Design Your Life with Vince Frost

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Designing corporate activism with Patagonia Aus & NZ Director Dane O'Shanassy May 16, 2022

Show notes

Working on things you care about, close to the people you love, in a business with ethics and morals aligned with your own seems a straightforward ambition. Until the result is a leadership position in a global $1bn company that’s driving conscientious business around the world.

Dane O’Shanassy is Patagonia’s Country Director, Australia and New Zealand. The decisions he makes for the business today are led by Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard’s earliest choices. The conscientious objectives that drive both incredible revenue for the business and ongoing positive change for planet earth.

“It's very much a simple mission, but one that I've never seen as present and lived in anywhere else I've worked. The mission itself is, ‘We're in business to save our home planet’. I've never been in an organisation that really takes its accountability to the mission as seriously as it does here.”

DListen in as Vince and Dane discuss why Patagonia will repair a competitor’s product, growing up in Torquay in the 80s packing boxes for Rip Curl and how transparency and accountability are key to success today.

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Designing Technogym with Co-founder Pierluigi Alessandri May 02, 2022

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Being in the business of helping people live healthier and happier is quite a goal, but the Alessandri brothers have done it. By elevating the importance of positive workplace culture in building their brand and products, they’ve found global successful.

Pierluigi Alessandri is the Vice President and Co-founder of Technogym, one of the most successful wellness and innovation businesses in the world. Pierluigi emphasises, it’s the people on the team and their passion who make the business what it is today.

When he and his brother and business partner Nerio started the business in 1983, they never could have imagined they’d be the Official Supplier of the Olympic Games for eight consecutive games, since Sydney in 2000. Or that Wellness, a concept introduced to the world by Nerio ten years later, would dominate the zeitgeist for years to come.

Listen in as Vince and Pierluigi discuss designing exercise equipment that is seen as art, starting a brand and $3.2B global business out of their garage, and what it feels like to have more than 50 million people using your products every day.

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Designing global action on climate change with Craig Leeson Apr 18, 2022

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Can government and industry have the most impact when it comes to climate change? Or is it up to the individual to take action?

Craig Leeson is the 2022 Tasmanian Australian of the Year and a self-described storyteller who feels a personal responsibility to have an impact. The one-time foreign correspondent now makes and sells documentaries to broadcasters around the world so his stories addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, single use plastics and environmental issues are seen far and wide.

Leeson’s first feature-length documentary, A Plastic Ocean, released in 2017, has been viewed around the world. It’s ranked as one of the world’s top documentaries to watch about the environment, and is still winning awards today.

In this special edition of our Tide For Change series, listen in as Vince and Craig discuss; being the first media on the ground at the 2015 Nepal earthquake disaster, a transformative evening spent drinking wine with David Attenborough, and the extraordinarily emotional experience of witnessing wildlife literally choke to death on plastic.

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Designing community with Cliff Ho Apr 04, 2022

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If you put people before profit, will your business be a bigger success? Cliff Ho thinks so. But you need to be profitable and self-sustainable, too. That’s when you can make the biggest impact on communities and the environment.

Ho is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of The Commons, the wildly successful creative coworking spaces. When they opened their third location in Sydney in 2017, they filled the 3,5000sqm space with 550 members in just ten weeks. They have a waitlist on most of their sites today.

But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Ho. After tanking at an early presenting gig in front of 100,000 people, he got over it and got better. He honed his craft, practicing relentlessly in front of the camera until it felt natural, and went on to interview Kanye West, Miley Cyrus and Usher in his role as a host for Channel [V].

Listen in as Vince and Cliff discuss how to bounce back after a fall from grace, the time Kanye came off stage and asked him, “was that OK?”, and the importance of putting community first.

This episode is part of our ‘Design Your Life: Business for Good’ series focused on B Corps around the world.

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Designing an impact driven business with Sasha Titchkosky Mar 21, 2022

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Sasha Titchkosky is on a mission. If everything goes to plan the Co-founder and CEO of Koskela, the furniture and homewares business she founded and with her partner Russel Koskela in 2000, will be 100% emission zero by 2030. That means absolutely no emissions. Zero.

On top of that, the lawyer and accountant is the inaugural chairperson of the B Corp Climate Collective and she spends her spare time supporting her local independent parliamentary candidate. She believes this is the best way to bring about a desperately needed shift in the way the Australian Government works and addresses public issues – the top of her list? Climate action.

Listen in as Vince and Sasha discuss; her ambition to become the Patagonia of the furniture world, her motivation to design a profitable yet conscious business model as a template for others and leaving the world liveable for her children.

https://koskela.com.au/

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Designing shipping that's good for the world with James Chin Moody Mar 07, 2022

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When your work takes you outside the boundaries of our atmosphere, the Earth and her limits come into sharp focus.

James Chin Moody is co-founder and CEO of Sendle, a 100% carbon neutral technology company and major disruptor revolutionising parcel delivery around the globe.

Born into a family of engineers on his father’s side — he’s named after his great-great-uncle, who built the Sydney Harbour Bridge — and artists on his mother’s, he possesses the unique and powerful combination of a mind that’s both mathematical and creative.

As an Engineering and IT graduate he landed the job of Chief Systems Engineer for FedSat, the first Australian satellite to be launched in 30 years, and has held influential positions with the CSIRO and UNESCO.

A recognised expert on innovation, sustainability and the circular economy, he is the co-author of The Sixth Wave: How to Succeed in a Resource-Limited World, published in 2010.

Listen in as Vince and James discuss how his experience as a Satellite Engineer helped form his relationship to space and sustainability, becoming the first tech B Corp in Australia and the importance of purpose for shaping the businesses of the future.

https://www.sendle.com/

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Designing future-proof businesses with B Lab Aus & NZ CEO Andrew Davies Feb 21, 2022

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Is it possible for businesses to balance their responsibilities to people and the planet, while also making a profit?

As the CEO of B Lab Australia and New Zealand, Andrew Davies’ job is to help corporations transform and grow in terms of environmental and social factors, without sacrificing their bottom line. And it’s not just about a management ethos, it’s about the seismic changes happening in our world and businesses of all shapes and sizes realising their current model may not survive the next ten years.

In this first episode of our Design for Good series, focused on some of the incredible people running B Corps around the world, Davies explains how businesses become B Corp certified, and why this isn’t a trend.

Listen in as Vince and Andrew deep dive into the birth of corporations, how Patagonia have done it right, and consider the question – could Coca Cola ever become B Corp certified?

https://www.bcorporation.com.au/

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Designing the ultimate ride with David Trewern Jan 17, 2022

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Are we all born with the same potential for success and happiness? Is it just a matter of being lucky enough to fall into what we’re supposed to be doing with our lives? Or can we take actions to improve our chances of a story that sings?

David Trewern is the founder and CEO of Fliteboard, makers of the world’s first electric foiling surfboard. He’s a design and technology innovator, an entrepreneur, and an early adopter who founded DT - one of the world’s largest and most awarded digital agencies - in 1996 at the age of 23.

He’s also a watersports fanatic and in 2005 broke the kitesurfing GPS speed world record on a board he designed with a 500m average speed of 44.9 knots.

Listen in as Vince and David discuss witnessing the birth of the internet, pushing boundaries and living with passion.

https://au.fliteboard.com/

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Designing a better world - best of 2021 Dec 27, 2021

Show notes

As 2021 comes to a close, we’d love to share with you some truly inspiring moments we’ve had on the podcast this year.

From Karl Fender’s thoughts on how we can make the world a better place to Yasmine Ghoniem on growth and Flack Studio on human connection.

From Koichi Takada on nature in the built environment to Sarah Beard on changing behaviours and Konrad Bergström on balancing sustainability with profit.

Listen in wherever you get your podcasts – and we’ll let our guests do the talking.

Also, we’d love to hear from you. What do you want us to explore on the podcast in 2022? Who would you like to hear from? What would you like to learn about? Visit the link below to contribute.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QKWMZ6D

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Designing the world's best electric boats with Konrad Bergström Dec 20, 2021

Show notes

When you grow up in a family of inventors, you learn no idea is a bad idea, and anything is possible.

With confidence in the knowledge that mistakes are learnings, and the way to make better innovations is to push the boundaries, Konrad Bergstöm is changing the world.

Described as one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time, the Swede is the founder of the multi-billion-dollar company Zound Industries, the makers of the innovative headphones and speakers loved the world over.

These days he’s focussed on saving the oceans through his electric boating company, X Shore. After turning his life around, switching a fast-paced international career to a life closely connected to his roots in nature, his energy and passion are contagious.

Listen in as Vince and Konrad discuss his game-changing electric boats, Scandinavian design culture and how his experience in the Swedish Special Forces shaped his connection to nature.

https://www.xshore.com/

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