A Cyclone, A Conference & A Podcast Walk Into A Bar..
March was a month!
Welcome to the 24th edition of Honey Drops. It’s been a busy few weeks at the Ocelli HQ. Cyclone Alfred gave way to Climate Action Week (poetically?), Loreto and I have publicly launched The Green Fix Podcast for Sustainability leaders and I had the pleasure of speaking on the Regenerative Leadership panel hosted by IxDA Byron Bay.
Three Thoughts From Me:
1. The Green Fix Podcast
From a conversational spark at Climate Action Week Sydney 2024 (below), to launching during Climate Action Week Sydney 2025, I’m proud of what we have created throughout months of planning, in-person recordings, remote recordings, pre-production, post-production and scheduling.
A huge thanks to Beth Dowe, Rade Musulin, Alison Bird, Mark Rowland and our yet-to-be-published guests. We have learnt so much from each of you and appreciate the trust you have shown in us to be our first interviewees.
You can find each of the episodes below and select your podcast player of choice:
2. IxDA Byron Bay & SydDT: Regenerative Leadership, Design & Innovation Panel
Two and a half years ago, I was too nervous to introduce myself to Ben Pecotich as Tom Dawkins brought the Social Enterprise World Forum busload to Byron.
Two years ago, we were both fortunate to be part of a weekend retreat organised by Tom Allen and Luke Faccini, where we decided to become business owner accountability buddies. His support and questions have since played a large role in The Ocelli Group being what it is today.
And last night, I had the absolute honour of being on a panel moderated by Ben with Jane Laverty from Business NSW and Demi Barclay from TAFE NSW discussing Regenerative Leadership for IxDA Byron Bay. Specifically, how do we design, build, and launch business models, products, and services that are more regenerative, benefiting customers, teams, and communities? We went wide and deep, from the individual, to the organisational and the planetary.
Ben is an absolute leader in this space, having run Dynamic4 for the past 24 years. To have him guiding the conversation like the pro he is made it such an enjoyable experience.
Byron is a magnet for systems thinkers committed to creating the changes we need at the individual, organisational and planetary levels.
Do what I say, not what I did two and a half years ago: just go up and introduce yourself the first time, you will have knowledge the other person is looking for, and they will return the favour.
Ben is also the great mind responsible for this Regenerative Leadership Framework. Sit with it a minute and you’ll get a good idea of the foundation for our chat:
3. Lighthouse Companies
Speaking on the above panel crystallised disparate strands of ideas I have had bumping around my head over the past few weeks. This I am sure of: there’s an enormous portion of the global population who haven’t signed up for a rightward detour. In fact, as such a directional shift plays out, people are craving a sense of agency, to not be at the mercy of the headlines and to play their part in a cleaner, greener and more hopeful society.
This means there’s an even greater appetite to support businesses with shared values, that are committed to doing good while doing well and that provide products and services while also mitigating their impact on (if not regenerating) their communities.
If you’re one of those companies, now is your time to double down, stand up and be a lighthouse on the hill for your tribe. Give people a reason to be hopeful and to play their part.
Ignore the noise. Find the signal. No, not that Signal.
Two Quotes From Others:
“It's going to be more efficient. It's going to be faster. It's going to be cheaper. It's going to be better. No one, no COO, no CFO, no CEO will stand in the way of progress like that. But then to actually prove that, you've got to bring the supply chain through. Because if you make a change in your organisation without notifying your key suppliers, they might actually be producing something that isn't fit for purpose for you anymore. So you've got to do it as a collective.”
- Mark Rowland, Green Fix, episode four
“We have to mention resilience. These people do amazing work and in a lot of cases they are the advocate for sustainability or for climate within their organisations. And that often means a proposal doesn't get through 10 times and then on the 11th time it gets through, or there's a change in leadership and suddenly they have to rebuild and re-educate in order to make sure these things are on the agenda.
“So I think the resilience that comes through sport with, you know, you don't win every race but you've got to keep getting back on the horse and having another crack at it finding a way to do something different or new with new energy is the same here, that there are setbacks so finding a way to get back on the horse is critical.”
- Beth Dowe, Green Fix, episode one
One Thing For You To Ponder:
No one knows everything. Everyone is googling/AI-ing how to do their job better. The world is moving faster. And this is the time to strengthen your community, and build more links to others.
Keep your head up, your heart strong and let’s get to work.
