Be More Pirate

We were waiting for year of the firehorse to kick in for this one... In this episode Alex talks to Mark England, the co-founder of Enlifted coaches. Mark's pirate journey began when an injury forced to reconsider his entire identity. From here he became fascinated with mindset work and has created a unique method that helps lift people out of drama triangles and a victim mentality. Controversial i...

It only seems right that we end this season with the godmother of uncertainty, Dr Margaret Heffernan, an entrepreneur, professor, and the multi award winning author of seven books, including Sam and mine’s absolute favourite - Unchartered.   But it seems somewhat wrong to introduce her by way of books, titles and accolades because as you’ll hear in this episode, Margaret intentionally lives l...

This week we are delighted to introduce you to STORRY, an independent singer-songwriter, speaker, filmmaker, and advocate. From opera to reggae, to hip hop, hand on heart, she is one of the most talented people you’ll ever see perform. In 2024, she was a finalist on the Voice UK, and has also been nominated for two Juno awards, but her story is also one of deep focus and healing. After being coerc...

Now we definitely need some more (local) pirate politicians so let us introduce you to Tara Fisher, who, as of this year, is a town councillor for Calne in Wiltshire. Councillors don't always get a good rep, but as you’ll hear in the first few minutes of this conversation, Tara has started challenging things from the get go. It is her ambition to make Calne the most connected and least lonely...

Today’s guest is a special one because he is about to become my quartermaster on the first ever Be more Pirate leadership programme.  Introducing....Nick Heard-Jones, a former teacher, turned learning designer and coach, Nick has spent the last decade working with school leaders to help them challenge and change things both inside and outside the school gates. He’s been National Director of S...

Our guest this week is the very lovely Lee Chambers, a business psychologist and the founder of Male Allies UK. In 2023 Lee was named by UN Women as a Gender Equality Changemaker and has subsequently become one the most well recognised voices on gender equity. But, as is usually the case with these podcast bios — the job titles and awards are not the real story and in this episode we talk about bo...

This week’s episode features our very first Danish pirate, a musician and actor with a background in gender studies. In this conversation we talk about his experiences as a drag queen, the ways in which he’s used performance to break the fourth wall and push people to their edge, and we discuss why the world needs a slow rebellion. Through endless cultural experimentation Mathias has become unafra...

Our guest this week is the absolutely brilliant V Spehar, a former New York chef turned journalist and hugely influential tiktokker whose account Under the Desk News has now amassed over 3.6million followers. Which is fairly astonishing for someone who never set out to become a journalist. It all started when V posted a short video about the 2021 insurrection from under their desk. The video went...

Di Macdonald is a native Australian, adopted Brit and all round formidable leader. She has has worked across many industries, but notably at companies like Apple and EE, so this conversation is an unfiltered take on how to survive in corporate if you’re not willing to tow the line. One for the intrapreneurs or 'pirates inside', she gives rare insights into the conversations that happen behind...

Today’s episode is definitely one for the pirate fans, as we are interviewing the author of not one but two books on pirates. And whilst we get into the symbolism of Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Luke Skywalker, heroes and anti-heroes alike, this episode's guest, Kester Brewin, is much more than just a writer. As an activist Kester has campaigned and stood up to corporations and won, but not for the re...

Welcome to Conversations with our Crew a sub series of the pod where we introduce you to members of our Be More Pirate community that are pushing boundaries, writing their own script and starting pirate inspired business. Our hope is that you'll meet some rebels you wouldn't otherwise hear about. Today’s guest is Simon Dyer, the founder of Pizza Pirates and Dough Bros - a social enterprise based i...

Sir Tim Smit, is probably best known as one of the co-founders of the Eden Project; A visionary conservation project set in a claypit in the middle of Cornwall It’s fair to say that Eden was built against the odds, and Tim played a huge part in that. He’s someone who will pursue a grand idea, despite considerable risks, and isn’t afraid to be disliked in the process. Before Eden he had a whole oth...

Author, journalist and writer Ruby Warrington has a knack for getting ahead of the zeitgeist. In 2016 she coined the term sober-curious as a way of investigating her own relationship with alcohol. It clearly hit a collective nerve and inadvertently, she started a movement, resulting in a book, a popular podcast and no doubt millions of lives lived differently.  Her latest published book is Wo...

We're excited to announce that the podcast is back! After a hiatus we're back to explore what rules need breaking in 2025. We're in tough times, which means more reason than ever to celebrate those who are pushing back in whatever way they can. This season we'll have double the amount of episodes as were interviewing some seasoned rebels who've managed to grab public attention, alongside some insp...

In this particularly special episode we're talking to Reclaim These Streets co-founder Jamie Klinger, a week after she was in the high court taking on the Met Police. In 2021 Philadelphia native Jamie and a group of women founded Reclaim These Streets in response to the death of Sarah Everard, a 33 year old marketing executive who was raped and murdered by metropolitan police offer Wayne Couzens....

Towards the end of Be More Pirate there's a chapter in which Sam writes his own pirate code: article no.3 is 'Make the Citizen Shift' which is a challenge to us all to see ourselves as citizens rather than consumers. The inspiration for that article came from the New Citizenship Project which was co-founded by our guest this week, Jon Alexander.  Jon spent the majority of his early...

Be More Pirate is all about applied wisdom, so in this short new year special we have sourced some reflections from the network in the form of three questions: What was your most pirate moment this year? What rebellion would you most like to see in 2022? What advice would you give to a new pirate? Many thanks to the wonderful folk who sent in their thoughts: Deana Wildgoose, James Berg, Lefteris H...

Today's interview might be the most pirate one yet... but I'll leave you to be the judge of that. Steve Chapman is an artist, coach, writer, speaker and (sort of) podcaster. The more accurate way to describe Steve's work is that he does 'projects that are experiments in the opposite of what is normal'. His time is spent fully inhabiting the edges, and he works with a range of organisatio...

Carl Honoré, deemed the Godfather of the Slow Movement, has spent the last two decades writing, talking and supporting thousands of people to move against the tide of our fast paced consumerist world. An award winning writer, best selling author, TED speaker and broadcaster, Carl is now turning his disruptive thinking to a new topic: ageism. His latest book Bolder, unravels the unhelpful ster...

Today's guest is the impressive Benash Nazmeen, a practising midwife based in the North West working hard to address health inequalities within the profession. Benash is in every respect, the embodiment of re-humanising healthcare; caring deeply for the individual and all their nuances and complexities, whilst speaking up on behalf of those who cannot. Benash is co-founder of the South Asian...

This week's episode is a bit different, as we steer away from pirates and rebellion and into Sam's new project, The Uncertainty Experts: a three part interactive documentary that is scientifically proven to increase your tolerance to Uncertainty. And after the year we've had, what could possibly be more helpful?  In the same vein as Be More Pirate, The Uncertainty Experts is full of...

Being at your best when you're at your worst is not something you'd hear from many serial founders, but Jackie Fast is anything but average. An award-winning entrepreneur and venture capitalist who continually breaks all the rules of business, she started her first business Slingshot Sponsorship in her early 20s and was recognised for working so outside the usual boxes that the...

Over the last two decades, marine biologist Ed Gillespie has made a name for himself as a sustainability consultant turned futurist turned insultant (aka a consultant that tells the truth.). He's inspired Sam and Alex to kindly but bluntly push organisations to call out their own bullshit because in a rapidly warming world, there is no time for tinkering at the edges. In this episode we talk about...

What could be further off the edges of the map than the mysterious realm of AI? We know it will shape the future, but even the experts don't really know how. Will it unpick or entrench systemic bias, and what can we do to ensure it's the former? In today's episode we try to demystify the topic somewhat by speaking with Jessica Chapplow, a specialist in Digital Transformation, who focuses on the ro...

Sophie Walker clearly remembers the moment she became an activist. The moment she realised that no one was coming to save the day and if she wanted change, she'd have to do it herself. Since then she's become a prominent feminist voice as the founding leader of the Women's Equality Party, author of the book '5 Rules for Rebellion' and more recently co-founder of the Activate Collective, a movement...