Thirty moves as a kid. A father who couldn’t safely say he was Aboriginal. And a career that accidentally began with “buying pens and pencils” before turning into a blueprint for Indigenous procurement and self-determination. We yarn with Glenn Johnston, Barramatta of the Dharug Nation, about what identity costs when survival demands silence and what it takes to rebuild connection when records and stories are missing.

From there, Glenn gets practical about power. He breaks down why procurement matters, how a purchase order can scale an Aboriginal business and what policies like the Indigenous Procurement Policy and New South Wales Aboriginal Procurement Policy have unlocked for the blak economy. He also challenges the comfortable headlines: big dollar figures can still mean less than 1% of the Australian economy, while mob deserve representation that matches population and contribution.

We go deep on “walking in two worlds” and the tension between culture strength and Western systems, especially hiring. Glenn shares real examples of changing interview processes into a yarn, reducing barriers like legacy criminal records and creating employment pathways that ripple through community. We also talk boardrooms, why Indigenous board representation is so low across corporate Australia and how leadership comes down to one test: are you creating value.

If you care about First Nations leadership, Indigenous economic development, Aboriginal business growth and closing the gap through practical systems change, this one will stick with you.