In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with Nick Jaffe about focus, responsibility, and designing a life that is both enjoyable and exacting.

Drawing on Nick’s experiences as a freelance photographer, filmmaker, sailor, overlander, craftsman, writer, builder, entrepreneur, surfer, and dad, this conversation explores hyper-focus, tolerance for discomfort, and how life changes with responsibility for others.

This is an honest conversation about agency, endurance, and choosing how to live well.

This episode explores

• Hyper-focus and decisive execution
• Designing life for freedom and readiness
• Responsibility as a clarifier
• Risk, endurance, and tolerance for discomfort
• Activism, privacy, and moral seriousness
• Building work and products that last

Guest links

• Nick Jaffe: https://www.nickjaffe.com.au
• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nick_jaffe
• YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@NickJaffe
• Kohutt™ - Nick's Australian-made goods label https://kohutt.com.au
• Kohutt Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kohutt.workshop
• "The Years of Thunder" by Nick Jaffe https://www.nickjaffe.com.au/book

Chapters

02:20 Hyper-focus, full commitment, and getting things done
06:20 The best life experience: children
08:04 Designing an interesting life
15:34 Flow, Federation Square, privacy, and partnerships
19:10 Privacy, apps, and AI agents
23:00 Wild surfing, remote Tasmania, and secret lagoon barrels
34:00 Readiness, opportunity, fool-hardiness, and being lucky
38:04 Circumnavigation, big ambitions, and containerised efficiency
42:00 Establishing Kohutt™ and building heirloom, outdoor gear

Explore further

Book a Lab: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits

Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne, 25 January, 2026
Produced at the Travancore, Violet Town, Tullamarine and Peregian offices, 1 - 15 February, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au

In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with Peter Spence about accessing natural genius through joy, presence, and expansive ways of thinking.

Pete reflects on decades of work across elite sport, coaching, arts, and leadership, drawing insights from cricket, ballet, and Cirque du Soleil. Together, they explore how inner focus, openness, and joy support sustained performance, meaningful collaboration, and more fulfilling ways of living and working.

This episode explores

• Joy and satisfaction as foundations for performance
• How high performers access “no thought” states
• Self-organisation, spontaneity, & non-linear thinking
• Coaching as listening, facilitation, & restraint
• Moving beyond mechanical toward quantum perspectives
• Self-organisation as a core human capacity

Guest links:

• Peter Spence: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-spence-6021016/

• Shawn Green: The Way of Baseball (stillness and “no thought”)

• Dr Amy Saltzman: mindfulness in sport, medicine, and education

• Graham Winter: hleadership, sport psychology, and Olympic work https://www.grahamwinterpsychology.com

• Debbie Muir: coaching, leadership, and Great Traits
https://medium.com/@debbiemuir/about

• Meg Wheatley: Soul-grounded Leadership and systems thinking https://margaretwheatley.com/

• Kalvinder Shields: economics, leadership, and meditation
https://meditationaustralia.org.au/about-us/ma-council-and-patrons/

• Dr Elise Bialylew – Mindful in May https://www.mindfulinmay.org/

• Chris Laszlo https://www.sustainablevaluepartners.com

Books:

• The Way of Baseball: Finding Stillness at 95 mph by Shawn Green & Gordon McAlpine https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Way-of-Baseball/Shawn-Green/9781439191200

• A Still Quiet Place for Athletes by Dr Amy Saltzman https://stillquietplace.com/product/a-still-quiet-place-for-athletes-mindfulness-skills-for-achieving-peak-performance-and-finding-flow-in-sports-and-life/

• Quantum Leadership: New Consciousness in Business by Tsao & Laszlo https://www.sup.org/books/business/quantum-leadership

• Works by Danah Zohar on quantum thinking

Chapters:
02:17 High performance across arts, sport, business
07:15 Cricket in Australia alongside ballet and rugby
11:22 Innovation in elite sport, openness, and fulfilling lives
20:00 AI, directorship, mindful technology, and Graham Winter
27:00 Joy as a foundation for satisfaction and achievement
35:00 AIS, VIS, and Cirque du Soleil performance models
48:20 Mindfulness and recognising individual talent

Explore further:
Book a Lab: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne, 16 January, 2026
Produced at the Travancore and Violet Town offices, 26 January - 6 February, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au

In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with Olena Severyn about building a grounded, mobile life through community, presence, and thoughtful communication.

Olena shares how choosing the right environments, cultivating presence, and how writing genuinely human emails support meaningful work, wellbeing, and connection. Drawing on her experience as a digital nomad, email strategist, and wellness practitioner, this conversation explores how calm, clarity, and simplicity create work that people want to engage with.

This is a practical and reflective conversation about community, attention, and designing rhythms that support both performance and optimism.

This episode explores:
• Community as a compass for travel, work, and decision-making
• Presence and self-awareness in a mobile, nomadic life
• The freediving mindset: calm, grounded, and steady under pressure
• Writing emails people actually want to read
• Simple communication that builds trust and connection
• Work rhythms that support focus, wellbeing, and optimism

Guest links:

• Olena Severyn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olena-severyn/
• Network School: https://www.ns.com
• Recommended book: The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle https://eckharttolle.com/the-power-of-now/

Chapters:
01:02 Olena’s background, destination travel, and community-first living
11:40 Freediving, presence, and calm under pressure
19:00 Staying connected through simple communication
21:40 Writing emails people actually read
30:05 Belonging and contribution
35:00 Building successful communities at Network School
38:00 Productivity, structure, and balance as a digital nomad
41:00 Listening to your body: nutrition and self-trust
43:22 Inner work, optimism, and imagining positive futures

Explore further:
Discover your Natural Genius one-on-one with Sam: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne and Bali, 18 January, 2026
Produced at the Travancore and Violet Town offices, 26 January - 5 February, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au

In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with long-time friend and leadership practitioner Rosalinda Batson about emotional intelligence as a lived practice, intuition, and committing fully to meaningful work without keeping a plan B.

Drawing on decades of experience in leadership development, organisational dynamics, and emotional intelligence, Ros reflects on courage, integrity, motherhood, friendship, and long-term contribution. This is a conversation about leading with awareness, backing big decisions, and building a life with boundaries that hold.

This episode explores

• Emotional intelligence as a daily leadership practice
• Intuition, sensing, and decision-making
• Fear, love, and commitment without an escape hatch
• Leadership, motherhood, feminism and sustainable boundaries
• Long-term contribution, volunteering, and integrity
• Deep friendship and what it creates

Guest links

• Rosalinda Batson: https://au.linkedin.com/in/rosbatson
• Neural Networks: https://neuralnetworks.com.au
• Emotional Intelligence for Leaders, Coaches and Changemakers: Free version: https://www.neuralnetworks.com.au/free-ebook and full book: https://www.amazon.com.au/Leaders-Coaches-Changemakers-Emotional-Intelligence/dp/B0FF538YSW/

Chapters

00:14 Introduction to Rosalinda
02:42 Knowing what you stand for as a leader
06:29 Intuition, sensing, and decision-making
11:00 Commitment without a plan B
19:36 Writing, feminism, and self-actualisation
27:25 Courage, contribution, and volunteering at scale
33:40 Getting a lot done together and cultivating curiosity
40:00 Emotional Intelligence for Leaders, Coaches and Changemakers
45:00 Friendship, parenting, and shared adventures

Explore further

Signal Check-In: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits

Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne, 23 January, 2026
Produced at the Violet Town, Terang and Warrnambool offices, 26 January - 1 February, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au

In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with educator and collaborator Hamish Curry about curiosity as a way of moving through life and work, designing conditions for serendipity, and education that builds agency.

Drawing on Hamish’s work across Cool.org, the State Library of Victoria, and the DO Lectures Australia, this is a conversation about playfulness, designing experiences, and creating environments where people deeply learn and can’t quite explain why they’re feeling a certain way.

This episode explores:
• A “go have adventures” operating principle
• Curated serendipity and the conditions that invite meaningful collisions
• Curiosity as a driver of learning
• Designing memorable experiences using people, place, and program
• Building community through education and shared experiences
• Hope, optimism, and practical frameworks that support action
• The success of the DO lectures Australia

Guest links:

• Hamish Curry - General Manager, Cool.org. Educator, enabler, collaborator, schemer. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamishcurry

• Eddie Harran https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwardharran

• Cool.org’s Hope and Act Frameworks & AI Literacy for Teachers Course

• Enjoy a DO lectures Australia talk: https://thedolectures.com/everything/?eventType=DO%20Australia

• the DO lectures Australia venue & (hosts) Tess & Graham Payne - payneshut.com

• Apply for the DO lectures https://thedolectures.com/events/do-wales/

• Pete Spence, Sports & Performance Consultant and creator of Creative Performance Exchange (CPX) https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-spence-6021016/

Books:
• Orbiting the Giant Hairball – Gordon MacKenzie

Music:
• To Let a Good Thing Die – Bruno Major
https://open.spotify.com/track/2nMeu6UenVvwUktBCpLMK9

Chapters:
02:30 Playfulness in work, curiosity, learning through experience and sagacity
06:10 Designing successful experiences
09:30 Curated serendipity
12:00 People, place, program: designing deeply memorable experiences
18:40 Creating community and memorable learning experiences
39:47 Hope and Optimism, the Hope + Act framework and working with Harvard researchers

Explore further:
Book a Lab: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne, 16 January, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au

In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with Nicklas Wallberg about social entrepreneurship, trust, and designing work that people genuinely want to show up for.

Drawing on experience across facilitation, social entrepreneurship, and cross-sector collaboration, Nicklas shares how trust is built early, how conditions for truth-telling are created, and why joy is not a by-product of good work but a deliberate design choice.

This is a grounded conversation about courage, collaboration, and making thoughtful career decisions that create freedom and long-term impact.

This episode explores:
• Social entrepreneurship and individual leadership
• Trust-building that starts early and compounds over time
• Collaboration across systems and sectors
• Creating truth invitations and conditions for honest dialogue
• Joy and fun as deliberate design choices in meaningful work
• Making hard career decisions that lead to growth and freedom

Guest links:
• Nicklas Wallberg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nwallberg/
• Tram Sessions: https://www.youtube.com/@TramSessions

Chapters:
00:13 Introduction to Nicklas
01:04 Improving systems through social entrepreneurship and Tram Sessions
08:00 Facilitation, trust, and early conditions
17:40 Why social impact attracts good people and how joy is embedded in work
31:00 Choosing when to leave a great role and trusting the next chapter
35:00 Lessons from Nicklas’s grandfather on kindness and leadership

Explore further:
Book a Lab: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne and Stockholm, 20 January, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au

In this episode, Sam Bell speaks with strategic advisor Lisa Gamboni about strengthening your voice, holding clarity under pressure, and leading in ways that create space for others to succeed.

Drawing on decades in high-stakes commercial environments, Lisa reflects on self-belief, empathy, and discernment as essential capabilities for clear thinking and grounded leadership. This is a practical conversation about agency, courage, and effective leadership.

This episode explores:
• Strengthening your voice in complex environments, being your own snowflake: doing “you” (uniquely)
• Self-belief under pressure, and saying what others won’t
• Calling out bullying
• Developing capability: high performance teams, senior leaders, new consultants
• Deep empathy and natural instinct as core advisory capabilities
• The conditions that let executive teams “make room” for each other
• Lisa's observations of successful, high performance teams and leaders from her time as a senior partner at KPMG, Deloitte, and boutique consultancies, working with private equity firms and businesses across the globe

Guest links:
• Lisa Gamboni: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-gamboni/
• Dealside: https://dealside.com.au/

Chapters:
02:06 Thinking for yourself, and backing your own view
06:50 Empathy and the human context behind performance
10:27 Challenging unacceptable behavior in leadership
15:40 Lisa’s sixth sense in assessing leaders capabilities
24:20 “Big buckets of cold water” to calm inflamed, high-pressure situations
30:10 Telepathy and flow in high performing teams
35:00 The “Mickey Mouse” approach: listening more
38:20 Leadership that makes room for everyone’s success
43:49 Under pressure: “Do you want the answer or the lesson?”
48:00 Highly valued advisory: one slide, one phrase, one story

Explore further:
Book a Lab: https://naturalgenius.com.au
Learn more about Sam: https://samanthabell.com.au
Subscribe to hear future episodes.

Credits:
Hosted by Samantha (Sam) Bell in Melbourne, 16 January, 2026
Natural Genius Podcast https://naturalgenius.com.au