In Episodes 15 and 16 of the Leadership and Wellbeing podcast, Carolyn Creswell, the owner and CEO of Carman’s, shares her unique approach to leading with purpose and leveraging data to support wellbeing. From using wearable technology to deepening self-awareness, Carolyn’s leadership style is a blueprint for creating healthier, high-performing organisations.
Episode 15: The Power of Data in Wellbeing
Carolyn believes that data-driven wellbeing is the future of leadership. From tracking sleep and stress patterns to encouraging health check-ups, she emphasises how data can empower leaders and employees alike to make more informed choices about their wellbeing.
This aligns with the principles of personalised healthcare and psychology, which advocate for tailored interventions based on individual needs. At Carman’s, data isn’t just about business metrics—it’s also about supporting employees in building sustainable habits for health and resilience.
Research supports this approach. When organisations use data to better understand their people, they can develop targeted, impactful wellbeing programs. These proactive efforts improve engagement, reduce absenteeism, and enhance workplace culture.
Episode 16: Bringing Your Whole Self to Work
In our follow-up conversation, Carolyn shares how purpose and self-awareness play a pivotal role in effective leadership. Leaders who reflect on how they show up every day—and how they impact others—create space for authenticity, empathy, and meaningful culture.
Carolyn encourages leaders to embrace small, intentional practices. These might be as simple as taking a proper lunch break, setting boundaries between work and home life, or acknowledging a colleague’s great work. When repeated consistently, these actions compound to shape a healthy, vibrant workplace.
She also speaks candidly about navigating self-doubt and the pressure to always have it together. Like many high performers, she has moments of impostor syndrome. Her solution? Reconnecting with purpose and trusting in her values.
Situational Leadership and Flexibility
Carolyn’s leadership style embodies the situational leadership model—adapting her approach based on team needs and changing business contexts. Using real-time data, she knows when to step in and when to step back, creating the space for her team to grow and lead.
Key Takeaways for Leaders
Leverage Data for Insight – Track what matters: not just KPIs, but health, rest, and personal energy levels.
Prioritise Purpose – When in doubt, reconnect with your deeper “why.” Purpose fuels sustainable performance.
Adopt Small Habits – Wellbeing is built through consistent, intentional practices.
Be Self-Aware – Reflect often on your presence, mindset, and the impact you have on others.
Stay Flexible – Adapt your leadership style based on data, feedback, and your team’s evolving needs.
Why This Matters
Whether you’re a wellbeing champion like Alex, a strategic leader like Simone, or a performance-focused CEO like Andrew, Carolyn’s insights are immediately applicable. Data and purpose are not opposites—they’re complementary forces that can drive truly human-centric leadership.
Take the Next Step
Listen to Episodes 15 and 16 of the Leadership and Wellbeing podcast to discover how integrating purpose and data can elevate your leadership and empower your people.
In Episode 5 of the Leadership and Wellbeing podcast, Hayden Fricke was thrilled to be joined by Dr. Liz Walker, CEO of RSPCA Victoria, to talk about the importance of finding balance in leadership. With over eight years of experience leading Australia’s oldest and most recognisable animal welfare charity, Liz has faced numerous challenges while striving to create a high-performance culture. She shared how she has navigated trials in her personal life while leading her team to success and the strategies she has employed to balance her role as a CEO with her own wellbeing.
Letting Go of Perfection
Liz spoke vulnerably about navigating a marriage breakdown while raising four children and fulfilling the demands of her leadership role. She emphasised the need to manage the chaos and let go of the pursuit of perfection, choosing instead to set realistic expectations and focus on what truly matters. This thinking aligns with key concepts in cognitive psychology: that our feelings are directly impacted by our thoughts and beliefs. If we want to feel better, we must first change our thinking. For Liz, this meant letting go of perfectionism and embracing the mindset that “good enough is okay.”
The Strength of Support Networks
A critical component of Liz’s ability to thrive has been her support network. Both in work and personal life, she deliberately cultivated a circle of trusted friends and colleagues. This mirrors decades of psychological research showing that the most important factor in leading a happy and fulfilling life is the quality – not quantity – of our relationships. Strong social connections aren’t just a nice-to-have; they’re vital to resilience and performance.
Leading with Self-Awareness
Liz also shared how she engages in regular self-reflection. This ancient concept going all the way back to Socrates’ – “Know Thyself” – has become a cornerstone of modern leadership development. Self-awareness is not something we magically wake up with; it’s cultivated over time through deliberate introspection and curiosity. For Liz, asking herself tough questions has not only helped her grow personally, but enabled her to lead a healthier, more supportive workplace.
Empowering Others to Perform
Liz is passionate about empowering her team. By fostering a sense of accountability and focusing on the greater good, she has built a cohesive and resilient team that can solve problems without relying on her to provide all the answers. Her leadership approach aligns with Heifetz and Laurie’s Adaptive Leadership model, which advocates for exposing teams to challenges, supporting them through discomfort, and enabling them to become their own problem solvers.
Practicing Gratitude
One of the most heartening aspects of our conversation was Liz’s commitment to gratitude. She makes time to appreciate the small moments of joy—a practice shown to enhance wellbeing, improve sleep, and boost mental health. Amidst the daily pressures of leadership, Liz’s mindset is a powerful reminder that we all benefit from noticing what’s going well.
Key Takeaways for Leaders
Don’t aim for perfect—realistic expectations are more sustainable.
Build a strong support network and lean on it.
Make self-reflection a regular leadership habit.
Empower your team to step up and share the load.
Focus on what’s going well—gratitude is a leadership superpower.
Liz’s insights are not only inspiring—they’re practical. They’re a reminder that leadership is not about doing it all; it’s about doing what matters most, in a way that is healthy, sustainable, and human.
Though typically, leaders are expected to be strong, tough and confident, many actually suffer from imposter syndrome, a psychological occurrence when people doubt their skills, talents, or accomplishments and have a persistent fear that they will be exposed as frauds, despite external evidence of their competencies. This can produce a lot of anxiety and negatively impact one’s ability to lead effectively. Our guest on this podcast, Nick Yap, is no stranger to this issue and as CEO of ComfortDelGro Australia, he understands the importance of prioritising his wellbeing as he leads a high-performance team of over 4,000 people.
With a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in economics, accounting and law, Singapore-born Nick has been a part of ComfortDelGro for almost 30 years. Rising through the ranks to his current CEO role in one of the largest transport companies in the world, he has experienced the many ups and downs of acting in a high-level role. In this podcast, Nick gives us a vulnerable account of what it means to navigate issues such as imposter syndrome, grief and seeking help during challenging times.
Nick shares openly about his experience of being in a dark hole during a period of uncertainty in his company. It was then that he truly understood that leadership can be lonely. Being a coaching client of mine, Nick and I talk about the work we did together to get him through, with a 360-degree review of him and his senior leadership team helping him understand that he didn’t have to go it alone. Nick’s willingness to seek professional help demonstrates the power of vulnerability and the strength in seeking support. In fact, he explains that he sees me as a coach for his mind and he asks the simple question, “we all find it normal to go to the gym and have a coach or trainer for our body, so why don’t we also have a coach for our mind?” This type of thinking helps to reduce the possible negative stigma of what seeking help is all about and it helps to normalise coaching programs. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) has shown through their research that 70% of people who receive coaching benefit from improved work performance, better relationships and more effective communication skills, amongst other key capability areas.
We delve into the common causes of and issues that come with imposter syndrome, and Nick explains that though he has made progress in this area, the feelings still linger. He shares with us his strategies to manage them and how choosing to focus on his ‘why’ leads him away from debilitating, negative self-talk. Nick shared a lovely story about how he decided to begin a new habit of reflecting on his role as Managing Director as being there to support the over 4,000 staff who work for ComfortDelGro in Australia. Making sure that this was top of his mind during important decisions or occasions helped him let go of focusing on himself and some of his own insecurities and put his attention on all those people he cares about who works in his business every day.
Working in a demanding role can often have negative impacts on our personal lives, and finding the right balance for the health of our homes isn’t always easy. Nick recognises the importance of making time for his family and describes the habits he and his wife have developed to maintain their connection and continue to be present with one another. These include being deliberate and conscious in taking time to think about and plan quality time together. For example, Nick and his wife frequently make time to go walking together. It is incredibly important for leaders to balance out their work and family commitments and aim to get the balance right as often as possible.
We discuss a particularly challenging time for Nick and his colleagues when tragedy struck within the team. Sadly, 2 of his ComfortDelGro staff were hit and killed by a car as they had stop on the side of the road to replace a tire that had punctured. He discusses the emotional impact this had on the company and the importance of supporting his team through the grieving process. Nick highlights the significance of empathy during such times, believing that true strength comes from quiet confidence and a genuine concern for the wellbeing of others.
Nick’s vulnerability and commitment to caring for those around him is a refreshing reminder that leadership and wellbeing can successfully go hand-in-hand. His story serves as a guiding light to all those who are navigating the complexities of leading others.
