Difference Makers Podcast

It has been a while. Some of you moved over to my new field dispatches; many of you stayed here. That is perfectly fine. I am writing today because the landscape has not changed, and the exhaustion has only deepened. The marketplace machine demands constant reaction. It normalises exhaustion. It tells you that if you are not instantly fixing, defending, or producing, you are falling behind. You ca...

The Crash I realised recently that I have become a bottleneck. In the “Expert Industry,” this is usually considered a success metric. The more people waiting in line to speak to you, the higher your status. The more emails in your inbox asking “What should I do?”, the more “essential” you feel. But in the Kingdom, that is not success. That is a structural failure. The Diagnosis In Exodus 18, Moses...

Discover how a struggling manager transformed apathy into innovation by removing invisible barriers. A leadership story about making good choices the easy ones. https://differencemakers.substack.com/p/seven-steps-to-one-click Have you ever watched your best ideas drift into silence, while frustration seeps in like a thick fog? In the fast-paced world of Pulse Technologies, Nathan Reid struggles to...

The Ladder Climber I slipped through the glass doors of InnovateX, my leather-bound notebook pressed against my chest like armor. The office hummed with nervous energy—leadership promotions were coming, and everyone knew it. "Morning, Lily," called Marco from his desk as I passed. I managed a smile, though my thoughts were elsewhere. In my notebook, I'd documented a pattern that grew more concerni...

Ash’s Struggle for His Own Heart I stood at the crossroads of my career, my heart pounding with both dread and determination, as I realised the only way forward was to confront an age-old battle within myself. My emotions had always been my greatest strength and my deepest weakness. They fuelled my passion but too often erupted like a volcano, leaving scorched relationships and missed opportunitie...

Overwhelmed and Out of Bounds I stared at the mountain of paperwork threatening to avalanche across my desk. Project plans with impossible deadlines, status updates demanding responses, and no fewer than 217 unread emails pulsed accusingly from my screen. My third coffee of the morning sat cold beside my keyboard. differencemakers.substack.com "How am I supposed to keep track of all this?" I mutte...

In a city that never sleeps, I found myself sleepwalking through my life. The notifications wouldn't stop buzzing. I swiped them away - another LinkedIn connection, three WhatsApp messages from the team project, and endless email alerts competing for attention. From my office window, Singapore's cacophony of traffic and building works created its familiar soundscape. I stared at my screen, the qua...

Life at the helm feels less like steering a ship and more like juggling cats. On roller skates. In a storm. Everyone talks about leadership as a noble calling—about unlocking potential and inspiring greatness. Yet, when you oversee twenty-three souls, each with their own quirks and foibles, it feels like trying to grip water in your palms, only to watch it slip away. Chaos was my constant companio...

The Gnawing Doubt You know that certain kind of itch? The sort that’s just beyond reach that no amount of scratching can fix? It starts somewhere in the back of your mind, just out of reach, and mutters, Is this really it? Is this like, everything? Is this my life? Like all of it? That was me, sitting at my ‘hot’ desk, staring at the flickering screen of my computer as if it held the answers to li...

Stepping into the Flames I should’ve known the minute I walked into the boardroom. It was like stepping into a burning building, the heat already unbearable, but no one seemed to notice the flames licking at the walls. The air was thick with the smoke of denial—but they all carried on as if the fire wasn’t inching ever closer. Papers were strewn across the table like kindling, and the execs sat th...

The Arrival I’d always known that life had a twisted sense of humour. But I wasn’t expecting my latest punchline to arrive in the form of a fluttering parchment letter, as if delivered straight from some medieval courier. I mean, who still writes letters for Pete’s sake? The inked scrawl promised answers to the swirling mess of thoughts that had cluttered my head for as long as I could remember—th...

Meet Barry Barry first crossed my path outside a grimy pub, nestled in one of the most avoided parts of town. I was heading the new EU-funded “Access to IT” course at the local college, aimed at transforming the lives of unemployed youths often stuck in a cycle of despair. Barry, with his hardened exterior, was precisely the kind of individual we were trying to reach. I handed Barry a course flyer...

What’s Better Today? It’s a simple question, but one that challenges your thinking, uncovers patterns, and reveals hidden beliefs . And that’s exactly what I do—I help leaders debug their thinking, break free from limiting beliefs, and master their leadership code through neuroscience, storytelling, and the truth of Jesus Christ . Hi, I’m John Michael and for over 30 years , I’ve coached leaders,...