Hacia Atherton is the author of The Billion Dollar Blind$pot, global speaker, and the first female CEO of a major plumbing company in Australia. After surviving a near-fatal horse-riding accident, Hacia turned personal adversity into a global mission—founding Empowered Women in Trades and championing a new era of leadership grounded in psychological safety, inclusive strategy, and bold cultural reform across male-dominated industries.

In our conversation, we talk about Hacia’s family background as the fifth generation of a successful Australian business, and how the complementary strengths of her parents—her father’s business discipline and her mother’s creativity—have influenced and inspired her.

We then follow an exploratory journey as Hacia heads toward commercial law, refines her choices, and consistently tests opportunities adjusting the mix of business and creativity until she’s truly forging her own path and bringing everything she’s learned to each new role.

There’s a wonderful moment on the shop floor, learning to weld, when a simple piece of feedback reframes her thinking about gender in trades—a spark that ultimately contributes to founding Empowered Women in Trades.

Her story is brutally interrupted by a serious accident in 2017. We talk about the incident, her long recovery, and how she applied positive psychology to keep moving forward—demonstrating servant leadership even in rehab.

Finally, we discuss her book, The Billion Dollar Blind$pot, which explores the link between workplace culture and financial performance.

I loved getting to know Hacia through this conversation and I’m excited to share it with you. I look forward to hearing what resonates. 

We don’t talk explicitly about Fulfilling Performance in this episode, but Hacia’s story is a live example. As you listen, I encourage you to notice the four Guiding Principles at work — Know Why, Be Clear, Equip Yourself, Support Others.

Connect with Hacia

LinkedIn

Billion Dollar Blind$pot book

Website

Empowered Women in Trades

About Andy

I’m a business leader, coach, and the creator of the Fulfilling Performance framework.

Over the past 25+ years, I’ve led and developed businesses including Alphabet UK, BMW Financial Services in the UK, Singapore, and New Zealand, and Tesla Financial Services UK. Alongside this, I’ve coached individuals and facilitated leadership development programmes in 17 countries across Asia, Europe, and North America.

In 2016, I founded Aquilae to support leaders and teams in the mobility sector and beyond. Through workshops, coaching, and peer mentoring, we enable high performance that’s also fulfilling—for individuals, teams, and organisations.

Learn more about Fulfilling Performance

Check out Release the Handbrake! The Fulfilling Performance Hub

Connect with Andy

LinkedIn: Andy Follows
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Join a peer mentoring team: Aquilae Academy

Thank you to our sponsors:

ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

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Episode recorded on 17 November, 2025.