It’s all about the right culture, say Beau and Chris

TWO former local sporting legends, Beau Vernon and Chris Endres, are both living the dream up in Queensland these days, but they’re not sitting back sipping pina coladas.

They’re still having a red-hot go.

And their latest venture has been to launch a conversation-based podcast called ‘The Culture Standard’.

The podcast, available through Spotify or wherever you get your favourite podcasts, is part narrative about their lives and lessons along the way, part review of the best books, people and podcasts they come across and part breaking down the best ideas they’ve found in a fun, engaging, motivational presentation that has already stretched to eight episodes in little more than a month.

In fact, it’s been so fast moving that the ‘Sentinel-Times’ was prompted by readers to write something about the venture after the first episode, which starts out as a seen setter from the two mates, including some reflections by both Beau and Chris on life, times and sport back in South Gippsland.

We listened to the next couple, the one about Matthew McConaughey’s book Greenlights and got to the interview with Beau’s legendary teammate, Australian wheelchair rugby captain Ryley Batt and then got sidetracked.

We caught up by Episode 8 and found the boys had really picked up a head of steam, even talking about banging out 50 or more episodes up by the end of the year - they'll achieve that easily at this rate!

The fact is though, they make great listening, especially if you’ve got a long drive ahead of you. And if there’s someone else in the car, make sure they’re taking notes because there are some great lessons and clues, although Chris and Beau are quick to stress “we’re no experts, we’re just learning and sharing along the way”.

And that’s pretty much it.

You listen to an engaging chat between two blokes than have plenty of interesting things to say, and more than likely, you’ll pick up a few ideas that can help you too.

And it you don’t want to go all the way back to Episode 1, you could do worse than start at Episode 8 where the boys pick all the best ideas out of James Clear’s book ‘Atomic Habits’.

“In this episode, we break down the powerful ideas from Atomic Habits by James Clear and explore how small daily actions can create massive long-term change. We dive into the psychology of habits, identity-based growth, discipline, motivation, and why success is often less about big goals and more about consistent systems.

“We discuss practical strategies from the book, including habit stacking, environment design, breaking bad habits, and the compounding effect of tiny improvements over time. Along the way, we also explore how modern distractions, dopamine, and routine shape our behaviour more than we realise.

“Whether you're trying to improve your health, business, mindset, productivity, or relationships, this conversation breaks down how habits quietly determine the direction of your life - and how to take back control of them."

Beau drops a bombshell in the latest episode (spoiler alert) when he reveals to Chris that he's been knocked back by the team at Gold Coast Skydive who've said he'll never be able to jump out of a plane and more importantly land safely with his level of disability but, typically, Beau's not taking no for an answer.
"Honestly, I'm pretty relieved," says Chris, "I won't have to go either!"

But one thing Beau has pledged to do (and he's even taking lessons) is sing a song on air, and he's been buoyed by hearing Chris exercising the tonsils.

It's not all fun and frivolity, however, with plenty of substance including lessons for life, success and improvement that you're sure to find useful.

Here are the episodes they’ve put up to date:

• Episode #1 The story behind the Culture Standard
• Episode #2 Greenlights.
• Episode #3 Ryley Batt
• Episode #4 Rick Rigsby
• Episode #5 Man or Woman search for meaning
• Episode #6 The resilience Project
• Episode #7 Lucy Vernon – The other side of the story
• Episode #8: Atomic habits by James Clear