{"podcast":{"title":"What I learned in business (that didn't kill me!)","slug":"what-i-learned-in-business-that-didn-t-kill-me-7504944","podcast_index_feed_id":7504944,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/68c8d9069445f7a95104183c","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/what-i-learned-in-business-that-didnt-kill-me","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/cover/1757989586689-5ec7fadd-958d-4f32-b41a-87024b76e51a.jpeg","author":"James Stewart","episode_count":31,"summary":"Have you ever wondered why some businesses go broke and others are successful? Have you ever wondered why some leaders rise to the top in difficult situations? For 40 years I was a corporate undertaker. I buried businesses that failed and helped save those where there was still a pulse. I was parachuted into some of corporate Australia’s biggest financial crisis, insolvencies and turnaround environments. I have been in Board rooms, Court rooms and on shop floors when all seems lost (and sometimes it was). Over decades at the coal face of business (often in the most difficult circumstances), I have seen & heard stories that delighted and inspired me, as well as those which serve as a guide of the path not to take. I also spent years in leadership roles at Ferrier Hodgson and KPMG Australia where I sat on the Board and was the National Consumer and Retail leader. The purpose of What I learned about Business (that didn’t kill me!) is to share the stories behind some of the world's most interesting business situations, how they unfolded, how my guests dealt with them, and how those experiences changed them and the way they do business. I hope that my podcast entertains and engages lis…","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-i-learned-in-business-that-didn-t-kill-me-7504944"},"episode":{"title":"Anna Samkova: Customer Strategy, Loyalty and Behaviour","slug":"anna-samkova-customer-strategy-loyalty-and-behaviour","published_at":"2026-01-04T18:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-i-learned-in-business-that-didn-t-kill-me-7504944/anna-samkova-customer-strategy-loyalty-and-behaviour","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-i-learned-in-business-that-didn-t-kill-me-7504944","url":"https://shows.acast.com/what-i-learned-in-business-that-didnt-kill-me/episodes/anna-samkova","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68c8d9069445f7a95104183c/e/692f9e1fd6bc23eda21d7e83/media.mp3","summary":"From surviving a devastating car accident in Ukraine to becoming one of Australia’s most influential thinkers in customer loyalty and digital strategy — this is the extraordinary journey of Anna Samkova. Born outside Kiev and raised in Odessa during the final years of the Soviet era, Anna grew up behind the Iron Curtain. At 20, she survived a serious accident that required multiple surgeries and left doctors unsure whether she would ever have children. Three years later, she migrated to Australia, unable to speak English and holding a degree that wasn’t recognised — only to find herself unexpectedly pregnant and unsure she could carry her baby to term. What follows is a story of grit, reinvention and unbreakable determination. Anna learned English while raising her daughter, studying marketing, working her first job at Ozito Tools and running her own health and wellness centre. She went on to design one of Australia’s earliest large-scale loyalty programs at Dodo Internet, before joining American Bank Note to help retailers nationwide shape customer behaviour and loyalty from the ground up. In 2011 she joined the PAS Group — home to Review, Black Pepper, Yarra Trail, JETS and more — eventually becoming Head of Digital and Loyalty for almost a decade. She later continued in this role with Brand Collective after PAS was acquired out of Voluntary Administration, giving her rare insight into customer loyalty during periods of severe financial distress and organisational change. Today, as Co-Founder of Albany Advisory, Anna helps boards and CEOs transform customer strategy, behavioural insight and digital capability into sustainable competitive advantage. In this episode we explore: Growing up behind the Iron Curtain and how it shaped her worldview Surviving a life-altering…","meta_description":"From surviving a devastating car accident in Ukraine to becoming one of Australia’s most influential thinkers in customer loyalty and digital strategy — t…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3353,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/what-i-learned-in-business-that-didn-t-kill-me-7504944/episodes/anna-samkova-customer-strategy-loyalty-and-behaviour/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-i-learned-in-business-that-didn-t-kill-me-7504944/anna-samkova-customer-strategy-loyalty-and-behaviour.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}