The CEO Advantage Podcast

About The CEO Advantage Podcast

The CEO Advantage Podcast brings you into candid conversations with top CEOs, founders, and industry experts, exploring the strategies, insights, and lessons that drive success. From leadership tactics to navigating challenges, each episode offers valuable takeaways for entrepreneurs and executives alike. Gain an edge with actionable advice and inspiring stories from the people shaping the future of business. Tune in to elevate your perspective and fuel your own journey to success.

Publisher

Paul Edginton

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

6 Nov 2024

Latest episode

27 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

46 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   27 Oct 2026

   Grant Kelley: The Tyranny of Success

   What changes when you finally reach the top? In part two of his conversation with Grant Kelley, Paul explores a challenge that receives far less attention than achieving success, how to sustain it. Drawing on Grant’s experience with the Adelaide 36ers and his broader business career, the conversation examines what it takes to transform an organisation, rebuild trust and continue making difficult decisions when the pressure shifts from getting to the top to staying there. Grant shares the lessons behind the 36ers’ evolution, from recognising the importance of corporate partnerships and sponsorships to building stronger leadership structures, developing new audiences and creating international exposure. The discussion then moves deeper into leadership. How do successful organisations avoid complacency? How should leaders challenge their own winning formula before someone else disrupts it? And how do CEOs manage competing ideas, cognitive dissonance and the tension required to make good decisions? Paul and Grant also explore the danger of false alignment, when a leadership team appears united but the underlying differences have never truly been resolved. This episode covers: • Why the strategy that gets an organisation to the top may not keep it there • The "tyranny of success" and the dangers of complacency • Why leaders should disrupt themselves before the market does • Building ownership and accountability within management teams • Cognitive dissonance and the value of competing perspectives • Holding productive tension inside a leadership team • The difference between genuine alignment and false alignment • Rebuilding trust with customers, partners and stakeholders • Leadership lessons from the transformation of the Adelaide 36ers For CEOs and senior leaders, this conversation is a reminder that success does not remove the need for change. In many cases, it makes the need for disciplined, deliberate leadership even greater. Subscribe to The CEO Advantage Podcast for more conversations on leadership, strategy and building high-performing organisations.

2. 

   7 Oct 2026

   Dena Vassallo: Leading with Kindness and Clarity

   Host Paul Edginton is joined by Dena Vassallo, CEO and Founder of SOCIETY, for a conversation about leadership, business and what it means to be both kind and clear. Dena reflects on her career across New York, Chicago and Australia, the experiences that led her to found SOCIETY, and the leadership principles that have shaped the way she works with clients, colleagues and teams. The conversation explores how kindness can sit alongside high standards, direct communication and difficult conversations, rather than becoming a way to avoid them. Dena discusses the importance of curiosity, critical thinking and being comfortable with uncertainty, particularly as artificial intelligence and automation change the way people communicate and work. Dena also shares her approach to recruitment and developing people, why leaders need to accept that talented people may eventually move on, and the role mentoring has continued to play throughout her career. Throughout the episode, Paul and Dena return to the value of generosity, authenticity and creating space to think rather than treating constant busyness as a measure of success. In this episode: • Balancing kindness and clarity while maintaining high standards • Building a career across New York, Chicago and Australia before founding SOCIETY • Hiring for curiosity, alignment and the ability to think through uncertainty • Leading difficult conversations without confusing kindness with avoiding conflict • Using mentoring, generosity and time to support the growth of others and continue learning as a leader This episode is for leaders, founders and aspiring executives who want practical perspectives on building strong teams, communicating clearly and developing a leadership style that combines ambition, curiosity, generosity and high expectations.We would love for you to become part of our growing leadership community. Visit ⁠www.ceoadvantage.com.au⁠.For leadership advice and more content, follow @ceo_advantage on Instagram. Connect with Paul Edginton on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/paul-edginton-5047a511.

3. 

   10 Sept 2026

   Erma Ranieri: Creating Opportunity Through Public Service

   In this episode of The CEO Advantage Podcast, host Paul Edginton speaks with Erma Ranieri, South Australia's Commissioner for Public Sector Employment. Drawing on more than four decades in public service, Erma reflects on her journey from a teenage job in a local delicatessen to overseeing workforce standards and employment frameworks across South Australia's largest employer. The conversation explores leadership, public sector stewardship, workforce culture, and the importance of creating pathways and opportunities for people throughout their careers.Erma shares how her experience as the daughter of migrant parents shaped her views on work, opportunity, and leadership. She discusses the creation of South Australia's first administrative traineeship program, her commitment to improving pathways for young people, people with disability, and Aboriginal employees, and the role mentors played throughout her career. The discussion also examines workplace flexibility, employee motivation, psychosocial wellbeing, public sector innovation, and the practical opportunities and challenges presented by artificial intelligence. Erma provides examples from initiatives including Change@SA and ninety day innovation projects designed to improve systems, encourage new thinking, and create better outcomes for both employees and the community.In this episode:• Building a leadership career from a school leaver role in government• Creating traineeship pathways that open opportunities for diverse communities• Understanding what motivates employees in a changing workforce• Using workplace flexibility and trust to improve engagement and performance• Encouraging innovation while balancing risk, accountability, and public service responsibilitiesThis episode is for leaders, managers, public sector professionals, and anyone interested in building workplaces where people can thrive, contribute, and adapt to change.We would love for you to become part of our growing leadership community. Visit ⁠www.ceoadvantage.com.au⁠.For leadership advice and more content, follow @ceo_advantage on Instagram.Connect with Paul Edginton on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/paul-edginton-5047a511.

Who has been a guest on The CEO Advantage Podcast

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Stephen Mabbs
• Ricky Sydney
• Dan Gregory
• Darren Fleming
• Andrew Nunn

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

41,877

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Spotify

4.7 / 5

12 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 48 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

48

Social presence

0

YouTube

72

Engagement

51