In this episode of The Wisdom Of... Show, host Simon Bowen speaks with Diana Williams, Founder and Chair of the Board at Fernwood Fitness, Australia's pioneering women-only health and fitness franchise. Diana shares profound insights on building businesses without business plans, franchising with purpose, and why 98% of what we worry about never happens. Discover how a stay-at-home mum with no industry experience created an entirely new category and became the first woman inducted into the Franchise Council of Australia Hall of Fame.

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00:00 Introduction and how an abandoned classroom became a national franchise

05:18 The conviction that drove category creation in women's fitness

12:42 Why having no business plan sometimes works better than having one

18:52 From critical mess to critical mass - the early franchising chaos

25:36 The ownership solution - why franchisees brought what employees couldn't

33:44 Getting legal exemptions after creating the category, not before

40:08 Choosing succession from within - why Belinda was the right choice

41:00 The 98% rule - why most worries never materialise

52:57 Baby steps philosophy - putting brush strokes on the canvas

Diana Williams is the Founder and Chair of the Board of Fernwood Fitness, Australia's leading women-only health and fitness franchise. Over 36 years, she transformed a single makeshift gym in an abandoned school classroom in Bendigo into a national powerhouse with 73 clubs, 90,000 members, 2,200 employees, and $75M+ annual turnover.

Recognised as a category creator who changed the landscape of health and fitness for Australian women forever, Williams is the first woman inducted into the Franchise Council of Australia Hall of Fame. She has received numerous honors including the 2005 Telstra Australian Businesswoman of the Year and multiple Hall of Fame inductions.

In 2025, Diana transitioned from CEO to Chair, remaining actively involved in guiding the company's strategic direction.

LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/diana-williams-b39b456

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dianawilliamsofficial/?hl=en

Fernwood Fitness: https://www.fernwoodfitness.com.au/

Simon has spent over two decades working with influential leaders across complex industries. His focus is on elevating thinking in organisations, recognising that success is directly proportional to the quality of thinking and ideas within a business. Simon leads the renaissance of thinking through his work with global leaders and organisations.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonbowen-mm/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialsimonbowen/

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Over the past 12 months, Simon Bowen has spoken with dozens of the world's most consequential leaders on The Wisdom Of... Show. This special compilation episode brings together ten profound moments of wisdom and leadership that continue to resonate as we close 2025 and step into 2026. From manipulation with good intent to AI as a new species, from emotional intelligence gaps that determine senior leadership success to fear as a preparation tool, these insights reveal what leadership looks like at the highest levels.

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00:00 Introduction: Celebrating a year of extraordinary leadership conversations

03:45 Jeff Dudan: Leadership as manipulation with good intent and the power of positive influence

09:22 Cameron Herold: Why scale is not an extension of vision and the context versus concept delegation trap

16:18 Akshay Nanavati: Fear as a preparation tool and acceptance of isness as freedom from suffering

23:54 Tamara Jackson: Being a light for others and the true meaning of authentic leadership

31:07 Catriona Wallace: AI as a new species and the existential opportunities ahead

38:45 Nick Halaris: Business as a constant force for good and the intention behind every transaction

45:19 Mike Desjardins: The emotional intelligence gap that separates senior leaders who succeed from those who plateau

52:38 Jim Garrison: Wisdom begins as rebellion and living in questions rather than answers

59:43 Isaac Balbin: Humans plus machines and the future of competitive advantage

67:15 Radek Sali: Insights on scaling businesses with wisdom and intention

Simon has spent over two decades working with influential leaders across complex industries. His focus is on elevating thinking in organisations, recognising that success is directly proportional to the quality of thinking and ideas within a business. Simon leads the renaissance of thinking through his work with global leaders and organisations.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonbowen-mm/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialsimonbowen/

Website: https://thesimonbowen.com/

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In this episode of The Wisdom Of... Show, host Simon Bowen speaks with The Hon. Victor Dominello, CEO of the Future Government Institute and Co-Founder of ServiceGen. As NSW's inaugural Minister for Customer Service and Digital, the first role of its kind anywhere in the world, Victor delivered landmark reforms that transformed fragmented government services into an internationally studied model of citizen-focused delivery. Discover the Trust Trinity framework that achieved 85% digital driver's licence adoption, how to build trust systematically in complex transformations, and why the moonshot approach beats incremental thinking every time.

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00:00 Introduction and creating the world's first Ministry for Customer Service and Digital

07:15 The foundational principle: governments exist to serve people

15:42 The Trust Trinity framework. Digital Identity, Digital Credentials, Performance

24:18 Why 85% adoption is possible when trust is built systematically

32:55 From dozens of agencies to one website, one phone number, one account

41:30 The digital identity paradox. How control enhances privacy

49:12 Performance measurement as feedback loops for continuous improvement

57:08 COVID-19 response and the $1.4 billion Dine & Discover economic injection

01:05:44 Moonshot thinking versus incremental improvement

Victor Dominello is a globally recognised leader in public sector transformation and a pioneer of secure, citizen-centred digital identity. His guiding principle is simple. Governments exist to serve people, and in the digital age, that service must be trusted, seamless, and measurable.

As NSW's inaugural Minister for Customer Service and Digital, Victor delivered landmark reforms including one of the world's first fully digital driver's licences, with 85% adoption and 93% satisfaction, statewide QR check-ins, digital vaccine certificates, and the Dine & Discover programme which injected over $1.4 billion into local economies during COVID-19.

Over his 12 years in cabinet, Victor held portfolios in Digital Government, Innovation, Finance, and Aboriginal Affairs. He drove transformative initiatives such as the creation of the Department of Customer Service, Service NSW, and the $2.1B Digital Restart Fund.

Today, as CEO of the Future Government Institute, Victor advises governments, the World Bank, and major organisations on modernising services and embedding trust. He is also Chair of the Services Australia Independent Advisory Board, Senior Advisor to the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, and a Director of the Tech Council of Australia.

Victor has been recognised in The Australian's Top 100 Innovators and in Okta's Identity 25 list of global visionaries, with his image featured on the Nasdaq Tower in Times Square.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victordominello

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victordominello

Twitter: https://x.com/VictorDominello

Future Government Institute:...