Life Beyond The Numbers Podcast

"I'm a great one for saying yes to things because I like saying yes to things .... and my husband always says, availability isn't a skill, Susanne. So, I have to remind myself of that sometimes." Dr Susanne Evans

“I want to create something which fit that space and would help those people... to future-proof themselves.” James Culmer-Shields

"So by that definition, all stories are useful. The question is: to what end?" Jay Perry

"There is a pilot light running in all of us, and to me that pilot light is the artist inside us." Alexander Inchbald

"At this particular moment, am I in alignment with, am I in resonance with my values, with what I stand for, with what my heart beats for?" Migena Gjerazi

A solo episode to celebrate reaching episode 200

"Playfulness is our natural state of well-being. We are playful when we are well."  Chris Marshall

"... you take people outdoors. They get into a resourceful state, you're able to explore more. You can use nature. I call it wayfinding, just like you use a compass and things like that. You can use the path you're on as a metaphor. And because you're outdoors, you can stay inquisitive longer." Murph  

"You can hear the silence emerging in the room. You can hear the sound of silence. There's a peace that comes with, a harmony that comes from it. It offers an opportunity for more sharing, more cooperation, less competition. So it's very generative." Carissa Bub

"When I realised how much joy there was to be had in life, full stop, in your job and in people paying you to do something you actually enjoy, blew my mind. After 20 years of office work, I was like, wait, wait, I get to have fun and they pay me. I was really surprised by that." Ana Clements

"...because we're all imperfect if we have any kind of power, including even just like having a strong personality, that we can be doing things that we don’t even realise are intimidating or shutting down other people."​ David Lee

"I was completely transfixed by the idea of these very tiny teapots and these tiny tea cups that were serving small amounts of tea." James Thirlwall

"Any given moment contains unlimited futures that can become real. The reality that occurs is the one you pay attention to."  [Quoting] Penney Peirce

In this year-end episode of 'Life Beyond the Numbers,' I explore the theme of going beyond the status quo.

"The actions that we take are the things that are going to get us results, whether we like it or not. And so looking at those results, which business leaders are looking at all the time. We're always looking at those results. Are we meeting our outcomes? Are we meeting our metrics? And if we're not getting those results, well, we're not taking the right actions." Katie McLaughlin

"For everything that we do, if you cared this much - just a couple of centimetres of care - it would make all the difference in the world". Marc Haine

"We can do so much better for ourselves in terms of the way in which we live and the degree of fulfilment and meaning that we derive from life." Kate Jones

"If they're not applying creative and intuitive thinking in addition to critical and judgmental thinking, then they're not creating new knowledge for the organisation. They're just taking old knowledge and rearranging it. And for me, that's not adding value." Jackie Eaton

"...they were willing to take risks for the experience .... and I think I've really taken that on." Liz Jarman

"Don't be funny, be human -  you don't have to force it. Have a sense of humour. Have the ability to look at situations and see the humour that you do when you're outside of work. How often do you go home from work and you're sitting at the dinner table saying to your partner, or your family, you just wouldn't even believe what happened today..." Beth Sherman

"This is about what you are experiencing. And I think the beauty of your experience is it's your experience and no one can argue with that."

I am thoroughly enjoying reading "Wayfinding: The Art and Science of How We Find and Lose Our Way" by Michael Bond and have drawn from it to put together this episode. 

"There's schools of thought around us; the quantum nature of humanity in terms of us being energy and vibrations. And whether you think of it as woo-woo, pseudoscience or whatever, I'm not concerned about that as much as understanding that when we got on this call, our energy levels were higher than usual and matching each other. And I think that is something that as people we really need to tap into. Being able to empathetically match our energy and also have the ability to shift it up or down as we see fit and that serves the environment that we're in." Steve Wright

"It's doing it on purpose, and knowing you can do it on purpose; that's what's really important when it comes to negotiations." Phil Brown

"So even in that dynamic of a relationship, how can I have a growth mindset and see my mother or father in the way they are now? How can I have conversations that may have triggered me in the past? But now I know I'm an adult, not that child reacting, to build my parent in the future. It's the same with organizations. It's the human dynamics." Tasneem Virani

The podcast reached a milestone of 10,000 downloads during the month of June.

In this episode I explore the concept of compassion and self-compassion.

"I then realised that if gardening can be a metaphor for supplier management, nature's landscapes could be a metaphor for our lives." Alison Smith

"There's four key components that I focus on in my work and my programs. The environment [ ]. There's behaviour. You would be shocked if I told you that almost every single thing that we do from the moment we wake up until the moment we go to bed, is an amalgamation of the quality later that night of how we sleep." Dan White

"The one thing ..... there's so many. I would probably say, as a reaction to your question, trust yourself and other people." Kevin Chevis

"Susan, I've taken enough time with these questions. Firstly, I just want to say, I'm thankful that I've met you. And two, this is an absolutely brilliant book and I love it." Matt Phelan

"Variation is the norm, that actually we're all unique. We are all different. And even how we approach learning and decision making, we're all different." Susan Ni Chriodain

"When momentum really comes into play so much of the background noise fades further into the background. And then momentum builds momentum. You become unstoppable, mostly!" Susan Ni Chriodain

"Most of the time we're not listening, really listening. We're actually just thinking, what do I want to say next or what shall I say next? And just listening for the odd word or phrase that we need to hear in order to meaningfully respond in a way that satisfies us." Rob Lawrence

"Basically it's books that we recommend a lot or books that have really changed our practice." Dr. Susanne Evans

"Imagine if we create this whole chain of psychologically safe environments that every single individual in that chain had that sense of psychological safety. The innovation, the creativity and the sheer drive, growth, productivity and all of those things mean that we would be leaping forwards in terms of how we do things and generating new opportunities and new ways of doing things and better ways of doing things." Helen Joy

"Insights" is a compilation episode that explores themes of resourcefulness, inner resources, and personal responsibility in accessing those resources.

"This book is about telling a different version of a story. That might begin to rebalance and imbalance. It is about leading beyond the numbers and still knowing our worth contribution and value. It is about recognising people as people and not as numbers on a payroll or statistics in a report." Susan Ni Chriodain  

"What we need to then do, though, is, rather than trying to create tomorrow based on all the clutter and the stuff that has and hasn't worked, we need to rewire to a future possibility." Nathan Simmonds

"An Emotional Overdraft is the way that founders and entrepreneurs and leaders subsidise a business at the cost of their own mental or physical reserves and that can be very unhealthy and very damaging." Andy Brown

"I always think about the work joy formula as how do you actually go from where you are to getting more joy in your life?" Beth Stallwood

"I delve into that in the book - the fact that none of us ever really know what's going on for someone else." Susan

"If there's one huge piece of advice I can give, it's pick your lane and stay in it .... Don't worry about what anyone else is doing, just decide what you want, decide how you're going to get that and focus." Sally Oddy

"Never think you reaching too high. If you want to do something, go for it, go for what you actually want." Mags de Valois

"I'm consistently, continuously discovering this... I discovered that the key is the centre. Not losing your centre. This message constantly comes to me, all roads lead to centre. Because of course it's normal, human, to go into extremes." Claudia Anghel

"Every conversation we have is co-created with other people."

"We are always at our best when we have freedom to be human. And what I mean by that is when we remember, or lean into, what makes us human, oh my gosh, that's octane for our performance and it's so much easier." Karina Rook

"This is my mission, I think this is what I really want to do and what I'm born to do, to help people wake up." Caroline Tanja Banz

"Happiness comes from a wide variety of different sources. And actually happiness is not the one single thing that we should pursue because part of being human is the whole world of emotion and feelings. And all of them are valid." Gavin Andrews

"I felt younger, I felt nostalgic, I felt the preciousness of life and the genuine appreciation of true friends." Susan

 "If I'm working with somebody and they don't do their agreed upon "homework" and I'm telling myself a story like, Oh, they're not motivated. They're lazy. They don't take it seriously. And instead of  coming from that judgey point of view, asking, so what happened? And it turns out they didn't understand what the assignment was or whatever. Get curious, not furious. Get curious instead of judging." David Lee

"When people realise that I don't have enough self-love, I don't think you can teach somebody to have self love or to have a connection to your heart, but you can, become more conscious with the lack of it. And by doing that you start to vest in your own love and then in the love for other beings." Stephan Pfingsten

"Asking for help, I mean, I had no clue that that was the way out. It didn't even cross my mind at all. It's so crazy that asking for help was the way out." Migena Gjerazi

"There is something about setting intentions and having it written down or saying it out into the world that makes a difference, especially if it's something you want to do."

I'm celebrating!

"If you can demonstrate to someone that you have their back and you're fair, you're a fair person. I think that's all you need to ask for, isn't it?" James Perry

"Difficult conversations by definition are difficult, but the relationship, just like in anything in life between skill level and how much courage it takes, the more skill, the less courage you have to summons." David Lee

An opportunity to hear firsthand about the challenges & triumphs of walking the Camino de Santiago. From tracking steps & temperatures to encountering amazing strangers, it's a journey you don't want to miss!

This is a selection of snippets from episode 22 and 23 

"Leadership [....] it's a lot about trying to create environments where people could thrive and facilitate people being successful and therefore the team, the agenda and the organisation being successful." John Fairhurst

"We're not as young as some people who move internationally, which is one thing I think that I've learned a lesson from. And that's one of the harder things here, is that you've left almost your network and everything you've built up in your 25 years experience. You've almost gotta park that to one side and say, well, that was that country - now I have to start again." Kery Boucher 

"I think all of leadership and all of executive presence starts from within. It starts with a need. You need to actually take time for reflection. I always describe it to people as, you've got to slow down to go faster. You've got to stop and reflect on what's important to you. What are your values? How do you want to show up as a leader?" Sue Rosen

Let's go to the minefields of Cambodia. That's where I'm going to take you now...

There is something wonderful about the sound of laughter, the infectiousness of laughter, and  just that releasing and relieving of tension.

Ultimately what I'm trying to bring out is the connection between the emotional state of people in a workplace that impacts the financial state of an organisation.

I'm not always conscious of the power of our voice.

Sinead [O' Connor] was undoubtedly brave, vulnerable, courageous, and outspoken.

We all have this potential, we are all capable of more than we let ourselves believe.

"We always stand for something. And fulfilment and success [ ] is gonna come from actively choosing that thing that you stand for. We are not neutral. [ ] The way I translate that into the work I do is by helping the people I work with to work out what they stand for. I'm politically agnostic about what they choose to stand for. It's about them [ ] It's about knowing what you stand for. Deciding what you stand for." Phil Dorman

"The Shamans, from the Native American people, talk about the twin trails. This whole going inward, going outward, going inward, going outward. The more we grow internally, we can grow externally." Achim Arnold

"I thought, oh, now I feel relaxed. Now I feel like me again. And so it wasn't about removing imperfection, it was like just busting out of my being, so full of love and of happiness that I was like, oh yeah, why would I box myself in with that again?" Jo Hunter

"It's about who we can be and how can we be the best version of ourselves, and we owe that to ourselves. You are the only one who truly knows how you feel, how you think, and why you act the way you do. And increasing our own self-awareness is the greatest gift we can give to ourselves. Taking an honest look at ourselves, our thinking, our feelings, our behaviour, and asking ourselves when are we at our best?" Susan

"The whole idea around the IDGs emerged a few years ago with a few institutions in Sweden sitting together looking at the current status of the world and wondering why it is that we are not really progressing further and faster towards the SDGs and why crisis are to the contrary getting bigger and bigger and more complex and everything seems to be just more daunting." Katharina Moser

"How do we start to understand ourselves enough that we can say our expectations might be realistic to the situation we're in, but they mightn't be the optimal expectations that we could have of ourselves." Paul Karvanis

"Doing the right thing probably starts when you go into the organisation rather than when you leave it. Because at that stage, you may not have actually have the chance to do the right thing." Dan Foley

"Brian was in charge of team engagement. And it was interesting because he said 30 plus years ago, Brian was talking about things like empowerment, self-motivation, involvement, personal responsibility, voice and alignment."

"For me this concept of embodiment is very related to being in alignment. So an alignment between what I feel, what I think and what I do." Ana Bernardes

"That's the performance paradox at play. It's through dedication. We're trying to do the best that we can, but it's just so easy to let go of what we know restores us and gives us energy in that quest to keep going. And the more we do that, the more disconnected we are from what gives us energy. That's what I mean by the performance paradox." Kerry Cullen

"Engaging in activities like walking as compared to faster forms of transportation or doing yoga or things that really slow down the body are important but it's active things that slow down the body. In other words, not just laying on the sofa, which we all like to do at the end of a hard day of work, but it's active slowing down." Giana Eckhardt

"Let's say somebody listening to that, is like, wow, I do that too. And that helps them develop their insights. So listening to people's stories is another wonderful way of developing insights." David Lee

"There is a huge shift in thinking from being customer success to being people success. Because if you look after your individual people as well as the people in your customers, whether that's B2B or B2C, then you are going to be the most successful and impactful that you can." Kellie Lucas

Did you know that genetics account for 50% of our happiness? And our life circumstances 10%? That means we have the power to influence the other 40% through our actions and habits. 

"...and each time I would attempt to do something, I would stop and stare out the window and wonder what matters. I began to ask variations of this question: What matters here? What actually matters? Does this really matter? What matters most?" Susan Ni Chriodain

"If instead you just take small action, you not only get the rush of courage from having taken the action and the satisfaction that you've actually done something, but you have negated that building of resentment and regret. So it's a double benefit if you take the tiny action today." Robbie Swale

"Gradually I was shrinking, because this is such a big thing in me. So my process was, during that time, reconnecting to that creativity and taking seriously that need in me." Sam Allen

"Within the first year of the aviation business is when we started doing the coffee business. So I was suddenly involved and being the executive director of the aviation business and the executive chairman of the coffee shop business at the same time. So I was suddenly the serial entrepreneur, it was crazy." Kevin Ashley

"Happiness is enjoying that journey. Carving out that 15 minutes of pleasure. Happiness then increases our performance and our achievement and makes it easier to achieve success."  Sashenka Milston

"There's always merit and value in being proactive when it comes to making changes within your career and not sleepwalking into a situation where your career's flatlining or you’re not achieving and getting the satisfaction and the enjoyment that you want within a particular job." Javed Bobat

"One of the challenges this year that I loved was one of my friends created a book and she had 40 questions and I had to answer each question with a picture. And really good questions about reflecting about life, about my past, about my present, about where I want to go."  Diego Adame

Seven work-life snippets from 2022 guests make up this compilation episode.

"How did you feel about this year as a whole? And if you were to title this past year as a chapter in your story, what would it be? So, I've put together some thoughts on this year." 

"....isn't that true of so many issues in organisations that it's just because people don't speak to each other and they don't listen to the other side. And that for me is the root, if we're talking about psychological safety, that is at the root. It's the willingness on all sides to be open and to listen."   Dr Susanne Evans

"Keep it simple. It's free. Go outside. There are so many reasons to do it. It's so funny we love to complicate things. Our human brains are like, surely we should be paying for this meeting room and if only we could be doing some weird technical thing as part of our team bonding experience, then we'll be doing the right thing. But no, let's get back to basics".   Caitlin Cockerton

"Success for me now is trusting myself and being patient enough to see what emerges rather than rushing to create some version of success that makes sense to other people." Kris Lantheaume

"So instead I thought, well, what about four weeks? What if I do it in four weeks? And actually that works out perfectly because there. 13 sets of four ... 13 fours is 52." Susan

"If you consider we're living through a mental health epidemic, there is an urgent need for us to pioneer new ways to create collective joy and collective ecstasy, the very things which are an antidote to loneliness." Pete “the Temp” Bearder

"You can't find the answers out there. The answers aren't out there. The answers are inside. And until you look inside and find your own answers, answers that you have from outside won't work." Robyn Harris

"You have to be in the room. You've got to be a part of the conversation." "If you're not talking to each other and you're not in the room where it's happening then you are a step behind others who are thinking differently."

"I think you can only build that inner resilience if you do actually accept that we do all need rest and recovery, not just the annual long holiday, but actually building that into everyday life." Sue Rosen

"....the thing that she said that really resonated with me was create the content you want to see in the world. And I would say that to any of you listening, if there is something you want to read in the world or see in the world or hear in the world, create it."

"Your intention has a huge impact .... the impact of what you say or do may not match up with your intention. And so that's where we have to, as leaders, continue to be emphasising that intention through our words, through our actions..." Katie McLaughlin

"....it was really, really difficult to walk away from a very solid career. And I think I wanted from the life coach validation, just someone said, go for it, you're not being stupid, you're not being crazy, just go for it." Natasha Tomlinson

"....the more you understand human nature, the more you bring out the best in people." David Lee

"We are all people. We are all different and unique. We think differently, work differently, process differently, but we are all human. If we work off the premise of people are just people first and foremost, and different from me is okay, can we actually make the world a better place?" Susan Ní Chríodáin 

"I'm becoming the person I'm becoming. I'm following my inner, personal route."  Susan Ní Chríodáin

"And we're all human. And I think that's the main message that I try to bring out in this podcast - it's human stories for human listeners. We are all people. We are all doing our best. And it's wonderful to know that others have been where we are or think like we do or are going where we want to go or can show us things we didn't know." Susan Ní Chríodáin

"It's about working together based on your strengths to be able to get the best deal out of the supplier or to get the best relationship out of the supplier." James Meads

"I think there should be some sort of law that before you leave compulsory education, you have to do a psychometric on your preferences and how you respond to pressure." Becca Brighty

"Basically you grow up feeling different or knowing you're different - it's not something that other people always pick up around you and it might come across as, 'oh, they're a bit slow' or 'they don't care' or 'they're a daydreamer' or, all of that. And those messages you pick up on them because you're wired to fit in." Siun Prochazka

"a lot of the research ... was based around lessons learned. And one of the key things that came out of it is businesses, organisations, almost have a blueprint now. They've got something in place whereby if something did happen again, they would be prepared." Julian Roy

“Feelings aren't a beacon of eternal truth. They're a negotiation. They're always real because they are a perception inside of you, but it doesn't mean that they are accurate, useful, or true they're things that need to be negotiated. We can reframe them and construct them differently.” Steve Haines

"I grew up with a family myth about jet lag. We're Italian, my father's Italian 100 percent. And we would sit around the dinner table and just like chat and he would always tell the story of my foster brother, who the summer of 1971 was kidnapped and travelled non-stop Intercontinental for about four months. And then his grandmother suddenly died during the journey in a luxury hotel in Amsterdam." Emily Brown

"And the tension sometimes in the office was palpable. And to get things done you had to start to think about how to keep people on a common goal, despite some of the rivalry or politics that people brought with them to the office." Dougal Freeman

"We chose the term mental fitness because in our mind, it's positive because we think of it in connection with our physical fitness. And our hope is that one day we consider going to a psychotherapist in exactly the same way as we wouldn't think twice about going to a personal trainer." Kirsty Ritchie

"And I've no doubt that these stories and indeed the stories that all guests share, evoke different memories, emotions, and feelings for you. And I always love to hear them. So please feel free to send me your thoughts. What were your favorite snippets? What were your favourite episodes? Who would you like to hear more from?" Susan

"This week I found myself .... I don't know if I was having a reflective moment ... but I've realised that I'm still in the habit of seeking permission and I was thinking about if I wasn't always looking elsewhere for permission I wonder what I would have achieved?" Antonia Taylor

"A pacemaker is not a death sentence or even a life sentence, it's a lifeline. My role is to send the ladder down for other people. And that gives me a lot of satisfaction. Whether that's heart health, helping people who are going through the trauma of looking for work or people who've failed exams I've been there." Paul Wright

"I have wanted to do a solo episode for I don't know how long now. And it's something that I've really, really struggled with or battled with and found daunting." Susan

"We don't have enough social practices or social norms around how to deal with our emotional and bodily intelligence. It's not something that is integrated in the way that we are being. And we are seeing on one side a great awakening where people are beginning to understand, wow, there's so much here that I didn't see, feel, connect with." Madelaine Golec

"I realised, okay, so I've done all this left-brain clever stuff like accounting, finance, languages, strategy, marketing, dah, dah, dah. I feel suicidal. So clearly I am missing something. My father was in sales, my brother is in sales and I realised there were people who were far less academic than me who were leading much happier lives and were not trying to kill themselves." John Purkiss. 

"It's so exciting to have my two amazing siblings here to sit down and talk about something that we've talked about. We have had conversations over the years about Aoife and about how it was to have a sister like Aoife. But I feel really honoured that I can sit down with you two here now and talk about her life and about our lives with her and share with other people in the hope that other people would benefit from hearing this or maybe just be interested in hearing it." Siun Creedon Prochazka  (this episode was originally released in November 2020 on the Uniquely Wired podcast)

"...helping people think about the impact of change on people. And a big part of it is around people feeling secure, people feeling that they understand the impact that this is going to have on them, on their relationships. Uncertainty, because uncertainty is a really hard thing for people to deal with. And I think a big part of fear of change, resistance of change are those questions about what's in it for me?" Dr Susanne Evans

"Trying to describe myself has always been really hard. I've never fitted into anything. Someone described me as an edge-walker the other day. And I thought, oh my God, that's the first time anyone's put me into a category that I can relate to." Nat Hunter

"When you're a professional that has a mortgage and a family, the time to help is significantly less. To put it bluntly, you have to figure out how you can help others that makes sense within the context that you are." Mason Cosby

"And it was a massive learning because I thought, why do I have to fake it? Why do I have to pretend that I'm okay. And I think that point comes to many of us at some point. It came to me really early, I was like 21. It came super early that I'm not going to fake it at work." Greta Solomon

"Happiness comes from a wide variety of different sources. And actually happiness is not the one single thing that we should pursue because part of being human is the whole world of emotion and feelings. And all of them are valid." Gavin Andrews

"It's about relationships. Bottom line, build relationships. Not just when you need to. I think the worst mistake people make is when they think of networking and using something like LinkedIn, they wait until they're desperate." "And that desperation comes through, right." "So I would say it's all about relationships." Travis L Scott .

"We might have an idea of the kind of manager we want to be. But how often do we intentionally focus on that on a daily basis?"  Helen Joy 

"I was in a career corner .... I'd painted myself into it and I didn't know how to get out. And I was having those thoughts that in my early 30s you know, “that's it, I'm ruined” .... now I'm thinking I can continue to change and evolve and do so many different things with my life and my career. It's limitless." Emma O'Brien

"...you ask potential candidates who are joining your organisation, what are their intrinsic motivations and 80-90% of the time, they will say, I want to be part of an organisation that is making a positive difference in the world."   John Collins

"Freedom for me .... is the ability to build a portfolio .... a portfolio of experiences, a portfolio of projects rather than just one single life path, life career." Trevor O'Hara

"Innovation …. it's going to be meaningfully unique .... new and different. And new and different means people are going to be getting ‘that sounds crazy’, ‘that sounds mad’, ‘we can't do that’.… How we attend to this question of fear … how we encourage learning, how we fuel collaboration these are jobs of the leader and a leader that has humility. And …. this is in the deep tissue of leading. It's the fabric of leadership. It's what makes a leader really a leader in my view, at least in the context of innovation." Philip Oliver

"I kept reading about languishing and it occurred to me that we were missing the element of surprise..... surprise adds that sort of element of surprise, but it does more than that. It takes your brain on a little journey .... it fires you up." Ella Clark

"This is a tool to amplify your sensitivity to some of those lower-level energies that might be keeping you away from your true self." Jonathan de Potter

Happy New Year. Welcome to 2022 and episode 70 of Life Beyond the Numbers - a compilation episode from some of the least downloaded episodes of 2021 ... or the hidden gems from 2021

"Figure out what works for you. Whether it be, your physical health, your nutritional health, your financial health, figure out what works for you." Alyn Mitlyng

"I think part of his personality and a lot of our riders' personalities is they need to test themselves like this. They need to push their boundaries. And try these extreme experiences and the rewards that they get very important to them, life affirming to them." Anna Haslock

"If you can measure it, you can manage it. I used to say that for years. And  now I say if you can measure it, you can better understand it. If you can better understand it, you can make better decisions." Matt Phelan. 

"So that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to lift the lid on it. It's not just me, it's my friends. I want it for our daughters. That's what I want it for more than anything." Amantha King. 

The theme of International Leadership Week (#ILW21) is Leadership Reinvented. What does reinvented leadership look like?

"As it turns out being authentically me means more sales when it comes to marketing and everything. So that was the big lesson I learned early on. It took a very tough learning experience. But that sense of being yourself for all its flaws and all its good things as well that was a huge learning for me." Eamon FitzGerald.

"We are both in a quest. We are partners in this quest, both the coach and the coachee, and when we have this quest it is something that unites us." Spyros Gousetis. 

"And I think acceptance, real acceptance, for me is like: today, where am I? In a week or a month it may be better or worse, but today, how am I am?" Sarah Wells.

"So when we use our imagination well the possibilities are endless." Lisa LLoyd

"...it's that balance of being really clear with your purpose and having this people centric style that actually brings out the best in the people around you." Caroline Mabon

"I love uncertainty. But most people don't. There's this kind of innate thing about humans that we want to be in control. We like to think we're in control. We like certainty. And if nothing else the pandemic has shown us that life is totally unpredictable and uncertain. And it is moment by moment." Lisa Milnor 

"So yeah, that sense of making connections, which your brain does all the time. And writing enables you to capture that." Alison Jones

"And my vision is that that 80 percent number can reduce and more people are engaged in the workplace and enjoy what they do." Susan Ni Chriodain

"Many of us are beginning to learn today just how important it is to know what is going on in our gut. And that gut health is important to our overall health." Caroline Peyton

"as adults we've put play and work in opposition and that's another myth." Pauline McNulty

"If someone can take one thing away from what I've said that's going to help them then I'm happy whether that's the mental health side or cancer side." Louise McMilan.

"There's only one person who's truly, truly in control of our lives and it's ourselves and it's okay to spend some time focusing on what's important to us." Nikki Hill.

"Everything's okay. And if everything's okay, what's the problem? And actually, it's a very fulfilling place to be; everything's okay." Alan Creedon.

"We always say: to design for many, you have to design for some and to design for some, you have to design for one." Kaveh Sadeghian.

"We've got to take ownership of our leadership with our people because we're leading people." Kiki Kirby

"Teams are built on how tense moments are handled." Jenny Ashmore

"It's going to be hard to form a habit, but once you do it becomes non-negotiable and that shifts things for you. But like you said, baby steps, baby steps, add in small little things everyday." Rebecca Cheetham.

"So, I want you to be a sommelier to your body!  But to do that we have to practice. You start with really fundamentals. How do I know what joy is?" Steve Haines.

"It's not about where you start. It's about the potential you show others that will determined where you finish." Lọ́lá Béjidé

"...understanding your strengths and also understanding other people's strengths is the key to effective communication, effective relationships and avoiding some of the conflict that can happen, especially in the workplace..." Nicholas Jemetta.

"I think that's a key component of public speaking, a key component of communication and a key component of confidence because the more you listen in the better your answers and your statements become the more powerful and influential and respected you become." Carlos Gimeno. 

"And I know those results have really just materialised from that dynamic of putting people first." Luke Kyte. 

"And I'm interested, fascinated by, both how businesses work and how people work in them. And it's great to see things move and to see some things go back two steps before they go forward". John Shinnick. 

This week I've collated some stories related to the workplace from episodes that went out between January and April 2021.

Do you ever think about your breath or breathing?  Do you notice when it quickens or slows?

"I think if we did ask each other: Does what you do make you happy? It does stop someone in their tracks to go well, why am I pursuing a certain path? Is this the right reason for me to pursue it? Because I think we're much better in delivering our gifts and talents when we're in a space of happiness and joy." Glin Bayley.

"Coherence is not relaxation. It's a state between activation and relaxation, which is optimal for your performance. So you feel calm and focused. You can do stuff. You can think, you can engage in things." Gavin Andrews. 

"I think we are on the precipice of releasing and freeing ourselves from the shackles of conventional capitalism. I call it Life Capitalism." Paul Stephenson.

"...understand how powerful the people dimension is and how investing more time in it, more growth and development, more attention to it earlier you can up your game and you can do much more successful projects and bigger projects." Talita Ferreira.

"We're into that instant gratification. Like we see what we want and we want it  now. But the reality is for things to last, it takes a bit of time to get there." Tony Pound.

"If you think about staff engagement, staff satisfaction. Well, if those people aren't happy, they're going to leave. Same with your customers. People are not going to hang around, so they're not financial indicators, but they do have financial impact eventually." Rebecca McCaffry.

"All your problems come with a head and two arms and two legs. Then you have two people coming together and you have four people coming together and you can square the number of problems and challenges because you've different personalities, you have different attitudes and you have different backgrounds." Billy O'Connor.

"From a business point of view, you need to have the willingness to continuously learn and remain open and then be willing to pivot. And this is where I see a lot of people fail so often as they fixate on a framework of what success looks like to them. And when they come up to a blocking point they don't know how to just pivot and change". Kevin Ashley.

"We've got a lot to offer beyond just giving a set of accounts to somebody. And it comes down to the fundamental fact that we're all people at the end of the day and it's all about relationships and building those relationships..." Robin Kiziak.

"When people are able to pause and are given permission to pause by their leaders and they know the necessity of pausing, in terms of their brain being so much more productive and you'll be so much more engaged and so much more successful after a pause. And then that's where the magic happens." Lisa LLoyd.

"The very first training course I delivered I thought this is it. I have actually found my thing. This is what I was put on this planet to do. I just cannot explain the explosion of happiness inside when I'm delivering training and just working so hard with different individuals". Andi Lonnen

"Businesses are fairly unhappy places to be at the moment. People, young people, bright people who've done everything right, who've got a good education they've paid through the noses for, who've worked hard and they've got into these elite organisations and are saying "Is this it? Is this what I want to do?" They look 30 years ahead 40 years ahead to the bosses and say, "Is that what I want to be?"" Gib Bulloch.

"We're really focused on the core fundamentals of organisational clarity, communicating that clarity, over-communicating that clarity, minimising confusion and politics. And when that's present, then you have the good stuff. And for me, the good stuff is that you're creating that environment for people to flourish and thrive." Sheila Walsh. 

"We have a very progressive organisation that values its people, but the most satisfying and motivating thing about an organisation like Pukka is the genuine feeling that we are making decisions for the right reasons." John Collins

"A professional summary and professional summaries, in general, tend to be these sort of really abstract statements." "There's no sort of connection to the human being. It could be anybody. I'm like, well, let's try to find a way where we can actually write these professional summaries that relate to the human being on this piece of paper." Megan Haupt.

"We are, the first international mentoring scheme for public finance, the first, scheme to be totally virtual for public financial by management." "I see public finance by women as being a powerful network to try and influence the status quo and change the status quo." Gillian Fawcett.  

In this episode, I've pulled together some insights from guests on 'work-life balance' - what is work-life balance, how do you know you have it, does it exist and more. 

This week's episode includes a selection of insights from seven of the first 21 episodes. 

"And if you don't understand the language and the financial impacts of the words being used in that language you're completely in the dark, right? No wonder people are dead scared and have this fear.  So we want to remove the fear of the language and empower people to speak finance confidently."  Mark Samowitz.

"I have been in situations in the workplace where it was just a toxic environment. How do we protect workers from entering into that type of scenario? How do we help companies to make better decisions when it comes to hiring to help them to retain staff, to create a better and more collaborative environment. But also how do we match?" "How do you find that match between a person and an organisation?" Aoife O'Brien

"If we can understand other people's culture, whether it's racial culture or national or organisational we are then in a better place to start making those bridges and making sure that we can work together effectively and actually benefiting from other people's cultures and understanding."  John Cammack.  

"I realised, okay, so I've done all this left-brain clever stuff, you know, like accounting, finance, languages, strategy, marketing, dah, dah, dah. I feel suicidal. So clearly I am missing something.  My father was in sales, my brother is in sales and I realised there were people who were far less academic than me who were leading much happier lives and were not trying to kill themselves." John Purkiss.

"...one of the days the security guard said to me, "why weren't you in on Sunday?" It was like, Oh God, I know I haven't got this right."  "...the last couple of months have shown us that spending time, doing things with people you love and being able to take time to read books and go for walks ..... makes you more productive at work."  Kim Bowden

"And it's a real skill to be able to distill your thoughts and message:  what is it that I want to say, what structure is best to put around this and then how you say it. And it's one of those things in life that can be easier said than done." Elaine Lynch.

"Listen, question your assumptions and start with thinking the best of people." Marcus Thompson. 

"How can I create a checklist on being kind?  How can I ask in each situation I find myself in, how can I be magic in this situation?" "How can I apply the magic formula? How can I be magic in this situation?" John Hayns.

"As you go through your career you learn what you're good at. And one of the things I've been very lucky to have been able to do is to choose the things that I'm good at and leave behind the things that I'm not so good at and have the confidence to say, do you know what actually that's not really my bag".  Margaret de Valois.

"Everyone seems to have some negativity, some frustration, some disappointment, even at times, anger towards recruiters.  And  when you repeatedly hear that, pretty much every conversation, you have to take a step back, which I did a few years ago..."  "And that's where I've made the decision over the last 12, 18 months to research plan and then bring to market something that I hope will bring some humanity back within an industry where I feel it is lacking".  Javed Bobat.

"...whether it's your job, your business, your relationships, your personal finances....the decisions you make right now - what's the impact on people, planet and economy? And that's effectively what sustainability is."   Sarah Whale.

“Feelings aren't a beacon of eternal truth. They're a negotiation. They're always real because they are a perception inside of you, but it doesn't mean that they are accurate, useful, or true they're things that need to be negotiated. We can reframe them and construct them differently.” Steve Haines

“I think that phrase is probably the tipping point where I was saying to myself, ok, I am not going to just keep the score I'm gonna make the numbers happen.” Jerry Harris

“We put a lot of pressure ourselves to always be right and feel like we need to know the answer. And actually sometimes it's okay not to know the answer. And I think that's a sign of strength as well as to put your hand up say “I don't know” but I I'll go find out or I'll ask someone to help; that’s strength.” Andrew Codd.

“Every human needs to have some form of connection, a deep connection with someone, whether that's your family, whether that's friends, we all need that kind of connection”. Clay Moffat.

“Give your people, the opportunity to do what they're best at, do it to the best of their abilities and the responsibility to get on and direct. And the trust to make that happen. They will bring you so much back.” Helen Joy.

“But what I think we've got to remember is. You’re never the finished model of anything, you know, you, you're always the sort of prototype of yourself.” “Well, people used to say that you're only good as your last job, but that sounds so negative like that. You know, you're always a prototype of yourself”.  Gary Cox.

“I've just finished a book actually”. "I called it a Ginger Haired Underdog’s Comical Journey to the Top, although I don't know where they actually got to the top, but I've got quite near the top. I wanted summit that reflected my personality, but also had a serious message.” Gary Cox.

“It's always been people and numbers if I'm honest because it's very isolating to just sit and do numbers.” “Otherwise what's the point? No, one's gonna look at them if they're not for people to review and understand and take action on them.” Michelle Heer.

“We all have the power to change everything. Even if circumstances are forced upon us, you still have the power to change and move forward and get where you want to go.” David Greenaway.

“We think it's just going to happen or that we have to accept what is already there rather than crafting and creating what it is we want” Sue Rosen.