Nothing is impossible

5 min read
5 min read

The ASFA Conference is called Connection Reimagined. What do these words mean to you?

Well we’re living in times of rapid change, the fastest pace of change we have ever seen, but it may also be the slowest we’ll ever see again. Many of our methods of connecting, from work discussions and collaboration to social events and keeping up with friends, are increasingly facilitated or at least influenced by technology.

Connection Reimagined to me encompasses what is currently happening, what has been happening over and over in this technological era, and exactly what we need to keep doing to bring out so much of the beauty that makes us human. Connection is not just a nice thing to have, it’s a fundamental human need. We are increasingly moving into an era of the imagination, so we’re discovering new ways to inclusively connect with each other, and to keep in touch with loved ones in times when physically being in the same location is not possible. Furthermore, through many of our advancements we’re learning more about the affect connecting has on our brains, and we’re even learning more about what it means to be human.

In 50 words or less, can you give us a hint about what you will be speaking on at the ASFA Conference?

I will take audiences through some of the incredibly unique adventures I’ve been on, discovering how humanity can thrive in this rapidly changing era. I’ll share what I’ve learnt about human connection and how that may evolve as we imagine and create our way into a bold new future.

Without giving away too much now, what do you hope the audience will take away from your presentation at the ASFA Conference?

I travel the world as a TV presenter with ABC and Discovery Channel finding out how science and technology shapes humanity. As a biomedical engineer, inventor and social business founder I also build many technology projects working with friends and families – driven by inspiration, purpose, and big ambitious dreams.

I’ll take the audience through some of these exciting rollercoaster rides and open their minds to new possibilities in what science and technology can teach us about ourselves – in being more inclusive, applying the likes of AI (artificial intelligence) to understanding our health, pushing the limits of what we think we know about our amazingly complex brain and body, and utilising technology to reimagine connection across numerous generations in your family, even into the distant future.

Today, nothing is impossible.

Tell us about your new book A Human’s Guide to the Future

I wrote A Human’s Guide to the Future to take readers on a journey through the big innovations being developed around the world, through my own mind-opening experiences, and to envisage where our collective future is headed. This is a book that will deepen your understanding of new and emerging technologies and fuel your imagination at the dawn of what will be the most transformative era in human history.

The main themes are robotics, AI, bionics and biomedical technology, extended reality and avatars. I wrote this mostly for everyday individuals who do not have a technical background (but those who do will still get a lot out of it) yet are interested in learning how humanity can thrive through our ever-evolving technology, and how we can all be part of the conversations that shape that change. So far the age range of those I know of who have read the book is 9 to 90, so it has broad appeal!

Excerpt from the introduction chapter ‘Life May Be Closer To Fantasy Than We Think’:

Even a basic understanding can allow us all to have a say on where the future is headed. I’ll show you what’s been made possible and what I’ve seen. I’ll take you into the massively ambitious, purpose-driven projects I’ve worked on that utilise these technologies. This book will delve into some seriously exciting stuff, involving robot friends, merging with artificial intelligence, hacking our senses, creating superhuman abilities, preserving loved ones through avatars, exploring what it means to be human, bending reality and fabricating virtual universes.

So, my friend, ready that cape you’re now wearing and take my virtual hand as I guide you through my mind and our ever-evolving reality . . . because adventures await!

A HUMAN’S GUIDE TO THE FUTURE – special price

Publisher Pan Macmillan is currently offering A HUMAN’S GUIDE TO THE FUTURE through amazon.com.au for $19 (usually $34.99 RRP).

What most inspires you?

What most inspires me is the idea that we can collectively build a better future, and that our advancements in science and technology are powerful tools we can utilise, if we so choose, to help build that bold vision. We must do this collectively. Our human connection is at the heart of the change we hope to see.

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Carmen Beverley-Smith

Executive Director - Superannuation, Life & Private Health Insurance, APRA

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Carmen joined APRA in March 2023 and holds the role of Executive Director, Life and Private Health Insurance and Superannuation.  

She has had an esteemed career in financial services, spanning over 25 years. She has held diverse leadership roles at Westpac and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, including across risk, transformation and change, product and portfolio development, and sales and service. 

Prior to joining APRA, she held the role of General Manager, Risk Transformation Delivery Integration at Westpac. This involved leading the group-wide implementation of a suite of solutions to uplift risk management capability and develop data, analytics and reporting. 

Carmen leads with a values-driven approach and a particular interest in developing and mentoring talent. 

She holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Accounting, is a certified Chartered Accountant and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. 

Amy C. Edmondson

Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School

Sessions

Keynote 8 – Navigating the energy transition: opportunities, investor strategies and policy needs

Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at the Harvard Business School, a chair established to support the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful enterprises that contribute to the betterment of society.

Edmondson has been recognized by the biannual Thinkers50 global ranking of management thinkers since 2011, and most recently was ranked #1 in 2021 and 2023; she also received that organization’s Breakthrough Idea Award in 2019, and Talent Award in 2017.  She studies teaming, psychological safety, and organisational learning, and her articles have been published in numerous academic and management outlets, including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Harvard Business Review and California Management Review. Her 2019 book, The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth (Wiley), has been translated into 15 languages. Her prior books – Teaming: How organizations learn, innovate and compete in the knowledge economy (Jossey-Bass, 2012), Teaming to Innovate (Jossey-Bass, 2013) and Extreme Teaming (Emerald, 2017) – explore teamwork in dynamic organisational environments. In Building the future: Big teaming for audacious innovation (Berrett-Koehler, 2016), she examines the challenges and opportunities of teaming across industries to build smart cities. 

Edmondson’s latest book, Right Kind of Wrong (Atria), builds on her prior work on psychological safety and teaming to provide a framework for thinking about, discussing, and practicing the science of failing well. First published in the US and the UK in September, 2023, the book is due to be translated into 24 additional languages, and was selected for the Financial Times and Schroders Best Business Book of the Year award.

Before her academic career, she was Director of Research at Pecos River Learning Centers, where she worked on transformational change in large companies. In the early 1980s, she worked as Chief Engineer for architect/inventor Buckminster Fuller, and her book A Fuller Explanation: The Synergetic Geometry of R. Buckminster Fuller (Birkauser Boston, 1987) clarifies Fuller’s mathematical contributions for a non-technical audience. Edmondson received her PhD in organisational behavior, AM in psychology, and AB in engineering and design from Harvard University.

 

Daniel Mulino MP

Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services

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Born in Brindisi, Italy, Daniel was a young child when he moved with his family to Australia. He grew up in Canberra and completed his first degrees – arts and law – at the ANU. He then completed a Master of Economics (University of Sydney) and a PhD in economics from Yale.

He lectured at Monash University, was an economic adviser in the Gillard government and was a Victorian MP from 2014 to 2018. As Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer of Victoria, Daniel helped deliver major infrastructure projects and developed innovative financing structures for community projects.

In 2018 he was preselected for the new federal seat of Fraser and became its first MP at the 2019 election, re-elected in 2022 and 2025. From 2022 to 2025, Daniel was chair of the House of Representatives’ Standing Economics Committee in which he chaired inquiries; economic dynamism, competition and business formation and insurers’ responses to 2022 major floods claims.

In 2025, he became the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services.

In August 2022, Daniel published ‘Safety Net: The Future of Welfare in Australia’, which aims to explore the ways in which an insurance approach can improve the effectiveness of government service delivery.