Jeremy Nichols founded Composure after a career that took him from young consultant to firm owner to the executive team of an ASX-listed business. He knows what good organisations look like, and he knows what gets in the way. His view on culture change is unsentimental: the clients most ready to do the work are usually the ones already performing well who want to go further not the ones in trouble, because those leaders often created the culture they're now asking him to fix. It's an honest lens, and it runs through everything in this conversation from feedback at the senior level to the work-from-home debate and the generation that's never quite sure what they're missing.

IN THIS EPISODE

The journey from consultant to owner to ASX-listed executive and why he launched Composure to give others the development he was given Why the best clients are often the ones who are already good and why shifting a culture a previous leader built is the hardest assignment there is The habit of making the call how reaching out consistently has compounded into what people mistake for luck Building trust before delivering feedback to senior leaders and why the Enneagram creates the personal language that makes hard conversations land A clear position on work from home: leadership is a contact sport, and the nuances of trust simply don't build over a screen His concern for the generation who have only ever known the post-COVID working world and whether they know what they're missing

Brad Ebert spent the better part of two decades at the elite end of Australian football West Coast, Port Adelaide, 260 games. What he's built since says as much about his character as anything that happened on the field. Hey Diddle Wines started as a pipe dream with a Port Adelaide teammate. Phillips Coaching is where his purpose in the athlete transition space really comes alive. Together, they paint a picture of someone who made the most of football and was equally ready for what came after which, it turns out, is a far less common combination than it should be.

IN THIS EPISODE

The origin of Hey Diddle Wines pipe dreamer conversations, a winemaker from Rockford, and the decision to build something real rather than just lend a name to it The humility of moving to Melbourne and realising nobody knows or cares who plays for Port Adelaide and why that was exactly the grounding he needed Why footballers are better equipped for business than they think but need to slow down for collaboration His uncle's advice: 'Remember the ones on the way up they're the first ones you meet on the way down' Phillips Coaching's work across the full athlete journey from school-age development to the entrepreneurial mindset course for players stepping out of sport The motivation shift: from self-focused to genuinely wanting to give back including making space for his wife's career after 15 years of following his

This one's different. Nick and Lauren pull back the curtain on three-plus years of building Eclat what they've observed watching the community grow, what they've wrestled with as operators, and the conversations they don't always have in public. Nick on what happens when a sole trader walks into a room full of people from completely different industries and someone asks a question they'd never have thought to ask themselves. Lauren on the transition from teaching into people and culture and the fine line between caring deeply about your team and having to make the hard call. Both on the debate that isn't really a debate: flexibility matters, but early careers are built in rooms, not on screens.

SHOW NOTES

What three-plus years of watching the Eclat community grow has taught Nick about the value of a problem shared across industries Lauren's transition from teaching into HR the caring instincts that transferred, and the hard decisions that took time to sit with Why the experience economy has accelerated since COVID and the story of the member whose teenage daughter changed his life at an Eclat event A shared view on work from home: flexibility matters, but early-career growth happens in person An honest conversation about women in the workplace the emotional intelligence often mistaken for weakness, and the self-doubt that holds talented women back The traditions, routines and accountability structures that make it possible to run a startup without losing yourself in it

Megan Dickinson co-founded the Live Life Whole Project after watching women and girls navigate serious health challenges without the right information or support. What started as workshops in secondary schools has grown into a multi-state, multi-audience preventative health education program and the turning point was a piece of brutally honest feedback from a year nine girl that sent Megan home rattled, and back to the drawing board. Her response to that feedback separating herself from the work just enough to let the criticism improve it is a masterclass in building something that actually works rather than something that feels comfortable.

IN THIS EPISODE

The personal health origins of the Live Life Whole Project and the decision to build a preventative program rather than wait for the system to catch up How honest feedback from teenage girls completely reshaped how the workshops were delivered Stories from parents whose daughters have finally recognised the signs of endometriosis, disordered eating, and other conditions and sought help The 'train the trainer' ambition reaching parents, teachers and coaches, not just the girls themselves Battling red tape and government budgets to champion prevention over treatment The vision for national and international expansion with New Zealand already on the calendar

Peter Lenton has been inside AFL player management for long enough to have watched it transform entirely and to have formed very clear views about what's been gained and what's been lost in that transformation. His current stable includes Zak Butters and Jack Ginnivan. His career started with a referral to a kid nobody else was chasing: Nick Maxwell.

IN THIS EPISODE

How a tip from the late Mick Turner started a three-decade relationship with Nick Maxwell and the humble family that made it straightforward Why an accounting background became his point of difference attracting the players who could think past the bright lights The shift over 20 years in parental influence over player decisions Gambling, mental health and social media as the defining challenges for today's AFL players and knowing when to refer rather than fix The 'street fighters' versus the top-10 draft picks why players who've had to earn it tend to handle both the career and the end of it better The industry problem nobody wants to fix: agents signing kids too early, giving them everything, and leaving them with nothing when the dream doesn't arrive

Samantha Freidon built Milkshake Creative on the somewhat unconventional foundation of a science degree nobody thought she'd ever use. The test-and-learn rigour of the scientific method, it turns out, is exactly the discipline most brand-building is missing. But it's Wayfarer her assistive technology startup, born from a personal health diagnosis at 27 and a morning spent in a mobility aid store finding nothing that felt like her that gives this conversation its second, deeper dimension. Mobility aids need to go through the same transformation glasses did. She intends to be the one who makes that happen.

IN THIS EPISODE

How a 'loving redundancy ultimatum' from her now-fiancé pushed her to launch Milkshake Creative and how a science background became her biggest point of difference A personal health diagnosis at 27 that began stealing her mobility and the moment in a mobility aid store that sparked Wayfarer Why mobility aids need to go through the same shift glasses did: from medical equipment to a genuine category with choice and agency Two surprises about running a business she wasn't ready for sales and numbers and the shift from hiding to asking every question The brand strategy frustration she can't shake: a PDF that gathers digital dust rather than a belief that lives through the business Wayfarer's vision convertible systems, jewellery-inspired bracing, and a community for people who believe their disability is the least interesting thing about them

Christian Welch captained the Melbourne Storm, represented Queensland in State of Origin, and spent years in the company of some of the greatest players the game has produced. He sat down with us still processing the end of his career the bittersweet feeling of watching his mates in a Grand Final without him, the relief in his body, and the slow, dawning appreciation of what he was actually part of. This is a conversation about excellence what makes it, what it costs, and what it looks like from the inside. It's also about what happens after, and why Christian is as motivated now, as a first-year business analyst at Collingwood, as he ever was pulling on a Storm jersey.

IN THIS EPISODE

The bittersweet reality of retiring while your team almost wins a premiership and finally being able to appreciate a 163-game career Two ACLs, a ruptured Achilles, and the perspective shift that came from sitting in hospital waiting rooms Nine years volunteering with Camp Quality and why he doesn't frame it as charity What made Cameron Smith, Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk exceptional and how the best players being the hardest workers shapes a whole culture Craig Bellamy's brilliance: the tradie work program, the unglamorous roles, and 20-plus years of staying flexible enough to evolve His passion for helping athletes build purpose before retirement and why the identity question matters more than the money

IN THIS EPISODE

Building Aintree Group from two people on a dining table to a 60-person firm and why calling it 'the Group' from day one was a deliberate act of vision The early challenge of having a business manager caught between two founders who didn't always agree Why she abandoned work-life balance for a 'life in seasons' philosophy and what that actually looks like in practice How to get honest feedback as a senior leader, when almost no one gives it to you directly Knowing when to fire a client and why protecting your team sometimes means walking away from the fee Her advice to young people: slow down, find older and wiser voices, and stop measuring yourself against everyone else's timeline

Toby Raper built Networks X on a simple but precise premise: the right expert for a private equity firm asking about AI today is a completely different person to the right expert six months ago. Static databases miss that. Custom sourcing doesn't. He's refreshingly honest about what the early days of building a business actually feel like the cash flow shock of working with institutions that pay slowly, the unexpected anxiety that comes when things finally start going well, and the harder lesson of learning to be comfortable with stillness when your instinct is to keep moving. His motivation has shifted completely. Time, he says, is the most valuable resource there is and he's finally in a position to protect it.

IN THIS EPISODE

How Networks X works as a matchmaker for knowledge and why custom sourcing beats a static expert database every time The two things nobody tells you when you start a business: cash flow timing and the anxiety of finally slowing down Leading with empathy across a global team why lifting from underneath beats pulling from above Early feedback about being too emotionally expressive and the self-awareness it took to stop neutralising himself The shift from chasing leaderboards in London to watching a 22-year-old realise they're going to be okay Victoria's productivity problem the red tape that makes it harder, not easier, to grow and hire locally

Not the polished version from a panel. Not the LinkedIn post. The real one. The decision made at the wrong moment, the feedback that stung, the habit that held everything together when nothing else did.

At Eclat, we've had the privilege of sitting alongside some of Melbourne's most interesting people for the past three years. In our spaces, over coffee, between meetings. We've heard things that deserved a wider audience.

This is us finally giving them one.

The Sounds of Eclat is a conversation series hosted by Nick Maxwell and Lauren Blackwood. Each episode, we sit down with a founder, leader, athlete, creative, or operator and ask them to think out loud about what it actually takes to build something that lasts. Not the highlight reel. The substance underneath it.

What you won't find here: hype, jargon, or easy answers.

What you will find: people who've made hard decisions, learned from the wrong ones, and kept going anyway. Each one candid about the part of the journey that rarely makes the press release.

This is The Sounds of Eclat.