John Kugel, the 397th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, told me something that I already vaguely understood but had never been able to articulate. When we meet someone, John explained, we’re quick to put that person in a box – and if we believe that box is not useful [...]
When I asked Adrian Harrington, the 396th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, why he was so passionate about housing affordability and social housing, he told me about a poignant incident from a few years ago. Adrian was attending the opening of a new community housing development when he heard [...]
Della Stanley, the 395th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, was hoping to become a partner in her law firm, when two key events happened. The first was the Global Financial Crisis, which drastically affected the firm’s profitability and made it put all partnership promotions on indefinite hold. The second [...]
It took a near-death experience for Anne Gately, the 393rd person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, to realise that Australia needed to make a profound cultural shift. In 2018, Anne was diagnosed with an incurable stage four melanoma. Historically, people in that situation survived for only 12-24 months; but Anne [...]
The day before I met Tim Hewson for lunch, the mental health charity he founded, Mongrels Men Health & Wellbeing, set a goal of helping one million men per year by 2034. Tim, the 392nd person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, founded Mongrels in 2021 as a side project. After [...]
Tanya Kunze, the 391st person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, had an idea for a TV show, which she pitched to CNBC Africa. Tanya was running a company that was the market leader in corporate wellness, and was passionate about the subject, so she suggested that CNBC Africa broadcast a [...]
Wally Gebrael, the 390th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, builds more than 200 granny flats per year with his award-winning business, Granny Flat Solutions. Wally began life as a designer, before co-founding Granny Flat Solutions in 2011, two years after the NSW government introduced legislation that made it much [...]
Kiki Paul, the 389th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, moved to Australia in 1994 for a temporary working holiday, in part to shake off a failed romance. It's funny how life works out – she met a wonderful man two months later; he proposed 13 days after that; and [...]
Margarita Pavlou, the 388th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, told me that, in her experience, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. This remark says a lot about her personality, which values cooperation, openness and connection, in both her personal and professional life. When Margarita was a teenager, [...]
Stan Giaouris, the 387th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, found a novel way to gain experience during his two decades as a builder – he worked 80- to 100-hour weeks, which meant he was able to learn twice as fast as the average person. Stan worked his way up [...]
