“If you don't know where you are going, any road can take you there,” Lewis Carroll once wrote. Conversely, if you know exactly where you want to go, it’s likely you’ll plot a clear, direct path to that destination. William Zhang, the 139th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is [...]
Lenka Taylor, the 138th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, has created a lifestyle a world removed from her childhood. Lenka was born in communist Czechoslovakia. When she was 12, her family went on holiday to Greece; once there, her parents explained the trip was actually a ruse to escape [...]
Graeme Holm, the 137th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is hungry. He’s hungry to change the finance industry. He’s hungry for success. And, at one point in his life, he was literally hungry. So Graeme hired a personal trainer. He liked her – really liked her. So, every week, [...]
Thomas Cho, the 136th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, is building his business one rejection at a time. Thomas is the general manager of Alkalife, a company that sells naturally alkaline bottled water. As the GM, one of Thomas’s main roles is to generate sales; right now, Alkalife is [...]
Life is all about compromises. When we pursue one activity, it’s at the expense of another. When we mix in certain circles, we may have to show one side of us and hide another. Gillian Woon, the 135th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, knows this only too well. Gillian [...]
Nancy Youssef is a finance broker, a mentor, an author, a philanthropist, a keynote speaker … and a powerhouse. Nancy, the 134th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, has achieved so much in her career. She’s built two successful businesses, Classic Finance Group and Classic Mentoring & Coaching. She’s twice [...]
If life had turned out differently, I would never have met Daniel Talbot for lunch – because he would’ve been in Peru instead. Dan, the 133rd person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, moved to Lima in 2018, with his Peruvian wife. Dan has years of corporate experience in the ICT [...]
Since I began my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers in five years, I’ve noticed something: chatty people tend to be better at talking than listening. What struck me about Georgia Giannaros, the 132nd person I've met, is that she’s not only a great conversationalist, she’s also a great listener. That’s probably why I quickly [...]
If you look at Nathan Lovett’s business card, it says he’s the CEO of the National Indigenous Culinary Institute. But Nathan, the 131st person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, sees himself not so much as an executive but a people person. Nathan has been building relationships and developing talent throughout [...]
Steven York is the 130th person I've met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers – and probably the most fascinating. Steve spent 19 years in the NSW Police Force, including a decade in the hostage negotiation unit (which he commanded for three years). Good negotiators are good listeners and communicators, Steve explained. You [...]
