EPISODE OVERVIEW

What does leadership look like when everything is on the line?

In this deeply moving episode of For Love & Money, I’m joined by Peter Baines OAM — humanitarian, leadership expert, founder of Hands Across The Water, and author of the powerful new book Together We Can (his fourth book).

Peter’s career began in forensic policing, investigating homicides and leading international disaster victim identification teams following events such as the 2002 Bali bombings and the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. But it was his work in Thailand after the tsunami — and a chance meeting with children who had lost everything — that set him on a completely different path.

Twenty years on, Hands Across The Water has raised more than $40 million, supporting children and young people through long-term care, education and opportunity.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the tsunami, Peter undertook an extraordinary 1,400-kilometre run across Thailand in just 26 days — the equivalent of 33 marathons — an experience that he captures in his latest book, Together We Can.

But this conversation isn’t really about endurance.

It’s about collective effort, presence, belief, and what becomes possible when people come together around a shared purpose. Peter shares the leadership lessons forged through crisis, the power of community, and why doing hard things — together — matters more than ever.

IN THIS EPISODE, WE EXPLORE

• Why Peter believes love has a role in business and leadership
• What two decades of forensic and disaster work taught him about presence
• The moment that led to the founding of Hands Across The Water
• Why charity growth is not the ultimate measure of success
• The story behind Together We Can and the Run to Remember
• What it takes to lead when success is uncertain and failure is possible
• How leaders “bring the weather” — and why that matters
• The cost of doing big things alone, and the power of doing them together
• Peter’s vision for the next five years of Hands Across The Water

ABOUT PETER BAINES OAM

Investigating homicides, leading international teams into scenes of crisis and disaster is not your normal path to global keynote speaker and business consultant. It was this unique path that provided insights into leadership which are so different yet offer relevant reflections and learnings to businesses facing change, growth or challenges of their own. Peter worked in countries following major crisis including Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Saudi Arabia. His grounding came from two decades as a forensic investigator that saw him unravel the mysteries and discover the secrets of criminals thought rested solely with them. Prior to finishing his career as a forensic investigator he would spend time working with both Interpol in Lyon, France and the United Nations Office of Drug and Crime advising on Counter Terrorism and capacity building. But it was the work in Thailand that brought the biggest change. In response to the needs of the children left without a home or parents he would form Hands Across the Water and commence fundraising in Australia to build them a home. Almost twenty years after starting the charity, he now spends much of his time helping other charity and business leaders on how they can and indeed should benefit from their engagement with their community partners through corporate social responsibility programs.

In 2024, to acknowledge the 20th anniversary of the 2004 tsunami he ran 1400km’s in just 26 days in Thailand averaging 60kms a day in the heat and humidity of Thailand the equivalent of running 33 marathons in 26 days.

When he is not engaged in work, you will find him driving his tractor on the farm where he lives with his wife, Claire, raising cattle and nurturing the ground on which they live. His other interests that he embraces with a passion is as a helicopter pilot flying at every opportunity he gets and crossing the finish line of ultra marathons with his dogs Burton and Frankie.

In 2025, Peter was identified as one of the top five most influential Australians working in Thailand.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Together We Can — Peter Baines: Buy the book, buy the audiobook, get a sample chapter.

Hands Across The Water website

Peter Baines — Leadership & Speaking

Watch a short video about Run to Remember

Episode Overview

What if the stories we watch could help rebuild the social fabric?

In this episode, I’m joined by Elizabeth Tyler — co-founder and CEO of good.film, a platform using film and television as a catalyst for connection, empathy and real conversation.

With declining social cohesion, rising loneliness and increasing polarisation across Western democracies, Elizabeth believes film offers something we desperately need: a shared narrative space where we can explore complexity together — not through debate, but through emotion, curiosity and story.

Elizabeth’s career began far from entertainment. From early student activism at UTS, to working on one of Tasmania’s most consequential political campaigns, to shaping creative-led advocacy for major nonprofits, her path has always centred on one thing: bringing people together around a vision of what’s possible.

Today, through good.film, she’s building a new category she calls Impact Entertainment — ambitious stories (from blockbusters to indie documentaries) that reveal something meaningful about the world, and help us see one another more fully.

We explore how she’s turned this mission into a business model, the hidden work of rebuilding social trust, and why film is uniquely positioned to spark the conversations we’re no longer having.

In This Episode We Explore:

• Why Elizabeth believes love has to be the starting point for meaningful changemaking – whether it’s love of your work, your collaborators, or even those you’re “working against”.
• The fundamental truth that sits under good.film: that stories move us emotionally first – and emotion is what opens us up to new perspectives.
• How good.film works in practice: from their “impact entertainment” category and recommendation platform, to partnerships with cinemas where every ticket purchased through good.film also donates to a cause.
• Elizabeth’s experience in the Tech Ready Women program, and a gorgeous story about a stranger at a pitching event who changed her trajectory with one handwritten note.
• Her personal journey from priding herself on not needing help… to intentionally building an advisory board and a community where asking for help is a strength, not a weakness.
• And her bigger vision: a future where once a month, most of us head to our local cinema – alone or with friends – to watch ambitious stories together and have the kinds of rich, complex conversations we can’t have in a comments thread.

Across each of these threads runs a single question: how do we rebuild meaningful connection in a fractured world?

This is a conversation for anyone feeling the fractures — and looking for hopeful, human ways to stitch connection back together.

About Elizabeth Tyler

Elizabeth Tyler is the co-founder and CEO of good.film, a platform bringing people back together through film and television. With a mission to counter declining social cohesion, loneliness and political polarisation, good.film curates ambitious stories — from blockbusters to Oscar winners to indie documentaries — and builds community around the conversations those stories spark.

Elizabeth’s career began in politics, where she worked on two successful election campaigns and served as an adviser to a Tasmanian Member of Parliament. She later led creative-led advocacy campaigns as Strategic Director at the Motion Picture Company, working with major charities across Australia. Internationally, she has contributed to global environmental politics through the Global Greens, supporting more than 100 Green parties worldwide.

She holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, where she was awarded the Cockrum Fellowship for social change and the Wolfen Fellowship for entrepreneurship.

Her leadership philosophy centres on creating community, naming a bold vision, and reverse-engineering it into practical, scalable outcomes.

Connect with Elizabeth

Website: good.film

Linkedin: Elizabeth Tyler

• Explore good.film: Sign up to build your watchlist and join the community

• Learn more about the Scanlon Foundation Social Cohesion report

• Information on the Impact Investment Summit (Sydney)

What does it mean to redefine wealth — not as accumulation, but as enoughness? And what happens when you build a life and a career around community, purpose and shared humanity instead of individual achievement?

In this profound and compelling conversation, I speak with Sandy Blackburn, one of Australia’s leading voices in social impact and the founder of Social Outcomes and Impact Culture Australia.

Sandy spent 15 years living and working in South Africa during the final years of apartheid and the emergence of democracy — years that shaped her identity, worldview and lifelong commitment to social change. She shares the lessons those years taught her about community, belonging, and Ubuntu — the African philosophy meaning “I am because we are.”

We explore what Western cultures have lost in their worship of individualism, how business can rediscover its collective heartbeat, and why “enough” might be the most radical idea in the purpose economy.

Sandy also takes us inside her new venture, Impact Culture Australia, and the next frontier for purpose-driven organisations: embedding impact deeply into their culture, systems and ways of working.

This is a rich, layered, deeply human conversation about what really matters in business — and in life.

• Sandy’s perspective on whether there is a role for love in business
• Her extraordinary journey living in South Africa during the last violent years of apartheid
• How Ubuntu reshaped her understanding of identity and connection
• What Western cultures lose when individualism is elevated above community
• The deep lessons she learned about privilege, belonging and bearing witness
• How South Africa taught her the real meaning of “enough”
• Why so many corporate leaders privately feel unfulfilled
• The “golden hour” of township life — and what it reveals about authenticity and humanity
• The origins of Social Outcomes and the creation of Impact Culture Australia
• Why impact measurement is no longer enough — and why culture is the next frontier
• How flexible, trust-based business models can create richer lives
• What Sandy hopes the sector will look like in the next three years

Sandy Blackburn has four decades of experience working in social change, organisational development, capacity building and culture change in Australia and internationally, including extensive work in community and organisational development in pre- and post-apartheid South Africa. Her autobiographical book, Holding Up the Sky: An African Life, captures her 15 years living through one of the most tumultuous and transformative periods in South Africa’s history — a journey that profoundly shaped her identity, worldview and commitment to social justice.

She is one of Australia’s leading thought leaders in social impact and is the founder of Social Outcomes, and more recently Impact Culture Australia.

Before founding these organisations, Sandy was Head of Social Innovation at Westpac, where she created the Organisational Mentoring Program — mobilising hundreds of employees to support for-purpose organisations to build their capacity, a systemic need that is notoriously underfunded. Through this work, and through Social Outcomes, Sandy has worked closely with many hundreds of for-purpose organisations, developing a deep understanding of the sector’s strengths and development needs.

Sandy is also co-founder of Impact Investing Australia, sits on the NAB Foundation’s Investment Committee, and serves on multiple for-purpose boards. She is a sought-after speaker, bestselling author, and holds a Masters Degree in Adult Education.

Website: Social Outcomes Impact Culture Australia LinkedIn: Sandy Blackburn

What does kindness look like in business — and why does it matter for commercial success?

In this episode, I’m joined by Dr David Cooke—Executive Director of ESG Advisory, Adjunct Professor at UTS Business School, and author of Kind Business: How Values Create Value.

In this deeply human conversation, David shares his journey from a traditional corporate career to leading Konica Minolta Australia as its first non-Japanese Managing Director, where he transformed the culture around a single, powerful vision: to build a company that cares. He unpacks what it really takes to embed purpose, kindness and human rights advocacy into a large technology business — and how that shift created stronger engagement, trust, and profitability. He also reflects on the “shadow we cast” as leaders, the moral and business imperatives behind Kind Business, and how every organisation can align values with value creation.

Love & leadership: What “love in business” really looks like across stakeholders—and why it’s commercially smart.

From vision to practice: The pivotal choices that turned caring into a strategic operating principle.

Human rights in supply chains: Modern slavery advocacy and how it galvanised employees and partners.

Values create value: Evidence of cultural lift, customer preference, and long-term performance benefits.

The leadership shadow: How to build psychological safety and alignment without losing accountability.

ESG now: What David is seeing in boardrooms and executive teams—and where leaders get stuck (and unstuck).

Dr David Cooke is Executive Director of ESG Advisory, Adjunct Professor at UTS Business School, and author of Kind Business: How Values Create Value. He spent 35 years in the corporate sector, holding senior roles at Xerox and Canon before serving as Managing Director & Chair (ANZ) at Konica Minolta. David has chaired the UN Global Compact Network Australia and the Australian Human Rights Institute Advisory Committee, and served on multiple NFP boards. He earned a doctorate for research on building social capital through corporate social investment (recognised with Emerald Publishing’s Global Social Impact Award) and was awarded an honorary doctorate for implementing responsible business initiatives including addressing modern slavery in supply chains. He’s a noted speaker who has presented at UN conferences in New York and Geneva.

On Linkedin

ESG Advisory Website

Kind Business book

Kind Business audiobook

In this powerful episode of the For Love & Money Podcast, Carolyn Butler-Madden speaks with Peter ter Weeme, a lifelong activist and global leader in values-based business.

Peter’s career has spanned corporate, government and nonprofit sectors across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. From his early awareness of apartheid in the 1980s to his leadership in the social purpose movement, Peter has always believed business must be about more than profit — it must also serve people and society.

In this conversation, Peter shares how love, inclusion and courage have shaped his journey. He speaks candidly about living as a gay man, raising a child with disabilities, and navigating a terminal cancer diagnosis — experiences that have deepened his philosophy of curiosity over judgment and his perspective on leadership and legacy.

This episode is both inspirational and practical — an invitation to reflect on what it means to lead with courage, authenticity and love.

Highlights from this episode:

• The role of love in business and leadership (02:09)

• How apartheid sparked Peter’s early awareness of consumer activism and purpose (03:33)

• Reflections on meeting Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the lessons that stayed with him (08:20)

• Why shifting people’s thinking about the role of business is his proudest achievement (11:00)

• Tackling complex industries with courage and curiosity (16:30)

• Living with authenticity through a terminal cancer diagnosis (36:00)

• The power of inclusion and belonging in workplaces (24:00)

• Peter’s perspective on legacy, leadership and purpose (54:00)

Peter ter Weeme is a lifelong activist for purpose and a global leader in values-based business. His career has spanned corporate, government and nonprofit sectors across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. With an MBA in environmental management and a deep commitment to social change, Peter has designed campaigns and initiatives addressing issues from public health and climate action to environmental conservation, diversity and inclusion.

In his most recent role, Peter serves as GM, Safer Gambling at a hospitality and entertainment company, where he leads strategy and programs focused on embedding social purpose at the heart of business. Prior to this,Peter was the Chief Social Purpose Officer & Vice President Player Experience at the British Columbia Lottery Corporation. There he had responsibility for marketing, communications, safer gambling, sustainability and stakeholder relations.

At the core of Peter’s work is his personal purpose: to give people the community and confidence required to solve the world’s social and environmental challenges. This commitment has shaped his career and continues to inspire the many people he has worked with around the globe.

👉 If you’re inspired by this conversation, subscribe to the For Love & Money Podcast and explore more resources at thecauseeffect.com.au.

On Linkedin

In this episode of For Love & Money, I speak with Jeremy Meltzer, Founder and CEO of i=Change, Australia’s fastest growing impact marketing platform.

Jeremy has built partnerships with over 400 brands – from Camilla and Clarins to law firms and hospitality businesses – raising more than $12 million for NGOs and impacting the lives of over 2 million people globally.

At the heart of i=Change is Jeremy’s passion for empowering women and girls, tackling gender-based violence, and creating a more sustainable world.

👤 About Jeremy Meltzer

Jeremy Meltzer is Founder & CEO of i=Change, Australia's fastest-growing impact marketing platform that bridges the worlds of businesses and impact.

In partnership with over 400 brands like Camilla, Ginger & Smart, National Tiles, Clarins - and now law firms and hospitality business, i=Change has raised over $12 million and counting for NGOs, $1 at a time, impacting the lives of over 2 million people in Australia and globally. With a focus on empowering women & girls and mitigating climate change - and delivering value back to businesses for their giving, i=Change is leading a purpose-driven business movement.

i=Change has won 4 x Australia Post ORIAs (2023, 2022, 2019), NORA’s ‘Best All-Round Sustainability Partner’ (2023), is a certified B-Corp and was voted one of 50 most innovative start-ups in Australia. i=Change uniquely leverages business to create impact, by engaging businesses pragmatically, creating system change from within - and ultimately a new business model. Jeremy believes it is critical we engage business to fund NGOs in Australia and mostly, across the developing world, where funding can provide up to 5X social return on investment - and that we see NGOs as equal partners in security and development. This helps ensure our nearest neighbours can have their basic needs met - and the opportunity to thrive - at a time when foreign aid has been so drastically cut, it is now more essential than ever.

🔍 In This Episode We Explore:

• The deeply personal experiences in Cuba that opened Jeremy's eyes to the prevalence of gender-based violence – and why he couldn’t walk past it.

• His journey from olive oil entrepreneur to impact tech founder with no tech background.

• Why businesses must move beyond profit-first thinking, and what authentic partnerships between brands and NGOs can achieve.

• How purpose and profit are not opposites, but mutually reinforcing drivers of innovation, loyalty, and growth.

• The vision for i=Change by 2030 – raising over $30 million annually to create systemic, measurable impact.

This is a conversation about what business can and must become when it integrates love, compassion, and human values into its DNA.

In this episode of The For Love & Money Podcast, I speak with Abigail Forsyth OAM, co-founder and Managing Director of KeepCup—the company that kickstarted a global revolution in reusable coffee cups and helped change the way we think about single-use packaging.

From her early days as a lawyer to co-founding a bustling Melbourne café chain with her brother Jamie, Abigail shares how a growing discomfort with packaging waste led to the creation of KeepCup—the world’s first barista-standard reusable cup. We explore the highs of fast growth, global expansion, and viral adoption, as well as the confronting challenges brought on by COVID, shifting market narratives, and scaling a purpose-led organisation.

This is a raw and honest conversation about entrepreneurship, purpose, leadership, and the tension between impact and profitability. Abigail’s insights are as grounded as they are galvanising—and essential listening for anyone building a values-based business that aims to drive real change.

Abigail is a leader in the global campaign to promote sustainability.

Known worldwide for its bright, bold and instantly recognisable reusable cups, KeepCup is a global campaign for reuse. Since launching the world’s first barista-standard reusable cup in 2009, KeepCup is now embraced by reusers the world over, diverting millions of single-use cups daily.

KeepCup is in business for better - a certified B Corporation, living wage employer and member of 1% for the Planet, donating at least 1% of global revenue to environmental causes.

Following a successful career as a solicitor, Abigail and her brother Jamie set up their own chain of cafes across the city. Alarmed by the amount of disposable packaging being wasted, Abigail started her search for a more sustainable and environmentally conscious way to serve food, and the concept of KeepCup soon became a reality.

Abigail has been honoured with an Order of Australia Medal in the General Division, for her years of outstanding service to sustainable design on the Queens Birthday list for 2021.

Abigail has opened offices and warehouses in Australia and the UK, and set up hub operations in the USA to service growing consumer demand in over 76 countries around the world, but the business has stayed loyal to its roots. KeepCup’s HQ is located in the Melbourne suburb of Clifton Hill, where Abigail lives with her family.

• Abigail’s leap from law to entrepreneurship

• The inspiration behind KeepCup and how it found early traction

• How KeepCup became a global lifestyle brand with a loyal tribe

• Navigating major setbacks—from COVID to cultural backlash

• Why profitability is vital to sustaining purpose

• Leadership lessons learned through growth, failure and recovery

• The evolution of KeepCup from innovation to lifestyle

• The launch of their new campaign, #SipCheck

• 🌐 KeepCup: keepcup.com

• 📸 KeepCup Instagram: instagram.com/keepcup

• 🔗 Abigail Forsyth on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/abigail-forsyth-68886211

• 💡 The Cause Effect (Carolyn’s consultancy): thecauseeffect.com.au

• 🎧 More podcast episodes: Podcast Page | Listen on Spotify | Apple Podcasts