Empowering Leaders

Phil Hopley: The Burnout Tipping Point Every Leader Needs to Recognise

What separates the leaders and athletes who perform under pressure from those who crack? According to Dr Phil Hopley, it comes down to one overlooked discipline: daily recovery. Phil is a consultant psychiatrist and one of the world's leading experts in mental performance. Through Cognacity - the specialist psychology organisation he leads - Phil has worked inside elite sport, global boardrooms and high-performance teams across Premier League football, Formula One, rugby and Olympic sport. His organisation was the appointed specialist team for the London Olympics and Paralympics. In this conversation with Luke Darcy, Phil unpacks the science behind sustainable high performance, the hidden cost of distracted working, and why the greatest predictor of long-term leadership success isn't intelligence or ambition - it's self-awareness. Phil explains the "tipping point" that separates productive pressure from burnout, shares what Kenyan distance runners can teach every corporate leader about recovery, and reveals the Big Five personality assessment his team uses to identify high-risk hires before catastrophic cultural damage is done. He also talks in-depth about building psychological safety, dialling up kindness in competitive environments, and why the greatest leader in his own life is his 90-year-old father. Learn. Lead. Collaborate. Start your leadership journey today. Head here [https://www.aledacollective.com/program/leadconnect] to find out more about our signature, cross industry collaboration program, Aleda Connect. Curated and facilitated by experts, running for 8 fortnightly sessions, Aleda Connect is the learning experience of a life-time.  Empowering Leaders is proudly partnered with Victoria University. Find more information about studying at VU here [https://tinyurl.com/yzcchzea]. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Alisa Camplin: The Extraordinary Mind Behind Winning Gold

Alisa Camplin is one of Australia's most decorated and driven high performance leaders - an Olympic gold medallist in aerial skiing, Australia's first female winter Olympic gold medallist, and most recently, the first woman to lead an Australian Winter Olympic team as Chef de Mission at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games. Alisa shares so many of the mental frameworks that powered her greatest performances - and how those same skills carried her through the unimaginable loss of her son Finnan, who passed away after just 10 days following open heart surgery. Together with her husband, she channelled that grief into Finnan's Gift, a foundation that has now raised over $4 million for paediatric cardiac care. She opens up about recovering from two knee reconstructions in the lead-up to her second Olympics - the last one just 56 days before the Games - and why she believes the most important thing you can do after any setback is get up, find a plan, and be all in. She also shares what 16 years at IBM, a boardroom career, and leading an Olympic team have taught her about honest conversations, coaching people as whole humans, and the small daily habits that create real, lasting change. This conversation is a masterclass in what it means to lead with integrity, show up with discipline, and keep going when life gets hard. We’re privileged to have Alisa as part of the Aleda Connect community - connecting inspiring leaders from across Australia and around the world. Learn. Lead. Collaborate. Start your leadership journey today. Head here [https://www.aledacollective.com/program/leadconnect] to find out more about our signature, cross industry collaboration program, Aleda Connect. Curated and facilitated by experts, running for 8 fortnightly sessions, Aleda Connect is the learning experience of a life-time.  Empowering Leaders is proudly partnered with Victoria University. Find more information about studying at VU here [https://tinyurl.com/yzcchzea]. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Alex Carey: When the Setback is Actually the Setup - for International Success

The AFL dream ended in tears at 20. A decade later, he was lifting the World Test Championship. Alex Carey's journey to becoming one of Australian cricket's most trusted performers is one of the sporting world’s great second-act stories. A talented junior who played both codes at a high level, Alex took a chance on AFL and moved to Sydney as one of the GWS Giants' foundation players - only to be let go with barely 24 hours' notice. Back in Adelaide, he drifted through a football pre-season and a stint in finance before a quiet conversation with the South Australian Cricket Association gave him one more shot. He almost didn't take it. He nearly quit that too. But he didn’t and what came next … is all part of Alex’s incredible story. In this episode, Luke Darcy and Alex Carey hit: * Growing up in a sporting household and the father who shaped his values * The AFL dream, and the brutal moment it was taken away * How two delistings and a finance job led him back to cricket… and eventually to Test cricket * The 2023 Ashes 'spirit of the game' incident at Lord's: online threats, mental battles, and what he'd do differently * Working with performance psychologist Ben Crowe, and the value of having someone outside the system * Fatherhood, sacrifice, and how he and wife Eloise make it all work Learn. Lead. Collaborate. Start your leadership journey today. Head here [https://www.aledacollective.com/program/leadconnect] to find out more about our signature, cross industry collaboration program, Aleda Connect. Curated and facilitated by experts, running for 8 fortnightly sessions, Aleda Connect is the learning experience of a life-time. Book a discovery call today. [https://calendly.com/matt-1756/30min] Empowering Leaders is proudly partnered with Victoria University. Find more information about studying at VU here [https://tinyurl.com/yzcchzea]. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Jakara Anthony: What It Takes to Win Gold Twice

Jakara Anthony is Australia's most successful Winter Olympian…ever. A two-time Olympic gold medallist in mogul skiing, she's the first Australian to defend an Olympic title, doing it on the world stage against competitors from countries where skiing is practically a birthright.  And she's 27. In this conversation with Luke Darcy, Jakara pulls back the curtain on what being that successful actually takes.  * The four-year Olympic cycles planned down to the finest detail.  * The mental side of the sport that can't be measured or counted in reps.  * The broken collarbone in the lead-up to her second gold. * The fear every time she drops in.  * And the coach she's worked with since she was 12 years old who she credits as the greatest leader in her life. Jakara gives a masterclass in performance, resilience, and what it means to do hard things consistently… even when it's uncomfortable. 04:20 What it means to be in a club of her own 06:04 The four-year Olympic cycle - how it all gets planned 08:21 Dropping in - what's going through her mind at the top of the course 09:27 The edge - why consistency separates her from the field 10:19 Carrying the target - defending Olympic gold at Milano Cortina 11:12 Beating the Europeans at their own sport 12:10 What she's found in herself at 27 12:54 The hard things - fear, the mental game, and learning to cope 14:33 Advice for young people who want to push themselves 15:31 What's next - planning for the French Alps in 2030 16:38 What keeps her balanced outside the sport 18:00 The curiosity rabbit hole - coffee, latte art & sustainable performance 18:57 Her mantra - "be where your feet are" 20:02 Sponsorship & who's backing Australia's greatest Winter Olympian 22:42 Greatest leader in her life - coach Pete McNiel Learn. Lead. Collaborate. Start your leadership journey today. Head here [https://www.aledacollective.com/program/leadconnect] to find out more about our signature, cross industry collaboration program, Aleda Connect. Curated and facilitated by experts, running for 8 fortnightly sessions, Aleda Connect is the learning experience of a life-time. Book a discovery call today. [https://calendly.com/matt-1756/30min] Empowering Leaders is proudly partnered with Victoria University. Find more information about studying at VU here [https://tinyurl.com/yzcchzea]. See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.

Peter Malinauskas: Why Leaders Must Spend Their Capital or Lose It

Recorded live at Adelaide Oval in front of a packed Aleda Connect audience during one of the most talked-about weekends in Australian sport, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas sits down with Luke Darcy for a rich and candid conversation. In this episode, he reflects on: * What it actually means to lead at the highest level * The difference between authentic leadership and the kind people see straight through * Why compassion in political leadership is mistaken for weakness and why he thinks the opposite is true  * What it looks like to build a small circle of people brave enough to tell you you're completely wrong.  The Premier also talks about the discipline required to stay focused on big-picture vision when crises are landing on your desk every single day… from child protection to hospital systems to policing. He shares a defining leadership miscalculation that taught him to trust his instincts. And he makes a brilliant case that in a world of uncertainty, the leader's job isn't to commentate the problem… it's to Make. The. Call. And... there's also the story behind his now-legendary "Trump-style" negotiation tactic deployed in front of the AFL commission. That one you'll have to hear for yourself.  Gather Round. Adelaide Oval. The Premier of South Australia.  00:00 Welcome to Adelaide Oval 01:20 Taking office - the vision for South Australia 02:25 Defining great leadership 04:19 The crisis of global leadership 05:46 Who do you turn to when things get hard? 07:59 A defining leadership mistake 10:30 Long-term vision vs short-term fires 12:21 Legacy - what does he hope South Australia looks like? 13:48 One piece of advice for every leader in the room 16:31 Greatest leader in his life - Bob Hawke 20:08 Q&A - Federal ambitions? 22:59 The Gather Round negotiation with the AFL 26:51 Where does he switch off? 29:01 Q&A - Immigration, growth & South Australia's identity See omnystudio.com/listener [https://omnystudio.com/listener] for privacy information.