In The Arena | Podcast on RSS.com

In The Arena

by Cameron Schwab

Business Sports

Season 1

Trent Cotchin - 'Letting the tide out'

Trent Cotchin captained Richmond through the microwaved membership tickets, the 113-point belting, the noise that had a name on it, and then led them to three premierships with the Richmond Football Club. But the story isn't what changed in the game plan. It's what changed in the man. This is a conversation about the moment he called Ben Crowe and realised he didn't have to do it alone. About the St Rose Cafe meeting with Jack Riewoldt where they stopped making it about themselves and started building for Daniel Rioli's generation. About big paddocks with strong fences, about trust, empowerment and alignment, and about what happens when you finally let the tide go out and see where the rocks really are. This is a conversation for any leader who's ever felt the weight of the armour they're carrying. Notebook ready. Play on!

Michael Voss - 'Courage to always compete'

Michael Voss has lived a life where pressure meant something great was about to happen. Three-time premiership captain at Brisbane. AFL coach at Carlton. A career spent in the arena with skin in the game. And now he's sitting in what he calls "the grey", the space between what was and what's next. We talk about his mantra, 'courage to always compete', and how that mantra survived every iteration of him. About the daily 20-minute drive that became his leadership practice. About upstream thinking versus downstream problem-solving. About the moment he raised the floor on standards and risked himself for the team. And about identity always in formation, not a fingerprint, but something you write with your own pen. This is a conversation for anyone who's ever stepped out of the arena and wondered what courage looks like now. Notebook ready. Play on!

John Buchanan - 'Know yourself inside out'

John Buchanan never played Test cricket. Seven first-class games for Queensland. Then, he walked into a dressing room with Warne, McGrath, Ponting, Gilchrist, and the Waugh brothers, handed them Sun Tzu's Art of War, and told them they were going to dominate world cricket. He coached Australia to a 79% win rate, 16 consecutive Test victories, and two World Cups. But it nearly cost him everything. Jobs, relationships, and the constant question of whether he belonged. We go deep on coaching philosophy, the courage to hold your line when it loses you the job, why doubt is essential to leadership, and what it takes to harness elite ego without letting it destroy the team. This is a conversation for anyone who's ever had to lead without the credentials, hold standards when it's easier to walk past them, and find belief in themselves when no one else does. Notebook ready. Play on!

Matt Formston AM - 'Let go of the rope'

Matt Formston AM is legally blind and has surfed a 51-foot wave at Nazaré. Four-time surfing world champion. Paralympic cyclist. World record holder. Fifteen years at Optus exceeding enterprise sales targets by 140 per cent. But before any of that, Christmas Eve, 3am, blood on his clothes that wasn't his own. This is a conversation about rock bottom, the question "why not?", and what it actually takes to let go of the rope when you can't see the five-story wave you're riding down. We go deep on the trust formula, on standards and consequences, on the difference between unlocking performance and extracting it, and on why high standards are the foundation of psychological safety, not the enemy of it. This is a conversation for any leader who needs to know how trust is actually built when the stakes are life and death.

Suzie McInerney - 'Brave, not perfect'

Suzie McInerney is the CEO of Six Degrees Executive, leading a team of 90 across three states in one of Australia's most human-centred recruitment firms. She took the scenic route to CEO. From toy brand manager to running a hatted restaurant, to first employee CEO stepping into a founder-led business at Six Degrees Executive. Then COVID hit 12 months in. Then breast cancer. And through it all, the same lesson kept showing up, pretending to be fine doesn't make you strong. We go deep on psychological safety, on the cost of martyring yourself, on what it means to let off steam before the cracks become craters, and on why the work that feels unproductive, conversations, relationships and knowing your people, is often the work that truly matters. This is a conversation for any leader who's ever been scared shitless but put the big boots on anyway. Notebook ready. Play on!

Mark Riley - 'Chance. Circumstance. Choice.'

Mark Riley has spent a career where few would know his name, but his fingerprints are everywhere. Assistant coach across the Fremantle, Melbourne, Carlton and Gold Coast Football Clubs. Nine games as Melbourne's caretaker senior coach. 450 AFL games in the box. But the real story starts in a shearing shed in Hyden and ends up at the Clontarf Foundation — 12,500 Indigenous boys, 170 sites, generational change. Two mentors shaped him: Gerard Neesham, the radical who taught him football could be art, and Neale Daniher, who taught him leadership is about others, not yourself. We go deep on knowing your people, unlocking performance rather than extracting it, and why the best question any leader can ask is simply — are you thinking about what you're doing? This is a conversation for anyone who understands that the size of a life isn't measured by headlines, but by the quiet work of seeing good in people and helping them see it in themselves. Notebook ready. Play on!

Dave Misson - "It's never about you"

Dave Misson has spent a career where most people would never know his name, and that's exactly the point. High performance manager across Tennis Australia, Australian Cricket, the Sydney Swans, St Kilda and Melbourne Football Clubs, Dave has been in the room for premierships, World Cups and some of the most powerful cultural moments in Australian sport. He steps into the arena with a mantra given to him over dinner in Mount Gambier by his mentor Ken Richardson: it's never about you. We go deep on the Bloods culture at the Swans, on mechanics and dynamics, on what it means to unlock performance rather than extract it, and on why the most powerful words in any team are simply — you belong here. This is a conversation for any leader who wants to understand what high performance actually looks like when ego leaves the room.

Janey Martino - 'Celebrating the cracks'

Janey Martino built Smiling Mind, one of Australia's most impactful not-for-profits, led businesses, coached founders, and is now back in the CEO chair at KIC. But this conversation isn't about what she's built — it's about what broke, and what she found inside the cracks. Janey steps into the arena with a willingness to go there, sharing openly the moments that reshaped how she leads and lives. We go deep on the Japanese philosophy of Kintsugi, on learning to feel before you think, and on the tension every leader carries between coaching and operating. This is a conversation for any leader who has ever tried to hold it all together and wondered whether letting go might actually be the work.

Neil Craig - 'A game never won'

Neil Craig is the first guest we've brought back into the arena — and for good reason. He's 70, coaching leaders at the Australian Institute of Sport, and still the most curious person in any room he walks into. Former AFL senior coach at Adelaide, performance coach with England Rugby and the Wallabies, and a wonderful mentor of mine. We go deep on expectations — the most dangerous word in high performance — and what happens when your behaviour drifts under pressure. Neil tells the story of a CEO brave enough to say, "You're not the coach we appointed." We talk about coaching effort, the critical friend every leader needs, and why the best coaches never stop being coached themselves. A game never won. Notebook ready. Play on.

Gabrielle Dolan - 'Leading with story'

I can’t remember exactly when I first heard the statement: “If it’s too obvious, it can’t be trusted.” This thought comes to mind when I am speaking with Gabrielle Dolan, a leader I have come to know over the past decade and feel so fortunate to have done so. The fact that we immediately connected is no surprise. Her leadership builds on the power of story, its nuance, and relatability. Our capacity to draw on personal lessons and learnings to understand self and what’s important to us, whilst developing the confidence to draw on these insights and tell our story to build a deeper connection with others and a commitment to a shared purpose and plan. Mostly, however, a story’s capacity to express what truly matters, your values and principles, that once told holds you accountable, as your credibility will now be judged by your capacity to live them, especially when it gets hard, as it will. I doubt, therefore, whether there is a more important skill for leaders than storytelling, including our capacity to tell our own. I understand this statement would be very challenging, if not confronting, for many leaders. For more than two decades, Gabrielle has worked with leaders across business, sport, and government, helping them move beyond jargon that can’t be trusted and into meaning that can. Notebook ready. Play on.

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