From Australia to Irish Citizen:
Clint Drieberg’s Bold Life Decisions
Presented by:
Áine Maguire, Susy Kenefick
Episode:
5
In this episode of The 37% Podcast, radio producer and media personality Clint Drieberg opens up about the life-altering decision to leave Australia and settle in Ireland, ultimately becoming an Irish citizen. Known for his dynamic career in media, Clint’s journey is about much more than just professional success—it's about embracing new opportunities, navigating uncertainty, and finding a new sense of belonging in a foreign land.
Clint takes us through his decision-making process, from his leap of faith in leaving Australia to adapting to life in Ireland, building a career, and finally becoming an Irish citizen. His reflections on identity, resilience, and the unforeseen paths that led him to this point offer a compelling look at how bold decisions can shape both personal and professional lives. If you’ve ever faced a life-changing decision or wondered about the impact of starting fresh, Clint’s story will inspire you to take the leap.
Listen here or where ever you get your podcasts
00:43:42
Duration:
18 October 2024
Date:
Show References and Links:
Intro music playing quierly in the background
00:00:03Áine Maguire
Welcome to the 37%. This is a show that invites people to reflect on a significant career, leadership or life decision. My name's Áine Maguire
00:00:13Susy Kenefick
And my name is Susy Kenefick
00:00:14Áine Maguire
On our show.
00:00:15Áine Maguire
We ask our guests about what led to a decision, why they made it, how it was made.
00:00:20Áine Maguire
And what happened next?
00:00:25Áine Maguire
So Susy, we have an interesting guest today haven't we? quite a different decision scenario to some of the other ones we've had
00:00:31Susy Kenefick
yeah, because I think it's it's very much a life decision, maybe more than a career decision. So it was a little bit different from that perspective.
00:00:39Áine Maguire
Yeah. So Clint Drieberg is our our guest today and Clint is going to talk about his decision to become Irish.
00:00:46Áine Maguire
But a lot more than that. in a roundabout way, but it's like many decisions. It's a whole series of decisions which starts early on in his life in Australia and it's a very good story of how decisions unfold I think
00:00:48Susy Kenefick
Yeah.
00:01:04Susy Kenefick
Think. Yeah. And I think for me as well in particular if I was to describe Clint's decision making persona
00:01:10Susy Kenefick
He's somebody who has got this sense of adventure and optimism about where life will lead if you just take steps and opportunities as they unfold before you, so I'm sure we'll talk about that and and a few other interesting tidbits to come out of the interview. But I think for now we can we can head straight into our chat.
00:01:27Susy Kenefick
With Clint and we'll catch up afterwards. Great.
00:01:33Susy Kenefick
Clint Drieberg is a producer and showbiz reporter based here in Dublin, but with a decidedly international reach. As he puts it, he is heard and seen worldwide. In addition to his role as producer and radio programmer at Dublin's Radio Nova, Clint is also a reporter and movie critic who interviews movie stars and household names on the regular. Clint began his career in his native Australia.
00:01:53Susy Kenefick
With radio and media roles in Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne before departing for Europe with his partner nearly ten years ago. Following a brief stint freelancing in London, Clint settled in Dublin and in 2022 he officially became an Irish citizen.
00:02:07Susy Kenefick
And no doubt he'll have plenty to tell us about the decision to relocate halfway around the world. Clint, we are delighted to have you here. Welcome to the Podcast
00:02:14Clint Drieberg
Thanks Susy, Thanks Áine
Áine Maguire
Oh great to have you. So it sounds like we're going to have an interesting decision we haven't had before. And the decision we're going to talk about is the decision to leave Australia.
00:02:27Áine Maguire
And what happened then? Leading ultimately to the decision to become an Irish citizen. So it's a fascinating story, but before we get into that, just tell us.
00:02:36Áine Maguire
Tell us a bit of about your background and what happened, who you were before you decided to leave Australia.
00:02:42Clint Drieberg
Well, I was always fascinated in the media growing up as a kid. I was lucky going to high school. We had a great media programme that taught us about radio and TV and being in a small town like Perth is kind of like living in a small town in Ireland. There wasn't much media around.
00:02:57Clint Drieberg
There wasn't a sparkly TV studio that you could go and apply for a job.
00:03:00Clint Drieberg
There was a lot of radio and so I did apply for work experience in the local radio stations and got that work experience and soon discovered that radio is a great medium. Still is today. It's the most immediate thing I know of. I mean, sure, there's social media, but I guess radio is the original social media. I like to think of it. You know, whether you be in Dublin or whether you be in Dingle.
00:03:21Clint Drieberg
If you're listening to the radio and you're hearing a person talking, they're telling their story immediately. Most 90% of the time they're talking to you live, and you can react to that. And it's very intimate, it's in your ears.
00:03:32Clint Drieberg
You don't have to look at something you don't have to have your phone and watching you don't have to read the subtitles on TikTok. You can just have it on the background. Sometimes it's superfluous and sometimes you hear something that you get engaged in. And I was fascinated by that. Once being in the studio and surrounded by the idea of audio.
00:03:51Clint Drieberg
You know, getting into your head
00:03:53Clint Drieberg
And people's voices and how you could tell stories primarily through radio and and through audio. And so yeah, after spending some time in The Newsroom, I was introduced to a producer of one of the programmes. I was like, what is a producer do this 16 year old version of me going I didn't. I just thought a person sat in front of a microphone and played some records and hit some buttons. But no, there was a producer.
00:04:14Clint Drieberg
So she showed me what she did.
00:04:16Clint Drieberg
And I became her assistant eventually, she left. I became her, got offered another job at a radio station in Perth, did a few jobs in Perth, then got offered a job in Brisbane and then Sydney and so worked my way around and through all of that I was lucky I got my passion, was always film and someone asked me in one of those radio stations along the way. Would I like to review films and?
00:04:37Clint Drieberg
Do a few interviews and I said, yeah, sure. And so I was able to live my passion of talking about film and watching film.
00:04:46Clint Drieberg
As well as tying it all together with a bit of work in radio and that's what's happened for the last 25 years.
00:04:52Áine Maguire
Sounds amazing.
00:04:55Áine Maguire
And have you?
00:04:55Áine Maguire
You've kept your passion about radio, have you?
00:04:58Clint Drieberg
Always. Yeah. And again, kept that passion of films I didn't think before that decision to leave Australia, that I might have had to give up some of those things, radio primarily and then perhaps the idea that I could sit in a cinema 3 or 4 times a week and get paid for it.
00:05:15Áine Maguire
Sounds great.
00:05:15Clint Drieberg
I thought that might disappear too, but luckily touch wood it's still happening today. And yeah, the passion.
00:05:22Clint Drieberg
Was media and became radio. I'm still able to tell stories and and tell other peoples stories by interviewing them through the medium of radio. Done a bit of TV. That's just by course of the nature of the world now and through pure luck, but radio is still what I love.
00:05:30Áine Maguire
Yeah.
00:05:41Susy Kenefick
I I think you were those rare individuals who actually had quite a clear idea in his mind as to what career he wanted to have from a very young age
00:05:48Susy Kenefick
But I'm curious is there. Is there an option that maybe you might have considered that you didn't pursue? Is there a road that you didn't travel?
00:05:56Clint Drieberg
Yeah, I guess growing up, my parents were always in. They had shops, they were involved in retail. I had to work in the store on the weekends and I kind of saw myself perhaps doing that, you know, when we got older, I might take over the shop from Dad, like. But essentially when I look back on that,
00:06:12Clint Drieberg
Even like the way a small business survives, the corner store, as you would probably know it, that is because of customer relations. Anyone can go shop at the big supermarket or whatever, but the the corner store around the corner is convenient. It's always open. The people are nice that you know you go and see and buy your milk from and I saw that.
00:06:32Clint Drieberg
Now, in reflection in my parents and my father in particular, like he had a great conversation with everyone that came in, knew their life stories, and they would come back because the nice man around the corner.
00:06:42Clint Drieberg
You know, knew what they liked, knew the way they liked their shopping, or what particular item they liked. And so I think that's a big part of telling peoples stories through the medium of audio is listening. And I mean any interview I have ever done, I prepare. Yes. But having a conversation with someone or being prepared to deviate from the list of dot points,
00:07:04Clint Drieberg
or the questions you had in mind is always.
00:07:07Clint Drieberg
This the best conversation, the best interview, and it also gets rid of the nerves as as well when you're just talking to someone having a conversation. Yeah, you know, it's not the I've talked to some high profile people and stuff like that, but they're all just humans at the end of the day.
00:07:21Áine Maguire
Yeah, it's. I mean you it sounds like storytelling is your passion. Yeah, whether it's the medium is.
00:07:27Áine Maguire
Kind of a secondary piece. Yeah, and I'm.
00:07:28Clint Drieberg
Yeah, it really is.
00:07:30Áine Maguire
Wondering if you know.
00:07:31Áine Maguire
If some of that is about the time you might have spent in the shop listening to people's stories and.
00:07:35Clint Drieberg
Yeah, it goes back to that really. I think it is. And even though, yeah,
00:07:40Clint Drieberg
If there was something else to have done would have been running the corner store, I don't know, but I think it would be storytelling in some way. I get to hear peoples stories when they ring into the radio station or or interview a celebrity or something like it's just or or just listening to my colleagues on the radio too. Some of those stories are hilariously funny. Some of them are quite sad and.
00:08:00Clint Drieberg
The power of Radio to we get to help when we hear a sad story sometime. You know, someone rings in. They've lost their dog or they've had a horrible thing happen to them and we can help some of the time.
00:08:10Áine Maguire
Yes. Or I mean it, it sounds like it's maybe what we haven't come with you as coaches, you know, it's that it's the interest and the curiosity and the.
00:08:18Áine Maguire
The you know the taking the time to listen to somebody and also maybe just validate or acknowledge their story I think is really important. Yeah. So, so 25 years of of storytelling that's that's quite an achievement. Yeah. And you you were you've said to us that the big decision you've made is the one to leave Australia, so tell us what lead up to that decision
00:08:25Clint Drieberg
It really is.
00:08:29Clint Drieberg
Yeah, I guess essentially.
00:08:41Clint Drieberg
A load of things. So I'd done what I was doing for quite some time in Australia. I was producing a morning programme. I was reviewing films, I was doing all that. I'd done that in several places in Australia, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane. I just met my now partner for the last decade and we were living together in Melbourne.
00:09:00Clint Drieberg
And things were going pretty well, I guess and.
00:09:02Clint Drieberg
He was kind of a big catalyst in the way well for two reasons. Everything was going great. So why wouldn't I do something exciting with this person that I found and fell in love with? And then the other was kind of intrigue and probably a little bit of jealousy. He as a younger person, I went.
00:09:22Clint Drieberg
Straight into work. I didn't. I didn't even finish the last stages of my College in broadcasting because I'd gotten work in the radio studio and I was like, what am I doing the course for? I can I get a job now? So I just rolled.
00:09:34Clint Drieberg
Straight into work.
00:09:35Clint Drieberg
Got my amazing job in radio and kept going and going
00:09:38Clint Drieberg
David had a gap year, went overseas and lived in Sweden, learned Swedish, went to Japan and learned Japanese had this wonderful experience 10 years earlier doing some quite things that made me jealous like I never had that gap here and.
00:09:59Clint Drieberg
Never went on exchange in school and things like that. I just did school.
00:10:02Clint Drieberg
Got very lucky, as you say. Always knew what I wanted to do, but then once I was in it, I couldn't get out of it. And a job in the media, even today, it's very hard. Like there's not many jobs. It's who you know it's, you know, it's not what you know, necessarily. It's been the right place. So it just kept rolling on. When I got that second job, it's like, OK.
00:10:22Clint Drieberg
And the third one and I got then I moved States and cities and it was just like, OK, I need to hold on and and see where this ends up. And so yeah, meeting David kind of made me take a step back and go. OK, the feelings that I was thinking well maybe there is something else
00:10:39Clint Drieberg
Whether it be my career could go somewhere else, but maybe it doesn't. But maybe my life could. So yeah, that was what kind of led to the leaving Australia's decision in the first place.
00:10:51Susy Kenefick
And a good example of how other people influence our decision making. Maybe some path that's open to us that maybe we hadn't identified previously and than another person comes into the picture and and shows you that and.
00:11:02Clint Drieberg
Yeah.
00:11:02Susy Kenefick
And do you do you?
00:11:03Susy Kenefick
Think that maybe you would have made that decision to leave Australia if it hadn't been for David and his influence?
00:11:10Clint Drieberg
Possibly not. I mean, like I said, there's a there's a hint of wonderment in how he did it. But then I was like, he did it 10 years earlier. He was young, he was footloose and fancy free.
00:11:19Clint Drieberg
and all that, and maybe I had that and maybe but maybe I'd outgrown that. You know, I was in my 30s and being a serious, you know, member of the workforce up until that point. And so maybe I didn't, maybe I wouldn't have that chance, but he kind of when I said it out loud, you know, his response was just.
00:11:39Clint Drieberg
As as a part of that wonderment as I had and.
00:11:43Clint Drieberg
Was intrigued about the idea and ready to go kind of thing. So I was like, OK, we're the same age ish. And so if he's still feeling like there's an adventure on the cards, maybe there is an adventure.
00:11:54Clint Drieberg
On the cards
00:11:55Áine Maguire
You think it was listening to David, you know, talking about his experiences in Sweden and various other places that it sort of.
00:12:03Áine Maguire
You know, gave you an awareness of something that because you you had been happy and going along and everything was going great. You you weren't searching for anything. But then it felt like this is something people do or I could do this too
00:12:14Clint Drieberg
Yeah, it was a bit of that. It was. I missed out on that
00:12:17Clint Drieberg
And how do I get it if I don't do it now, I might get too old and then you.
00:12:22Clint Drieberg
overthink things as well. And I was with someone who was ready for the adventure again and wasn't as nervous as I was at all.
00:12:28Áine Maguire
And were you nervous?
00:12:35Clint Drieberg
Yeah, totally. Terrified.
00:12:36Clint Drieberg
Yeah. And because, well, the the actual act of deciding to go was one thing and discussing amongst ourselves, it was then being again being in an older age group and in a position where we both had jobs. He's a lawyer, he had, you know, just qualified and had a lovely job in the the Australian government and I had a very lovely job in the Australian media
00:12:58Clint Drieberg
So the idea that we'd go into our bosses and tell them we're going for a little trip, we don't know how long perhaps, could be sounding stupid to some people, and that's what I thought anyway. So once we talked it over a few months and then I guess I think there was a slightly tipsy evening once when we went home.
00:13:02Áine Maguire
Yes.
00:13:17Clint Drieberg
After talking and talking about it,
00:13:19Áine Maguire
Always part of decision, yeah.
00:13:22Clint Drieberg
Had roughly a million frequent flyer points in an account that you know that just been building up for years, and I was like, where could we go? so logged on and saw where we could go with that million frequent flyer points and that was first class to London for the two of us, One Way.
00:13:41Áine Maguire
Wow.
00:13:42Clint Drieberg
So when we worked that out it's like, OK, when can we do that? And then there happened to be a couple of flights, I think 2 weeks before Christmas in 2014 and we were.
00:13:52Clint Drieberg
Like maybe and that at that stage that was nine months away. It was like, oh, yeah, let's do this. And then, you know, then the nine months gives us time to tell family, tell work, tell friends and maybe even come to terms with ourselves and also gives us a little time to jump out if we decided against it, so booked them that night and then.
00:14:13Clint Drieberg
An then the real, I guess, terror set in over that next nine months and then you know onwards.
00:14:18Susy Kenefick
Another I suppose you talked about the the wonderment and the intrigue being a catalyst for this decision, but something else that you did that maybe a lot of people might find does help to really commit yourself to a decision.
00:14:28Susy Kenefick
is you actually, you took a very, proactive step. You booked a flight and you have that looming in the future and and and what did that nine months look like in terms of the the, the planning phase in order to execute that decision because you said that you you know.
00:14:36Clint Drieberg
Yeah.
00:14:43Susy Kenefick
There was an out.
00:14:43Susy Kenefick
I didn't have to do it, but obviously we know that you did go. So what did that that phase look like?
00:14:44Clint Drieberg
Yes.
00:14:48Clint Drieberg
Well, it was a lot. It was, I think.
00:14:50Clint Drieberg
I think the first part of that nine months was telling family cause I think we wanted them to get used to the idea. We didn't really have a reason other than we wanted to go and adventure. The obvious question for most people was then, you know, how long are your way, you know? But you know, that's that's sort of thing and we didn't know the answer to that.
00:15:08Clint Drieberg
I think the last people we both told was work because we didn't. I don't know, maybe there's there's a certain amount of shame in, not shame, maybe, but sort of fear that they might think I'm a bit stupid for doing what I'm doing as well on my behalf. Anyway, I don't know, but I can't speak for David, but I only wanted to tell my work towards the very end. And because I'm in a position where I was in charge of a team I didn't want to upset that team environment necessarily early on and say you know, so they could be then worried about it for nine months
00:15:40Áine Maguire
and, but what about the I mean, it's interesting listening to people making decisions, there's always a bit of momentum. It sounds like booking the flights, you know, that was the momentum we're we're going to do it and then the telling people
00:15:50Áine Maguire
You know, like you're you're nearly telling yourself every time you're telling someone, aren't you? Yeah.
00:15:54Clint Drieberg
Exactly.
00:15:55Áine Maguire
But I'm wondering, did you analyse?
00:15:56Áine Maguire
you know, really sort of analysing going on. Was there any spreadsheets, any data, any what if we don't what ifs and you know?
00:16:04Speaker
Yeah, there was.
00:16:05Clint Drieberg
A few discussions about where we would end up and we booked the flights to the UK to London because that seemed like the most obvious thing an Australian, even Australia does well.
00:16:14Áine Maguire
Yes, yes.
00:16:14Susy Kenefick
We're in power for many antipodeans.
00:16:16Clint Drieberg
And at that stage, I was within the bracket of being able to apply for a certain visa.
00:16:21Clint Drieberg
So David had, has an Irish passport, not that we ever talked about going to Ireland. That was never a discussion. He had that because of his grandfather. But what ended up happening was we landed in the UK, spent a week with some friends there, decided to go travelling, left the UK almost, you know, a week later spent.
00:16:41Clint Drieberg
Christmas in Lapland and sat on Santa Claus's knee and.
00:16:45Clint Drieberg
Did some other things.
00:16:46Clint Drieberg
And went around Europe and then got cold because, you know, we're not used to the cold in Australia. Yeah, we used to enjoy the summer in January and February. So we flew down to Asia to spend 6 months travelling Asia
00:16:57Clint Drieberg
What we didn't realise at that point in time was the visa basically had started the moment we landed on the day we landed in the UK. So essentially we had travelled and enjoyed a wonderful nine month holiday but then landed in the UK. David could get work quite easily and I had to then start to think about looking for work but the pressure was on.
00:17:18Clint Drieberg
And then no one really wanted to to employ me with only a three month window to employ me with and then have to go through the rigmarole of, you know, supporting a visa and all that sort of stuff. Maybe they would consider it a fair 12 months up their sleeve. But everyone I spoke to are like in three months is a bit annoying for us.
00:17:36Susy Kenefick
So what did you do?
00:17:36Clint Drieberg
Yeah, that.
00:17:37Clint Drieberg
I talked to a lot of people back home. There was my, of course, offered my job back at home twice while we.
00:17:42Clint Drieberg
Were travelling in that nine months
Áine Maguire
Were you tempted?
00:17:42Clint Drieberg
Very tempted, because especially the second time around when we'd landed back in the UK and found out this fact that I needed to get a job in three months.
00:17:55Clint Drieberg
So very tempted. But in those conversations, people are like, why don't you just stay in Europe? Look at look at more abroad. You've got three months. Who knows where you could look. You know, David's got an Irish passport. Have you looked in Ireland? I was like.
00:18:08Clint Drieberg
Why would I look in Ireland?
00:18:08Clint Drieberg
Literally, that was what I said to everyone who said most people in radio. Yeah, I I reckon half a dozen people I worked iwth back hom
00:18:16Clint Drieberg
had said look an island like Ireland is very similar to Australia. The radio landscape is very similar. Local radio in Ireland and Australia in the country, in the regions of Australia is very similar to the country and regions of Ireland. It's very, very popular. It's very vocal. It's very entrenched in the community.
00:18:37Clint Drieberg
We don't do the death notices like Irish radio. It's very particular. No, Angelas. And we're probably a little bit naughtier the way we talk on radio
00:18:48Clint Drieberg
But the fact that Galway has four stations as well as RTN, as well as all the Nationals.
00:18:50Áine Maguire
I know, yeah.
00:18:52Clint Drieberg
Is quite a sign that local radio is very healthy. So anyway, someone said look in Ireland. So I had a look. The station that most looked interesting to me was Nova. I emailed my now boss for the last nine years and he said we're looking for someone. Let's talk and they.
00:19:12Áine Maguire
Did you do that from?
00:19:12Áine Maguire
The UK or yeah.
00:19:13Clint Drieberg
Yes, I was sitting there in a flat in the UK and.
00:19:18Clint Drieberg
We had a conversation. He had a job and the great thing was they offered to sponsor me for a work visa, but it took a a good few months. So I came into the country thinking it was all done. Then it wasn't, so I had to leave again. And so this went on for a good few months until it finally got sorted. But even with that.
00:19:38Clint Drieberg
In that time, I was thinking we've really done the wrong thing. I'm going home. So even when I was here with the job, there was still a a a feeling that I might go home. Yeah.
00:19:47Áine Maguire
Where was David at this point?
00:19:48Clint Drieberg
He was able to be here because he had the Irish passport, so for him it became a question of what would he do? A qualified lawyer in Australia didn't mean much here because it was different. The qualifications required. So he picked up some work, but then realised well as we stayed here longer and longer, maybe I'll get qualified here, which for him was I'd. I won't speak for him.
00:20:14Clint Drieberg
But watching him go back to school and pull his hair out, having to study again for a good couple of years.
00:20:19Susy Kenefick
Goodness, he quite a commitment and.
00:20:21Áine Maguire
Yeah, he was back to zero, was it?
00:20:23Áine Maguire
For him, yeah.
00:20:23Clint Drieberg
In a way, I mean he.
00:20:24Clint Drieberg
Was able to work, but had to.
00:20:27Clint Drieberg
study and yeah, while we were trying to work out what we were going to do, whether this was.
00:20:33Clint Drieberg
Going to be forever
00:20:34Áine Maguire
You know, it's interesting cause it sort of sounds like these were all circumstantial decisions. But then your commitment suddenly grew very quickly, maybe because of the investment in David's qualifications. And you like your. So it sounds like it.
00:20:47Áine Maguire
You know you there was no kind of. Oh, yeah, this is great. And we'll just live here
00:20:49Áine Maguire
It was just. You were already on the path. So these were the next step
00:20:52Clint Drieberg
Yes. Yeah, without being rude, we never at those points thought gee Ireland's great, we're staying
00:21:00Clint Drieberg
I'm not. Yeah. No, no, it's.
00:21:01Clint Drieberg
Not like because everyone says. Why are you on this side of the world if you do the other way around? And we always said we loved being in Ireland and for that early part jumping on the plane and going to Spain and taking these amazing weekend trips.
00:21:12Clint Drieberg
People thought we were mad, like the amount of travelling we were doing we still do, like we were in Morocco for the Easter long weekend just because like that's not something you can say when you're in Australia and even to most Irish people, you guys don't like to travel alot
00:21:24Áine Maguire
Yes. Yeah.
00:21:27Clint Drieberg
Like a four hour plane ride is a.
00:21:29Clint Drieberg
Long one for you.
00:21:30Clint Drieberg
But we travel 24 hours to get here and also being in Europe like we've been very lucky, we've gone to Russia when that was OK, you know, it's only across the water, you know.
00:21:40Clint Drieberg
I went to the Ukraine and went to Chernobyl and things like, you know, these aren't things we would have ever done had we have been in Australia, even if we've done European trips before. You can do a bit in two weeks. You can't do a lot.
00:21:42Áine Maguire
Amazing, yeah.
00:21:52Clint Drieberg
No, you know, but living here and again as those years went on and as we got more invested, David with his qualifications, me enjoying my job, we just yeah decided the next step as we went along.
00:21:53Áine Maguire
Yeah.
00:22:06Susy Kenefick
Something that is just surfacing here for me about maybe your decision making style and
00:22:12Susy Kenefick
Maybe it's ahe collective decision making style that you share with David is that it's not important whether a decision is right or wrong necessarily, it's just that it brings you to the next phase and then maybe there's another set of decisions that you have to contemplate and it it, it sounds like, tell me if I'm wrong that you don't spend enough, a lot of time,
00:22:31Susy Kenefick
you know, ruminating over whether this is going to work out or not work out. It's just that, well, look, if it doesn't work out, then we'll do the next thing. Is that fair?
00:22:39Clint Drieberg
Yeah, 100%. When I think back at that again, we could talk about the biggest decision I think was to leave Australia. I yes was not a happy person, was not confident about that, was not easy with it was tempted to come back, as I said, more than a couple of times and was ready to hit that. button alot of the time
00:22:59Clint Drieberg
And David talked me off the ledge, so to speak on many occasions. But and yes, he was a huge part of that.
00:23:07Clint Drieberg
But and once we got over all of that and then yeah, ended up in Ireland and then the next decision the next yes, they got an easy I mean we we bought a house and we are home owners here and you know I'm Irish and those are all big decisions but when I look back were never as big as the one to leave Australia but maybe I don't know.
00:23:21Susy Kenefick
Didn't feel that way? Yeah.
00:23:25Clint Drieberg
Maybe that comes with age.
00:23:27Clint Drieberg
Maybe that comes with after making a lot of decisions that you consider big, and then the next one's not so big. Maybe it becomes easier when you spend a lot of time with the other person who's part of that decision too.
00:23:36Clint Drieberg
I don't know
00:23:36Áine Maguire
Yeah, I'm. I'm wondering that I I'm actually, two things are in my head. 1 is about maybe you know the secret to life is to make the decisions work for you whether you know it's not we often say there isn't really.
00:23:47Áine Maguire
Sort of one optimal decision that you have to hit on to get it right and maybe it's the shared partnership or shared partners in crime or, you know, shared project?
00:23:56Áine Maguire
that you you know that it's like doing with someone else that it gives support and momentum and energy to the decision that it might be much harder to do if you're on your own.
00:24:06Áine Maguire
Would that be true?
00:24:06Clint Drieberg
Yeah. Yeah and.
00:24:08Clint Drieberg
It would be. I don't like, you know when I say it out loud, you know, we came to Ireland
because I got offered a job.
00:24:14Clint Drieberg
But you know what inevitably happened is David's now a qualified lawyer for most of the world because of, you know, that decision. So. And he decided to do that as a result. Like, you know, it wasn't, I don't know a one sided thing as well. You know, things happened along the way for us as a, as a combined unit, A lot happened separately aswell
00:24:21Áine Maguire
Yes.
00:24:33Clint Drieberg
yeah, all the decisions, since have been a lot easier than that big one. And maybe again, I don't know what that is. Time, age, confidence in your self
00:24:40Áine Maguire
Yeah.
00:24:47Clint Drieberg
it could be anything, I don't know.
00:24:49Susy Kenefick
I wonder, is there a mindset thing there as well because you something that struck me was you when you you talked about booking the flight to Australia and then you were still in this phase where like well maybe we won't do it but we have got something to aim.
00:25:01Susy Kenefick
Towards the effectively.
00:25:02Susy Kenefick
Gave yourselves a cooling off period where you could decide. Actually we're not going to buy that insurance policy in the end
00:25:07Susy Kenefick
And also, even though you've made what seem like very, very significant and very almost seismic decisions,
00:25:13Susy Kenefick
your attitude seems like, well, actually, you know, we can always go back to Australia or we can always sell that house we bought here
00:25:22Susy Kenefick
Is It maybe that you take decisions quite lightly in a way. Do you think that's a fair assessment?
00:25:26Speaker
Yes. Yeah.
00:25:26Clint Drieberg
Yeah, I think that's fair to say. And yeah, I guess there is always that there is the safety net. You know we our family and friends are in Australia.
00:25:34Clint Drieberg
Yeah, sure. It's a 24 hour flight, but it is just there. Becoming Irish hasn't precluded me from being Australian, which is great. So I have both passports. I can go home anytime, you know. So yes, there's all that
00:25:46Áine Maguire
Yes. Yeah, it's really interesting to hear you describe going home. Yes. I mean, where is home now?
00:25:54Clint Drieberg
Home is a lot of places. I guess Australia is home in. Not in a rude way, but it is home. Yeah, but it is, you know, home is where you make your heart is and all that sort of cliche.
00:26:00Susy Kenefick
No, no, no, no, no offence taken.
00:26:04Susy Kenefick
Yeah.
00:26:08Clint Drieberg
OK. But it is home and yes, Ireland is my home away from home. I see it as and has been my home and will be, you know, coming up to nearly 10 years. So I think you can have two homes
00:26:13Áine Maguire
Good Yes. Yeah.
00:26:21Áine Maguire
Yeah, yeah.
00:26:22Clint Drieberg
And I will have forever. Like if, for whatever reason, we end up going home back to Australia, I think it would be a hard decision as well to.
00:26:33Áine Maguire
Hmm.
00:26:34Clint Drieberg
Say goodbye to this home because there's friends, there's almost family here and things like that, and there's, you know, a lot of decisions we've made and a lot of life we've lived here, so I don't think that can be just waved off.
00:26:45Áine Maguire
Yeah.
00:26:47Áine Maguire
Go back to the decision to come to take Irish citizenship. I mean, did that have any meaning for you?
00:26:53Clint Drieberg
Initially, no it was more formula. Yeah, like I said we we're getting here 3-4 years and it was like 5 years. So then it was like a visa thing. It was like just gonna be easier not to have to go to Burgh Quay
00:27:07Clint Drieberg
and report in and get a a stamp for every year and do all the annoying stuff to for my, for, for, for my visa rights. So it was more a decision because it was gonna be easier. Did I think about becoming Irish as a, as a soulful thing and all that? No, not at that time. But as it got closer, yes, I guess because I applied during Covid
00:27:28Clint Drieberg
and you know that was a very strange time for everyone. It made the application process easier and harder in a lot of ways.
00:27:36Clint Drieberg
So we all lived through COVID, but I lived through COVID wondering if I was going to become an Irish citizen effectively. And then COVID disappeared and we all went back to normalish and I suddenly got this envelope saying that, you know, I can become Irish now and being invited to go to the ceremony in Kerry and things. And I was like oh wow.
00:27:56Clint Drieberg
And having, I think maybe experienced Covid
00:27:58Clint Drieberg
and missed home and missed people, but found an a different, more emotional connection with Ireland because we were all stuck in, you know, this little island and I wasn't travelling as much and doing all the wonderful things that we've done previously. I I did feel a certain. Ohh that's nice. Like like a warm fuzzy feeling particularly because of COVID.
00:28:19Clint Drieberg
Particularly because we spent so much more time here in Ireland and made a little house for ourselves and all of those things, it it did make me feel welcomed and part of the Irish Culture.
00:28:30Clint Drieberg
When I got that envelope and then, yeah, having to talk about it and do interviews about it and things like that. Yeah, I found myself going. Oh, this is quite a nice thing, not, you know, not everyone gets the opportunity to have this. Not many people get to be a dual citizen and all of that. So that added to it. And then I had my first Saint Patrick's Day and, you know.
00:28:49Clint Drieberg
Well, yeah, it was a bit cliche, but it yes, it it felt nice to be Irish, But it's not something that I thought about. That wasn't part of the decision at all.
00:28:58Áine Maguire
No it wasn't you ,you didn't want to feel Irish, it was practical
00:29:00Clint Drieberg
No. Yeah, he was part of getting getting through the airport easier. Yeah.
00:29:03Susy Kenefick
Yeah, I mean you said that the that that the radio industry in Ireland is not dissimilar to the Australian one. And I'm curious as to what else you would see as maybe some of the key comparisons or and and also contrasts between living in Australia and living in Ireland
00:29:18Clint Drieberg
Australia is a very new country so I think I do hit my head agaist a wall A lot of the time in Ireland when you know things don't change a lot here and whereas in Australia we're a bit more open to change and trying new things and on a big scale or on a small scale, the government introducing some new policy for this, that and the other that probably takes a little bit more time here. There's a little bit more red tape.
00:29:43Clint Drieberg
You know.
00:29:44Clint Drieberg
A bit more of an old school way of approaching things than Australia would, but at the same time people are very similar like the approach to work here is quite the same. The work life balance kind of thing. Not that, you know, there's a lot of opportunity to head out of work early and enjoy the sunshine or start work late and enjoy the sunshine.
00:30:03Áine Maguire
No.
00:30:05Clint Drieberg
The same attitude, you know the drinking culture and all that sort of stuff is very, very.
00:30:08Susy Kenefick
Yeah, it's just indoors here.
00:30:09Clint Drieberg
Similar.
00:30:10Clint Drieberg
Yeah. And even I think.
00:30:15Clint Drieberg
Yeah. The like the radio industry like I say is very similar. The way everyone works and there's a healthy competition here. Our radio rivals are still friends in the pub, but their rivals, when it comes to important moments and part of the business, it's a little bit safer though the medium here like I have to think about what I'm saying a bit more here than I would in Australian radio.
00:30:40Áine Maguire
Interesting. Yeah. So like when you look back now on this unexpected development and anticipated development, I mean, what do you think when you reflect on the two big decision points we talked about, which is decision to leave Australia and then the decision to sort of commit to living in Ireland and become an Irish citizen and what do you think overall?
00:31:00Áine Maguire
that period of times about a 10 year period, that decade has what impact has it had on who you are as a person?
00:31:07Clint Drieberg
It's had a positive impact totally. I mean, if we hadn't have done the Australian thing, I don't I I don't know what would have happened, but I know I wouldn't have had the cultural experiences that we've had from all the different countries we've travelled probably wouldn't have perhaps been tested as a couple as much.
00:31:28Clint Drieberg
In the good way and bad
00:31:28Clint Drieberg
you know, because packing up your house and finding a new place and having all the fights along the way did you know, is trialling and testing, so maybe we wouldn't have had that test to our relationship had we not left.
00:31:40Clint Drieberg
Trying new things too, and they're like, you know, I'm, I'm doing a lot of what I'm doing now is a lot of what I did in Australia, but a lot of, there's been a lot of new things as well. I I never did television when I was home in Australia, that opportunity only happened because I happened to be on this side of the world and people said you're coser to all the UK junkets and European film premieres and things like that.
00:32:00Clint Drieberg
We don't have people there. We have you there. Would you like to do it?
00:32:11Clint Drieberg
so that was an opportunity I never even thought about, but was offered and did.
00:32:11Áine Maguire
Fantastic.
00:32:14Áine Maguire
Yeah.
00:32:17Clint Drieberg
And that's been amazing. I mean, I I still talk about my most pinch me moment was sitting on the couch with Graham Norton and interviewing Graham Norton. I'm the only person to have interviewed him on his couch in reverse order. Normally, you know, he does the interviewing, but I was honoured to be invited to do that, and that was all.
00:32:26Áine Maguire
Wow.
00:32:26Áine Maguire
Oh yeah.
00:32:34Áine Maguire
Yeah, yeah.
00:32:38Clint Drieberg
For Australian TV and I there was just nothing that was on the cards and I don't I again, TV was never a thing and it just happened to be part of what I've done. And so in a roundabout way, yeah, it's all positive. I guess the hardest thing.
00:32:50Clint Drieberg
Will be.
00:32:51Clint Drieberg
Maybe deciding to go home because the decision to to leave was so hard and now the decision to return I I guess would be just as hard
00:33:01Susy Kenefick
Yeah. And are you are you on that decision making process or is it in train?
00:33:06Clint Drieberg
It seems to be part of a logical progression. Is it?
00:33:12Clint Drieberg
Is it part of what I want to do? and what David wants to do? I don't know. Every time we go back, everyone asks when are you coming back?
00:33:20Clint Drieberg
And then the question would be, why are you coming back? And it's like, oh, you know, parents are getting older and all this sort of stuff. So I don't want to be too far away. You know, when something bad happens. But I also don't want to return just for something horribly inevitable to happen as well. So I don't. I, yes. So.
00:33:40Clint Drieberg
There in lies the most difficult part of that decision.
00:33:43Áine Maguire
I wonder if that is going to be the most difficult part because the risks have increased because of the success of the decision, I suppose haven't they?
00:33:49Clint Drieberg
Yeah, and time as well.
00:33:51Clint Drieberg
And you know, the world is a different place now. We are more connected and things like that. I think about, you know, I have a brother who's four years older than me. He did a gap year into the UK. And I remember being, you know, early teens and going to school to get the e-mail that he sent once a month, you know, because there was one e-mail address that the school used.
00:34:07Áine Maguire
Yeah, he was just gone. Yeah.
00:34:11Clint Drieberg
I was able to access it and would go home and read the e-mail to mum and Dad and he might call once a month from a phone box. You know, we were very different, but he was away for a year and when he came back, I was like, oh, look at you.
00:34:22Clint Drieberg
There's never been a part of the last 10 years when I've felt disconnected with my family, with my friends, with the people I love and the people closest in Australia because we see them on our phone. We see them on zoom, we see them on Facebook or, you know, and we talk almost daily and you know, even if it's not talking, there's a text message. So. So yes, in this.
00:34:37Áine Maguire
Ah, that's great.
00:34:39Áine Maguire
Yes.
00:34:42Clint Drieberg
In this world of communications and connectedness. I've never felt disconnected enough to miss home as well in a way that perhaps it could have been had we had done this 10 years earlier.
00:34:49Áine Maguire
Yeah.
00:34:55Susy Kenefick
Yeah. Well, I think it it might sound like a bit of a cliche because we were talking about this on a previous episode Áine, that maybe when it comes to decisions about travel and going to exciting places, the answer should always be yes. But there's not a big decision to make there, but I think should be a bit more serious about it. You know that that decision making process.
00:35:15Susy Kenefick
or Continuum that you were on at the point of leaving Australia, it was about going on that adventure and it was about you and your, your partner and and doing that together. But maybe if you were to come back around and go full circle and and decide it was time to go back to Australia
00:35:28Susy Kenefick
it's possibly less about you and maybe more about other people,
00:35:32Clint Drieberg
Yeah. And is that the right thing to do, you know, or is that fair on me if David wanted to go home for those reasons or for David, you know, for me to go home for those reasons. So yeah, it it's just seems to be more complicated or I when I think about it, I seem to have recollections of the same feelings of leaving. So it is that full circle really.
00:35:53Áine Maguire
Yeah.
00:35:55Clint Drieberg
And going home is going home. When I say going home, going home to Australia is going into the unknown, just as it was going into the unknown leaving.
00:36:04Áine Maguire
Well, maybe just to finish I'd like you to give us one sound bite. Bit of advice from your story that you give to other people in similar situations.
00:36:12Clint Drieberg
Take risks, but calculated risks if that makes sense. I don't. I mean we we've done a few risky things over the last decade and taking a load load of chance, but I think there was some ideas in the back of our mind that we'd like it to succeed or we'd like it to go this way or that.
00:36:31Clint Drieberg
So yeah, take a risk. But you know, if you can be lucky enough to talk them out loud with someone you love, that's also helpful.
00:36:39Áine Maguire
Right.
00:36:40Susy Kenefick
I think that's a very sound decision making strategy to close out on so Clint, thank you so much for coming in and talking to us here at the 37%. And we wish you the best of luck with all your future decision making endeavours
00:36:51Clint Drieberg
Hopefully not a lot today, but I decided just to have a.
00:36:54Clint Drieberg
Drink, that's all.
00:36:56Susy Kenefick
Thank you. Thank you.
00:37:04Áine Maguire
So a fascinating story, something that, you know I what I really liked about that discussion with Clint was his clarity. And you had previewed for us the kind of sense of adventure and the sense of fun and it just makes me want to do it
00:37:23Áine Maguire
Just makes me want to leave and travel and go somewhere else. What did you?
00:37:27Áine Maguire
What do you think?
00:37:28Susy Kenefick
It was inspirational in a way. Really wasn't it?
00:37:30Susy Kenefick
Because even though he did describe having quite a lot of fear and trepidation around this idea of leaving Australia, and he hadn't travelled a lot before, and even though he'd worked widely around the country, he still was very.
00:37:41Susy Kenefick
Much.
00:37:42Susy Kenefick
A home bird, if you like, but that he had this curiosity or this, this idea of going on an adventure which in part was a lot influenced by his his partner David who he mentioned.
00:37:52Susy Kenefick
What I just thought was so fascinating what that all of his different decisions that they made the decision to leave Australia and go half around the world and relocate in London. That didn't work out for a variety of reasons, but then they came to Ireland and then they ended up, you know, his partner requalified he, you know, Clint established his career here, he became an Irish citizen. They bought property. All of these seemed like really.
00:38:12Susy Kenefick
Big, you know, meaty decisions that a lot of people might take time to deliberate over and be very indecisive, but they just made them in a very light, practical way,.
00:38:22Susy Kenefick
you know, full of optimism and full of this sense of, well, actually that's just the next step now and it makes sense. So that really came through for me that sense of adventure, that sense of practicality.
00:38:33Susy Kenefick
And.
00:38:34Susy Kenefick
Just, you know, openness, just, I don't know, did that, that that strike you as well?
00:38:39Áine Maguire
Completely! I think I think he.
00:38:40Áine Maguire
When we asked him for advice.
00:38:42Áine Maguire
At the end, what he said was, you know, it's like taking calculated risks but take risks. So I I'd say something that is probably important in that decision scenario is.
00:38:52Áine Maguire
The risk appetite of both parties and you talked about it as a a good example of collaborative decision making, but it it is about you know that as both that's what stops sometimes people making decisions is aligning on risk appetite and although there was a lot of he described as calculated risks.
00:39:12Áine Maguire
I mean, when they discovered that they only had three months to find jobs in the UK, that didn't seem to be a risk that had occurred to them beforehand.
00:39:21Áine Maguire
And I suppose they they had, they had homes to go back to, and they had a home to go back to. But I would imagine a lot of other people would have found that quite scary, whereas they just sort of kept their nerve and figured it out. So I think there's a lot for us to take from that
00:39:37Susy Kenefick
Yeah. And I think the whole concept of of collaborative decision making, it's not something that we've touched on a lot with our other guests.
00:39:44Susy Kenefick
Because you know, for most people, we talk to them about a big decision that they've made. It's a very individualistic idea and it's very much down to that person's sense of self, their values, where they come from, their backgrounds and a lot of big decisions are very much just decisions that the self makes for, for, you know, your own self-interest, whereas really this was just a decision that Clint talked about that was.
00:40:05Susy Kenefick
Uh, it was joint. It was collective and I suppose something which maybe we haven't talked about a lot that has to be a big feature and all of that is compromise. That it's all well and good for you to know what you want and what drives you and where your motivation leads.
00:40:17Susy Kenefick
But when you are making decisions and very important life decisions with another person, you have to have some kind of a a shared understanding or set of parameters by which you can make that decisions and and. And it does sound like they share that sense of adventure and they share that sense of pragmatism.
00:40:33Áine Maguire
Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right. I think they probably have a joint sense of what life is about for them and what they wanted their life together to be about.
00:40:40Áine Maguire
and I thought it was really, you know, it's lovely to hear somebody talking about their decision to come live in Ireland and become Irish without any of the usual cliches about, you know, how nice we are or whatever people tend to say. I actually thought for him it was, it was extending the possibilities of their adventure. It, you know, Ireland is a great place to travel to.
00:41:02Áine Maguire
Parts of Europe from.
00:41:02Susy Kenefick
To travel.
00:41:03Áine Maguire
Yeah. I'm. I I you know.
00:41:05Áine Maguire
I thought it was. It's really nice to hear somebody just just say it truthfully without feeling the need to.
00:41:10Áine Maguire
Sort of plamás us you know? So I I thought, you know, their life is about possibilities and it's about what, where they are gives them and making sure that they use those possibilities. And I think there's a lot for us all to take from that. I I think it's also very relevant to one of the themes we've talked about which is there is no one right optimal decision.
00:41:30Áine Maguire
But maybe life is about taking decisions and then making them work. And yeah, a lot to learn there
00:41:35Susy Kenefick
He did. Yeah, he definitely did. Clint did say that he doesn't know what the right decision would be when it comes to say this, you know, potential UM, move back to Australia if that does arise in the future for them
00:41:46Susy Kenefick
But you know, notwithstanding all of that, they were happy to make very big decisions like as property ownership and citizenship of a completely different country without thinking that that necessarily commits you to a certain type of life or a certain future. And and I think that's
something that doesn't maybe occur to a lot of people when they're making decisions is.
00:42:06Susy Kenefick
That actually very few decisions are irreversible. You can actually take things back and do them over. So maybe we we should all, and maybe this is the the resounding message from Clint is that maybe we should all hold the decisions we take just that little bit more lightly and and realising that there is a do over possible are there are other avenues that you can explore in the future.
00:42:27Susy Kenefick
If this particular decision doesn't work out the way that you hoped or planned, or maybe you know for whatever reason, life just goes in a different direction and that's OK, we shouldn't take it all so seriously.
00:42:37Áine Maguire
Yes, I think there's a lot, a lot in what you're saying there.
00:42:40Áine Maguire
I think the idea that the person you spend your life with or who you meet along the way, that you have an opportunity to learn from them and to and that that could influence your future direction and future decision making. So I also think that probably Clint is quite a decisive person.
00:42:56Susy Kenefick
I think that's probably right, yeah. I wonder. I wonder is, is, is David equally decisive or maybe one is ying to the other's yang?
00:43:02Áine Maguire
Possibly. I don't know. We have to get.
00:43:05Susy Kenefick
Him off the balance each other, right? Yeah. But I also liked how he he talked about the way their relationship has grown and been tested both in positive and negative ways.
00:43:13Susy Kenefick
Through the this series of of decisions that they've made as a couple and having, you know, made that big decision in the first instance to depart from their native Australia and go on this adventure. But yeah, really, really inspiring story, I think and yeah, for anyone considering making a big move or going any sort of a trip, I think the the advice was yes.
00:43:32Áine Maguire
Just do it. Yeah, like that advice. Thanks. Thanks.
00:43:41Susy Kenefick
Thank you for listening.
Ending music playing quietly behind for final wrap up
00:43:42Susy Kenefick
37% if you want to know more about us, what we do and how we might be able to help you with the key decision you're considering, check out our website at www.persuasion.ie.