In this conversation, Bonny traces a life lived at full stretch: from stage designer in Cold War Berlin to web pioneer on the Sunshine Coast; from a rainforest off-grid in the Queensland hinterland, to the 61st floor of a Manhattan skyscraper — and the burnout that finally brought him to his knees.
What emerges is a conversation about identity, stillness, the cost of people-pleasing, and what it actually means to grow up — as a man, a father, a leader.
We talk about:
The childhood question that shapes who you become — whose love did you crave, and what did you have to do to get it?
Fast dopamine, the slot machine hidden in your phone, and why sitting under a tree might be the most radical act available to us
Three and a half years living without walls in a Queensland rainforest — and what nature quietly teaches you
The startup culture of performing confidence while the kitchen burns
Depression, burnout, and the fetal position that changed everything
Why nothing fucks up a startup quicker than running out of happiness
The one word swap that gives you your life back — replacing “I have to” with “I want to”
What real vulnerability looks like in leadership
Becoming best friends with your worst case scenario
And at 60, being the closest he’s ever been to knowing who he actually is
