In the
Speaker 2: show notes, I'll put all of the links to the
Speaker 2: information the Grazzia articles that you can read about that,
Speaker 2: and we will be back very soon with the next
Speaker 2: Yays of Our Lives episode with my favorite human in
Speaker 2: the whole entire world, who might have actually helped write
Speaker 2: this script as I'm just reading that right now, and
Speaker 2: she is my life.
Speaker 3: She is my life. I love her.
Speaker 2: That is literally the script she wrote for me. This
Speaker 2: is the first week that she's written my script and
Speaker 2: I kind of like it. So I hope that you
Speaker 2: guys are having an amazing week and are seizing your
Speaker 2: yay