Another Door Opens

"Sympathy is rushing to turn the light on into someone's darkness so that we feel better, whereas empathy is being prepared to sit with somebody in their darkness and connect with them and just be there for them." In this episode, I'm joined by June Hogan. June helps organisations to do redundancy and layoffs well! So of course I'm a fan. It's never easy or simple when companies have to let people...

"You can have a bad day, some days, that's fine. But then at some point, you've got to go, all right, I've got to take a little bit of responsibility now and get on with this."   In this 'epic' (long!) episode, I sit down with Chris Hirst, author known for his "no bullsh*t" approach to leadership and work. We go deep, wide and around the block talking about the realities and myths of career progre...

"I want to frame my journey to be an example, to be a road map, to hand the baton to somebody else, to the next generation."    In this episode, Marie-Ange Eyoum Tagne, PhD, a product leader, and technologist, shares the inspiration behind her new memoir "For Such a Time Like This".    From her childhood in Cameroon, dreaming of going to the moon, to leading teams at Meta, Amazon and  Yahoo, Marie...

"There has to be a different way for me to use my magic in the world. My magic can't keep mopping up messes that are created by ridiculous decisions like this."    When HR Director Emma Djemil hit a moment of 'enough is enough' she knew it was time for her skills, energy, passions to be directed elsewhere.  Stuck cleaning up the messes of others, she knew it was time for a big change. In this epis...

"There were two significant moments, two significant doors. One was the thought of that's it. I'm dead. Door closed on everything. And the other moment was when the consultant said, you can have all this back. You've just got to work for it. Door open."   In this episode, Mark Green, founder of Change Rebellion, shares his wild story of a door closing, nearly for good, and how it changed him and h...

"I think whenever you feel yourself being resistant, the challenge is to find acceptance. Because you have to accept something to shove that resistance out of the way. And once you've accepted it, you can move beyond it."   In this episode, I'm speaking with Kreena Dhiman, a friend, and an incredible keynote speaker who leaves you feeling like you can achieve anything! Kreena shares her story of u...

"It was a phenomenal time looking back, of anxiety at the beginning and disbelief that this was going to do anything for us, to finally being acquired at the end of 2021 in a life changing deal."   In this episode, I speak to David James about the reality of walking away from a, on paper, dream corporate role in search of something else. David left the Walt Disney Company and joined the startup wo...

"What does success actually mean to me? Why did I quit my job really? How do I build this freedom, flexibility, fulfillment? How do I redefine it?"    In this episode, I talk to Anna Lundberg, an executive coach, business mentor and strategic adviser who challenges us to think about success and what it means to us. Anna shares her career change from corporate marketing to creating a business with...

"Sometimes the doors closing are not just physical things. Sometimes it is about closing the way we do something, the way we think, so that we can step into a different space for ourselves." Have you ever felt the weight of certainty pull you down, trapping you in a life that doesn't truly fulfill you?  In this episode I sit down with Suzanne Penny, a transition and career coach, who shares her ow...

"I thought, if dressing people and making people look good makes them happy, then I would love to do this." Have you ever felt the weight of questioning your career path and wondered if there might be something else out there that's truly meant for you?  In this episode, we take you on a journey with Taiwo Meghoma, a lawyer-turned-fashion-stylist. From a young boy in Nigeria discovering his love f...

"When you have kindness in the culture, you build psychological safety. And from there you have high performing teams, better staff retention, creativity, resilience, like it really stacks up in terms of all the different benefits that you get by increasing levels of kindness and empathy in your business." Kindness can transform not just your personal well-being but also the landscape of work and...

"The biggest thing was I wanted to be more responsible as a thought leader. And in a world where we have so much information, misinformation, disinformation, it was important that I went through a process of acquiring knowledge and creating new knowledge and it was the PhD." Ready to lead a curiosity rebellion? We have the inspiring Yemi Penn as our guest. Yemi is a trailblazer who has navigated a...

"We tell stories in times of transition because in good times, bad times, lateral movements, figurative movements, we need to make sense of the world. Stories help us help us process. This is what makes us human."   Can six words help you process change, and tell your life story?    On the podcast Larry Smith shares how a simple Twitter experiment 15 years ago turned into a global storytelling mov...

"I grew up watching the Olympics and you see these athletes from around the world marching in the opening ceremonies. And then one day, you are setting foot in that stadium. 50,000 people screaming and you look to your right and you see more cameras than you can count. And in that moment that you are on TV around the world and some little kid is probably looking at you the way you looked at some o...

"My new mission in life...is about helping women be seen, heard, and valued in their space, whether that's in work and beyond"    In this episode, I talk with Aimee Bateman, an incredible entrepreneur and advocate for women in the workplace.    Aimee shares her story of how experimenting helped her through a closing door after selling her business Careercake. She had spent 10 years building a succ...

"For me opening the door was the same door that had shut in my face previously. But going back there and thinking, well, what am I able to do? …I tried many things, but I realised it's music. So I sat down with a blank piece of paper and thought, I've got to make my way again." Imagine being at the height of music stardom in the 90s, performing on Top of the Pops, being helicoptered between gigs,...

 "It's okay when you fundamentally change your perspective, and it makes different anchors in your life to what you had up to a certain moment of a door closing. I think the door closing on me was about not wanting to be an employed person anymore and wrestling with it." Ever felt the whisper of your dreams urging you to make a change but hesitated because of the safety net of a steady job? In thi...

"I made the decision to jump off that entrepreneurial ledge, which was incredibly intimidating at the time… But, I was so compelled to see what was on the other side of fear, which was leaving full time, gainful, fantastic employment and chase a dream" In today's episode, we have Ant Duckworth, the co-founder of Dear Coco.  I've been following Ant's journey and the evolution of 'Dear Coco', his aw...

"My big door closing moment was when I was made redundant in the pandemic with 2 small children who were 1 and 3, and thought I would never get a good job again." Turing adversity into opportunity. In today's episode I'm talking to Elizabeth Willetts, founder of Investing in Women. Elizabeth's company grows from strength to strength, if you follow her on socials she is smashing it. But that wasn't...

In this special solo episode, it's just you and me pondering the intricacies of navigating change. The past few years I've had my fair share of ups and downs, and so in this chat I'm sharing my reflections on pausing, embracing messiness, playing with ideas, and the power of trying. We'll also explore the concept of restarting with a fresh perspective, anchored in self-care and gentle intention. ...

 "Career transitions may feel uncertain, but aligning your daily actions with your core values can guide you through any ambiguity. It's not about having every step mapped out; it's about being directionally correct and consistent in your efforts." This episode I'm with Micheal Glassocks who shares his career shifts, aligning work with personal values and the power of being "directionally correct"...

"I have learned so much over this process of what matters and what doesn't, how to protect yourself, what boundaries to put in place, whether you're giving up alcohol, a person, or an eating disorder." In this episode, I talk to Hannah Harvey who shares her story about closing a door on alcohol, which also led to her leaving her marriage.  Hannah opened up about her liberating journey to sobriety,...

"The whole time I could have left but I just wanted to believe so much that it was the right thing for me." What happens when you don't get joy from your job anymore? I'm talking to Claire Fitzsimmons, co-founder of 'If lost start here'. She shares her journey of closing a door on what was perceived as a 'dream job' in the art world and following her heart into the well-being world. We also talk a...

"If it's consulting for forever, then it's consulting for forever. But at least be the captain of your own ship and being curious about what it would be like to be the captain of my own ship." I am talking to Dr. Enya Doyle, known as the 'Harassment Doctor'. Enya's closing door was the moment she decided to leave academia and start her own consultancy. Enya shares her career journey, starting from...

"What if I could author my life the way I want it to be? What would that look like? And the more I started to think about that it was, you know, not working for anybody. It was creating my own spaces, creating my own company where I get to do the things I really care about, and where I can structure it"   Join me talking to Glenn Block, whose journey from corporate life to entrepreneurship is pack...