As 2025 draws to a close and we start winding down for the year, here are five of AHRI’s top podcast episodes of the year to listen to over the break. 

You’ve finished replying to the flurry of last minute emails, recorded and managed all leave requests, finalised holiday rostering changes and now it’s time to switch off for a well-deserved break.  HRM has compiled our top episodes from AHRI’s Let’s Take This Offline podcast to keep you entertained and informed during the holiday season (pina colada in hand, optional). Listen for compelling insights around leadership, wellbeing, human behaviour and more.

1. Reframing impostor syndrome: leading with confidence and values with Kemi Nekvapil

Kemi Nekvapil, a globally recognised leadership coach, author and keynote speaker who has trained with Brené Brown, shares advice on how HR leaders can navigate and approach a challenge many of us face: impostor syndrome.

What you’ll learn: Practical tools to help leaders overcome their inner critic, cultivate authentic influence and lead with their values front and centre. 

2. Building influence and credibility with the C-suite with Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz AM and Ben Morris

What does it take to earn the CEO’s ear?

Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz AM, former CEO at Mirvac and Benjamin Morris, Mirvac’s Group Head of HR, outline what made their partnership so effective in this candid conversation – including how Lloyd-Hurwitz turned around Mirvac’s flagging culture in the early 2010s partly through close alignment with the HR team, and the special counsel HR leaders provide for the CEO.

What you’ll learn: Candid insights on how HR can enhance their commercial acumen and influence in C-suite-level conversations.

3. Rethinking your business’s approach to change with Ashley Goodall

Disruption shouldn’t need to go hand in hand with innovation, according to author and leadership expert Ashley Goodall. In fact, as he argues in this episode, businesses need to work hard to provide their people with stability in order for meaningful progress to happen. 

What you’ll learn: A thought-provoking take on balancing growth with wellbeing, and actionable ways to implement change sustainably as organisations continue to face a sea of uncertainty into 2026.

4. Is your workforce ‘quietly cracking’? with Dr Michelle McQuaid

One in two Australians say they’re ‘quietly cracking’ – “a state where people are externally high functioning but internally struggling”, explains wellbeing researcher Dr Michelle McQuaid.

She unpacks her recent research into the phenomenon that is silently taking hold in teams, and offers advice on how to respond when its biggest culprit largely lies outside of the workplace. 

What you’ll get: Tools to identify the signs of quiet cracking and practical strategies to restore psychological safety and connection at work.

5. Navigating boardroom dynamics with Dr Juliet Bourke

Dr Juliet Bourke, a global authority on human capital, inclusive leadership and governance, offers advice to aspiring board directors and HR practitioners stepping into roles that interact with the board, including how to position yourself to be a co-designer of business strategy, and outlines some of the unique dynamics that can be at play in the average boardroom.

What you’ll learn: How to communicate to a board with influence and impact, how to get individual directors over the line and specific ways you can build your credibility.

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