This Connected Life is the show where leadership communication strategist Mel Kettle shares actionable strategies, tips and resources to help you be happier and healthier so you can achieve success in life and business.
Episodes
Tuesday Oct 22, 2019
Tuesday Oct 22, 2019
I think I first "met" Dani Valent on Twitter about ten years ago, around the time I first bought a Thermomix. #bestkitchengadgetever
Dani describes herself as a writer, eater, traveller and cook. Everything she does is linked by a simple idea: leading people to great food experiences. Like me, Dani is passionate about food because she loves connecting with people, and especially connect with people through food. She believes good food is central to a life well-lived. It’s nourishment and energy. It’s a way to gather – in the field, the market, in the kitchen and at the table. It’s culture, ritual, history and future. It’s art, craft and science. It’s sensual and it can get emotional.
With over 20 years’ experience as a food journalist, travel author, recipe developer and authorised Thermomix cookbook writer, she was my first pick for someone to share stories with about food. The only disappointment is that we were unable to find a time to record this over a meal, instead recording from our respective offices in Brisbane and Melbourne.
Grab a cuppa and some delicious food, and settle in to listen to Dani Valent.
You can connect with Dani via her websites www.danivalent.com. You can also connect with Dani on Twitter and Instagram @danivalent.
What Dani Valent and I talked about
- her unique skill
- being a restaurant critic
- one of her favourite stories - talking to a young gay Turkish chef
- how food is love
- the culture, the history and connection with traditions around the world across cultures and countries
- Tinder for restaurants
- Travelling alone when you are by yourself travelling so that you can try different foods and dishes
- Paulie Gee's pizza in Brooklyn
- Danny Myer – Setting the Table
- Ruth Reichl – Garlic and Sapphires
- Hosting a successful event
- Celebrity interviews
- Upcoming food trends
- Building meals around one particular ingredient
- Writing for Lonely Planet
If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe.
You can also connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #thisconnectedlife and tagging me @melkettle.
If you REALLY loved it, please leave me a rating and review on iTunes.
Monday Oct 14, 2019
Monday Oct 14, 2019
Today I’m talking about marketing to women.
A lot of people don’t realise that women are responsible for 90% of consumer purchases. Which equates to over $20 TRILLION in global spending.
In Australia, women own just over one third of all businesses, and this number is rising. Australian women are also becoming more educated – in 2014 almost 45,000 more women graduated with tertiary qualifications than men.
Also, in many households, women are increasingly becoming the main income earners, often earning 2, 3 or 10x what their male partners earn.
Women are the biggest contributor to GDP, making purchasing decisions for themselves, and often also for the children and the men in their lives. Yet despite this, many women feel they are misunderstood when it comes to marketing undertaken by many brands and businesses.
Don’t assume we’re all the same, don’t assume we’re stupid and please don’t assume we all do all the housework!
In this episode I talk about:
· A real estate agent who assumed I did the laundry (I don’t)
· My excellent experience buying a Weber BBQ
· Other assumptions people make when marketing to women
· Bic pens for women and Ellen’s takedown – and you can read a few Amazon reviews!
· Current trends when marketing to women
· Women and social media
· eSports and the Fortnite World Cup
· a shift from TV to streaming and YouTube
· an increase in voice technology
· Generating and demonstrating social proof
What are you doing when it comes to marketing to women?
You can connect with me on LinkedIn or twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #thisconnectedlife and tagging me @melkettle
Or you can email me – mel@melkettle.com
If you want to talk about how you can collaborate more in your organisation, or you need some support to develop a collaborative team, please get in touch.
Tuesday Oct 08, 2019
Tuesday Oct 08, 2019
Dominick Quartuccio is a NYC based international speaker, author, mentor who focuses on Elevating Performance and Short-Circuiting Burnout. He is also the co- host of his own podcast, Man Amongst Men.
You can connect with Dominick via his websites www.DominickQ.com and Do Inner Work. You can also:
- Watch his TedX Talk: The Bold Journey Women Want Men to Take
- Buy his excellent book: Design Your Future
- Connect with him on LinkedIn and Instagram
- Listen to his podcast Man Amongst Men
What Dominick Quartuccio and I talked about
- Connection depends on age and stage of life
- Connecting with yourself – doing inner-work and self-reflection
- Working out what is important in your life
- Catching people before they end up in the ambulance
- Escaping and numbing mechanisms – wine, emotional eating, Netflix binge, longer work hours
- Suffering in silence
- Loneliness
- Being part of a Mastermind
- The Way of the Superior Man - David Deida
- The 4-hour Workweek by Tim Ferris
- Levelling up
- Outwitting the Devil - Napolean Hill
- ADD – Awakening – Disrupting – Design
- Concept of temporary abstinence
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- Think and Grow Rich – Napolean Hill
- Toni Morrison – Beloved
- Dominick's book list of books every man must read
- Pancakes vs Burritos vs Coffee
If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe.
Thursday Oct 03, 2019
Thursday Oct 03, 2019
In this minisode I talk about the health checks we should be having on a regular basis.
I recorded this episode about an hour after having my biannual mammogram and ultrasound, and it prompted me to have a chat about looking after our health.
A big part of being connected with self is knowing what’s going on with our bodies and looking after ourselves from a medical perspective.
Did you know that while most women see a doctor at least once a year, men tend to go far less frequently, have shorter visits and often only to go when their illness is in its later stages. Presumably because by then the symptoms are too bad to continue ignoring!
As we get older, we should all be having an annual health check to help stay on top of things.
Having an annual check-up can identify early if you have symptoms that might lead to diabetes, some cancers, osteoporosis, glaucoma and many more. Finding out early can often save your life.
What to get checked
- Blood pressure
- Blood tests for cholesterol, triglicerides and a fasting blood sugar test for diabetes.
- Urine tests for kidney health
- Sexual health
- A complete skin check every year
- Breast checks
- Mammogram and breast ultrasounds
- Pap smears
- Testicular and prostate checks
- Stool samples for bowel cancer
- Bone density
- Hormone checks
- Eye examination
- Dental check-ups.
You also need to monitor your weight, as being overweight is also a significant risk factor for heart disease and diabetes.
Let’s not forget mental health.
Your GP or physician is an excellent person to see first when seeking professional mental health support. They can make a diagnosis, prescribe medication, draw up a Mental Health Care Plan so you can get a Medicare rebate for psychological treatment and refer you to a psychologist or psychiatrist if you need further support.
What to do after your health checks
Once you have had your health checks it’s important you understand the results and what they mean both short term and long term. Questions you should be asking are:
- What do the results mean?
- Do I need follow-up tests? When? How often? Make a diary note so you don’t forget
- Do I need to be taking medication? What will happen if I don’t?
- Do I need to see a specialist? What for? How quickly?
When was the last time you had a complete check up? If it’s been a while why not make an appointment today? And if it’s been a while, you might want to ask for an extended consultation time so you can get through the list.
You can connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #thisconnectedlife and tagging me @melkettle
Or you can email me – mel@melkettle.com
If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe.
If you REALLY loved it, please leave me a rating and review on iTunes.
Tuesday Oct 01, 2019
Tuesday Oct 01, 2019
Julie Trell tells me she is a human API. Of course, I’m immediately curious! Of course, once she explains to me what that is, it all makes total sense. And no, I’m not giving a spoiler alert – you can listen to this episode
I first heard of Julie when I became involved with SheEO last year, and we met earlier this year and the fabulous s p a c e event at Byron Bay.
Julie is Head of Telstra’s startup accelerator, muru-D. She has a vast and varied background spanning both startup and corporate environments, previously working as the Founder & Chief Life Officer of Playful Purpose, helping companies integrate meaningful philanthropy programs in their business. She was also an advisor to startups Ideator and the Gratitude Network.
Julie was one of the US leads in launching SheEO Radical Generosity in the US, a global initiative to transform how we support, finance and celebrate female entrepreneurs.
She tells me she is also skilled at juggling balls while herding cats, wearing multiple hats, and putting out small fires, and she uses the principles of improv in work, life and play.
What Julie Trell and I talked about
- Being a human API
- Early stage start-ups and the challenges
- Moving to a new country
- Abundance versus scarcity mindsets
- Start-up accelerator programs
- Amanda Palmer, The art of asking – TED talk and book
- SheEO
- We all bleed red
- Improv and connecting with others
- Monster Baby – Podcast with Lisa Rowland and Ted DesMaisons
- Masters of Scale Podcast – Reid Hoffman
- Coffee Pods – Holly Ransom
- Barefoot Investor books by Scott Pape
- Everything is F*cked – Mark Manson
If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe on iTunes or Spotify or via the podcast app on your smartphone.
You can also connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #thisconnectedlife and tagging me @melkettle.
If you REALLY loved it, please leave me a rating and review on iTunes.
Thursday Sep 26, 2019
Thursday Sep 26, 2019
We know that creating collaborative teams, whether in your organisation or more broadly across your industry, can increase ideas, save money and result in better project outcomes. And yet, too often we sit independently within our siloes, frantically working on projects with looming deadlines, wondering if we’re doing the right thing.
I’ve been really fortunate to have worked on a number of collaborative projects over my career. Those that have been the most successful, and have given me the most joy, are those that have had a clear purpose, strong leadership and a solid strategy.
Those that have been hideous are the ones where there was a distinct lack of trust, poorly formed timeframes, and little regard for the skills and attributes each team member had to offer. Generally these projects only paid lip service to the word collaboration, which meant there were always tears, and often tantrums!
The collaborations that were successful were due to us, as a team, having a mutual respect for each other, we usually trusted each other, and we were all committed to the project and the collective goal or outcome. We definitely didn’t always agreed, but we always came to an agreement – with varying amounts of compromise!
I see a lot of potential for collaboration and a lot of organisations that seem scared of it.
The main reasons I see for organisations not collaborating are:
· don't see understand the benefits of collaborating,
· they don’t want to seem silly or wrong
· when they have previously collaborated it’s been with someone who has taken all the glory
· they are so entrenched in their silo they don’t know how – or they don’t even think to collaborate
· they work for leaders who are creating their own kingdom and don't want to share what they know as they are worried it will be used to undermine their authority.
This is crazy because there is so much research that show successful collaboration increases productivity, lowers costs and improves the health of your people.
The next time you think about not collaborating, think about this:
Collaboration brings teams closer together, it helps you problem solve, it can save money, it helps people get to know each other, it opens up channels of communication and conversation and it leads to higher retention rates.
When was the last time you instigated a collaboration and how did it turn out? I’d love to know!
You can connect with me on LinkedIn or twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #thisconnectedlife and tagging me @melkettle
Or you can email me – mel@melkettle.com
If you want to talk about how you can collaborate more in your organisation, or you need some support to develop a collaborative team, please get in touch.
Tuesday Sep 24, 2019
Tuesday Sep 24, 2019
Cameron Schwab is mostly known for being a former CEO of the Richmond, Melbourne and Fremantle AFL Clubs, and for being the youngest CEO in the history of AFL when he was appointed CEO of the Richmond Football Club at age 24. Today Cam is a leadership coach and strategist, working with CEOs and emerging leaders to achieve high levels of trust – personally, culturally, strategically and organisationally – as the basis of high performance.
He is also an incredibly talented artist and illustrator, having studied Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA).
What Cam Schwab and I talked about:
- Batman
- connecting with teams
- 3 questions Cam asked himself as a leader and CEO
- Having a sense of belonging and sense of connection
- being the kid in the class who could draw a bit
- Art - interpretation and ambiguity
- connecting through art and writing
- Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
- Legacy – James Kerr
- Atomic Habits – James Clear
- Cal Newport - Deep Work
Thursday Sep 19, 2019
Thursday Sep 19, 2019
What does it mean to connect authentically? It can sometimes be confusing as authenticity is one of those words a lot of people use – and often overuse. I think it’s one of those concepts we recognise when it’s really obviously there – or not there!
The Cambridge English Dictionary defines it as “the quality of being real or true”.
Brené Brown tells us that “authenticity is a collection of choices we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.”
How often do we truly do this?
One of the side effects of being authentic is that it helps build trust. Why is trust important? My friend Jane Anderson, in her excellent book Trusted, reminds us that trust is essential to a cohesive society. It holds cultures together and it helps maintain order.
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, the level of trust Australian place in government, industry and our leaders right now is quite low.
With disruption being a constant challenge for organisations today, trust is essential if leaders are to build and maintain strong relationships with their workforce and their customers.
How we can connect authentically:
- Be real – show your true self, whether this is as an individual or as a brand. Know your values and what you stand for and share them
- In 1676 Sir Isaac Newton said “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” We all get ideas from others. Two of my mentors, Matt Church and Peter Cook, regularly remind me that great leaders attribute their ideas with honour. And in if you’re wondering, the earliest recorded reference is of this quote by 12th-century theologian John of Salisbury in his treatise on logic, Metalogicon (1159) in which he references philosopher Bernard of Chartres saying that, “we stand like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants.” And no, I’ve not read it, a google search told me. Which is part of my point. It’s super easy these days to find the source of quotes and stories for attribution.
- Do what you promise – if you promise service excellence then respond to emails, tweets and Facebook and other social media mentions. Your customers expect this!
- Listen to your audience and be responsive – don’t just talk at them. Engage with them on social media, encourage them to converse with you, acknowledge and act on criticisms – even if it’s just a simple “thank you for your feedback”.
- Be honest about your products and services. If you’re a service provider, don’t accept a client if you don’t have the time to do the work and do it well, if you have a product fail, let people know. In the news today I’ve read that The Volkswagen Group and Audi have settled two major Australian class actions relating to their global diesel emissions scandal. Friends I know who have been involved in this have said they will never trust Volkswagen again – despite it having been a trusted brand for years, and the reason they bought their VWs in the first place.
- If you make a mistake, OWN IT. If you don’t know the answer to a question, admit it. Recently I undertook some professional development. Most of it was excellent, but the speaker came undone at the end when he opened up the floor to questions. There were two questions he obviously didn’t know the answer to, but rather than admit it, or ask the room if anyone had any ideas, he tried to squeeze his IP into the answer. And it really didn’t work. Unfortunately, this left a sour taste in my mouth, and significantly diminished the trust I had previously felt towards him.
- Don’t use corporate jargon – use language your market understands. Check out Jargon Free Fridays, started by Gabrielle Dolan, which hopes to change the way we communicate in business. Ral says “We are drowning in a sea of corporate jargon, acronyms and bullet points. We are confused and bewildered by leaders who are not prepared to say it as it is and talk in a way that is more real. Every time we use jargon and acronyms we disconnect and isolate people.” Once you’ve had a good giggle at her jargon-filled videos, then buy her latest book, Real Communication! #notsponsored #fangirl
- Be consistent with your messaging – don’t say one thing yet do another. I spend some time at a company that espoused integrity and trust, yet there was a rampant culture of bullying. Talk about a massive disconnect!
- Finally, be original – as Oscar Wilde said “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken”.
How are you showing up authentically in your business?
I’d love to know. You can connect with me on LinkedIn or twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #thisconnectedlife and tagging me @melkettle
Or you can email me – mel@melkettle.com
If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe on iTunes or Spotify or via the podcast app on your smartphone.
If you REALLY loved it, please leave me a rating and review on iTunes.
Mel Kettle is all about connection, communication and collaboration. She works with CEOs, leaders and teams to help them better communicate and collaborate (online AND offline) to achieve better relationships, revenue and results. Mel is a facilitator, trainer, speaker, author and mentor who provides practical advice that achieves results while having some fun!Download her latest whitepaper, The Social CEO – from invisible to influencer or order a signed copy of her book, The Social Association. To inquire about working with Mel, please email mel@melkettle.com or call her on 0404 600 889.
Tuesday Sep 17, 2019
Tuesday Sep 17, 2019
Dr Kelly Windle is one of the smartest people I know, with five (!!) degrees. She is also very human, as she is a psychologist who is passionate about helping people and businesses evolve.
Kelly works with people to align, curate, and accelerate their personal and organisational capability. Currently, she is the VP of Organisation Capability and Corporate HR for BlueScope, a top 100 ASX listed company. Here she is focusing her thought leadership to make great people at work. Her mission is to fundamentally shift the way industry thinks about people capabilities, changing current mindsets of people as commodities to people as purposeful contributors.
A ‘pracademic’, Kelly has bridged the practical and academic worlds with her internationally published research into psychological contracts and organisational socialisation.
Kelly has a passion for reimagining what’s possible. Her practice is built on the belief that anything is possible with clear vision and aligned capability, and on her unique scientific insights to the psychological drivers of an organisation’s economic and social health.
You can listen to this episode via the link above, on iTunes or Spotify or via the podcast app on your smartphone.
What Dr Kelly Windle and I talked about
- How to answer the question “How are you?” without being annoying!
- Genuine care – and how to show it
- Virgin Flair
- making a difference in someone’s day
- building rapport
- defining capability
- the impact of change
- social belonging
- starting out as a singer
- how musical theatre creates connection
- playing the cello
- Dan Norris – Create or Hate
- Episode 3 – Steph Clarke
- Cal Newport – Deep Work
- Cal Newport – Digital Minimalism
- Daniel Kahneman – Thinking, Fast and Slow
- Michelle Obama – Becoming
- The Forest of Wool and Steel – Natsu Miyashita
If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe on iTunes or Spotify or via the podcast app on your smartphone.
You can also connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #thisconnectedlife and tagging me @melkettle.
If you REALLY loved it, please leave me a rating and review on iTunes.
You might also like to:
- Attend one of my upcoming events
- Download my latest whitepaper The Social CEO – from invisible to influencer
- Signup to my newsletter
- Buy a copy of my book, The Social Association
- Book a time for a 15 minute chat
Mel Kettle is all about connection, communication and collaboration. She works with CEOs, leaders and teams to help them better communicate and collaborate (online AND offline) to achieve better relationships, revenue and results. Mel is a facilitator, trainer, speaker, author and mentor who provides practical advice that achieves results while having some fun!Download her latest whitepaper, The Social CEO – from invisible to influencer or order a signed copy of her book, The Social Association. To inquire about working with Mel, please email mel@melkettle.com or call her on 0404 600 889.
Thursday Sep 12, 2019
Thursday Sep 12, 2019
Earlier this week my friend Emma put up a post on Facebook saying that when we are children we laugh 400x a day. And now as adults, we laugh an average of 15x a day.
Quite simply, laughter makes us feel good. It also improves our physical health and it can definitely improve our mental health.
Why do we need to laugh more at work and what can we do to encourage more laughter at work?
According to research from Wharton, MIT, and London Business School, laughter relieves stress and boredom, boosts engagement and well-being, and spurs not only creativity and collaboration but also analytic precision and productivity.
Laughter at work also enhances morale, resilience, and effectiveness—which leads to a happier, more productive work environment.
Leaders who use laughter as a form of communication, are more connectable than those who don’t. CEOs such as SouthWest Airlines Herb Kelleher and Virgin Group’s Richard Branson are often seen laughing. They have also built highly successful and profitable companies based on laughter and humour.
Basically we all need to laugh more at work.
But how do we do this?
We can start by smiling more. Smile at your colleagues, smile when you’re talking on the phone.
Do some fun activities together
- have a lunchtime dance-off to cheesy 80s music
- have a hula hoop contest
- start team meetings with a dad-joke
- at lunchtime play short episodes of comedy tv series in the lunchroom
- On International Talk Like a Pirate Day (which is next week on 19 Sept) give everyone in the office a Pirate Name and only call them by that on that day
- Invite someone in to lead your team in Laughing Yoga – yes, it’s a thing!
There are loads of options – let me know what you choose.
Executive Coach, author and podcaster Peter Bregman, reckons we’re not laughing as much as we used to because we’re distracted. And when we’re distracted, we don’t laugh. So we also need to think about that.
In my last minisode, episode 8, I talked about how much our phones cause us to be distracted, and how we should create a tech plan so we use them less automatically and more intentionally. It seems that another reason we should put our phones down is so we can laugh more with the people we’re with. Or even laugh more when we’re watching something on Netflix – who else watches Netflix with a second screen in their hands.
Peter suggests that we should create a laughter metric and set a personal challenge to increase the number of times we laugh in a day. Count how many times you genuinely laugh each day and then try and double that. And why not count each time you make someone else laugh and then try and increase that too.
Mostly, however, we need to laugh more because laughter makes the world a better place.
Maurice Chevalier said “you don’t stop laughing because you grow older, you grow older because you stop laughing.”
What are you going to do this week to increase your laughter?
I’d love to know. You can connect with me on LinkedIn or twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #thisconnectedlife and tagging me @melkettle
Or you can email me – mel@melkettle.com
If you enjoyed this podcast, I would love you to subscribe on iTunes or Spotify or via the podcast app on your smartphone.
If you REALLY loved it, please leave me a rating and review on iTunes.