After 25 years in senior corporate roles at General Electric, Mark Sheppard made an unexpected move — he now runs Sydney Pole, a fast-growing chain of pole dancing studios.

Studio Shift explores what really happens when big-business thinking meets small-business reality.

This podcast isn’t about theory or perfect frameworks. It’s about decisions made in real time, where customers are visible, feedback is immediate, and leadership becomes deeply personal. Through honest stories from the studio floor, Mark shares the lessons he didn’t expect to learn when he stepped out of corporate life.

The series is built around three core shifts.

First, speed and decision-making become inseparable. In small business, waiting for certainty isn’t an option — you listen, make the call, and act, often in the same day.
Second, success starts to mean something different. It becomes less about dashboards and targets, and more about people — confidence built, lives changed, and communities formed.
And third, there’s the power and cost of controlling your own destiny. Freedom brings clarity and momentum, but also self-doubt, responsibility, and the need for resilience.

Studio Shift unpacks these ideas through real moments — what worked, what didn’t, and what surprised Mark most along the way. It’s about where strategy meets community, where leadership stops being abstract, and where business becomes human.

If you’ve ever wondered what small business can teach big organisations, what it really means to step out on your own, or how meaningful businesses are built one decision at a time, this podcast is for you.

Welcome to Studio Shift — all from the inside of a pole dancing studio.