Discover shows related to Let's Just Start Podcast with Laura Racky and Christian Cunningham, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
How To Speak With Confidence, The Invisible Influence Of Fathers & The Values Our Kids Inherit #76
Season 1 · Episode 76
Saturday, September 19, 2026 • Duration 36:20
Say less.
That might be one of the simplest ways to immediately sound more confident.
This week we start with speaking confidently, and why trying to remove every “um”, pause or filler word probably misses the point.
Confidence is a collection of cues.
We talk about slowing down enough to let your brain catch up with your mouth, getting to the point earlier, preparing properly, using the conversation before the conversation to settle your nerves, and why sometimes the most confident answer you can give is simply: “I don't know.”
We also get into some of the habits that quietly undermine otherwise capable people: pre-rejecting your own ideas, continuing to talk after you've already made the point, over-explaining, pretending to know things you don't and using 300 words where 30 would do.
Then we move into something much bigger: fatherhood.
What effect do good fathers really have?
Not just memories, money or advice, but an invisible infrastructure that children carry into rooms you'll never be in.
We talk about the values children absorb from watching their parents, the standards fathers model for sons and daughters, why telling children how to behave matters far less if you're modelling something completely different, and why good parenting isn't about appearing perfect.
Your children are watching how you work, how you treat people, how you treat their mother or father, how you deal with pressure — and even what you do after you get it wrong.
Some of those lessons might not show themselves for 25 years.
But they'll be there.
In Short:
Speaking confidently.
Saying less. Learning to say “I don't know.”
Fatherhood.
Modelling behaviour.
Raising children without pretending to be perfect.
The invisible infrastructure we leave behind.
Find us here:
Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com
Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co
Nobody Cares How Stressed You Are, Read Maxxing, Seven Powers, Joan Didion, And Who Has Your Heart? #75
Season 1 · Episode 75
Friday, September 11, 2026 • Duration 35:44
Nobody cares how stressed you are.
Harsh, but true.
This week we answer a listener asking how to detach from a stressful job.
We talk about the difference between being a serious professional and carrying responsibility for everything that happens around you. How to push back on impossible targets without sounding like you’re making excuses. How to make trade-offs visible. And why accepting an unrealistic expectation without challenging it can leave you carrying stress that was never yours to begin with.
But we also turn the question back on ourselves.
Sometimes the company isn’t creating all the stress. We are.
We wear exhaustion like proof that we matter. We replay conversations at home, worry about problems we can’t currently solve and sacrifice time with people we love for an imaginary audience that isn’t watching.
If the job is broken, or the career is wrong, you can change it.
If you’re the one creating the problem, get your act together.
Then we lighten things up with books, discover just how high our screen time actually is, argue about whether every book needs to make you smarter or more successful, and talk Seven Powers, Joan Didion, Frank Body, branding, entrepreneurship and reading simply because something is worth reading.
Your Questions! Getting Iced Out At Work, Career Drift & Are You Even On The Right Ladder? #74
Season 1 · Episode 74
Thursday, September 3, 2026 • Duration 28:14
We’re back after a mini hiatus, answering your questions.
First up, is there a growing trend of senior people being iced out at work until they eventually resign rather than being made redundant?
We look at why companies might do it, the complexity of Australia’s industrial relations system, why good employee protections can still become overly complicated, and why some senior leaders would rather slowly exclude someone than have an honest and difficult conversation.
More importantly, how do you know when it’s happening to you?
We break down three places to look for the warning signs: below you, beside you and above you. Are your team hiding information? Have your peers stopped asking for your opinion? Are senior leaders making important decisions without you?
Because sometimes you don’t need to be told you’re being iced out. The behaviour around you is already telling you.
Then we tackle a brilliant question, what do you do when your career has no direction because you haven’t taken responsibility for it?
Our answer is somewhere different.
Before asking how to take control of your career, work out what you actually want from it.
What does work mean to you? How important is ambition? What are you good at? What kind of life are you trying to build? And perhaps most importantly, are you even on the right ladder?
Marriage Maxxing: 6 Conversations Every Couple Needs To Have #73
Season 1 · Episode 73
Saturday, August 1, 2026 • Duration 36:33
Marriage is not just about finding the right person.
It is also about having the conversations that most couples assume they will 'work out later'.
In this episode, we talk through six areas that couples should discuss before marriage, before children, and then revisit as life changes:
• Money • Kids and parenting • Day-to-day life • Ambitions and dreams • Values • Extended family
How much do you want to save?
What kind of life are you actually trying to build?
Do you want children?
What does parenting look like when both people work?
Whose career takes priority when opportunities collide?
How involved will extended family be?
What are the values you simply will not compromise on?
The point is not that couples need identical answers.
The point is that resentment grows when expectations remain unspoken.
We talk about the assumptions people carry into relationships from childhood, traditional roles, money fears, family dynamics and previous experiences, and why some of the most important conversations in a marriage are MISALIGNMENTS in expectations.
Career Maxxing, Gaslighting Managers & Taking Control Of Your Own Success #72
Season 1 · Episode 72
Saturday, July 25, 2026 • Duration 30:22
Nobody cares about your career as much as you do.
That might sound harsh, but it's one of the most empowering lessons you can learn.
In this episode we discuss why so many people spend years working hard without ever clearly defining what success in their role actually looks like.
If your company hasn't set meaningful KPIs, how do you know whether you're succeeding?
How do you demonstrate your value?
How do you build a case for a pay rise or promotion?
Waiting for someone else to create the framework is often a mistake, and taking ownership of your own performance can completely change the trajectory of your career.
We then tackle one of the trickiest workplace situations of all: reporting to a weak leader.
Not every poor manager is the same, some are simply inexperienced or overwhelmed. Others are political, self-serving or willing to protect themselves at your expense.
Understanding the difference dictates how you will approach.
We discuss how to build influence, protect your reputation, navigate organisational politics and make decisions that keep your career moving forward, even when your manager isn't.
Career maxxing, building your own KPIs, negotiating promotions, identifying weak leadership and taking responsibility for your own career progression.
The Five Traits Every Great Leader Needs, How To Make Decisions In A Marriage, & The Magic Book #71
Season 1 · Episode 71
Friday, July 17, 2026 • Duration 27:10
If someone handed you a blank notebook and asked you the 5 traits you need to be crystal clear about as a successful leader, what would you say?
In this episode, Christian opens the "magic book" to share the five leadership principles he believes separate good managers and leaders from the average, and it can change your trajectory.
We discuss perception, understanding your vulnerabilities, knowing your values, developing commercial awareness and deliberately building relationships over the course of your career. None of these happen by accident, and all of them are within your control.
We then discuss the very tricky world of how we make difficult decisions together, particularly in a marriage.
Should you take the promotion?
Move cities?
Prioritise career progression?
Spend more time with your children?
How do you weigh money family, ambition, presence, or opportunity?
When you know who you are and what matters most to you, what you actually VALUE, many of life's hardest decisions become much clearer.
In Short:
The five traits of respected leaders
Why perception matters
Identifying and managing your vulnerabilities
Building values that people can trust
Commercial awareness and business thinking
Relationships that shape your career
The "magic book" framework
How to make difficult life decisions
Albanese’s Poor Behaviour, Kylie Minogue For PM, What To Do After An Interview & Positivity Maxxing #70
Thursday, July 9, 2026 • Duration 29:23
We start with Anthony Albanese’s comments about Kylie Minogue, his wife, and the Japanese Prime Minister, and why it raises a bigger conversation about judgement, leadership, respect and the way people in positions of influence choose to present themselves.
Was it just a joke?
Was everyone overreacting?
Or do small moments sometimes tell us something bigger?
We also get into something almost everyone has experienced: Walking out of an interview and immediately replaying everything you said.
Did I answer that correctly?
Did they like me?
Should I follow up?
Why haven’t they called?
We talk through what to do after an interview, including reviewing yourself honestly, learning from what you could improve, positivity maxxing the things you did well, and then moving forward instead of sitting around waiting.
Fun episode.
Find us here:
Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com
Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Top 5 Life (And Work) Shocks After Motherhood, Top 5 Ways To Know People Don't Respect You, Racky Rant, Disgusting Politics, Budget Madness, Stark Reality & The Stories We Tell Ourselves #69
Season 1 · Episode 69
Saturday, June 20, 2026 • Duration 54:39
Competing Top 5 Lists (List Maxxing)!! Who wins, Christian or Laura?
What happens when reality doesn't match the story we've been telling ourselves?
We with a discussion about respect. The signs that someone may not value you as much as you value them, the people who only call when they need something, the colleagues who undermine you in front of others. The friendships that quietly drift out of balance.
From there, Laura shares her Top Five Things That Shock You After You Have A Baby (Career Edition).
Not the LinkedIn version, the real version.
How your priorities can change overnight. Why your tolerance for workplace nonsense suddenly evaporates. Why people view mothers differently, whether they admit it or not.
And why the person who returns from maternity leave is often not the same person who left.
The conversation then politics, public debate and modern Australia.
Why has public discourse become so angry? Why do so many conversations revolve around what should be taken away from somebody else? Why are we so focused on dividing the pie rather than growing it?
We cover empathy, accountability, opportunity, growth, national confidence and whether we've forgotten that the people on the other side of these debates are still our neighbours, colleagues and fellow Australians.
Christian's 3 MOST Important Messages, How To Prepare For INTERVIEWS, Supermarket Fights, Reputation And How People Perceive You (Why It Matters But You Also Shouldn't Care) #68
Season 1 · Episode 68
Saturday, June 13, 2026 • Duration 59:16
How do other people experience you?
It's a simple question, but one most of us rarely stop to consider.
In this episode we discuss the gap between intention and perception, why people can have a completely different experience of us than the one we think we're creating, and why understanding that difference can change careers, relationships and leadership outcomes.
We talk about confidence, reputation, first impressions and the reality that perception often shapes opportunity whether we think it's fair or not.
We also explores interviews, workplace dynamics, body language, reception areas, leadership blind spots, social awareness and the importance of understanding how your behaviour lands with other people.
We also cover unusual feedback from an aura reader, real-world examples of perception shaping outcomes, and why some people unknowingly make themselves harder to approach than they realise.
The episode finishes with a broader discussion about risk, opportunity, backing yourself and a simple idea that sits underneath many of life's biggest decisions:
Don't die wondering.
In Short:
Confidence versus intimidation
Leadership blind spots
First impressions
Interview preparation
Court of UNPOPULAR Opinion Is Back, 5 Secrets To TRUE Life Success, Business Maxxing For Scaredy Cats, And Science Corner #67
Season 1 · Episode 67
Friday, June 5, 2026 • Duration 52:28
What does it actually take to build a successful life?
Not just financially or professionally. A genuinely successful life.
In this episode we discuss the five foundations that we believe sit underneath long-term success:
Commitment
Health
Family
Faith
Purpose
The conversation explores why talent eventually runs out, why commitment matters more than motivation, how health underpins everything else, and why people need a tribe around them if they want to thrive over the long term.
We also spend time on one of the more difficult topics, faith. Not necessarily faith in religion, but faith in something. Faith in yourself, your family, your future, your community, or the belief that tomorrow can be better than today.
We discuss starting a business, overcoming fear, volunteering, building purpose when you feel lost, a new study into anxiety, Court of Unpopular Opinion, open-plan offices, government spending, boredom, social media and why modern life seems increasingly designed to keep us distracted.
We are always surprised how much ground we cover.
In Short:
Entrepreneurship and risk
Commitment and resilience
Health and performance
Family and community
Faith and belief
Purpose and meaning
Volunteering and contribution
Anxiety research
Open-plan offices
Economic challenges
Technology and attention
Professional at work.
Present at home.
And occasionally, put the damn phone down.
In Short:
Work stress.
Unrealistic expectations.
Taking responsibility without carrying the whole world.
Knowing when to put the problem down.
Seven-hour screen times.
Books for work.
Books for pleasure.
And remembering who actually deserves the best parts of you.
Find us here:
Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com
Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to reach the top. There’s also nothing wrong with deciding work simply funds the life you actually care about.
The problem is never making the decision at all.
In Short:
Getting iced out at work
Australian IR
Difficult conversations
Career drift
Ambition
Finding direction
Figuring out whether you’re climbing the right ladder in the first place.
Find us here:
Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com
Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co
Because it is much better to have the difficult conversation six years before the problem arrives than six weeks after.
In Short:
Marriage maxxing.
Money, parenting, careers, ambition, lifestyle, values, extended family, resentment, expectations and the conversations that make a relationship stronger before life puts it under pressure.
Find us here:
Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com
Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co
In short:
Career maxxing
Why most companies don't define success well
Building your own KPIs
Creating meaningful performance measures
Demonstrating your value
Preparing for pay rise conversations
Promotions and career progression
Weak managers versus dangerous managers
Building influence outside your reporting line
Organisational politics
Protecting your reputation
Paper trails and accountability
Long-term career strategy
Find us here:
Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com
Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co
Career versus family
Money versus integrity
Parenting and long-term priorities
Building a decision-making filter
Why values come before choices
Find us here:
Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com
Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co
In short:
The subtle signs someone doesn't respect you
Workplace respect and personal relationships
Five things that shock you after having a baby
Why your tolerance for workplace nonsense collapses
Identity, confidence and adjustment
Political discourse in Australia
Empathy, accountability and resentment
Growth versus division
National confidence and leadership
Find us here:
Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com
Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co
Reception staff and hidden assessments
AI taskforces and workplace change
Self-awareness and social awareness
Risk, opportunity and backing yourself
Why most people wait too long
Don't die wondering
Find us here:
Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com
Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co
Modern life and fulfilment
Find us here:
Digital Resources: Therackycunninghamcollective.com