Crisis What Crisis with Andy Coulson

For over a decade at BBC Newsnight, Sam McAlister secured the interviews others couldn't – Bill Clinton, Elon Musk, Stormy Daniels. But it was six months of negotiation that led to the conversation that changed everything: Prince Andrew discussing his ties to Jeffrey Epstein in 2019. Today, Sam teaches negotiation at LSE and is one of Britain's most compelling voices on persuasion, power, and resi...

For over a decade at BBC Newsnight, Sam McAlister secured the interviews others couldn't – Bill Clinton, Elon Musk, Stormy Daniels. But it was 13 months of negotiation that led to the conversation that changed everything: Prince Andrew discussing his ties to Jeffrey Epstein in 2019. The interview became a global news event, resulted in Andrew stepping back from royal duties, and is still making he...

This is a relaunch of a previous episode, but the lessons contained within it are as important today as they were when we sat down to speak over two years ago. Rory Stewart has spent his life running toward gunfire. At thirty, he was governing millions of Iraqis under siege, rockets landing in his compound while insurgents climbed the walls. Years earlier, he'd walked six thousand miles across Afg...

Bitterness is the poison you drink expecting someone else to die. It's the corrosive emotion born from crisis that fills your throat with bile and consumes your every waking thought with questions like "why me?". In this special compilation episode, I've pulled together five extraordinary conversations with people who have every right to be bitter about what they've faced, but who have found their...

Professor James Brown is an author, podcaster and ADHD expert. Burnout, and a Christmas day spent contemplating his own death led him to get a private ADHD diagnosis. The result helped him reframe his entire life. This is James Brown's Crisis Compass FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS? Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast/?hl=en TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@crisispod

Professor James Brown is an author, podcaster and ADHD expert. Burnout, and a Christmas day spent contemplating his own death led him to get a private ADHD diagnosis. The result helped him reframe his entire life. Expect an honest look at the realities of ADHD, bipolar, cyclothymia, binge-eating disorder, and chronic anhedonia – the inability to feel joy. James teaches us how to co-exist with your...

Richard Walker OBE could’ve stepped straight into the top job at Iceland Foods, but chose to prove himself first—building a property empire in Poland. But when his mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Richard decided it was time to be closer to the family unit and join the business, starting at the very bottom stacking shelves in London stores. Since then, he's transformed Iceland int...

In this second episode in our AI mini-series I met with Professor Gary Marcus live at the RAID conference in Brussels. Gary has been writing code since he was 10, built a Latin translation program at 16, and became a professor of psychology and neuroscience at NYU. He's founded AI startups, testified before the US Senate, authored multiple books including his latest: Taming Silicon Valley: How to...

You’d think as the son of the founder Richard Walker OBE could have walked straight into the top job at Iceland Foods - the supermarket empire his parents built from a tiny shop in North Shropshire. Instead, he spent years building his own property empire in Poland, determined to prove himself on his own terms. But when his mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Richard decided it was t...

Gratitude is a mindset. It’s a tool that when deployed in crisis can be essential for reframing your narrative and your understanding. How we find gratitude in crisis, however, is not always obvious, nor is it easy. In this special episode I’ve looked back into our archive to find five extraordinary and unique situations where gratitude has been the difference between despair and resilience. Today...

Alex Goldie grew up walking on eggshells in a violent, alcohol-fueled household where he became the family peacemaker - literally throwing pillows into rooms to break up fights. Today, with 2.5 million followers and a bestselling book, Alex is a force in the digital and mental health space. This is Alex's Crisis Compass. FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS? Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodc...

Alex Goldie grew up walking on eggshells in a violent, alcohol-fueled household where he became the family peacemaker - literally throwing pillows into rooms to break up fights. By his twenties, that traumatised child had become an anxious, procrastinating young man stuck in patterns he desperately wanted to break. Then COVID hit, he lost his job with British Airways, and from his lowest point, Al...

In spring 2017, Robert Paylor seemed to be living a charmed life – starting for America’s top rugby programme, competing for a national championship for UC Berkeley, and on track for achieving a degree in business with an internship with Intel lined up for the summer. Few could have imagined that an illegal tackle during that year’s final would shatter his spine – and leave him instantly paralysed...

Robert Paylor was living the dream - a star rugby player at UC Berkeley competing for a national championship with his future mapped out perfectly. Then an illegal tackle shattered his spine and left him paralysed from the neck down. Doctors told him he'd never so much as lift a piece of pizza to his mouth – let alone walk or play sport – that’s if he even survived the surgery. But Robert has a un...

In this episode recorded in 2024 and republished to mark World Suicide Prevention Day 2025, Andy is joined by three remarkable men, Andy Airey, Mike Palmer and Tim Owen – better known as Three Dads Walking. All would rather have never met but through a common and tragic bond – the loss of their daughters, Sophie, Beth and Emily, to suicide – they did. Brought together by a shared grief, these thre...

Resilience is not just about being able to bounce-back. It’s about bouncing-forward stronger and wiser than before. It’s about realising that your pre-crisis life is now gone, but your new life – if you will it – can contain within it opportunities you may never have dreamed possible. From our archive I’ve brought together some fundamental lessons on resilience, distilled insights from best-sellin...

From complete self-destruction to resurrection. Natasha Silver Bell proves that our lowest moments can become the foundation for our greatest purpose – and that recovery isn't selfish, it's essential. Here is Natasha's Crisis Compass. —–----- Host: Andy Coulson CWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex Fisher With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Gl...

From beauty pageants to international runways to waking up from a blackout to find her 13-month-old son eating Cheerios alone in his high chair – Natasha Silver Bell's story is one of complete self-destruction and resurrection. Today, she leads SilverBell Global, orchestrating some of the world's most complex recovery interventions with methods so unconventional they sometimes involve former Navy...

Twelve years after his arrest, five and a half years in prison, and countless rejected appeals, Tom Hayes finally heard the words he'd been fighting for: "Your conviction is overturned." In this Crisis Revisited special, the former city trader returns after the Supreme Court ruled he was innocent all along - a landmark judgment that rewrites one of Britain's most controversial financial prosecutio...

Wall Street titan, White House survivor, and now podcast provocateur, Anthony Scaramucci's life reads like a script with no shortage of plot twists. Here is Anthony's Crisis Compass. —–----- Host: Andy Coulson CWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex Fisher With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS? Instagram – www.inst...

Wall Street titan, White House survivor, and now podcast provocateur, Anthony Scaramucci joins Andy Coulson for an unfiltered, useful, funny and at times emotional conversation about all things resilience. From being fired after just eleven days as Trump’s Communications Director to losing millions in the FTX crypto collapse, Anthony’s life reads like a script with no shortage of plot twists. In t...

Tom Hayes is the city trader who spent five years in prison and who lost his wealth, reputation and home thanks to an appalling miscarriage of justice. Since his conviction in 2014, Tom has always maintained his innocence and the Supreme Court has now officially confirmed that he was, in fact, innocent. In this emotional episode Tom explains how managed the anger and bitterness that came with the...

From high powered Hollywood boardrooms to hitting bottom in a psychiatric hospital, Cally Beaton’s journey is anything but linear. She opens up about how her midlife mental health crisis ultimately pushed her towards a life of greater meaning and connection, and how comedy helped her find her voice. Here is Cally's Crisis Compass. —–----- Host: Andy Coulson CWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown...

TV executive turned stand-up comic and best-selling author Cally Beaton joins Andy to share a powerful story of breakdown, reinvention, told with unflinching honesty. From high powered Hollywood boardrooms to hitting bottom in a psychiatric hospital, Cally’s journey is anything but linear — and that’s the point. In this episode, Cally opens up about losing control and taking it back on her own ter...

Armed with a mathematician’s mind and a mystic’s heart, Mo has transformed personal devastation into global purpose. He is living proof that happiness isn’t just wishful thinking – it’s a learnable, repeatable skill that can reshape the way you live your life. Here is Mo's Crisis Compass. —–----- Host: Andy Coulson CWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex Fisher With speci...