Following or theme of conversations for good with founders from all walks of life and venture Episode 6 of A Sounder Life has something for everyone examining their own purpose and their plans to build something great.

Join me as we talk about cracking the code of our diverse societies with Hafsa Ahmed PhD, MNZM a seasoned community researcher and futurist and co founder of the Lady Khadija Charitable Trust who passionately and actively advocates for a brighter future shaped by our conscious actions.

We cover a lot of ground in this episode including how she draws inspiration from the chaos of Van Gogh's Starry Night, translating it into impactful projects that have earned her recognition with the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Are we truly as different as we believe, or can we come together in our shared humanity?

We talk about bias, community and resilience in the context of the heart-wrenching terrorist attack on The Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre on the 15th of March 2019 when 51 humans lost their lives and 40 injured.

Sparking a discussion on how local charity organisations, initially focussed on assisting vulnerable communities, had to question their purpose and shift gears.

Take a walk with us as we explore the charity's efforts to bridge gaps between faith communities and tackle the issues of bias and belonging. We also navigate the realm of biases – their roots, their role in radicalisation, and the part social media plays in fuelling extremism.

I talk with Hafsa about the potential of personal values and community to foster more inclusivity and the work she has done to narrate real stories of resilience, adaptiveness and authenticity.

We also question the future of New Zealand, discussing the role of technology and the power of storytelling. However, the storm cloud of misinformation looms large and we address its divisive influence in society.

True to her personal purpose Hafsa shares her unique insights on the need for critical thinking skills among younger generations.

Links Referred to in this Episode:

Unquiet Women - Asia Media Centre Series by Hafsa Ahmed

Immigrant Journeys - Stories of Diversity and Hope

Community of Strangers - Exploring the underpinnings of bias and belonging within our species

Biography - Hafsa Ahmed, PhD MNZM

Dr. Hafsa Ahmed, MNZM, can trace her origins to Hyderabad, India, and her journey brought her to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2007.

She identifies herself as an "Optimistic Futurist" because she firmly believes that we all can make the right choices for a brighter tomorrow.

She is Lady Khadija Charitable Trust's co-founder, a Lincoln University lecturer and founding Director of Unquiet.

Her professional expertise includes leadership coaching, futures foresight planning with a focus on stakeholder ecosystems engagement and managing change.

Hafsa has devoted her efforts to initiatives aligned with her why of contributing towards enhancing lives and inspiring others to do the same so that together, we can create thriving communities.

A rollercoaster of insights and inspiration from serial founder Shaun Quincey, CEO and Founder of Simfuni , family man and 1 of only 2 humans to successfully row the Tasman Sea single handed over 54 days! Spolier alert - the other human is his Dad.

Join us on a quick romp through his business life to date and perspective on many aspects of key skills required to succeed in any type of business role or life in general !

Bio - Shaun Cameron Quincey MNZM

Born: 27 September 1984
Education: Takapuna Grammar School | Bachelor of Business AUT

Home: Wife Lisa, 2 x boys Mac 9, Charlie 7, Edward the dog 8 months

Hobbies: Chairman Mairangi Bay Fishing Club

Business: Managing Director of Simfuni, Director of Ice House Ventures, Quashed and Aglow.

After 2 years of planning and 54 days of rowing at 24 years of age Shaun Quincey became the first person to row solo from Australia to New Zealand in 2010. The only other person to row the Tasman sea solo was Colin Quincey, his Father in 1977, however in the other direction!

After publishing a top selling book on the expedition and being made a Member of the the New Zealand order of Merit like many kiwis, Shaun headed to London for a brief OE with his Wife to be.

Returning home to Auckland Shaun kicked his career off working in a sales role for NZ payments company Debitsuccess. Debitsuccess was part of the Murray Bolton owned Transaction Services Group and after a few years Shaun was given the opportunity to lead the market entry of the business into the USA shifting his young family to San Francisco based at the Kiwi Landing Pad.

After 7 years with the group Quincey was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, handing in his notice and leaving San Francisco for home to launch a startup with Wife, 3 year old and 2 year old in tow.

After a fairly rapid failure with the initial venture losing a chunk of personal savings Shaun pivoted the strategy launching a new company Genoapay. Quincey raised capital from local venture firm The Ice House and local Ice Angels built a team and rapidly grew the business in the highly competitive buy now pay later sector. The Genopay business was sold in a successful exit to Latitude Financial Services where Quincey continued to lead the business growing to over 1.5million users and 14,000 businesses on the platform. Latitude (ASX: LFS) listed on the ASX in 2021 at which point Quincey decided to take on new challenges.

Passionate about helping New Zealand founders and love for business Quincey invested in over 15 early stage startups mostly across the fintech sector joining various boards and advisory roles. Having seen first hand the ability for Venture Capital to create opportunity Quincey joined the Venture Capital fund Ice House Ventures board in late 2021.

In 2022 Quincey started a new venture Simfuni with Co-Founder Damon O’Neil raising $2.8M in seed funding for their Insurance Premium management platform. Quincey is currently CEO and Director of Simfuni.

Have you heard of Imposter Syndrome? Have you experienced yourself ?

Join me for an insightful chat with my guest Raelene Castle, CEO of Sport NZ and former CEO Australia Rugby, Canterbury Bulldogs and Netball NZ amongst many other high profile roles.

We talk Sport, Business, Diversity and a new take on Imposter Syndrome and how to deal with it. Valuable perspective from Raelene's leadership career.

Hope you enjoy !

Who wants a better more purposeful approach to addressing imposter syndrome?

Listen in as we discuss this and other challenges in building your career as a founder or executive and check out Raelene's brilliant (IMHO) rethink of imposter syndrome and how to approach it amongst many other gems from her vast experience.

A wealth of knowledge and experience is shared in this one from the parallels between sport and business to delivering good feedback and hard messages.

Kia ora!

Welcome to Episode 3 :)

Still playing with formats but I’m particularly excited about this episode with my first guest - Natalie Ferguson.

As per the “run and gun” format of A Sounder Life, we started with an Agenda which went out the window pretty much after we started talking.

Instead, we began a chat around Nat’s research, passion and purpose to create solutions for improving the metrics around women in leadership.

There was too much goodness in the chat so I didn’t want to edit any of it out hence my opening ramble is shorter than normal in this episode.

Special Guest Bio - Natalie Ferguson
(there would have been a photo if I could have worked out how to shrink it to fit)

Nat is a fellow Sounder - she’s spent her career starting and scaling tech companies. After a successful exit from Hatch in December 2021, Nat got curious about the future of work. The stats reflect her experience - diverse organisations perform better, yet globally, women still make up just 8% of corporate CEOs and 29% of board seats. Combining the lack of progress in gender equity with global megatrends towards hybrid, flexible, purposeful work, this is a problem that’s time has well and truly come. Powrsuit is the start of her solution; a community adopting a fresh form of leadership - one that’s better for people, profit and the planet.

Ramblings - supporting links

Shit workplaces make you sick
The US Surgeon General makes the first official warning alongside things like the Zika virus and Covid 19 that Toxic Workplaces have a clear and negative connection to many physical and mental health ailments
Link to article

Gen Z influencers riff on the good and the bad of Tik Tok
Insights about the world’s fastest-growing social media platform from those that have experienced it directly both from the heady acceleration of their personal brands to stardom to blatant censorship around political issues. Certainly got me thinking:
Link to documentary

John's Blog based on his talk at Semi Permanent
Link to Blog

The Pandemic before the Pandemic - the tragic death of Molly Russell and what good could come of her parent's persistence, John finds the missing book, thoughts on education or lack thereof, Listening notes on Spencer Rascoff, Learn SPIN selling, What on earth is ESG?

Kiwi Serial founder (Sounder) John's first episode covers the concepts of a Purposeful and Profitable organisation, finding the third door, fundraising, serendipity engineering, sustainability and timeless sales techniques

John gives you a slow (double speed reccomended) overview of why he's starting this and what he will talk about. Livelier John intervenes with a preamble that promises less monotony