The unstoppable Jonar Nader is joining us today for an in-depth conversation over a delicious brew of Tiger Purrr Chai.

Jonar is known as the world’s only post-tentative virtual surrealist. He is an author, journalist, lecturer, futurist, consultant and corporate/social warrior. He leads with his expertise in technology, management, leadership, teamwork, sales excellence and staff empowerment.

Jonar pushes the boundaries and disrupts the ordinary every day. He is the founder of consulting agency Logictivity and consults with corporations and governments across the globe.

In this conversation, we begin by exploring Jonar’s sense of urgency and appreciation of life and all its miracles - an appreciation acquired as a result of his experience of war in Lebanon. Jonar talks about how difficult and traumatic situations leave you sitting on a knife’s edge where it’s just as easy to tip one way or the other.

Jonar has gifted the world with his creativity, passion and knowledge through his numerous books. He shares the foundation and reasons for why he wrote ‘How to lose friends and infuriate people’ (my favourite book!) and the exclamation from which it was born.

Jonar is a perfectionist. The events he curates are credited to his incredible skills in planning and preparation. His timesheets for events go by the second and run into 30 pages a day. He inspires through action and tells everyone, if you’re going to do something, do it with all of your heart, mind and might.

Jonar believes that intolerance is a virtue. Sounds wrong, doesn’t it? But it’s not intolerance in the way you’re thinking.

If you don’t mean what you say, don’t say it. Jonar has very few rules, but those he has cannot be broken and that is where he is intolerant. He is very generous with his time, expertise, love, and attention, but the moment it’s abused, that is when he feels his life is being wasted and stolen.

Jonar is breaking the mould and is passionate about appreciating life every day. Over a glorious cup of Tiger Purrr chai, he tells us there is no greater life hack to get you from where you are today to where you want to be than the people you choose to put in your corner.

Topics Discussed

[2:10]

Jonar grew up in Beirut and shares his experience and insight into Lebanon’s war. He talks of the importance of that which you love, you must mitigate now to protect. 

[4:54]

Jonar was 7 when he arrived in Australia. His parents then decided to return to Lebanon when he was 8 when the war was beginning.

[6:42]

When Jonar returned to Australia, he couldn’t stay in school because it felt like a waste of time. The war had given him a sense of urgency and everything felt like a miracle.

[8:18]

When you come out of a difficult situation you sit on a knife’s edge. It’s equally easy to tip one way or the other.

[9:42]

When Jonar’s on stage with 1000 people in front of him, he sees a thousand individuals with a thousand different stories and his heart aches for them.

[10:53]

When Jonar started writing ‘How to lose friends and infuriate people’ he realised that leadership and success came down to the connection between people, eg. the boss and the employee. The problems in the boardroom are connected to the kitchen table at home.

[12:18]

Jonar’s book on love isn’t about romantic love, it’s about action.

[15:27]

Jonar’s family and mine have an annual quiz with Jonar as the quizmaster. Jonar’s timesheets for events go by the second and run into 30 pages a day. He credits this intense planning for running perfect events.

[17:05]

Jonar believes that life is so precious and it’s not worth rousing and spoiling someone’s day. If you’re going to do something, do it with all of your heart, mind and might.

[18:22]

When Jonar’s employing people, he asks the gate person to buzz him when the attendee arrives so he can see how they park their car. We demand our technology to be better but are we as humans doing the same?

[20:58]

Culture is that which you permit to such a degree that it is invisible and nobody notices. It starts with an action or an inaction.
[22:04] Write minutes of the meeting or a contact report for an independent 3rd party who knows nothing about your business and will be reading this in 3 years.
[22:49] Jonar states that intolerance is also a virtue. If you do not mean what you say, don’t say it. Jonar has very few rules, but the rules he has cannot be broken and that’s intolerance.
[25:01] Jonar’s mantra is reduced down to the bare minimum. Make everything as simple as possible but not simpler. His intolerance comes in when there’s a broken agreement, there’s no coming back from that.
[26:24]		 Logictivity is a combination of Logic and Creativity. Jonar is the most expensive consultant you’ll ever come across because he runs the entire business. When you engage Logictivity, you get Jonar.
[29:20] ‘How to lose friends and infuriate people’ was born as an exclamation. Jonar shares the story of the meeting where this title was born.
[31:43] You can have Jonar’s time, expertise, love, and attention, but the moment it’s abused you’re wasting his life.
[32:56] Jonar enjoys a glorious cup of Tiger Purrr chai. There is no greater life hack to get you from where you are today to where you want to be than the people you choose to put in your corner.
[33:31] Jonar shares a story about two men racing for their father’s inheritance. If Jonar was the Prime Minister he would take the heads of each department, move them across to the other side and give them a mission to find the peskiest client and bring them into work with them for 3 months.
[36:09] Seeing injustice makes Jonar purrr. If we don’t do something, who will?