It was an incredible trip. I caught up with my publishing team from Wiley IRL for the first time, and had a lovely meal and chats with fellow consultants and Substackers Andrew Hollo and Brendon Baker .

I wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what Jason and I explored as we crafted my new Work Fame keynote.

(If you want the unedited post-session debrief, listen to our 17min podcast, it’s good!).

Why did I seek out help on my keynote?

I wanted to make the book really come to life. The thing with a keynote is, you can’t just get up there and rehash the book.

A lot of the time, I help other people with their presentations, but it’s very hard to do this for yourself. I wanted to understand how Jason’s maps his presentations, how he uses language and humour, and all of the things. Basically, if you want to be the best - work with the best.

He immediately dispelled this myth up front - Leanne, don’t start your speech with a story.

Thank goodness! This is advice I heard all the time and I was putting so much pressure on myself to ‘find the right story’, But we decided to kick it off in a more real way and respond to things like, what I’ve been hearing at the conference so far, what conversations have I had with guests, what did the previous speaker say, etc?

He also asked me about my stage introduction, and how we could weave some elements of that into my opening… Clever!

In an AI world, be less performative

We threw out the performative sides of a speech. What we didn’t want was, “Leanne’s on stage, it’s like a video, let’s hit Play now.”

There was a moment when that was a thing (in Jason’s words, we’ve been led to believe this given the nature of TED Talks). But in the world of AI, what’s really going to stand out is being someone who can be in the moment, who can connect with what’s going on in the room, and who is just real and honest.

I love that Jason’s approach means I’m not going on stage to preach and pretend I do things 100% right all the time.

For example, in my book, I talk about two different types of morning walks. I won’t spill the details, but there’s a walk you can do that’s very good for building your Work Fame, and I’ll admit that 90% of the time I don’t do that walk.

However, it’s in the moments where I really want to work on connecting with others that I’ll switch into that mode. I encourage people at the conference to switch into that mode too, because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity given the people they can meet.

There are 2-3 key elements of this keynote I’ve crafted that I need to rehearse and get clear in my mind.

However, his advice is not to “rehearse the whole thing” - because I’ve written the book and have depth/understanding of every concept, I can speak to it at a certain level that’s natural and not over-polished.

(Speaking of disrupting the way things are done, my fav question from Jason was, “How can we harvest the pain in your life for a commercial outcome?” (i.e. the bread and butter of the modern-motivational speaker).

I laughed. Hilarious.

We didn’t do that, but we did map the emotional arc of the speech. It’s not all HAPPY HAPPY, there’s contrast in energy.

A keynote isn’t just a collection of good ideas.

You are taking a group of people somewhere. Some will be sceptical, some will already agree with you, some are tapping out just thinking about morning tea (we’ve all been there!).

So we mapped the emotional and energetic arc of the keynote. Where do I need to disarm people? Where do I need to challenge them? Where do I need to slow down? Where do I need to lift the energy?

That was a new way for me to think about keynote design.

One thing I have to do early in the piece is define Work Fame and share why it isn’t just a nice-to-have but it’s essential in 2026 and beyond.

I get the allergic reaction to fame. If it feels uncomfortable or self-centred, I understand. But it’s not about you; it’s about how you show up in the world, and how people know you for the ideas and contributions you make. We mapped out ways to capture the skeptics very early on. Cool!

The flexible format

The more freedom I want on stage, the more structure I need underneath it. Jason calls it “structureless structure”.

I know where we’re going, the big ideas, and moments that need to land. But I don’t need to know every sentence I’ll say at 10:17am on a Tuesday in front of 600 people. Thank goodness.

We’ve built in time for improv, we designed it so I don’t really need slides (just a couple of placeholders). I can run it as a 45-minute keynote, extend it to 60 minutes, or turn it into a 90-minute workshop.

There are moments of audience participation throughout, so it’s very much an interactive keynote. It’s real, it connects with people in the room, and it encourages them to connect with each other.

My job now is to bed down these ideas, practise a few things, and get it out into the world.

Want to see the keynote in action?

If you’re interested in booking a Work Fame keynote or workshop for your conference, hit reply.

Jason was very complimentary about the concept, in our podcast together he shared,

“ We have been working on the Work Fame keynote, which I’m just so in love with… What’s being crafted here, a keynote inspired by the book Work Fame, is going to be such a gift to events, to event organisers, and to industries and professions. What you’re bringing to this, Leanne, is so enlivening. It’s something that immediately has a positive impact in the room.”

I feel so lucky to have had this time together!

And if you're a speaker who wants this kind of help yourself, Jason will be offering it to others. He's building a speaker program to do for other speakers what he did for me - sign up for his brilliant museletter, so you get the dets when it’s ready foxwizard.com.

See you next week,

🌴

Leanne “Less Performative” Hughes

p.s. I’m jumping on a live-stream with Alan Weiss today, talking about finding your competitive edge in a world of AI. Bring your coffee/martini, join us live or watch the replay here.

p.p.s. There’s only 20 days left to have your name featured on the Wall of Work Fame.

So, rather than telling you what I’ve been up to, I’m sharing four screenshots and the ideas they sparked.

(Btw, the screenshots are included in this email, but if they don’t appear in your email provider, click “Read in app” to view them).

Text 1: On connecting with others

This text chat was about how I keep my professional connections alive.

A fellow consultant, Brendon Baker () txt me about a recent gig for a high-profile client, and how the whole thing came about.

In short? Through R&R.

(No, not Rest and Relaxation…. Referrals and Relationships!)

He asked how I keep my connections alive, and I told him the truth: I don't have a structure, or even a CRM nudging me to 'Contact Bob, it's been 90 days since we last spoke.'

When someone comes to mind, I just reach out. Sometimes there's a reason, sometimes it's just a, 'Hey, I saw this and thought of you.'

Usually it when I’m out walking, where it’s super easy to grab my phone and shoot a text, or a voice note.

You can have all the systems in the world for networking, but if your underlying mindset is transactional, people can detect it.

But that’s also the tricky thing about organic connection. It’s hard to turn something natural into a system, re-engineer your approach, or teach someone to do it “organically”! Any tips??

Text 2: Graphic design room service

A pre-coffee text message I sent to someone who “just gets it” at 5am.

A shout-out to Jade Miller ().

You’ll know Jade’s work if you’ve seen The 2-Hour Workshop Blueprint, because she designed the cover and all the illustrations in that book, as well as the illustrations for my next book Work Fame.

I had a bunch of sessions coming up and, at the last minute, decided I wanted an A3 worksheet designed. I woke up at 5am, grabbed a notepad and drew what I wanted from my hotel bed.

(Yes, don’t follow me for wellness content).

I filmed a 90-second video, explaining my scribbles and shot it off to her via Whatsapp.

She designed it that day, it was printed the next day, we were off to the races.

I loved this approach. I love that I didn’t have to sit down in front of a computer and write an arduous email explaining what I wanted. It took me 90 seconds to draw; 90 seconds to record what I wanted… and done. SO EASY.

This is one of the underrated benefits of finding really good people. You can send them a random sketch and say, “You know what I mean?”

(Although, in fairness, next time I’ll give you more notice, Jade! Btw, she does more than just illustrations, she’s got the best brain on getting your book out into the world, too).

Text 3: Keynote homework

Dr Jason Fox sent me a glorious 5-page PDF of strategic questions to ponder ahead of our session to map out my new Work Fame keynote.

Look, tomorrow, I was meant to be flying to Munich, to pick up a Porsche 911 convertible to go on an incredible cross-country convoy; but work has been relentless, and I’ve had to stick around (I make it sound like an easy decision as I write that but it wasn’t, I have so much FOMO).

However, that also opened up the opportunity to work on a project I’d been putting off - packaging up and perfecting my new Work Fame keynote.

I’ve enlisted former Australian keynote speaker of the year and great friend, Dr Jason Fox, AKA Foxwizard to help design my new Work Fame keynote speech.

I have the content (obvs, it’s in the book), but Jason is masterful at the keynote structure, storytelling, vocab, taking the audience on a journey (or, in his language, “A quest”) and stage craft. I can’t wait to see what unravels by working with him!

In this text, he shared the best curated primer questions. These go waaaaay beyond the generic, “What are your three key messages?”

These are big questions that make you stop and think about what you want the audience to experience, what you want them to believe differently by the end, what they might initially be sceptical about when it comes to you as the messenger, and so much more.

If you’re looking for help with a keynote, keep an eye out for Jason’s work.

I’ll share some behind-the-scenes of the process here and on socials next week. In the meantime, sign up for his brilliant newsletter here.

Text 4: Omg.. 26 days to go?

My friend, Jet, checked in to see how the book launch was going…

His message included the words, “One month left?!”

Whaaaaat. Seeing it written down like that made it feel VERY REAL.

The good news? The pre-launch is actually going brilliantly. The pre-sales have already convinced a bunch of Australian retailers to stock Work Fame, including airport bookstores around the country from October (if you’ve pre-ordered, thank you so, so, so much!)

Come to the launch premiere

If you’re in Brisbane, you’re invited to celebrate with me in style.

Friday 16 October, 5pm

There’ll be a red carpet, a cool venue, a decent bar tab, food, the best opportunity to meet the wonderful people in my network/community/friendship groups, and oh yeah - a very fun mystery guest I’m not revealing yet.

Get your Brisbane premiere ticket.

And if you’re buying Work Fame for a team, organisation, event or group, the bulk pre-order specials are available until 30 September.

See the Work Fame bulk pre-order options.

…and one more thing

The Work Fame podcast is now live.

Listen to the Work Fame podcast

If there’s a question you want me to tackle on the podcast, send it my way.

🌴

Enjoyed this week’s texts? Tap the heart💙 below. It lets me (and Substack) know you’d like more of this kind of thing.

See you next Friday,

Leanne “R&R” Hughes

There are so many different ways to do this, I know some folks like sharing their ‘Rules of Engagement’, or, get their groups working collaboratively on ‘Group Agreements’, or ‘Hopes and Fears’ from the upcoming session.

I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule of what you should(n’t) do, but one thing I like to bring in time-to-time is a ‘vibe continuum’.

Here’s an example from a session I ran this week

I had two teams come together to work towards setting their initiatives for a program of work.

To set the session up, I drew a few continuums on a flipchart, which you can see pictured below (notice, my handwriting hasn’t improved over the years… still!).

When I was thinking about the type of workshop I wanted to run, I knew I wanted it to be:

• Focused on initiatives (programs of work), not tactics.

• Challenge ideas; not the person

• To start with discussion, then end with decision-making.

• Light, not heavy.

• Success; not perfection (and, success is a range - thanks, Alan Weiss) - this was such a helpful one to keep the conversation moving, and not stuck on semantics.

I drew up the continuums in purple beforehand.

Then, after sharing a bit about the agenda, I walked over to the flipchart with my green Sharpie and stated, “Okay, so here’s where we’re going to play. Here’s where we need to focus the conversation, based on the meeting outcome.”

I drew the dots on where I’d ideally like the group to show up; and gave examples of what that would actually look like/why it was important.

I like doing this is because of the way people interpret words.

Take “respectful”, for example.

If you say, “We’re going to be respectful in this workshop,” what does that actually mean?

For some people, it might mean showing up on time, for someone else, it might mean not interrupting. For someone else, it might mean giving everyone space to contribute.

We use the same word, but we can mean completely different things.

By putting the word against a continuum, you get much more specific about what it means in the room, for this group and session, today.

And you can show people how much you’re going to index towards one side or the other.

You can use this, of course, if you’re a consultant, hosting an event, or a workshop facilitator. But you can also use it if you’re a leader running a meeting.

You can also ask the group to select where they want to play.

It’s a cool tool because different meetings have different intentions, and different vibes.

So rather than giving people a binary set of rules about how to behave, you can just visually map it.

It takes 30 seconds - but it helps set the right vibe for the conversations that follow.

What do you use to ‘set the tone’ in your sessions? LMK!

Leave a comment

Team, I’m 34 days away from WORK FAME (Wiley), my second book going live and the book bonuses disappearing forever.

If you want to pick my brain over 45 mins, it costs $1500. However, you get the same Leanne brain-picking value (sounds appealing right?!) by pre-ordering 15 copies here (saving $1000).

You can ask me anything on these calls; or ask me to give you feedback on anything about business, workshops, marketing, you name it.

If you purchase 100 books, choose one of the following bonus experiences (valued at $5,500) (ONLY 1x 100 BOOK OFFER REMAINS)

• A 6-hour 1:1 Red Carpet Experience with Leanne in Brisbane, including lunch. You'll just need to make your way to Brisbane, or

• A 2-hour virtual Work Fame intensive for your team, organisation, or community, or

• If you're based in Brisbane or surrounding areas, swap the virtual session for a 2-hour in-person workshop.

Buy one book and live in Brisbane?

You get an invite to the coolest party of the year, the WORK FAME RED CARPET PREMIERE on Friday 16 October from 5pm (features a very cool mystery guest!!).

Pre-order the book here and claim your star on Leanne’s Wall of Work Fame.

Folks are flying in from around Australia for the party. Join us!

🌴

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the ‘vibe check’ tool? Click the heart to let me know!

See you next week!

Leanne “It’s the vibe of the thing” Hughes

This note is coming to you a bit later today on Friday.

I wanted to wait for my ‘Speech Week’ to wrap up, so I could share some insights with you across three different cities, industries (mining; environmental services, waste management, and recycling industry; and healthcare), and topics that I covered this week.

TUESDAY + WEDNESDAY

PERTH: 2-DAY GLOBAL LEADERSHIP PLANNING WORKSHOP

I started the week flying to Perth to work, to faciliate a 2-day planning meeting for a global leadership team I started working with in May.

In May, the team were newly reformed and a lot of the work was at a strategic level and developing their team priorities; cadence; drumbeat; questioning current approaches and more. This time, 90 days later, it was all about the execution - what’s working well? What needs to improve? Imagine an executive leader walked in the room right now, if we had to share with them the top handful of priorities between now and the end of the year, what would they be?

It’s so good to see the leadership investment in bringing teams together form around the world to just nut things out. I designed an agenda which really prioritised conversations you could not have on Teams.

One line I loved was when we were talking about how to influence across a complex business:

Kathy is amazing,” one leader shared. “I’m like a parasite and she’s the host. The second you infect her by sharing our value, she just spreads it to everyone.” (Side note: Kathy isn’t on their team).

I loved this metaphor. It made me laugh, but it also lands a great point - you don’t need to do all the heavy lifting yourself.

Find the host, share the value, and let them evangelise on your behalf.

THURSDAY

BRISBANE: 90-MIN WORK FAME WORKSHOP

I left Perth 6pm Weds night; flew back to Brisbane and arrived home at 1am.

I was up around 6am (body clock) and back at it (please don’t follow my advice for work/life balance), this time hosting a ‘It’s time to claim your Work Fame’ session for the Communications and Stakeholders function… a team that drives all the marketing and comms initiatives; and they also advise their business.

I shared this concept of an EHAO role.

EHAO stands for ‘Everyone Has An Opinion’ role.

For example, in a previous life I was a marketing manager; and you soon realise that everyone else you work with also happen to be marketing experts, too.

When we launched our new website, so many colleagues would give me their advice and criticisms, “Leanne, this should have been on the front page”, or “The colour button should be this Pantone” - it’s part of life.

It’s an EHAO role. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just something you need to accept that comes part of the territory when you work in something like markeing.

And btw, no shade on these people…I appreciated the dialogue - at least they were engaged with what we were doing!

Another concept I shared was an advice continuum I created.

On one end is “I’ll take your advice as a suggestion”, on the other end it was “I’ll take your advice as legislation”, and asked them to map where they felt they were on that continuum with a key stakeholder, and where they wanted to be; and what they could do to potentially bridge that gap.

When you become work famous, you find it easier to influence others around you.

We covered another key concept I write about in Work Fame such as hosting a listening tour; and Results v Task language. It’s actually too much fun sharing book concepts with groups rn, loving it!

FRIDAY (TODAY)

KINGSCLIFF (Northern NSW): KEYNOTE FOR THE AUSTRALIAN PODIATRY ASSOCIATION

I’m writing this 30mins after wrapping up my opening keynote for the Australian Podiatry Association business conference. My topic was ‘More Than Foot Traffic: How to make podiatry (and your clinic) famous.

Given I was working with podiatrists, I asked them right at the start to stand up; and share their best marketing tactic that attracts the right clients. I just love the opportunity (especially early) to get some friendtoring happening - and what better place to ideate/share than with other practice owners?

I believe that you actually don’t need to spend a dollar on marketing; if you can create a brand/reputation where people come to you. Personally; I’ve never spent a dollar on advertising my business (the only ad spend in my 7 years of biz has been about $500 on Amazon ads to drive awareness of my first book, The 2-Hour Workshop Blueprint).

Treat the human (not the foot)

My interactive keynote was built around the back of that Jeff Bezos quote I shared in a previous article - you can form a business strategy (and a marketing plan) around the things in life that are 100% certain.

For podiatrists? That 100% is that they will always be treating a human.

So, let’s break down - what makes human’s want to engage with you? What makes them feel threatened? And use some of David Rock’s SCARF (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness) framework to think about how to bring this into practice.

At a super high level, we focused on these key questions around SCAR:

Think about your practice through the eyes of a patient (or, an employee)

Where could you create more…

• Status: Make clients (or employees) feel valued?

• Certainty: Help clients (or employees) know what to expect?

• Autonomy: Give clients (or employees) more choice or control?

• Relatedness: Build stronger connection and trust?

Here are some pre-baked ideas I went in with; and they generated so many more awesome ones - just sharing a few ideas (too many here to list them all), for example:

STATUS

I shared that I wanted MORE than an appointment when I was working with my Achilles. I wanted support in between appointment, where I could voice note/text my practitioner and ask what to do if things like my Achilles flared up between sessions. Rather than just having standard care; could you offer premium care package with in-between appt support?

Key question:

• “What could you offer patients between appointments that makes them feel more supported (without creating another appointment?)

Also, I’m heading to Osaka next month for work and checking out things to do. Apparently you can get some type of samurai massage at a temple, and as part of the package they take footage (photos and video) of the experience. Honestly, I’m so weird, but I’d actually love if they filmed me doing the exercises during the appointment, or getting shockwave to share on the socials (yes, I’m weird). But why not let your patients evangelise the experience on your behalf?)

CERTAINTY

We like to predict what’s going to happen. We get anxious when we don’t know. How are you reducing that anxiety for your prospects?

Example: Clinic Walkthrough

Film a walk-through video of your clinic, showing them where to park and where to go. Here’s an example of one I did for the Michael Bungay Stanier x Leanne Hughes Rooftop event a couple years ago.

Example: Offer Prepaid clinical pckages

Takes the strain out of knowing how much you’re going to pay.

Return-to-running program $x

• Includes assessment + biomechanical analysis + treatment plan + two reviews + running progression

Ingrown toenail care package: $X

• Assessment + procedure + dressings + defined follow-up care

Diabetic foot protection program: $X

Comprehensive assessment + risk stratification + education + clinically indicated follow-up

AUTONOMY

Give clients a choice on who you see and help direct that choice by creating a short quiz to your practice website/socials.

• Prospect answers 3 simple questions about what they need help with

• Use their responses to direct them to the right podiatrist (makes booking easier by removing the “Who do I book with?” decision - and attracts the right patient to the right podiatrist)

Use it as both a patient experience and marketing initiative (as you can track responses); include a clear disclaimer that it guides the patient to the right starting point (rather than providing a diagnosis).

We also explored how to make podiatry as in industry famous.

Okay, phew, what a week!

I better get back on the road.

Comment below if you have any questions, I love hearing from you!

Or hit the heart if you found something helpful in here.

See you next Friday,

Leanne “Hope the traffic is okay on the drive home” Hughes

I’ve had video conversations all day today and when I sat down to write, I realised I just couldn’t access that side of my brain..!

So, instead, I’ve recorded a 13min video for you (above), in one take, sharing how I counterintuitively scored my Work Fame book publishing deal.

If you prefer text, you can read the video transcript below.

Please note: The transcript has been cleaned up using Manus AI.

Have a watch/read, and I’m happy to reply to any follow-up questions, just pop them in the comments.

(oh, and if you found any of this video/article interesting, click the heart!).

Leave a comment

Let’s begin…

I’ve always been curious about how people get their books out into the world: whether they choose to self-publish or go down the traditional publishing route. So I thought I’d share how this one happened.

This book deal definitely happened in reverse.

I broke all the book-publishing rules

Everything I’d heard about book publishing and landing a deal with a commercial publisher, I basically discarded.

I didn’t have a book proposal. I didn’t have a manuscript. I didn’t really have anything.

I had a phrase that I liked - the title came first.

Where did “Work Fame” come from?

If you’ve listened to my stuff, you’ll know that people will say things in conversation and I’ll often think, Oh, that’s such a cool phrase. Then I write it down.

Honestly, I don’t remember where I was or who I was talking to when Work Fame came to me. But I was trying to describe someone I knew who worked within an organisation - they weren’t celebrity famous. You wouldn’t recognise them on the street. They weren’t an influencer either.

But they were work famous.

Everyone in their organisation knew them. They travelled around the world. They had a really strong reputation.

And I thought: Yeah, they’re work famous.

The second I said it, the person I was talking to got it. They instantly understood what I meant.

I think anytime you use a phrase and people immediately understand what you’re talking about - or it unlocks some sort of emotion or recognition - it’s worth pursuing in some way.

At the time, it was almost a joke. I’d created a new phrase to describe this type of person.

I tested the phrase before I tested the book

The next step was testing the phrase.

When I like a phrase, I start trying it out with existing clients - not new clients, but people already in my network who already trust me. I think it’s easier to launch new offerings that way.

It’s an Alan Weiss approach: new offerings to existing clients.

I had a client who ran quarterly webinars on different topics, and I pitched a few ideas. One of them was Work Fame.

They picked it.

And I thought: Ah. That’s interesting.

If clients are choosing this idea from a category of different options, maybe there’s something here…

That was really how I tested the viability of the phrase. They got it. They knew what Work Fame was, and they wanted it.

Why Work Fame? Why now?

The publisher questionnaire asked me to explain why I’d like to write Work Fame and why now.

A lot of it came from looking at the modern work environment.

The book is written for someone working in an organisation—particularly a big organisation—who is feeling invisible. It can absolutely apply to consultants as well, but the core audience is someone working in a remote or hybrid team, or a big organisation, who feels like they’re getting lost.

As I’ve worked through the book, I’ve landed on this definition:

Work Fame helps you become known for the right work by the right people before the right opportunities appear.

A lot of the work I’m doing now is coming from companies asking for workshops and keynotes around this core idea.

And the “right work” part is really important. We can become famous for things we don’t actually want to do.

People often ask me to talk about technology. And I do love technology. But I’m not the most patient person, so I’d be terrible at IT support.

I love sharing new tools and technology, but you’ll rarely find me behind the scenes showing you exactly what I’m building and how I’m doing it. I don’t want to get typecast in that role.

So the first part of Work Fame is really about asking: What do you want to be famous for?

There’s work involved in figuring out what drains you, what gives you energy, and what you actually want to do more of.

The Saturday morning that started the book deal

Let’s go back to how I actually got the book deal.

It was a Saturday morning. I was in bed with my laptop and a coffee, and I thought: Wouldn’t it be amazing if I got a book deal about Work Fame?

So I got out my laptop, searched for the Australian publishers we all know, found people who worked at those companies, and started sending cold outreach messages on LinkedIn.

That was it.

There was some social proof in the message. I’d already published my first book, and I’d written a Substack article about it that generated more than $60,000 in royalties. So I had some evidence that I knew how to sell books.

That was obviously designed to get someone’s attention. But I didn’t get a 100% response rate.

That’s what I mean when I say this was a backwards way of getting a book deal - I basically sent a DM on LinkedIn.

Then the publisher asked: what does Work Fame actually mean?

Once I had the idea of Work Fame, I had to figure out what it actually meant in the context of a book.

This was where things got interesting.

The publisher sent me a questionnaire, and I spent a lot of time on it. I had to really think about: What does this actually mean? Who is this book for? What can I deliver?

What I realised was that I was writing the book for the 2016 version of Leanne.

I could really empathise with her.

I’d left remote Western Australia, moved to Brisbane, and started working in a big organisation. I know what that Sunday-night feeling is like, when your stomach is in knots. You’re looking for other opportunities. You’re wondering whether there’s something better out there.

And then I started asking myself a different question:

Rather than scoring my dream job, how do I make this job a dream?

Personal agency is at the heart of it

Work Fame is about personal agency.

Yes, there are organisational systems and structures that can make your life harder. But everything in Work Fame is about what you can actually do.

You don’t need to get more delegations of authority. You don’t need to wait for the organisation to change.

It’s written for a high-agency person who wants more from work and, ultimately, more from life.

Because I write about what I did, as well as interviewing people around the world who have tried different things, it’s incredibly practical.

It’s not just: Here’s a theory about being more visible.

It’s: Here’s how to host a lunch and learn. Here’s how to reach out to people. Here’s how to do these things with confidence.

And now, after writing the book, I feel like I really own the phrase Work Fame. I’ve put my own spin on it. I’ve given it a very specific meaning.

Importantly, I believe Work Fame is within your reach.

Why I was annoyed by “quiet quitting”

I was also, frankly, a little annoyed by the quiet-quitting rhetoric.

I’d go on TikTok and see people talking about doing the bare minimum and not giving 100%, and I’d think: Why would you do that?

You spend a significant amount of your life at work. Why not try to make it a great thing?

Because it does matter. There’s a lot of Gallup research showing the impact work has on your overall life. So why wouldn’t you try to make the experience better?

Why this book is different

When you write a book, you spend a lot of time thinking about positioning.

A lot of books about personal branding are about building an external audience. They’re often written for solopreneurs, creators, or people building a business and an audience online.

Work Fame is different.

It’s about becoming known within your organisation. It’s about being famous at work.

Something else changed while I was writing it, too.

My first book, The Two-Hour Workshop Blueprint, was very much: I know the answer. I’m going to write it down.

Work Fame was different. It was exploration through writing.

I was reflecting on my own experiences, talking to other people, looking at research, and bringing all of that together. I didn’t have all the answers at the beginning. I figured some of them out while writing.

And that’s one of the things I find exciting about writing.

You don’t always have to have the answer before you start. Sometimes the writing is how you discover the answer.

Who is Work Fame for?

The audience has been interesting.

Graduates have loved the concept. Senior leaders have loved it because they want their people to become more work famous. Business owners and founders have loved it for the same reason.

But if I had to pick one core audience, I’d say it’s the mid-career professional: someone who’s delivering results but feels overlooked; someone who’s overwhelmed; someone working in hybrid meetings where it’s easy to disappear; someone watching less-qualified colleagues get promoted; or someone who worries about being pushy or self-promotional.

This is not a book about self-promotion

In fact, it’s almost the opposite.

It’s about being of service, but allowing that service to actually cut through.

There’s a real distinction between self-promotion and Work Fame. Self-promotion can be about getting likes and attention. Work Fame asks different questions:

• How can I be useful?

• What problems can I solve?

• How can I contribute my unique skills?

And I wanted to make that distinction really clear from the beginning.

So if you don’t like self-promotion, this might actually be the book for you.

(Maybe that should be the tagline!)

A final thank you

If you have questions, let me know either in the Substack comments.

And if you like the sound of Work Fame, you can pre-order a copy at getworkfame.com.

Pre-orders are really important because they signal to book publishers that there’s demand for the book and that they should stock it.

That’s why I’ve created this beautiful Wall of Work Fame (as of today, 440/1001 stars, with 48 days left!).

Thank you so much for your support.

A few companies have already supported the book: Matt Stewart from The Custodian Way, GSK Australia, and the Australian Podiatry Association.

Thank you so much.

Every book helps us get closer to 1001 pre-orders before 30 September.

I hope this was helpful if you’re thinking about writing a book. Know anyone publishing a book? Share this article and video with them, too!

Share

🌴

I’ll see you next week.

Leanne “Not celebrity famous” Hughes

p.s. Join Alan Weiss and me for our next Talk the Walk on today. We'll explore what comes after success, how to avoid getting too comfortable, and keep challenging yourself when you've already "made it". Join us live and be part of the conversation!

Recording an audiobook is an endurance event. You really have to focus on your breathing, and stay hydrated. I even wore my running shoes to the studio (true story).

The first hour every day goes off really well. You’re fresh and coasting through the words.

…And then as you continue, you seem to stumble over some words just a little bit more.

After about four hours, it’s time to stop. If you go any longer (in my experience), there’s diminishing returns.

Reflection: Think about a project you’re in the middle of right now - one where the initial ‘one-hour fresh energy’ has worn off. What would a new-day reset look like for you?

Speaking of resets…

My very first client, back again

My first-ever client after I left corporate was Retail First. I ran one of their conferences back in February 2019, and I’ve worked with them a few times since.

They’ve been in business just over 20 years, and they’ve decided to create new corporate values and refresh their brand to move the company forward. I worked with their team to establish those values, launching them at their conference last week, where the theme was ‘Reset. Review. Reignite’.

They’re such a warm team, great bunch of people. It’s special watching them flourish over these years.

One of the topics we dug into during the conference was the future of the retail industry. There’s a lot of disruption in retail with social shopping, instant delivery, AI personal shoppers, and so much more…

However, when I’m in doubt about the future, I return to the following quote from Jeff Bezos (I was reminded of it again recently when Alex Hormozi mentioned it on Diary of a CEO) …

Reflection: What’s the thing in your industry that will still matter in 10 years, regardless of what technology or trends come along?

Watching and reading

Just thought I’d share some great listens and reads.

• Easy Discipline by Jia Jiang. I love his approach to finding joy in your work, and his storytelling skills are 11/10 (watch his TED talk, What I Learned from 100 Days of Rejection

• Incorruptible by Eric Ries. Wow. I can’t believe I’m writing this but… corporate governance can be sexy. If you’re a founder, CEO, exec leader, board member, advisor or consultant to any of those roles, I urge you to read this book.

• The Liberating Structures Fieldbook: Flipping the Script on Meetings, Planning, and Progress by Keith McCandless and Nancy White. Reading this for some inspiration on new ways of running processes at my workshops + events.

• Listening to - Rasputin’s Killer and the Australian Conductor (ABC Conversations) featuring Alexander Briger. Alex is the chief conductor of the Australian World Orchestra (and a descendent of the guy who murdered Rasputin).

  I loved the following quote from Alex about how a conductor’s aura/energy can completely change the sound of the music, even when they’re playing off the same song sheet…

One last thing...

Every week more people are joining the Wall of Work Fame by pre-ordering the book. My goal is to help 1,001 people become Work Famous before launch day, and I’d love for you to be one of them.

If that sounds like your kind of movement, you can grab your copy (plus the pre-order bonuses) at getworkfame.com.

I’m off to rest my vocal cords… but I encourage you to get out there and make some noise this week!

If one of today's reflections stays with you, tap the heart 💙 before you go. It's a small way of saying, "Keep writing these, Leanne!"

🌴

Leanne “Queuing up Boney M” Hughes

P.S. Join Alan Weiss and me for our next Talk the Walk on 13/14 August. We'll explore what comes after success, how to avoid getting too comfortable, and keep challenging yourself when you've already "made it". It's free to join live. Register here.

Last weekend, my friend Kasidis Satangmongkol (Toy) invited us to see The Odyssey (have you seen it?). We agreed to meet him at the cinema around 11am to grab our ticket.

Toy was standing behind a trestle table in front of a lineup of about 50 people. Unbeknownst to us, he hadn't just bought a few tickets.

He had booked out the entire first-class cinema for 600 members of his community, DataRockie.

What a lovely idea!

This is Toy’s superpower - building relationships and a strong community base through online education, so I wanted to share how he does it with you today.

Firstly, let me tell you about Kasidis Satangmongkol (Toy)

Toy is a data analyst and data science instructor, based in Bangkok Thailand. He founded a facebook page/ community “DataRockie” in 2016 (now with 168K followers), and in his words, it’s been a 10-year journey just like The Odyssey.

He offers online courses from data, coding to emerging technologies like ai. More than 45K Thai students have enrolled in his free classes at datarockie school. A lot of happy students, with more than 2500+ reviews on his FB page.

His mission is to democratise data science knowledge to all Thais (Leanne’s note: So good!)

I love Toy’s approach and asked him to answer 3 questions on building community and relationships.

1. How have you built a community over 10 years? What are the top 3 tips you could offer someone who wants to do something similar?

My philosophy is “Give to Grow”. We give more than we take. I am driven by Stoicism (ancient Greek philosophy).

The best way to grow a community is to out-teach and out-share your knowledge. Education is the best marketing, in my humble opinion.

Above all, be good. Virtue is an ancient word, but it’s more relevant today than ever. (Being good is the best business strategy)

Top 3 tips:

1. Write ridiculously good content, ideally once a week, long form article on your own website, then share it on social media i.e. Education is the marketing

2. If you write 100 content pieces, make sure 99 of them focus on education, and only one focus on action (i.e. selling). This sounds crazy, but it has worked for me in the past 10 years. Give more than you take. This logic resonates with me a lot, if all humans gave more than they took, the world would be a better place, the math is so simple, be good.

3. Give unconditionally. I give away a lot of free courses, host many free events, including The Odyssey movie last Saturday. This is the paradox, to give is to grow, and the more we give the more we grow.

Also - my favourite book in 2026 is “Incorruptible” by Eric Ries, he says that the purpose of all great companies is “human flourishing”, our customers, our employees and, lastly, our stakeholders/ investors.

2. Booking an entire cinema for your community is so cool! Why did you start doing this?

I started doing movie days in 2023, the first movie was John Wick 4, and I continue this ritual every year e.g. Deadpool, Dr.Strange, Mission Impossible, Tron and The Odyssey.

The booking is so simple, I contacted the cinema (SF in Thailand), talked to the sales rep and booked the date, paid the fee. The cost depends on the size of the cinema (how many seats), if it’s a blockbuster movie and the day of the week (weekday is generally cheaper than weekend).

It costs me around 2,500 - 7,000 USD per event, depending on the factors I mentioned above. The Odyssey was around 7,000 USD for 600 people. So cool! 🍿

I use my profit to host this event. It’s a win-win. I just want to meet my students, meet the community, and cherish the moment together.

In the end I think people don’t remember who you are, they remember how you make them feel. Movies and storytelling serve this purpose well.

(Leanne’s note: I really enjoyed this lesson. Often, I think when I host an event I have to give CONTENT value and expertise.. but curating a shared experience like hosting a movie is so powerful, too!)

Actually, I planned to have a mini talk before the movie, but we ran out of time. Maybe next time, the end of this year for Doomsday!

3. How do you cultivate your network and stay in touch with others?

We have a Discord community for alumni (my students). A public Facebook group that shares useful information related to data knowledge. I started my newsletter, but I’m not very active. I know the newsletter is my next move, and I will spend time building my list this year.

In the past 10 years, I have met a lot of people, including Leanne (and her cool husband Chris! Happy birthday!). I met , my mentor. I just DM (send him a message), and we connect. That’s it.

Be a genuinely good person, and people want to connect with you more. I think this is so true. This is ancient wisdom since the age of Aristotle.

But today, virtue is rare. Being good takes courage. I have tattoos on my left arm saying, “The obstacle is the way” and “Fortune favors the brave”.

Virtue above all else. Goodness against all else.

Love you Leanne, thank you for having me on your Substack.

Toy’s already invited me to his next movie meetup at the end of the year for Doomsday. Looks like I need to check out flights and get back to Bangkok in December, ha ha!

But what an amazing way to live, and congrats on everything you’ve created for your community in Thailand, Toy. Love your approach!

What did you think of Toy’s wisdom? What else have you seen done well that helps to build a strong community?

Leave a comment

As always, click the heart 💙 if this resonated, and I’ll catch you next week.

🌴

Leanne “Still not over the pig scene in The Odyssey” Hughes

p.s. I’m hosting a different type of event for my Brisbane book premiere of Work Fame on 16 October…featuring a mystery guest! Invite here.

While I can’t dive into specific client details, I wanted to share with you some of the highlights and lessons learnt.

A ‘Make it happen’ attitude

There are so many reasons why Bangkok is my favourite city on earth (here’s a podcast episode on 10-12 reasons why I love it) but for this trip specifically, one reason stands out - in amongst all the chaos and traffic, things just magically seem to get done here.

For example, at 7pm the night before I was hosting a gala awards dinner, I decided I wanted to wear a new dress at the event. I walked into a tailor shop, saw some beautiful fabric, and asked if it were possible to have this made into a dress by 4pm the next day.

Without hesitation, she said yes. She sketched the potential dress, made amendments, and measured me up. She rang the venue to confirm someone there would be responsible for handing me the dress the following day. She buzzed her best tailor, gave him the measurements, added me on WhatsApp (and gave me other number details), and assured me it would be there.

It arrived 30mins before I had to be ready…And thankfully, it fit (phew)!

I love this ‘can do’ spirit in the city.

Your turn: How could you make the impossible possible this week with a few phone calls? What's stopping you from making the first one?

Hosting a multilingual workshop

Tim Ferguson and the Audience Communication Team brought me in to co-host and co-design part of the experience. They're exceptional at what they do, and it was a privilege to work alongside them.

The session brought together delegates from three language groups, and seeing meaningful conversations happen across those differences was one of the highlights of the week.

Three things to share with you:

1. Visuals do a lot of the heavy lifting

When people aren’t all speaking the same language, visuals become even more valuable as a connection ‘anchor’. Photos, colours, emojis and countdown timers all helped create shared understanding without relying on lots of words.

2. Preparation makes translation feel effortless

One thing I learnt was just how much preparation goes into supporting simultaneous translation. The better prepared the speakers are, the smoother the experience is for everyone.

While I LOVE going off-script, this is not the time to do it. Lock in your script, keep 90-95% on that script, because there is tremendous value in the translators understanding intent and delivering your message in real time, without the 10-15 second lag.

On that note, it’s so important to SPEAK SLOWLY, speak precisely and pause regularly. Use your body language to convey messages, for example, if you say the number 3, hold up 3 fingers.

3. Leverage the tech

Translation tools have come a long way. Delegates could use their phones to instantly translate notes and ideas shared by people from other markets, making it much easier to learn from one another. Rather than becoming a distraction, the technology helped remove barriers and encouraged more conversations.

Your turn: If you had to design a session where language wasn’t a shared resource, what’s one thing you’d lean on to create connection anyway? What tips can you give me?

Leave a comment

Working with great partners

It was so invigorating to be working as part of a team honestly. As a solo consultant, I’m usually doing it all. And I do love that - there’s autonomy in it, freedom to make decisions, etc.

But I do LOVE working with other people - so to be part of a dynamic group of people, working towards a common goal was a lovely change. It was so good purely focus on design and hosting, and letting the talented production team cover everything else - printing things out, logistics, details, liasing with multiple stakeholders, event space, tech, calendar invites, etc. I got to work in my zone of genius and loved every minute.Your turn: When did you last get to work purely in your zone of genius - and what would it take to create more of that?

In short - host your event in Bangkok. The sublime hospitality, the fact you can get tailor-made outfits sewn overnight, that after a big day you can get a 1 hr foot massage, eat the most amazing food... it is incredible.

One day, I’d love to take a small group of people to Bangkok and maybe mastermind/show them exactly why I love this city. One day!

Can’t get to Bangkok? Steal the spirit anyway! The tailor's 'yes, let’s do this' attitude works just as well from your office, your neighbourhood, or wherever you happen to be.

Hit the heart 💙 and tell me...

What’s your favourite city to work in?

🌴

Leanne “Off to order another dress” Hughes

P.S. Speaking of great events - today is the last day to lock in your 2027 Con Con ticket at a lower rate. I'm closing the doors and re-opening ticket sales from 4 September.

What’s a watershed?

Imagine a mountain where rain falling on one side flows into one river, but the rain falling on the other side flows into a completely different river. The line separating those two paths is called the watershed.

You might have heard the phrase ‘a watershed moment’. It’s a point where life changes direction. The good news is, you don’t need to wait for a capital b Big life moment for this to happen.

You can wake up today, go for a coffee and have a watershed conversation, where the way you see the world changes in an instant. (Or, as Hanson would sing, in an mmmbop).

For example, last year I took myself to an urgent care clinic because I had a tiny splinter in my right foot. I couldn’t put any weight on it.

While the doctor worked on dislodging it, he mentioned he used to be an engineer. He didn’t switch to medicine until he was 39 years old. I remarked, “That’s a pretty late career change.”

He said another doctor had given him this advice: “Look, in five years, you’re going to be 44 anyway. So, do you want to be a 44-year-old doctor, or a 44-year-old who is still wishing they were a doctor?”

What a line! Time is going to pass anyway. You might as well spend it building something your future self wants, right?

That quote reminds me to attack the moment/now even harder than I used to (it was a good jump-start to get cracking on the next book). Memento mori!

While watershed conversations can hit us in random moments, we’re lucky sometimes when the best ones are captured on audio.

I wanted to share 3 specific podcast conversations that were watersheds in my life.

I had the idea last night, after listening to an episode of The Diary of a CEO. I haven’t tuned in for months, but I picked this episode at random and #mindblown…which is why I’ve featured it as #2 on this list.

1. Jenny Blake on Smart Passive Income (Episode 249)

SPI 249: Pivoting: How, When, & Why to Do It with Jenny Blake

I first started listening to podcasts in 2017. I remember a rainy commute into work when ’s bright voice came through my headphones talking about career pivots.

At the time, I thought the solution to my career stunt was to find a new job. This episode was a watershed for me.

Jenny’s framework breaks a successful pivot into four stages:

1. Plant: Identifying your core strengths and what success looks like one year from now. This is the foot that stays firmly on the ground.

2. Scan: Looking outward for people, projects, and opportunities.

3. Pilot: Running small experiments to test a new direction before you commit.

4. Launch: Going all in.

Two things I took to heart back then.

1. A pivot is not a 180 degree turn. You don’t burn it all down and start from scratch. You double down on what’s already working. For me, this meant I didn’t need to chase a new job. Actually, there were elements I liked at work but I didn’t really recognise what those things were, it’s worth doing a stocktake first.

2. Focus on planting first - go through a process where you get honest about your strengths and what lights you up. After learning this, I did my Clifton Strengths profile, and felt an enormous wave of relief. Ok, phew, I’m not a weirdo… I can embrace my natural tendency to work, and that can become my superpower (btw my Top 5 are 1. Ideation 2. Activator 3. Maximiser 4. Postivity 5. Futuristic - What are yours? LMK in the comments).

Also, Jenny said career restlessness itself is worth paying attention to - she felt like she was having a quarter-life crisis every two years and assumed something was wrong with her.

But it’s not a bad thing to feel restless. No need to avoid it! It’s okay to ask “what’s next?” more often.

Here’s a few other conversations we’ve recorded over the years.

• 017: Serendipity as Business Strategy with Leanne Hughes

• 074 Pivoting into public speaking with Jenny Blake

2. Dr Martin Picard on The Diary of a CEO

My toxic trait is that I make many decisions on pure energy/”the vibes”. Even when I have hard data, like Google Maps telling me where to go, I still over-rule it thinking i know best..!

If I make a massive decision and someone asks “Why did you do that?” (a completely valid question), I feel comfortable responding with, “Because I felt like it.”

I have a bias for making a decision and moving on, rather than hanging out in limbo. In some way, there’s just a deeper knowing/trust that it’s the right thing to do in the moment.

Up until recently, I know that sounded very “woo-woo.”

Then I listened to Dr. Martin Picard on the DOAC, who has spent ten years researching mitochondria and psycho-biological energy at Columbia University. He gave me some scientific validation for what I was doing (phew!).

Here are my some of my fave takeaways from the episode:

You are a walking resonator

shares that you aren’t your body; you are the energy flowing through it. When you hold a clear vision strongly enough, you become a resonator, and that energy pattern leaks out of you: in your tone of voice, in your attention, in the care you look at people with. Yes, it’s “the vibe”.

He said, “It’s like a symphony. When it’s on tune, people who want to come on board feel the feeling, and it gets amplified.” Science calls this entrainment which is an internal signal so strong that it pulls others into your orbit.

The Reality distortion field

In 1981, Apple engineer Bud Trible coined the term Reality distortion field to desribe the way Steve Jobs had the “almost hypnotic ability to convince everyone around him to believe practically anything…Even that you could bend time”. If you told Jobs a task would take six months, he’d say “you can do it in two weeks,” and through sheer conviction engineers often did, “rewriting their own understanding of what was possible.”

Jobs held an energy and conviction so strong that other people’s energy reorganised around it, and their sense of what was possible shifted to match his. As Steven Bartlett puts it, convincing someone is really just getting their energy to change shape.

When I advise leaders on driving change, I always start there. You have to live with the conviction and belief, an emboided feeling that it’s a good idea yourself. If you aren’t convinced, it’s very tricky to convince anyone else, no matter how slick your ADKAR process is.

Other cool ideas in the episode

• Energy needs something to push against to become meaningful. If there’s no resistance, there’s no growth.

• Mitochondria are super social and collaborate - this was fascinating.

• Oh, and he also talks about reversing grey hair growth!

3. Alan Weiss on First Time Facilitator

This was my first ever conversation with Alan Weiss. A couple of years into running my business, author Michael Bungay Stanier told me to read Alan Weiss’s Million Dollar Consulting, promising that if I did, I’d never go hungry again. Naturally, I invited Alan onto my podcast.

What was supposed to be an interview quickly turned into a coaching call..!

About twenty minutes in, I realised I had a few things wrong. It was the watershed moment of my business life. Three key things stood out back then (and still do):

1. Marketing is the business: We aren’t in the business of consulting; we are in the business of marketing. Marketing isn’t a side-hustle or an administrative chore - it is 100% of the game. As Alan shared: “When I’m advising clients, I’m marketing. When I’m on coaching calls, I’m marketing.”

2. He told me, flat out, that my business model was wrong: I was delivering too much. In Alan's world, if you're on site running the session, you're a pair of hands. If you're advising, you're a brain. And a brain is low labour, low travel and high fee.

3. Selling the input, not the output: I was positioning myself as a person who runs workshops. Alan explained that when a client rings and asks, “What’s your day rate for a workshop?” the correct move is to answer with a question: Why do you want a workshop? What are you actually trying to change? Nobody is better off because you sat them in a room for six hours, they’re better off because their business improved after you left.

Since that chat, Alan has continued to be an incredible mentor to me. You can listen to over 25+ conversations on our YouTube Talk the Walk playlist, and he also wrote the foreword for my next book, Work Fame.

Work Fame update

One milestone already ticked off... the 10-copy bonus has officially sold out. 🎉

354 copies have already been pre-ordered leaving 647 to go before my ridiculous goal of 1,001 by 30 September. THANK YOU!

Pre-orders are one of the strongest signals to retailers that a book is worth stocking. More pre-orders can lead to wider distribution, which means the book has a better chance of reaching more people.

That matters because Work Fame is a set of ideas I’d like to see shape more workplaces in a positive way.

The 50-copy bonus is still available. It includes your company logo on the Wall of Work Fame and a virtual Lunch & Learn with me for your team. Hit reply and email me if you have specific questions about this offer.

🌴

Okay, I better finish up packing for a work trip to my most fav city in the world, Bangkok!

I’ll be back in your inbox next week, sharing some reflections on the multi-lingual workshop/gala awards experience we hosted over there (you can follow behind the scenes on my IG @leannehughes.

Give this post a ‘Like’ (hit the heart 💙) if anything stood out for you.

Leanne ‘Scientifically-backed’ Hughes

P.S. One of the most fun parts of my next book has been planning the Brisbane Work Fame red carpet party. For your exclusive invite on 16 October, pre-order your copy of Work Fame and complete the form at getworkfame.com.

I’ve been obsessed with this tournament. My body clock has adapted (I’m naturally waking up at 4am to catch the games). All this football sent me down a deep rabbit hole of nostalgia, where I stumbled across an old trip report I wrote during the 2006 World Cup in Germany (pictured below).

I thought I’d share some of the ideas here. Looking back, those core memories were actually less about football, and more about stuff I like to build into biz and life, so here we go…!

Lesson 1: In community, we trust

Here’s how the adventure started:

On June 8 I arrived at Frankfurt-Hahn airport to meet up with Sydney FC Cove supporters to spend three weeks on their Cove Convoy.

I read about the Sydney Convoy on the Brisbane Roar FC forum and their plan was simple. Hire cars, stake out a campsite, drink and watch football for the duration of the World Cup.

Without knowing a single member from the Sydney supporters group, I signed up, paid, and away I was.

Looking back, this sounds completely reckless.

I was living in Ireland at the time, had no friends travelling to Germany, so I flew to Frankfurt, hopped into a BMW (standard German car) with people I’d never met, and spent three weeks camping with strangers.

I’m pretty sure I told my parents I was travelling with friends (oops).

But it never felt unsafe because I trusted the community they belonged to. Years later, I came across psychologist Henri Tajfel's social identity theory, which helped explain why. It suggests that when we share membership of a group with someone, we instinctively offer them a level of trust we'd never give a complete stranger.

My friend calls this referred credibility (Brendon and I also met in a community forum).

I shared this story at Con Con a few weeks ago and suggested that everyone could extend a level of trust to the people in the room. After all, they'd already passed the first test: they'd chosen to be there.

Q: Which communities are you part of right now, and are you making the most of the trust that's built into them?

Lesson 2: Walk towards your dreams

From my 2006 trip report:

By June 12 I still hadn’t managed to secure a ticket for Australia’s opening match against Japan. But I wanted to be in the same city as the game, so I jumped in a convoy vehicle for the drive to Kaiserslautern (”K-Town”) early that morning.

My plan was to watch the game at the pub.

But everyone around me started walking towards the stadium, so I figured I might as well walk there, too.

Somewhere along that walk, a ticket found me.

I ended up sitting behind the goals as a Yahoo! sponsor, right at the end where Tim Cahill scored two of the most famous goals in Australian football history.

Dr. Christian Busch (who joined me on the podcast a few years ago) spent a decade studying what he calls the “serendipity mindset.”

His finding? Luck is smart. The people who seem to consistently get lucky create the conditions for unexpected good things to happen. They take the first step before there's any guarantee it'll pay off.

You increase the surface area of your luck by just walking in the direction of your dreams. “Smart luck” is the luck you make.

Q: What's your version of walking towards the stadium today?

Lesson 3: Cheer people on

One of my fave memory from the trip wasn’t even a Socceroos match.

My accommodation was a tent at a campsite in Ohrnberg, a town 6 miles out of Oeringen. It was at the local football team (Ohrnberg TSVs) football club. We camped on the football pitch, showered in the locker rooms and watched the matches on a huge projector screen in their club hall.

One afternoon the Ohrnberg U/12 football side were playing never-beaten rivals Ohringen. We spent all day making a banner for the U/12 kids which read “Vergess ne Schuke, Spiel Fuball” (”Forget School, Play Football”).

Chants such as “You couldn’t score in a sandlot” must’ve worked as the Ohrnberg boys ran out 4-0 winners. Little events like this really summed up the tagline for the tournament, “A time to make friends”.

I can’t say it was the banner made the difference, but I reckon those kids (who’d be in their early thirties now) still talk about the day a couple hundred vocal Australians showed up for their under-12s derby and chanted encouragement for 90mins.

We’re often too reserved with our encouragement at work. We quietly admire people instead of publicly celebrating them. We’re quite measured in our support of each other (well, at least here in Australia).

Q: Who in your world is doing something great right now, and have you told them?

Share

Speaking of celebrating, I want to celebrate my mate Steve Hodgson and share that he’s hosting a Beyond the Noise Men’s retreat in August. He’s a great guy, and if you want to reconnect with nature (and yourself), check out the amazing experience he’s creating.

Anyway, it was an incredible trip. I’m looking forward to waking up at 3am tomorrow to watch the Socceroos hopefully knock-out Egypt. My friend Nathaniel (who I met during the convoy) shared this, “Expect Egypt to play in a 4-3-2-1 pyramid formation…)

Thanks for reading this week.

Also, here’s a score update from my own world cup (351/1001)!

I’d love your support and to feature you on the Wall of Work Fame. Pre-order a copy of Work Fame (or multiple copies for bonus perks) and claim your star(s).

If you like the World Cup, travelling, or a message from this article, please tap the heart 💙 .

It takes a second and is a nice way to cheer me on, too!

🌴

Leanne “Schade wegen Paraguay" Hughes

It’s a long read, so grab a cuppa.

If you’d like to ask questions, please comment in this thread and I’ll respond to you there, so that everyone learns more and grows.

Leave a comment

The con(text)

Last August, I had this crazy idea to host a conference.

But I didn’t want to take on risk (i.e. investing money on a venue, spending time and energy thinking about it) so I wanted to validate the idea as soon as possible.

With traditional events, the host usually takes on 100% of the risk. But the host doesn’t claim 100% of the benefit, it’s shared -you’d hope that your guests benefit too, right?.

So, I decided to run an experiment. My marketing efforts cost me $0. I put out a notice online, “I’m hosting this event for consultants, here’s what I think it could look like. If we can sell 15 tickets in the first 24 hours it’s on, if not, then I’m canning the idea, and it won’t happen”.

I then jumped on this LinkedIn Live that evening to share the result..

The event landing page itself was super basic.

I chose a date, a city (the Gold Coast) and shared a vision of what the event could look like. Note: No keynote speakers were on the drawcard.

The best thing about this approach? It attracted bold people to sign up, people who don’t need all the information, AKA…My type of people!

The event name was even a placeholder and actually a joke, Con Con. But it stuck!

I was shocked that 15 tickets sold out in 20mins, and the event was sold out in 8 days (this is over 290 days before the actual conference date. And at time of writing, it’s 65% sold out for 2027).

Here’s a quick highlights reel on what went down (video below).

Why I wanted to CONvene everyone

I’ve always tossed around the idea of hosting an event because I have the best catch-ups with my peers/friendtors. I’m super lucky that I have a brilliant network of people, and I love a good coffee and a brainstorm.

At some point I thought, why am I doing this one cup at a time? Let’s just get everyone in a room.

Also? I wanted to muck about with what a conference even is. When I work with clients, I’m playing inside their constraints, which is totally fine but I just wanted to try my own thing for once to see what worked.

The other reason is that I’ve got a bit of a bone to pick with traditional conferences. I don’t think the biggest enemy of a conference is time. It’s YouTube. The old format, where you line up speakers and give them 45 to 60 minute slots across eight hours while everyone sits and scribbles notes, feels like a joke to me. If I want to hear my favourite speaker, I can listen to a 90-minute interview with them on YouTube tonight, with my sausage dog by my side (for free!).

So why would I travel, pay money, to sit in a row and listen? When you’ve got a room full of people with real experience and ideas, the best thing you can do is get out of the way and give them a format to talk through/conversational scaffolding.

Here are the assumptions about traditional conferences (on the left) vs what I broke with Con Con on the right (in bold)

• Speakers are the stars vs Every attendee is a contributor

• Presentations vs Conversations

• Host it in a conference room vs Host it anywhere but a conference room

• Networking starts at morning tea Networking started months before arrival

• The organiser takes all the risk vs The market validates the idea first

• Program locked months ahead vs Program emerged close to the event

• Speaker bios vs Every attendee profiled

Originally, I wanted to go full extreme (let’s have a gathering where we move locations!) Had some great chats with Events whiz, Sally Porteous during the brainstorming stage, but realised, I had to reel myself back in to practically make it all work.

My format CONundrum

Look, it’s easy to say you’re going to throw out an old format (i.e. speaker fest), but it’s a whole other thing to put together a new program.

I was a bit nervous about the format re- timing, was there enough space to do stuff, what’s facilitated, what do we cover in breakouts? Funnily enough, the woman who wrote a book two-hour workshops didn’t run a single two-hour session….

It was also tricky to design because when I work with corporate clients, they come with very specific outcomes. When I surveyed the Con Conners beforehand, the answers were lovely but not outcome-driven, ie. “I want to connect.” “I want fresh ideas.” Nobody said “I want to walk out with an extra $20K” - so, how do you design for mindblowing insights, growth and connection while also ensuring the conference gives you an ROI? I feel like you need to cover both objectives, the rational and the experiential.

The big call I made was that there were no speakers and no participants. Everyone was a CONtributor. That might mean speaking, or debating, or hosting a breakout sesh, or asking questions, or side events, or just showing up with great energy.

I built a specific Con Con event website using Manus AI which had every Con Conner listed with their profile, a photo, a bit about them, and a link to their LinkedIn profile. Traditional conferences only profile their speakers but I wanted to highlight every great individual.

Here’s the program for both days, so you can see the mix I landed on (pictured below). I had these printed on A4 cardboard and had one on each table station, like a menu.

I gave some people a speaker slot who I barely even knew, purely based on their enthusiasm. When your group trusts you to do something like this, you can trust in them, too (sorry if that’s corny but it’s the truth). PLUS, pretty much 100% of the room also host, facilitate, speak for a (good) living, so I trusted they’d be excellent. They were.

Building CONnection before anyone showed up

Before the event, I hosted three optional Zoom calls including a welcome call and something I called the 2-Min Tip Roulette Party, where everyone had two minutes to share something that was working for them, whether that’s in their business, their facilitation, or their pricing.

Here’s the calendar description for the roulette party:

You’re invited to the 2-MIN TIP ROULETTE PARTY, an exclusive for Con Conners.
The format is simple. You get 2 minutes to share one tip that has improved your business or working life. The tip must align with the goals of Con Con: Better clients, better fees, or better peers (better life, really).
Think:

• a great line you use in a proposal

• an AI or tech tool

• a shortcut, system, or workflow

• a smart question you ask in sales or client conversations

• something small that’s had a big payoff

You’re welcome to share your screen... And there will be a 2min-timer so we can share the space. Plan B: The only catch is that this only works if we’ve got enough people ready to bring something useful. I’m not going to ask you to submit anything beforehand, I’ll facilitate the share-backs live, and encourage you to come along and share one thing.

On the surface, the tip roulette party was about swapping tips.

But it was actually a bit of sleight of hand… It was more about getting people comfortable with each other, and having the confidence to build transparent sharing, setting the right tone before they’d even arrived to the Gold Coast.

Too many conferences wait until 9am on day one for that first awkward hello.

You could see the connection already during the Sundowners on the Weds afternoon prior to our official Thursday kickoff.

The event was officially on from 4pm to 6pm, but at 6.30pm the party was still happening.

I love a good party but I also take hosting very seriously. I slunk off early to my room to grab some dinner, and not a single person noticed.

I wasn’t offended though, I was proud!

When you’ve built the right community, it stops being about the host.

How the first hour went (a CONfession)

The official start was Thursday morning, and I kicked off at 9:03am. Everyone was on time (the specific 9.03am start really works).

Then somehow, I completely botched my opening activity. My brain just wasn’t connecting to my mouth.

Buuuuut… It got a huge laugh.

A couple of Con Conners started jumping in, saying I’d recovered well, and suddenly I had advocates in the room before we’d even really begun, phew.

(One day, I might share the video footage of that scene with you, just not today…)

The other thing I did in that first hour was openly share my actual pricing on a slide.

It was a screenshot of my first ever proposal (that took 10 days to write), compared to a version a couple years ago, where if you were to break it to an hourly rate, my revenue increase was 511%.

Money can be a touchy subject, I know, and that’s why I wanted to go first.

Oh and Deb Pascoe ran a brilliant opening activity that tested psychologically bravery IMMEDIATELY. It was called “Vent, Brag and Judge”, so so good. The title gives you an indication of what we did during the activity.

CONtrolling the budget

Because ticket sales were made 290 days in advance, I created a separate online savings account and put the cash in there, almost like a trust account. Luma, the event platform I use, gives you event payouts quickly but I wasn’t touching it until after the event was delivered. I set up a separate line item in Xero to track ingoings/outgoings, paired with a Google Sheet.

Ticket sales total was $63K. I set aside a third of that ($21K) immediately for tax, leaving me to play with approx $42K.

The venue was the major expense. Hire included AV, meals etc for two days, bar tab and sundowner snacks, totalling approx $17K. Support crew, accom, merch, gear hire and other expenses totalled $11K leaving me with a profit around $14K.

If I was a business advisor to myself, and with the hours I put into Con Con (vs the work that I deliver with B2B clients), this does not make commercial sense on paper. But from an impact and joy perspective, it makes COMPLETE sense.

My goal with Con Con 2027 is to attract sponsorship to help it make more sense on paper. And I’m delighted we already have an evening drinks sponsor for Con Con 2027, thank you Sarah + Vitality Law Australia!

My favourite CONcoctions

Let’s get into some more detail.

Venue

The venue was MAGNIFICENT. 11/10 to Kirra Beach House. Just stunning location by the beach. I organised brilliant weather (haha). It had a big coastal room and also cabanas overlooking the Pacific ocean.

My only qualm was lunch as it was quite carby (boring sandwiches). The venue being all-in-one helped a lot. Nobody had to shuttle between a hotel and a separate drinks venue, which took the friction right out. The breakout space could’ve been better (proper rooms next time) but overall, with the scenery, the lovely vibes, it was fantastic.

Support

It was a total coup hiring events assistant, Sarah Hutton. She did so much in the background and made it so seamless, giving me the bandwidth to purely focus on hosting.

I also had to have my videographer, Sean Smith in the room documenting the thing! He’s fantastic and turns around videos so quickly, this time he edited together a couple 90 second clips (shared in this email) suitable for both YouTube and verticals for Instagram.

Con Con’s Resident DJ (that’s right)

A wildcard move last year was asking Viren to bring his alter-ego, DJ Tkrar to Con Con and DJ the event. I GAVE MYSELF A HIGH FIVE FOR THIS DECISION.

Gosh, not only is he a brilliant DJ but just an amazing human to have around to bring the energy.

And if you host events, don’t you hate that moment when everyone breaks up to do an activity, and you have to fiddle with your phone and a Bluetooth speaker for a minute? Viren just read the room and played the right instrumental at the right time… and I’ll never get over saying, “Hit it, DJ!’

Btw - my favourite thing he said was, “I don’t do requests.” I loved it so much I worked it into my opening. Isn’t that a nice lesson for our own businesses? Trust your judgement. Trust your expertise.

Be a “No requests” consultant!

Having those awesome tunes also loosened me up, too. I spent a fair bit of the two days dancing up the front and enjoying myself - when the host is relaxed, the room takes the cue, too.

Artwork (and jigsaw puzzle)

I commissioned Jade Miller to draw original artwork to capture the Con Con vibe. Her art was repurposed for signage, slide branding, and even a custom printed jigsaw puzzle (ordered from QPuzzles).

I thought we’d all enjoy milling around and piecing it together. We never finished it, though! Everyone was having too much fun talking to each other.

Merch

Re- conference merch. I didn’t want to do branded pens and USBs, so I made branded A3 notepads, because I’m forever working on A3 paper and I bang on about it constantly.

They were a hit, and doubled as decor for the room. I ordered stubby coolers too (I collect them), with “Chill, you’re at Con Con” on the side, I thought this was a smart line because the stubby coolers cool your drink… not sure if anyone got the pun? These also doubled as pen holders.

I thought about t-shirts and hats, but sizing and preferences are a nightmare, so I kept it simple.

Also - here's an idea you can steal for your next conference/event... The Biz Bookshelf (pictured).

I got this idea when I was looking at my bookshelf and seeing multiple copies of business books that inspired me - why do I still hold onto them?

And I know many of my peers also love having new reads... so for sustainability, and for a bit of fun/value-add, I asked each Con Conner to bring a book for our book exchange shelf. Leave a book, take a book!

The CONsensus (in their own words)

The thing I most wanted people to walk away with wasn’t a tactic. It was belief in themselves, and the confidence that you CAN create something from nothing, plus, a different way of seeing the world (small asks, really!).

Here’s what some Con Conners shared about the experience (in this video)

…and there was lots more Con Con love on LinkedIn

I couldn’t include all the CONmentary but here’s some snippets.

• “We came, we CONversed, we CONtributed, we CONnected. 50 of Australia’s most ambitious and thoughtful consultants, solo practitioners, facilitators and coaches, with a common driver of creating impact and value for our clients. Who all happen to love playing in the ambiguity, uncertainty and wild space of helping leaders and teams do better together.” - Julia van Graas

• “None of us knew what to expect, or what it was going to deliver, but we all knew through Leanne’s incredible energy, authenticity and track record that whatever it looked like, whatever transpired, whatever was delivered, was something we couldn’t afford to miss. I’ve been to more conferences than I can count, let alone remember, over the years, and by far this was my favourite conference.” - Steve Hodgson

• “I went along to Con Con with some ideas and intentions, but what I experienced was more than I could have hoped. Yes, I came home with a lot of notes and learnings and new contacts, but in a way that shifted something inside. Ideas and phrases that won’t leave me alone, confidence in who I am, the direction I’m heading, and not just contacts, but new and strengthened relationships.” - Jade Miller (also, read her excellent write up here)

• “I met so many cool people over the two days, and heard so many great ideas. Amongst many, here are some of the conversations that inspired me:

  • Steven Demedio’s provocation to ‘take it outside’ and use our environment and nature more creatively when facilitating.

  • Dr Cathryn Lloyd on what an absolute necessity it is to bring more of the creative arts into the development experiences we create.

  • Sharing ambivert discovery stories with Karen Hollenbach.

  • Leanne’s ‘Wildcard’ proposal approach. Absolutely love it, and I can’t wait to see which org is the first to bring me in as a fractional Chief Vibes Officer.

  • As a massive advocate for challenging the status quo on values-led culture, it was awesome to hear Matthew Stewart share so many great examples of how he ripped up the rule book on building culture.” - Viren Thakrar

• “I bought a ticket to the inaugural Con Con, with no idea what would be involved. I only knew I wanted to be in the room with Leanne and the incredible people she would attract. My three core takeaways were:

  1. If you’re not in love with your work, figure out a way to fall back in love with it.

  2. Stand for something and have a point of view.

  3. Identify your true fans, and stay in touch with them.” - Mel Kettle

• “As someone who works in a very traditional, grey and stale industry (yawn), and often experiences the loneliness of business, I found it so refreshing to step into conference filled to the brim with different people, new ways of thinking, possibilities rather than put downs & genuine encouragement.” - Sarah Stoddart (read her full article).

• “It seems like only yesterday I was at my desk at 8am, ready to snag a ticket to the idea that was #ConCon2026. We weren’t jumping at an international speakers list, or the snazzy venue (back then we had no idea where it would be, at all). We were jumping at the chance to be in a room of likeminded, amazing people doing aligned, stellar things, and we trusted it because we trusted Leanne. In a world of rising AI, increasing numbers of solopreneurs, with more ambiguity and disruption than you can poke 1000 sticks at, we bet on connection and humanness.” - Andrea Levinson

• “Con Con is over and I’ve done a 16km walk along the beautiful Gold Coast to reflect and process. What’s standing out to me today is the curation of insightful people and program, and the energy Leanne brought to fostering connection. Many people shared private and insider insights. I really valued the level of disclosure in the room.”- Paul Bowers (Paul also wrote this great article on how he creates an action plan after a conference)

What hosting CONfirmed about me

My level of obsession was about right. I had loads of time to plan this, and while I sorted the important things early (like venue), I deliberately didn’t lock the program until a few weeks out.

There’s real value in planning in the moment/just in time, because you’re picking up on the energy re- what the market’s saying, how you’re feeling, you’re just more responsive to what’s happening RIGHT NOW.

My clients usually want everything locked months ahead. For something like this, the magic was in the emergence. I landed my opening the day before, just by asking myself one question - What’s most important for me to share with this room, right now?

Disrupting my own CONcept for Con Con 2027

I’m not interested in running the same event, tweaking a few things and improving it by 5%.

The great thing about this year’s Leanne Hughes’ Con Con is that nobody had any expectations at all.

Actually, I did ask everyone, “Who could easily tell their friend/spouse/kids what Con Con is all about?”…Not a single person raised their hand. In fact, as the organiser, I couldn’t even explain it myself..! #clarityisoverrated

Next year, these high expectations are the enemy.

People know what Con Con is now, so the job is to show that it’s a format I’m willing to mess with, including my own version of it. YES, of course, I’ll keep elements of what works but I’m also really keen to shake up some things, to keep myself, and my fellow Con Conners on our toes + invigorated.

This year we had a big bell curve, from people who hadn’t started their business yet (and wouldn’t even call themselves consultants) through to black belt consultants who out-earn me.

I’ve increased the room size by 25 people, to 75 next year, so we can build targeted streams and maybe some small deep-dive workshops on specific areas, as well as inject new spirit into the conversations.

So yes… that’s the behind-the-scenes… And I also want to give a shout-out to and who were super helpful in idea-spa’ing about the program.

And of course, couldn’t have done it without the brilliant Con Conners - you’re AMAZING. Thank you for bringing the good stuff!!

There’s so much more I can share and write about, so please ask away in the comments.

Enjoyed the read?

Tap the heart 💙 so it reaches a few more people.

Btw, thank you for your early book support!

We’ve just cracked 346/1001 pre-orders of my next book, Work Fame, with 97 days to go. Want your name, or your organisation’s featured on the Wall of Work Fame? Grab your copy of the book and submit the form here.

🌴

Leanne “Needs to have music on cue” Hughes

p.s. Want to be part of next year’s experience? Con Con 2027 registrations are open, for a limited time with first round ticket sales closing 17 July. If you read this and love the vibe of Con Con, I’d love to hang out with you!

There’ve been sundowner drinks, my brain is still going (and planning for tomorrow). And I don’t think I’ve fully processed what’s happening here yet….amazing crew, best chats, loving it!!

A quick backstory if you missed it… 294 days ago, I floated a random idea on this list and on LinkedIn: Would consultants want to get in a room together? I capped it at 50 people and made a deal. Sell 15 tickets in 24 hours and it happens. If we don’t hit that target? I’ll cancel it and refund all orders.

15 tickets sold in 20 minutes. The event sold out in eight days.

It’s felt like a long time coming. And then it just arrived.

So here we are. And there’s actually so much goodness to share, wait for the full wrap next week but in the meantime I thought I’d share some snippets from my opening address - “Leanne Hughes’ Six Truths of Consulting” as at 18 June 2026*

*subject to change

1. Value is value

We live in a capitalist society, and the truth I keep going back to whenever I feel stuck is Jim Rohn’s line - the only thing it’s about is creating value in the marketplace, and the marketplace is reality (watch this clip from 1:29:00).

What that means to me is that the great idea in your head is not reality. It’s just in your head. You must go to the marketplace to test it.

So I urged my fellow Con Conners to test their service offering ideas with real people.

At any point, one thing could be off and the whole offer doesn’t land. There are so many variables which makes it tough! Wrong timing, pitched to the wrong person, wrong positioning, wrong language. But what I love about this clip is the simple message is going to a basic 101 business lesson: It’s simply about creating value.

2. Your peers aren’t normal

I’m surrounded by type A, high-achieving people who write multiple books, go on multiple podcasts, travel to cool places, and speak in front of hundreds or thousands of people. For us, that’s the norm.

When your peer group looks like that, you think, “If I write a book, what’s the point? It won’t stand out.”

Then you go to a barbecue with mates and realise that having a podcast, or speaking on a big stage, is a genuinely big deal to most people. What we do is rare. We’re not normal compared to the general population. While the market might feel oversaturated, it isn’t.

3. “How I” is the new black (not “How to”…)

Before AI, “How-to articles” ruled the content game, everyone wanted the 5 or 7 steps to doing something, that stuff attracted attention.

However, I believe that ship has well and truly sailed. Anyone can ask an LLM to write a how-to article in 4 se onds.

What stands out? I believe it’s about documenting and sharing “How I specifically do x…” where you share your process, story, learning experiences. People connect to that more than just generic “How to” content.

So, spill the beans. Share - what is your actual process? What did you try? Where did things go wrong? How has it worked out for you?

Everything I write here in this newsletter is just documenting what I’m doing, what I’ve tried and tested (and thank you for being here on this journey!)

4. You need to be constructively delusional

I honestly think this is the most exciting time to be alive. There’s never been a better moment to create something from nothing.

Be constructively delusional (here’s the episode of This American Life where I learnt the phrase!)

If you’ve seen my book launch site (and thank you for the pre-orders, simply incredible, I’ll talk more about that next week), maybe you’re interested in knowing that I built the pre-order website myself over a weekend, with no tech skills.

In 2026, you can talk an idea out loud to AI and watch it build the thing for you.

At Con Con, I ran a breakout session on my ‘Wildcard Proposals’ and how I love to throw in a random, crazy option three for clients - something that’s a bit out there.

Sometimes I propose ideas as an Option 3 and have no idea how to I’ll deliver it/make it happen. But I’m constructively delusional enough to back myself that if they make that choice, we’ll make it happen, and create dramatically brilliant results.

5. Your clients are paying for more than rational objectives

This is how you stay AI-proof. We become commoditised when we all do the same thing. “I’ll help you build a strategy one-pager.” “I’ll get your leadership team aligned.” Those are rational objectives, and they’re easy to replicate.

The experiential objective is what sets you apart. What does working with you actually feel like? What’s the essence, the vibe?

If you work with me, I hope what you get is excitement, enthusiasm for life, and a belief that you can shoot higher than where you are now.

All of us at Con Con have different vibes… and that’s okay! Your vibe attracts the right tribe.

6. How you do things is the thing

I find this easier to explain using examples - but how you operate, all of your customer touchpoints reflect everything about your brand and your values.

For example, my next book is called Work Fame. It’s a book about being work famous. So I had to work with a famous publisher (Wiley). I couldn’t exactly self-publish a book on Work Fame, right? What message would that send?

How you do things is the thing.

Same with the pre-order page, where I’ve built the Wall of Work Fame. The book is about getting recognition, so of course I’m embedding that idea of recognition to reward pre-order sales.

And Con Con itself. I launched it as an experiment, which attracted people who are also up for an experiment. That created its own community of bold action takers who enjoy operating in ambiguity.

Share

Let me share some tips from fellow Con Conners

I ran a short segment called ‘The Creation Station’ today which was really just about giving everyone some space to process what they’re learning at Con Con and give them the option to share some tips with you, here they are:

• “When you’re doing well - notice what scaffolding, systems or rituals you have in place that are contributing to your current success. And then embed that as a system in your life to build on the momentum” - , Impact Catalyst. Join her latest on demand masterclass, How to Stop Rambling

• “When you’re doing well - Find joy in the progress by noticing and capturing the glimmers, the gains and the gratitude. Even better, take a moment to celebrate someone else’s progress” - Andrea Levinson, Leadership Advisor. Work is good, work is great, work is fine - but is it? Name what’s actually draining your leadership energy and what would help.

• “It’s a numbers game!” relating to business development - Meg Hooper, Consulting Psychologist, Carousel Consulting and Creative Director, Circus Ipswich, Where the extraordinary comes to play.

I do promise a more full wrap of everything next week. Incredible shares from people like , Julia van Graas, the LinkedIn great debate, Deb Pascoe and Steve Demedio".

Now off to get Day 2 ready…wish us luck! (and let me know if you liked any of my ‘truths’ by hitting the heart 💙 button).

🌴

Signing off,

Leanne “Still on a high” Hughes

p.s. Alan Weiss is joining me for a special Talk the Walk live-stream coming to you LIVE from #concon2026 (Thurs 6pm ET / Fri 18 June 8am AEST). No topic off limits, join us!

After months of work (and a decade of learning the lessons I write about), I’d love to share my next book with you: Work Fame: Get the Projects, Perks and Promotions You Deserve.

This book was written for the 2016 version of me.

Back then, I worked in a large organisation. I was ambitious, but also a little lost. I believed that if I kept my head down and did great work, opportunities would eventually find me.

They didn’t and what I eventually realised was that great work alone isn’t enough. People need to know about it.

Over the years, I started experimenting with ways to become known for my work. Those ideas led to bigger projects, unexpected opportunities, incredible relationships and a career (and life) I could never have planned.

This book captures those lessons.

Work Fame is about becoming known for the right work, by the right people, before the right opportunities appear.

And now I’d love your help.

The mission: Making 1,001 people Work Famous

My goal is to make 1,001 people become work famous.

When the right people become work famous, good ideas spread faster, better leaders get noticed, and opportunities flow to those creating genuine impact, not just those making the most noise.

This book is my attempt to help make that happen.

When my publisher’s delightful marketing team told me it’s incredibly rare for an Australian business book to receive more than 1000 pre-orders, I saw an opportunity.

What if every pre-order represented one more person committed to becoming known for their work?

So I set a goal: 1,001 copies pre-ordered by 30 September 2026.

You can follow the journey in real time, too (scary!)

(A quick note for the aspiring authors reading: I have a call with the publisher's Sales team next week. Retailer shelf space is fiercely competitive, and strong pre-order numbers help prove a book has commercial legs. That's the practical reason behind pre-order campaigns)

As I write this, 139 stars have already been claimed on the Wall of Work Fame (thank you, thank you! I am so incredibly grateful for the support so far).

Every person who pre-orders the book gets their own star on the wall.

What’s in it for you?

Fame is about exclusivity, access, VIPs, the red carpet, perks and recognition.

I want to recognise YOU for being an early supporter of the book.

Every pre-order comes with a bonus, including:

⭐ VIP invitations to the Work Fame launch events (Just quietly… the Brisbane launch on 16 October will not be your typical book launch. Think Hollywood red carpet party vibes. You won’t want to miss it.)

⭐ Limited-edition Work Fame enamel star badges

⭐ Private coaching sessions

⭐ Team workshops, 1:1 VIP Days, and organisation-wide experiences

You can see all bonuses and claim your star here.

Pre-order Work Fame here

2 simple steps to claim your star + bonuses

1. Pre-order the book at www.getworkfame.com

2. Fill in the form on the page to claim your star. You need both steps for your star to appear on the wall.

And if you feel so inclined - share this on LinkedIn or wherever you hang out. The goal is to make this book Work Famous. Which, when you think about it, is exactly what it’s about…

Hit the blue heart 💙 if the concept of Work Fame resonates with you.

And so excited that next week, my event Con Con is on. It’s finally here! I’m bringing 50 brilliant consultants together down the Gold Coast to help reimagine what we do, connect, swap ideas and also? Have fun!

I’ll also be live-streaming with Alan Weiss for our next Talk the Walk episode live from Con Con, topic is “Nothing off limits” (Friday 19 June, 8am) - you can join in the banter virtually.

Will keep you posted on how the week goes!

🌴

Leanne “Only 863 stars to go” Hughes

P.S. TL;DR - check out my new book, limited bonus offers, and pre-order a copy to claim your star on the Wall of Work Fame → www.getworkfame.com

Actually, a few people were surprised to hear that, seven years in, I don’t have someone helping me with admin, inboxes, scheduling and content.

“You could do so much more if you had one,” she said.

Hmm…Maybe I could do so much more?

But more what? More posts, more comments (which means replying to all the comments), more tasks that need more checking and more “quick Looms” explaining how I like things done?

Omg, I’m tired just typing that.

Maybe I’m in my lazy era?

The trap of “you could do so much more”

There’s a strong narrative in business that growth = success.

Right now I’m in a sweet spot. I don’t have hundreds of clients moving through a complex machine at once. I can keep track of where everything’s up to - I use Google Calendar as my task manager and daily hand-written index cards to manage tasks. It’s not a perfect process but it works for me.

When I say I don’t have an assistant, people sometimes hear “I do everything myself” but that’s not the case.

I do outsource - just not always inside the business

I’ve worked with Jan (who I think is the world’s best Zoom producer) for seven years. He takes the cognitive load off me when I’m hosting webinars.

When I need specialist help, I bring in a contractor with specific expertise, who can hit the ground running, for example, I’ve hired an event specialist to help out with my event, Con Con in a couple of weeks.

If you believe that work and life aren’t separate (the “one life” idea my Talk the Walk co-host Alan Weiss talks about), then yes, I outsource quite a bit.

Here’s what I’d rather spend money on than a virtual assistant:

• A cleaner who visits regularly

• A landscaper for the edges and hedges

• A round of drinks for my friends

Today? I paid $26.78 to an Uber Courier driver to collect a personalised slogan t-shirt I’d had printed last minute for a photo shoot tomorrow.

Do I feel a flicker of guilt using a delivery service for that? A little bit.

Then I remembered that driving across town, finding parking, waiting around and driving back would have swallowed the exact window I needed to fit in some exercise today.

I’d rather hand off jobs around the house, or pay someone to run an errand, than pay someone to do work I can easily do myself.

Maybe I’m a control freak because I don’t have an assistant? I mean, I am a Virgo. My friend Sarah was shocked when I told her over lunch that I’ve never used cruise control while driving..!

Ask what help you need (not who you should hire)

There’s an assumption that the first hire should be someone inside the business, when often the smarter move is to outsource your life admin, or to really ask yourself this question - What help do you actually need?

If you lead a team, you might find a similar trap. Someone resigns, and the reflex is to repost the same job description that afternoon. Before you backfill on autopilot, sit with it for a day.

What result did that role actually deliver, and is an identical replacement the best way to get it?

(Also, side note: If I was in charge of a company, instead of offering someone more pay that is taxed at a higher rate to incentivise them; I would actually just pay a cleaning company to service my employees’ homes. Who doesn’t want that? What a total perk!).

Whether you run a tiny operation or a team, here are a few questions worth asking:

• Where are you doing things just because “that’s what we’ve always done”?

• What process are you feeding that no longer earns its keep?

• What result are your clients really buying from you?

If this gave you something to think about, share it with a friend who's designing their own version of success.

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Also, what are you up to Friday night?

Our full feature documentary from Nepal, Get Out Of Your Way is now available to stream. Stay in and tune in to watch me at my worst!

Tap the heart 💙 if this message helped and let me know in the comments - What do you outsource?

Leave a comment

🌴

Leanne “Lazy Era” Hughes

p.s. A big announcement next week about my next book, including how you can be involved and a slightly delusional challenge I’m setting myself.

p.p.s. Alan Weiss and I are back for the next Talk the Walk on LinkedIn Live and YouTube today (4 June 5pm ET / 5 June 7am). The topic: How to use words to increase your value, demand and influence.

Before I sat down, my client asked what I was doing this evening. I told her I had to take some time out to write this note to you.

She looked at me and asked, “Doesn’t that get tedious, writing it every week? What’s it for?”

I shared that this is actually less about audience growth (even though writing has attracted some amazing gigs and readers like you), and it’s more about my love for sharing ideas, and trying to improve my writing…As well as a fierce reluctance to break the weekly streak.

So, thanks for being part of the journey.

It’s been a fast week in the best of ways, with two big highlights that both taught me something worth sharing with you.

Highlight one: Appearing on the big screen

It’s one thing to go on an epic trek. It’s a whole other thing to have it captured by a talented filmmaker and turned into a 70-minute documentary that you watch with family and friends on a big screen in Brisbane.

The film is called Get Out Of Your Way. Once the doco is up on YouTube, I’ll share the link (here’s the trailer).

My friend messaged me after the screening saying, “I don’t think you realise how big a deal this is!” She was right. I didn’t. When you’re the one doing the thing, you just accept it as your reality. It doesn’t feel special until you step back/zoom out… and rewatch the experience in a cinema (very cool).

Matt Stewart, host of our ENFP experience, shared that “You can’t explain the bond you have with others when you do something like this,” and it’s so true. It was a delight to be reunited with my trekking buddies back ‘in the real world’. They all looked so fresh!

At the screening, Tim (the MC) asked about my self-talk during the hardest parts of the trek.

I shared that usually, my baseline internal monologue is pretty happy + positive. But four days into the hike, I was the opposite of a half-glass-full person. I was physically exhausted, in a mental trap, and convinced the entire trip was a massive mistake.

Three things helped to pull me out of that spiral:

1. Borrow other people’s optimism. Peer pressure gets a bad reputation because we associate it with bad influences. But when you’re surrounded by positive, fit, awesome people? Peer pressure lifts you. I was super slow on the trail, but borrowing the energy of the group’s pace got me through. The same is true at work. If your immediate circle is cynical or checked out, that definitely impacts you, too. Seek out the people who make hard things feel doable.

2. Just hold on for one more day (thanks Wilson Phillips). When I had my breakdown on the hike, unsure if I could physically continue, the best advice I got was to avoid making rash decisions and just see how things looked tomorrow. Don’t look too far ahead. Stop looking at the mountains ahead of you. Just take the next, unsteady step forward.

3. Ignore your thoughts. When your thoughts spiral, get out of your head and into your body. Your brain is trying to protect you and keep you safe but sometimes it’s too good at doing that, and can limit our growth. Going on trips like this, you learn how far you CAN really push yourself. I thought I knew that threshold, but Nepal showed me there's way more to dig into.

Question for you: What’s an achievement you’ve brushed off as “just normal” that actually deserves a bit more credit?

Highlight two: Facilitating an offsite at a winery

When my client told me we were having the planned offsite at a winery in Swan Valley, Western Australia, I inwardly squealed.

Off-sites like this work so well, and what I’d encourage you to think about if you’re ever in a position to influence where your team gathers.

A mistake I see often, is that strategy sessions happen on-site, at the office. People organise side quests with other colleagues, duck out for quick meetings, and you lose the magic of focused connection time. You miss the breakfasts and dinners where great conversation and banter happens.

One thing I shared with this team that I want to pass along to you is - the medium is the message.

Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan coined this phrase back in 1964. He argued that the way we choose to send information (the medium) has a much bigger impact on people than the actual information itself (the message).

Leaders might say, “We need to bring people on the journey,” and then proceed to deliver a 90-minute Town Hall lecture where they talk at the room. The medium they chose is a heavy lecture but the message they intended was collaboration. These are incongruent.

Your delivery format/vehicle must reflect the intent of your message. A practical question to ask yourself before your next meeting or presentation is: Does the way I’m delivering this actually demonstrate the thing I’m trying to say?

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Okay, signing off from the hotel bar. Hope you’ve had a great week!

🌴

Leanne “Nothing beats a Western Australian sunset” Hughes

p.s. Tap the heart 💙 button to let me know if any of these ideas hit the mark for you. That little signal helps to keep this weekly writing streak alive.

She grabbed a ticket straight away (because she’s cool + spontaneous, everyone needs a friend like Amy in their lives).

Then she asked, “Wait. Who is this guy?”

So I sent her a voice note, explaining.

I discovered Ken back in 2021.

He was a surgeon who started tweeting about a fictional AFL team called Queensland Football Club (it doesn’t exist… Ken made it up).

During COVID, posting random updates about fake player trades and match results became Ken’s way to unwind after hospital shifts.

Then, his Twitter followers decided they wanted merchandise to support his fake team.

He designed a t-shirt with his face on it and sold $2000 worth of shirts in a week. The AFL sent a cease-and-desist because the design used Gold Coast Suns branding, so the shirt was redesigned to say “Queensland Football Club.”

His merchandise drops kept selling out, even when he only had about 800 Instagram followers.

I found him in time for the second merchandise drop, and bought a QFC hoodie (which sold out in a couple hours).

That hoodie worked in a couple of magical ways I didn’t expect…

I wore it to a cafe and the barista exclaimed, “Oh you’re a fan of Queensland Football Club!” It’s like we had some secret handshake going/immediate rapport, “We like each other because we both enjoy the absurd idea of supporting a fake football team.”

Then, there was journalist Sophie Venz. We followed each other because of our shared QFC fandom (she also bought a hoodie). One conversation later, she published my article in SmartCompany: Write a Musk-like manifesto to dramatically bring your business’ mission to life. A very strange route to press coverage.

Fast forward to today.

Ken is now based in Tokyo with 810K Instagram followers and Queensland Football Club has evolved into Front Office, a design-led luxury clothing brand, where he makes deeply researched garments inspired by workwear, tailoring, military clothing and sportswear, while collaborating with brands including Percival and Umbro.

Oh, and Ken was also lucky enough to meet my friend Amy in London :)

What I love about Ken’s story is that he didn’t start his Twitter account with any intention of selling merchandise, or designing menswear (I mean, the guy was a surgeon!).

He started something ridiculous, saw the response, made the next thing, and learned the next skill.

He lived my favourite quote, “That which you can plan, is too small for you to live” - David Whyte.

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Turning nothing into something (my favourite hobby)

Ken’s story matters to me because I’m deeply attached to the idea of turning nothing into something. I even wrote an article about it: How to turn nothing into something, 2025 style.

Which is exactly what I've been doing this week.

I'm finalising the program for Con Con, my first event for consultants at Kirra Beach House on the Gold Coast.

50 tickets sold out in 8 days last year. The whole thing started as its own "Queensland Football Club" moment: if 15 people bought tickets in the first 24 hours, I'd run it. If not, I'd ditch the idea. 15 sold in 21 minutes.

Right now I'm playing program Tetris, fitting all the good stuff into the schedule. I've designed the event I would want to go to. And it's looking amazing - but most importantly? The people (affectionately labelled the “Con Conners”) joining me are all amazing, too.

We're sold out, but between now and 17 June, circumstances change. If a spot opens up, I'll go straight to the waitlist. Jump on here if you want first dibs (event details here).

You can just make things up

You can just… dramatically change your life the second you make something up.

A fake football club, a dinner series, a newsletter, an event, reaching out to someone… And if you keep following the response, that tiny idea can change who you meet, what you build, and the trajectory of your life.

Steve Jobs shared this, “Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it. You can influence it. You can build your own things that other people can use.”

Remember that you have that power.

What’s an interesting thing you could create for absolutely no sensible reason?

Leave a comment

Hit the heart 💙 below if you enjoyed reading Ken’s story. It takes two seconds and helps more people find my ideas online.

🌴

Leanne “QFC for life!” Hughes

P.S. Alan Weiss are back for our next instalment of ‘Talk the Walk’ in a few weeks, the topic? How to use words to increase your value, demand and influence. RSVP here so you don’t miss it.

I’ve officially become the older person giving career advice.

Which is weird, because in my head, I’m still 27. But somewhere between bad jobs, terrific leaders, career risks, workshops, and building a business… I’ve learnt a few things.

I loved the graduates’ questions on communication, careers, and workplace ‘etiquette’ and wanted to share some of the conversations we had this week with you.

So, here’s the career advice I’d give my 25-year-old self.

1. Say yes to everything

At this stage of your career, breadth matters.

Seek out exposure, experiences and embarrassment.

(As you know, I love alliteration and ‘embarrassment’ is also a proxy word for rejection/failure).

If someone:

• Invites you to something and your first thought is, “Oh, that’s not really in my wheelhouse,” say yes.

• Gives you a project and you think, “I don’t know if I can do this,” say yes.

• Asks, “Would you like another rum and coke?”… (well, 25 yo version Leanne would say yes, current version: Absolutely not…well, maybe you could twist my arm).

If someone has confidence in you before you have that confidence in yourself, borrow their belief for a bit (here’s something I wrote about getting your confidence back).

Worry about being discerning later in life. Don’t worry about it in your twenties.

Learn what energises you, and what absolutely drains the life out of you.

When you’re younger you have more time to recover (and less people/dependents that rely on you). Take risks and collect stories.

2. The org chart is not an intelligence chart

I used to think seniority = smarter.

Now, as an elder millenial, I can say this with confidence - someone’s position on the org chart does not necessarily correlate with how intelligent they are (this also applies in the political world, too).

If you see poor decisions being made, if something feels clunky, inefficient, or painfully bureaucratic… you might not be the crazy one...

Also, if you’re a leader reading this: Some of the best ideas in your organisation are sitting with the people closest to the actual work. They often spot what’s clunky, what’s broken, and what customers are really asking for.

If you want innovation, start by listening to your people closest to the action.

3. Use your beginner label while you still have it

We spoke a lot about the word “graduate” this week. There’s baggage attached to it - you’re junior, inexperienced and your colleagues might underestimate you.

But there’s also a huge upside, too. You can ask any question and get away with it.

Those questions get harder to ask the longer you’ve been around because people expect you to already know. So ask them now. Approach everything with curiosity, even if you frame it as “help me understand how...”

Fresh eyes are a gift.

Subscribe now

4. Want to be interesting? Do interesting things

Part of our time together focused on networking, and I shared this corny line: “Your network determines your net worth.”

I also shared two approaches.

Curate your connections first. We overlook the people already in our lives. You know more great people than you think, from university, old jobs, travel, dog parks. These are people who already know, like and trust you. Take a stocktake, triage the list, and invest in those relationships before chasing new ones.

Then expand. Look, I don’t love networking events. Yes, I’m an extrovert, but who genuinely loves walking into a room alone and chatting to strangers?

I love this quote from Michael Bungay Stanier, ‘No one likes to be the person who approaches other people, but everyone loves to be approached’.

Be the approacher. Walk up to someone, smile, and say hi.

I was also asked, “How do I have more interesting conversations?”

Two parts to that.

First, be interested in others. I’m in my comfort zone as the question-asker, and it’s genuinely fun to learn about people rather than rattling off stuff about myself. What’s wild is that some nights I’ll go to an event, talk to strangers, and no one asks me a single question. I recorded a podcast episode about that…

Secondly, to be interesting? Just do interesting things! Live a full life, travel, get new experiences, exposure to different industries, ideas, explore cultures, hobbies and read widely. Aim to be social versatility/have enough 101 general knowledge so that you can talk about any topic, to anyone, in any room.

5. Work harder on yourself than you do on your job

I wish I said that quote, but it’s from the master, Jim Rohn. I was 25 when my boss, John gave me Jim Rohn’s 12-CD pack. One line completely changed how I thought about work, “Work harder on yourself than you do on your job”.

You need to hear this…(video below). Honestly, if I end up being even 33% as good a speaker as Jim Rohn, I’ll be very happy #lifegoals.

6. Find your friendtors

Finally, find your friendtors (love this phrase from ).

When I was younger, I thought learning happened with mentors - people more senior and experienced that I was.

And look they’re great, but I think we overemphasise them sometimes.

When I’m around a mentor, I can feel this pressure to say smart things. I want to impress them, so I don’t always tell them the full truth.

With peers, it’s different. You’re in a place where you’re all just trying to figure things out. You can confess about having no idea about what’s next. You can talk about money, decisions, weird work moments, ambition, uncertainty - all the stuff you might polish up before saying it to someone more senior.

I was part of a self-formed Quarter-Life Crisis (QLS) group with my friends Camilla and Jason. We’d meet every other month and talk through what we were thinking. We’d find really great cafes and make a thing of it.

It was fantastic.

And unlike some formal mentoring relationships, peer groups can last because you’re growing alongside each other. We still have a QLC Whatsapp group!

Leanne’s career advice, in short

Take risks, and let experience teach you.

Don’t assume hierarchy equals wisdom.

Embrace your beginner era, use it as a superpower.

Don’t overlook the people already in your world.

Approach first - most people are relieved when someone else starts the conversation.

Build a life that gives you something to talk about and learn from.

Work hard on yourself

You can’t beat sharing the journey with your mates.

Oh and this isn’t career advice, but if you’re in Australia I highly recommend watching The Piano on ABC iView. It’s incredible (grab tissues for Season 2, Ep 4).

And if even one of these six points landed for you, tap the heart 💙 below. It takes two seconds and helps more people find this.

🌴

Leanne “Exposure, experiences + embarrassment” Hughes

P.S. What’s the career advice you’d give your younger self? Let me know in the comments.

On finding your thing

If you've ever finished a project and immediately felt the pressure of what's next?, I hear you. What will the next book be about? What's a new offer I can bring to the market? I like to think I’ll just wait and miraculously wake up with the answer.

Recently I heard something that reframed this for me. During an episode of This American Life with Ira Glass, he shared

We all want that lightning bolt, the idea that hits us, the ‘instant clarity’. But Ira Glass, one of the most celebrated storytellers alive, is telling you: that’s not how it works.

Finding the idea to work on is the work.

You can watch his full speech here (it’s great).

On excuses

My IG feed is full of Jimmy Carr videos right now, and I loved this one where he finds a guy in the audience who is a stand-up comedian. But the twist is, this guy (@comedybrent27) has cerebral palsy and has never uttered a word in his life.

He uses voice notes to share his jokes. If that isn’t inspiration, I don’t know what is.

The number of times I’ve caught myself thinking, “Oh, I can’t do x because of y”... is something I need to stamp out of my life.

I mean, this guy can’t talk and he does STAND-UP COMEDY. Incredible.

On the best ‘office’ in the world?

Surrey County Cricket Club in London has started offering “Work From Oval”. They upgraded the wi-fi, desks, power points, at the stadium, all with a clear view of the cricket.

You can access this ‘co-working space’ for only £15 a day and have your laptop open, while watching the match. Their tagline is, “We won’t tell your boss.”

Hundreds of people have already taken them up on it. Read more here.

What's your version of 'Work From Oval'? How could you repackage something you already offer to fit into a different part of someone's day?

On why meetings are still broken in 2026

I find it fascinating that in 2026 meetings are still draining the life out of people. They’re too long, too bloated, too frequent, and too full of people who don’t need to be there.

I shared this Tim Ferriss quote in a leadership program recently, “A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.”

I think this quote accurately captures the problems with meetings.

Good meeting habits, like starting on time when not everyone’s arrived, interrupting to keep things on track, excluding people who don’t need to be there - all require a moment of discomfort.

While these feel a little awkward/uncomfortable at the beginning, these are precisely the things you need to do to lead effectively.

On random recommendations

• Tactful Pettiness podcast with Cody Rigsby (my fav Peloton instructor) and Andrew Chapelle - funny banter + keeps me current with pop culture .

• Good Work (YouTube Channel), the host Dan Toomey is hilarious, here’s a recent story he covered on Silicon Valley’s new miracle drug.

• Wispr Flow. It’s a voice transcription app - but the real magic is that it formats your emails and notes as you speak, rather than just lump it as one big piece of text. Super accurate. I use it for a lot of things now, capturing notes, sending emails, writing this…

• Mulga Bills cafe. This is such a lovely spot to have an early morning coffee in Brisbane, it’s right near the Kangaroo Bridge. A great location for a halfway walk-and talk stop.

On the post that surprised me

My LinkedIn post about moving to Broome went a little viral this week.

I think it landed because it offered something different to the usual cost-of-living conversation.

Every media outlet is telling you to fuel up at off-peak hours and audit your subscriptions, I shared the best financial decision I ever made: which was moving somewhere remote, immediately getting a $30k pay rise, where the package paid for housing, electricity, gave me seven weeks of annual leave, and an annual travel allowance to fly anywhere in the world.

I had no idea jobs like that existed.

But they do because it’s genuinely hard to attract talent to remote places (oh, and the ironic thing? I felt more connected and involved in community life in an isolated town, than I do living in the city).

The insight here is - maybe the answer is for you (literally, or metaphorically) is to go somewhere no one else is willing to go.

Happy anniversary to us 🥂

Yesterday was our 10th wedding anniversary. Fun fact: Our wedding dance was to Percy Sledge’s When a Man Loves a Woman - wait, no. It was actually You Really Got a Hold on Me (sung live in Broome by Miss Behave and the School of Funk)

Which, if you read the lyrics, is objectively a questionable choice for a wedding song:

• “I don’t like you, but I love you…”

• “I want to leave you, don’t want to stay here…”

And yet, I love these lines:

“I can’t quit now / You really got a hold on me.”

I think that’s what marriage really is - where two people keep choosing each other through different versions of themselves. Plus, lyrics aside, it’s just a fantastic soulful song, super easy to slow dance to, and loooove the piano.

On AI referrals (I’m Copilot famous!)

I asked a prospect this week how she found me.

She said CoPilot AI recommended me, “Your work was presented as someone who is Australian based, understands organisational change, workplace culture and communication. Specifically, what interested me is that you were pitched as highly practical and interactive, with usable tools…”

I mean. I’ll take it (by the way, paid subscribers can find out how I created AI-friendly pages for my website here: The Exact Process I Use to Turn a Framework Into a GEO-Optimised Page).

It got me thinking about a trap many of us consultants and solopreneurs fall into: the content wheel. We post, we create, we show up - and we assume that’s what’s driving the business.

However, when I look at my actual data (AKA sales), my two biggest contracts this year came from people who aren’t even connected to me on LinkedIn. They found me through personal recommendations.

Yes, content matters. But it’s worth asking honestly - what’s actually moving the needle for you? This question came up a lot in last week’s marketing session - part of a three-part series I’ve been hosting this month on workshop design, marketing, and systems. I’ve genuinely loved it. Meeting everyone, answering questions, and realising: hey, I actually have learnt and tried a LOT over seven years.

Today I’m hosting the final session - seven years of solo business systems. Join us live and bring your questions (9am AEST), or grab all three recordings to listen back at your own pace.

Leave a comment

🌴

Leanne “Hey Siri, play Percy Sledge on Spotify” Hughes

P.S. Hit the heart 💙 if any of these landed for you this week - and tell me in the comments which one stood out for you.

He was sitting at a regional airport in Central Queensland, waiting for his flight home after night shift (not envious about that bit).

But guess who happens to walk past him?

Jimmy Carr.

Omg…Jimmy Carr is THE GUY that would be #2 on my list if you were to ask me, “Leanne, if you could have dinner with 5 people in the world, who would they be?” (feel free to guess my #1 in the comments).

I love everything Jimmy does - his book, Before & Laughter is in my top 3 memoirs, I love his life philosophy (here’s a terrific interview he did on Diary of a CEO), so of course we’re booked in for his Brisbane gig this weekend.

Ever since Chris has arrived home, I’ve asked him to replay the interaction about 17 times: Was Jimmy tall? Was he wearing his suit? Was he smiling? What EXACTLY did he say?

Here’s exactly what Jimmy said…

Chris waved at him + said, “Hey! How are you?”

Jimmy replied, “Hey mate. I’m great - you know, rich and famous!”

Ahahaha. This line is SO Jimmy Carr.

It’s precisely on-brand. It signals his entire worldview in two words - self-aware, unapologetic, comic.

Which is what I wanted to talk to you about today: Go-to lines.

Jimmy needs a go-to line because he gets waves and random hellos every day of his life.

It’s a cognitive shortcut that he can rely on.

And he's not the only one. Peloton instructors have made an art form of it with their one-liners, here are some of my fave go-to lines:

• “Grab water. Grab a towel. Get your life together.” - Cody Rigsby

• "I am. I can. I will. I do." - Christine D’Ercole

• "If you don't squeeze your glutes, no one else will” (LOL) - Adrian Williams

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You don’t need to be rich and famous to have a go-to line

There’s value in all of us having go-to lines.

On my podcast, Leanne on Demand, 95% of my solo episodes start with, “Hey! Thanks for tuning in to Leanne on Demand today”.

While it’s unoriginal, I find it helpful to start with this consistent line as it eases me into my monologue. When I host workshops or step on stages, I really just focus in on those first few lines to reduce the nerves.

It just acts as a nice little settler.

Getting started is genuinely the hardest part.

There’s a well-documented concept in psychology called task initiation inertia, which is the idea that the moment before you begin is the highest-friction point of any task.

Once you’re in, momentum takes over.

A go-to lines moves you off the Hesitation Station

A go-to line is essentially a launch sequence that bypasses your hesitation loop entirely.

There’s a Harvard, Columbia, and Wharton study I love on this - “Don’t stop believing: Rituals improve performance by decreasing anxiety” (Brooks et al., 2016). Researchers found that performing a ritual before a stressful task lowers heart rate, reduces self-reported anxiety, and improves performance.

You see this all the time when watching pro tennis players’ before they serve… Oh, and Alan Weiss and I also have a fun ‘toasting’ ritual before our Talk the Walk live-steam (here’s a replay of last week’s episode: How to design high-end client experiences) before our go-to lines, “Good morning, Alan! Good evening, Leanne!” makes kicking off the call a little bit easier.

The great news is that the ritual doesn’t need to be meaningful to anyone else. It just needs to feel meaningful to you.

For me, a go-to line is just a small, repeatable phrase that helps me move from yet-to-start to started.

It’s a small thing but something to consider as you go about your day - what could your one-liner be, either to start a meeting, or respond to a request.

Or maybe it could be something a little different from the default “Good, thanks!” when someone asks how you’re going.

Hit the heart 💙 and tell me in the comments what your line could be..!

Leave a comment

🌴

Leanne “But Was He Wearing A Suit” Hughes

P.S. Final roll call: We start in 180 minutes. In today’s virtual masterclass, I’m distilling seven years of MARKETING lessons into a 90-minute session on how to build a personal brand that wins premium consulting work. If you can’t make it live at 9:00 am AEST, the recording is included, all for US$100. 👉 Grab your spot before we kickoff

Today, I’ll share the EXACT email sequence that scored me a dream gig at Suncorp Stadium last weekend.

More on that below.

But first, a countdown: We start Session 1 of my masterclass series (Workshop Design) in three hours. If you want the frameworks I’ve used to build this business, grab your spot now.

(…And a quick shout-out to everyone joining from Stevie’s recommendation - welcome! And if you don’t know , you’ll absolutely LOVE reading about her latest adventure: I’ve Moved to a Greek Island With My Two Young Kids and I (Finally) Feel Alive Again 🇬🇷)

I Just... Asked

The anticlimactic story behind hosting a panel at Suncorp Stadium

Last weekend, I hosted the Brisbane Roar in Business event at Suncorp Stadium. It’s the second year I’ve hosted this event, this time sharing the stage with Michael Zullo (former Socceroo), Mari Seidl (Roar Midfielder), and Matthew Heath (Swyftx).

We talked about leadership, high performance, and navigating uncertainty. Afterward, my DMs blew up with one question, “How did you get THAT gig?”

People assume there’s a secret handshake or a high-level agent involved. Unfortunately, the truth is so boring it almost doesn’t feel worth sharing.

That’s exactly why I’m sharing it.

The email trail

Let’s rewind to June 21, 2024.

I was browsing the Brisbane Roar website and noticed they had photos from a corporate event I’d missed. So I emailed the generic contact address.

“Happy Friday! I was wondering if you could send me details on the Roar in Business network?”

She replied: “We’re looking at hosting a few more. Would you like me to reach out with information once these have been finalised?”

I responded on June 28: “Yes please! Would love to stay up to date with the events.”

If this were a movie, the story would end there. Leanne signs up for the mailing list. Leanne attends the next event. Leanne eats a sausage roll in the corporate box and goes home happy.

But a couple of days later, I had an idea….

I was probably making a coffee or walking Quincey when I realised - I’d just signed up as an attendee, but I run panels and host events for a living.

Why was I sitting on that?

Now, my first instinct wasn’t to fire off a bold pitch, it was to talk myself out of it.

I sat on it for a couple of days. Then I decided the cost of sending a slightly awkward email was a lot lower than the cost of wondering what would have happened if I had.

So on July 1, 2024, I sent this:

“Sorry, just adding to my previous email. I’m a business speaker/consultant, as well as an OG Roar Supporter (I helped set up The Den way back in 2005!).

If you need someone to help host panel conversations, MC, or speak in any way, I would be delighted to help out at a Roar event.

Happy to chat more! No problem at all if not interested, just thought I’d throw the idea out there.”

That’s was it.

She reached out last year, inviting me to host the panel. Then again this year.

Why it worked (and why it almost didn’t)

Looking back, the email passed a test that I now think about whenever I’m reaching out cold. Two criteria:

1. Find a task or skill that nobody else wants to do.

Hosting a live panel in front of a room full of corporate guests is something that gives a lot of people a physical stress response. For me, it’s super fun. When you offer to host, facilitate, or speak, you’re solving a massive headache for an organiser. You’re removing a problem from their to-do list.

2. Make sure that task is tremendously helpful to the person in charge.

I wasn’t pitching a keynote about my book. I was offering to make their existing event run better. That’s very different. It also helped that I could prove alignment - I’d been a supporter since 2005. I helped set up the original supporters club which made the ask feel natural.

By the way…

I’ve sent versions of this email many times - to organisations I admire, to events I wanted to be part of, to people whose work I follow. A lot of the time, I don’t hear back.

I’m not sharing the Roar story because it always works. I’m sharing it because it worked this time, and the only difference between this one and the ones that didn’t land, is that I kept sending them.

And yes, I know. It’s the Brisbane Roar. They’re not Liverpool FC. But hey, Suncorp Stadium is my Anfield.

You probably have your own version of this. A club, a brand, an association, a company you’ve followed for years. That kind of genuine affinity is rare, and look, we have one life, so why not reach out?

Don’t be scared to dream about working with, or for your a company, person, association or sporting team you admire.

Do your research - have a look at their website, events, strategy, connect with employees at the organisation on LinkedIn and see what they’re up to…

Then ask yourself: is there a gap I could fill? Is there a problem I could solve?

Leave a comment

Tell me - have you reached out to someone you admire and offered to help out? Who, or what companies would be on your dream list? Let me know in the comments.

Catch what you can with Leanne (upcoming development opportunities)

1. How to design high-end client experiences (free live-stream)

Alan Weiss, the rockstar of consulting, and and I are BACK for martini + coffee time, coming to you LIVE on LinkedIn, where you can jump in, comment, ask your questions + enjoy the banter!

If you want to command premium fees, you need to deliver a premium experience.
We’re going to talk about the psychology of premium buyers, how to position your value from the very first interaction, and why your fees should reflect the transformation you provide, not the hours you work.

🍸 Martini Time (US): Thursday, 23 April @ 5:00 PM ET
☕ Coffee Time (AUS): Friday, 24 April @ 7:00 AM AEST

Join our LinkedIn Live (or catch the replay here).

2. Last Call: The "Best Of" Series starts at 9am

I’m kicking off Session 1 of 3 in Leanne Hughes - The Best Of (7 Years Distilled) series in three hours.

If you want the shortcuts, the templates, and the hard-won lessons from 7 years in the trenches, you need to be on the Zoom (okay, it’s being recorded, too).

• Session 1: 90 Minutes to Masterful Workshop Design Friday 24 April

• Session 2: 1 Idea → Infinite Opportunities Friday 1 May

• Session 3: 7 Years of Solo Business Systems Friday 8 May

You can grab individual sessions for US$100 + tax, or the Full Bundle for US$180 + tax (saving you $120).

See you next week,

🌴

Leanne “Put your hand up“ Hughes

P.S. If this "no-luck-involved" breakdown made you think, hit the heart 💙 button. It helps more people find the strategy behind the "luck."