104: The Politics of Change - Holly Ransom

The Politics of Everything

Holly Ransom is a globally renowned content curator, powerful speaker, and master questioner with the belief that if you walk past it, you tell the world it’s okay.

Named one of Australia’s 100 Most Influential Women by the Australian Financial Review, she has delivered a Peace Charter to the Dalai Lama, was Sir Richard Branson’s nominee for Wired Magazine’s ‘Smart List’ of Future Game Changers to watch, and was awarded the US Embassy’s Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Leadership Excellence in 2019. Having interviewed the likes of Barack Obama, Richard Branson, Billie Jean-King, Condoleezza Rice, and the world’s first humanoid robot Sophia, Holly fights complexity with curiosity, apathy with empowerment, and fear with fact.

As a Fulbright scholar and Harvard Kennedy School Class of ’21 fellow, Holly is a recipient of the prestigious Anne Wexler Public Policy Scholarship. Holly has compressed a power-packed career into a decade, spanning corporate, non-profit, and public sectors. As founder and CEO of consulting firm Emergent, Holly has led real-world results with clients such as P&G, Microsoft, Virgin, Cisco, and KPMG.

As a proud champion for diversity and inclusion, Holly is Chair of Pride Cup Australia, a non-profit organization (and movement) devoted to challenging LGBTI+ discrimination within sporting clubs - and make them welcoming and supportive environments for LGBTI participation and fans.

A two-time Ironwoman, Holly loves to cook, dance and sing, she says despite her complete lack of talent at all three. A fellow podcaster, Holly’s podcast ‘Coffee Pods’ was named in the top ten business podcasts to listen to by the Sydney Morning Herald in 2018. In her recently launched book The Leading Edge, Holly brings the real-world leadership lessons of so many diverse thinkers and pioneers she’s met to the fore in her many opportunities such as being Co-Chair at the G20 Youth Summit in 2014 and becoming the youngest Director ever to be appointed to an Australian Football Club, the mighty Port Adelaide.

Hear from Holly on:

1. Her manifesto is about three principles – mindset, method, and mastery – that you say we can first lead yourself, then others. You have also had the chance to interview some of the world’s most famous leaders such as Susan Cain and Condoleezza Rice, Barack Obama, and Malcolm Gladwell. How have their different change-making agendas influenced your own views of what makes someone who can achieve a leading-edge?
2. How can positive and lasting change be achieved faster, and does it always come with sacrifices for those making it or impacted by it?
3. How can we become more confident in changes we decide to make or happen to us?
4. How have you personally carved out your way path, making changes and tinkering around the edges as you went to forge what you define as a meaningful and satisfying career?
5. What was the hardest change you ever made and what did that teach you?

1. Take away: What is your final takeaway message for us on The Politics of Change?

To connect with Holly:

LinkedIn: (8) Holly Ransom | LinkedIn and website: | Be the change you want to see in the world. (hollyransom.com)