Doing well, feeling fine

In this episode I am sitting down with Professor Simon Critchley:  He is the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research. Simon and I discuss the role of story and narrative in making sense of our biographies.  We explore how the stories we tell about ourselves often rely on stability and coherence. The reason is to convey authenticity. And perhaps in some ways to fit...

In this episode, I am talking to Dr. Peter Kim . He is a Professor of Management and Organization at University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. His research focuses on the dynamics of social misperception, with a particular focus on the violation and repair of trust. His latest book is called How trust works: the science of how relationships are built, broken, and repaired . ...

In this episode, I am speaking to the amazing and prolific Viv Groskop (www.vivgroskop.com). She is a journalist, author, podcaster, and comedian.    She is the author of 6 books, two of which we spend some time on in this episode: “How to Own the Room” and her recent book, out now, called “Happy High Status”.  In our conversation, we talk a bit about Viv’s experiences with comedy and what it’s ta...

New episodes are in the bag, and we are back for the next "season". In this episode, I am in NY, sitting down with Christian Madsbjerg who is a professor at NY's New School and co-founder of consulting firm ReD Associates. Christian teaches widely on the practical application of the human sciences. Here are some key questions and insights from our conversation: We are trained in havi...

Today’s episode features Anabel Maldonado, CEO of psykhe.ai. Anabel trained as a psychologist and studied how measurable personality traits lead to predictable consumer choices. Building on the classic “OCEAN” model of personality, she developed a framework to explain what about us is driving taste.  Across openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism - the dimensions o...

By all standards, Phumi Morare was on a stellar path: following 4 years on the credit risk team at Goldman Sachs and two years at McKinsey & Company, she still decided to begin again: In 2017, she pursued her passion for film-making and set sail for film school in LA. We did an episode on endings and beginnings on this podcast (#14, with Angus Ridgway). In it we explore, what happens when it&#...

In this episode, I head to the seaside to join my mother on a week-long fasting retreat. I cover some of the purported benefits of fasting and compare that with my own experience, recorded during the retreat. For sure, I can report significant weight loss of 6kg. But was it mostly water, muscle or fat loss? Fasting is also associated with a series of physiological and psychological benefits, e.g.,...

This week I am sitting down with the amazing Baratunde Thurston! Another "renaissance human" on the podcast, combining a passion for the performing arts with a serious mission to drive broader social change by increasing what he calls "small-d democracy" - having all of us involved and living out our civic duties. Doing well, feeling fine is not just a project of the individual...

This week, I am sitting down with Peter Semple , who managed to combine his personal passion and professional mission: Peter is Chief Marketing Officer at Depop. Before that, he spent 7 years in Google’s Creative Lab. His love of culture, fashion, art and music naturally flows into his work as CMO of Depop. Depop is a global, community-powered, 2nd-hand fashion marketplace with over 30m registered...

In the area of "body recomposition" (fat loss, muscle gain), Andy Morgan is one of the most experienced coaches and client advisers around. He is also one of the most generous, offering his insights from over a decade of serving >1100 clients successfully on his website for free www.rippedbody.com . The site is an absolute treasure chest of relevant, fact-based research around dieting...

Angus Ridgway is back for a round 3 discussion on personal leadership. He and I use the summer break as a prompt to think about how to re-energize for a fulfilling second half of the year. We focus on personal energy and the idea of "vibrancy". What do you radiate? Optimism? Possibility? Enthusiasm? Opportunity? Leaving "toxic positivity" to one side, we address: Our relationsh...

This week I am still in Spain, and designer couture features prominently in cafés, waterside promenades, restaurants, and sometimes even supermarkets. Where better to enact a sense of a more passionate life than on holiday, wearing your favorite 'fits? Against a background of "boardwalk" instead of "boardroom" looks, I sit down with MCM Worldwide 's newly appointed Chie...

In this episode, I sit down with Jan Wilmking of Project Eaden , a start-up focused on producing plant-based meats that win through "performance on the plate and palate". Jan shares his personal journey and background that led him to this, his latest venture. His story is full of fascinating vignettes and insights: for instance, his great-grandfather invented and successfully commerciali...

Angus and I decided to team up for a few more episodes on the broad subject of leadership - not just in the workplace, but more broadly. We spoke about leading with "character" in episode #11 and decided to cover a few more angles here (and in a forthcoming episode, later this summer). June, July, and August are typically a period of reflection. In this episode, we talk about endings and...

Subcultures have exerted a continuous fascination throughout the decades. Their styles have been admired; their coolness commodified. Their lifeworlds provided escape from ordinary life. Some members went even further and sought full-time employment as musicians, artists, stylists, DJs and so on. The 1990s saw the rise of the creative industries, especially in London. More recently, we see the eme...

Andrea Fernandez has a stellar CV and an inspiring mission: Together with her co-founder Artyom Chelbayev , she set out to empower women to learn more about personal finance and take more control of their financial futures. They founded Vitamin and shifted customer mindsets, enabled users, increased access to personal finance products and steadily grew their base. But adoption takes time, and time...

Angus Ridgway and I sit down together in this free-flowing conversation about leadership and, well, personhood, discussing how to "human". We start with the question of how to lead with "character", but really we are talking about some core tenets of how to be, full-stop. We cover several ideas that apply equally to being an effective leader in an organization or in a community...

Today I am speaking with Hélène Guillaume Pabis . Hélène founded Wild. AI , a customer-facing app to optimize physical performance and wellbeing tailored to women athletes.  Hélène also operated as an angel investor in startups and worked in AI consulting, hedge fund management and trading in a number of investment banks.  She is a passionate athlete, parent, and founder.  I was keen to have Helen...

I am sitting down today with Jannis Bandorski , serial entrepreneur who founded and co-founded multiple businesses; most recently, ARRtist , which provides networking and knowledge exchange for SaaS founders and Xletix , a market-leading obstacle course racing event. In our conversation, we focus on his latest project: " the happiness remix ", which he’s about to take to clients and othe...

I am sitting down today with Tahir Hussain who has 25+ years of global leadership experience in the consumer, retail and tech space. He lived and worked in Korea, China, the US and the UK. Having worked for BCG, Bertelsmann, and Amazon in senior roles, Tahir is now an independent advisor, and the founder of the non-profit education startup: 21 Future . Tahir already addressed a question many of us...

I am sitting down today with Andrea Berchowitz , co-founder and CEO of Vira Health, a startup focused on improving women’s healthcare, starting with menopause.  Andrea served clients at McKinsey in London and Johannesburg and worked in philanthropy, with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. I was curious about working with the foundation and what can be learned from a secondment in the social se...

I am sitting down today with Tao Tao , COO and co-founder of Get Your Guide , a global booking platform for travel experiences. Get your Guide is a two-sided marketplace bringing together travelers from over 190 countries with local tour operators to create memorable experiences. The company has approximately 800 employees in 17 locations.  Over the past 14 yrs, Get Your Guide has served more than...

Today I am speaking with Max Barde: fitness entrepreneur and co-founder of MTM Personal Training. Coming up to 2 years of working together, I can safely say that some of my cooking, eating, snacking behaviors, on the one hand, but also training and recovery practices have become “second nature”. This means, I don’t really have to think about them; they’re just habits: like brushing teeth in the mo...

Today I am speaking with Julia Grosse. Julia co-founded “Contemporary &”, a platform for contemporary art practice from Africa and the global diaspora. You can access it under www.contemporaryand.com . She is also a journalist, curator, lecturer, and author.  One of her books - Ein Leben lang - is about life-long relationships. Its point of departure are Julia’s grandparents who were happily m...

Today I am speaking with Dr. Nikolaus Braun, personal financial adviser, author, and founder of 49, an advisory firm helping clients define their life goals and supporting investment strategies.   His new book is called Geld oder Leben - Your money or your life! - and it’s just out now in April 2023, in German. We sit down to discuss key ideas and moving stories from his new book.   In my thirties...