Why am I having lunch with 500 strangers in five years? So I can meet people like Mario Bekes. Mario, the 48th person I’ve met on my #500lunches journey, is an amazing person with an amazing story. Mario was born in Croatia. He was kicked out of home when he was 14. He was wounded while [...]
There were two big discussion points that emerged from my lunch with Kian Ghahramani, the 47th person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers. First, as Kian reminded me, if we don’t properly value ourselves, we can’t expect others to either – apt advice, given that Kian is an accounting, tax and [...]
You heard it here first: 2020 is going to be a big year for finance broker Trudy Ho. Trudy, the 46th person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is about to open her own business, Concept Funding. Trudy has committed to waking up 6am every weekday so she can exercise and [...]
Wow! Mel Armstrong-Jones, the 45th person I’ve met on my #500lunches journey, is one seriously impressive human. She’s a tech entrepreneur futurist. She’s a keynote speaker. She’s a trainer. She’s an author. She’s a mother of two. Oh, and she’s also an award-winning celebrant and yoga instructor, because it’s not like she’s got enough going on. [...]
A memorable incident occurred five weeks ago – one I’m convinced will be a milestone in my life. This incident occurred just before I met Cullen Haynes – the 35th person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers. I arrived early for our lunch. I walked into the restaurant. I saw a [...]
“What are your strengths?” This was a surprisingly difficult question to answer for both me and Valerie Saindon, the 44th person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers. Val quickly thought of a first strength – being good with people. That’s true: Val is fun and vivacious. However, it took Val longer [...]
Marietta Courtney is so passionate about education and children that she lights up when she’s talking about her school. Marietta, the 43rd person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is principal of Cameragal Montessori School. I was really drawn to Marietta’s warm personality and the enthusiasm she showed for Montessori’s unique [...]
What do you do if you’re in sales and your customers are playing hard to get? That’s the challenge that’s recently fallen into the lap of Vien Luong, the 42nd person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers. After a successful career in operations and pre-sales, Vien was appointed sales director of [...]
Earlier this year, I read a profound quote from Michael Port: “Many business problems are simply personal problems in disguise.” This is something Shilpa Kulshrestha sees regularly in her work as a life and career coach. Shilpa, the 41st person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, says the reason people don’t [...]
I’m in the process of having lunch with 500 strangers for fun. But Peter Hocking, the 40th person I’ve met, does something similar for a living. The reason Peter is a prolific networker is because he owns the Australasian franchise for EGN (Executives' Global Network), an international organisation that holds tailored peer groups (similar to mastermind [...]
