Jack Manning Bancroft was 17 when he walked into Australia’s most prestigious college at Sydney University. Think sandstone buildings, young men wearing suits and gowns to the dining hall each evening.  

Jack, a talented athlete and student and a Bundjalung man, had been awarded a scholarship to St Paul’s College. 

The level of privilege he was surrounded by made him angry, but it wasn’t long before he channeled that into establishing the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME), an award-winning mentoring program.  

Jack became one of Australia’s youngest ever CEOs at 19, his program helped thousands of Indigenous teens finish high school, and the unique AIME approach was written up by Harvard Business School and McKinsey.  

Jack Manning Bancroft thinks differently. He leads differently. He draws on his Bundjalung roots (his mother is renowned Aboriginal Australian artist Dr Bronwyn Bancroft) to tell big stories and to develop relationships that are far from purely transactional. 

And now his big ideas are going beyond mentoring. He wants leaders and businesses to adopt Indigenous systems-thinking to revolutionise how we approach markets, capitalism, climate action, and relationships.  Could his new book Hoodie Economics and his radical new virtual world Imagi-Nation unlock powerful new ways to lead your organisation, team, or family? 

MORE INFO: 

Some of the resources Jack mentioned or ones you might like to consume about Indigenous issues in Australia include: 

Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe 

Sand Talk: How indigenous thinking can save the world by Tyson Yunkaporta 

Interview with Brooke Blurton on The Imperfects podcast 

The Voice: Information from the Australian Government here, information from Reconciliation Australia here, and the Yes23 campaign here 

The Uluru Statement from the Heart 

Video explainer by KPMG partner and Arrilla Indigenous Consulting’s CEO Shelley Reys AO 

ABC News coverage of The Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum. 

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Curveball is the show that leans into life’s messy moments! It’s a production of Deadset Studios.  

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This episode was produced by Liam Riordan. Executive producers are Rachel Fountain and Kellie Riordan. 

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia, and recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the land’s first storytellers.