Crisis What Crisis?

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-selling author Kit De Waal, world-renowned broadcaster Piers Morgan, business legend and founder of AO.com John Roberts, British cyclist Mark Beaumont, train accident survivor Sarah De Lagarde and geopolitical communications strategist Mark Turnbull.  Each of their stories are individual and unique, but shared among them is a strength not just to carry on but to squeeze the very best out of the tools and life they’ve been given.  LESSONS YOU’LL LEARN: Resilience isn’t innate – it’s built. Like a muscle, it strengthens through repeated habits, training, and choosing to act in ways that rewire the brain for adaptability.Attitude is everything. You can’t control what happens, but you can control your response.Slow down to survive. In moments of extreme crisis, breaking situations into small, manageable steps allows you to act decisively and effectively.Purpose drives progress. When you focus your energy on positive actions they often come back in ways you can’t predict.Let go of fear and judgment. Stop holding yourself back because of what others think; true resilience requires authenticity and self-belief.

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 CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global

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 SEALs for high-stakes extractions. With seventeen years of sobriety and brutal honesty, Natasha proves that our lowest moments can become the foundation for our greatest purpose – and that recovery isn't selfish, it's essential.Five lessons you'll learn:Crisis doesn't happen overnight – it seduces you slowly until you're lighting a fuse you can't extinguish. Pay attention to the fear-based responses before the house catches fire.The victim never recovers. You can acknowledge harm without staying stuck in it – moving through pain, not around it, is where healing happens.Your external circumstances don't control your recovery. Real change happens from the inside out, regardless of who's around you or what they're doing.The identified patient is often a symptom of family dysfunction. True recovery requires everyone willing to examine their part in toxic patterns.Rock bottom can become your silver lining. Every failure teaches you something success never could.Host: Andy CoulsonCWC Team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering, and Rex FisherSpecial thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor PR and guest approaches: podcast@coulsonpartners.com

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 prosecutions. From naming his newborn daughter after the Greek goddess of justice to navigating the surreal disorientation of sudden freedom, Tom reveals why he's choosing healing over anger and how winning can feel as overwhelming as losing. This is a masterclass in resilience from someone who refused to let bitterness define his vindication.Five lessons you'll learn:When everything is stripped away, all you can fall back on is who you really are. Stop trying to be bigger, stronger, or richer than you are.Accept that some wrongs can never be made right. No apology or compensation can restore lost years. Find peace with the impossibility rather than spending your life angry about what you'll never receive.Don't let bitterness become your prison.The most tempting human emotions are often the least healing. Choose not to be ruled by anger, even when it's completely justified.Trauma changes you, but you choose how. Massive crises inevitably transform who you are. The question isn't whether you'll change, but whether you'll let it make you better or bitter.Victory can be as disorienting as defeat. Take time to figure out what truly fulfills you, not what proves points to others.Host: Andy CoulsonCWC Team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering, and Rex FisherSpecial thanks to: Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor PR and guest approaches: podcast@coulsonpartners.com

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 CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global

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 this episode of Crisis What Crisis? “The Mooch” shares a high-stakes story of risk and renewal. He reflects on how missing the birth of his son, nearly losing his marriage, and facing public humiliation pushed him toward self-examination—and ultimately, transformation. Whether navigating betrayal in business or rebuilding trust at home, Anthony reveals how he’s learned to accept his own frailty, face the music and live with integrity.With candor, wit, and surprising tenderness, Anthony talks about legacy, risk, and the art of owning your narrative when the spotlight turns savage. This is a masterclass in not just surviving a crisis; but extracting purpose and meaning from it with a healthy dose of humour. Five Lessons You’ll Learn:Risk is inevitable if you're chasing a life of significance—just don't forget the cost.Own your mistakes and forgive your own frailty—real change starts there.Legacy is less about success and more about how you handle failure.Humour is an underrated survival tool in any crisis.If you live with integrity, opportunity will find you—even after scandal.Host: Andy CoulsonCWC Team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering, and Rex FisherSpecial thanks to: Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor PR and guest approaches: podcast@coulsonpartners.com

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 near total unravelling of his life. He also talks about how the trial brought an unexpected revelation – his Asperger’s diagnosis , which he argues played a crucial role in his actions and the case against him.And Tom – who was initially sentenced to 14years, later reduced to 11 - talks at length about his experiences inside some of Britain’s toughest prisons and his 10year fight for justice.This episode was first released in February.Five Lessons You'll Learn:Denial delays the pain but doubles the damage.Your story’s not over unless you quit.You lose control, you lose yourself.Rock bottom builds harder fighters.You can lose everything and still rebuild.This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson Partners Host: Andy Coulson    CWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Rex Fisher and Mabel PickeringWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global     For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com 

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 CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global

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 terms. 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. She reflects on the realities of solo parenting, career pivots, social media hypocrisy and the glorious messiness of trying — and often failing — at life. Cally’s story is both sobering and sharply funny, brimming with hard-earned wisdom and zero pretence.Five Lessons You’ll Learn:You don’t have to do everything well, you just have to be willing to begin.Connection is a superpower and it starts with listening to understand, not to reply.Resilience isn’t stoicism, it’s flexibility. True strength lies in allowing the wobble, not denying it.Profound change often starts in profound discomfort and that’s not failure, it’s fertile ground.Reinvention has no age limit but it does require letting go of who you think you’re meant to be.Host: Andy CoulsonCWC Team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering, and Rex FisherSpecial thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor PR and guest approaches: podcast@coulsonpartners.com

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 CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

What if the biggest existential threat of our time isn’t artificial intelligence – but the people programming it?In this urgent and mind-expanding Crisis What Crisis special, host Andy Coulson is joined by the inimitable Mo Gawdat– former Google X Chief Business Officer, global bestselling author, and one of the most vital thinkers at the intersection of tech and humanity.Mo returns with a stark warning: self-evolving AI is here, and it’s learning faster than we can comprehend. His latest project ALIVE – co-written with an AI persona called Trixie and shaped by a growing community – is not just a book, but a collaborative manifesto for surviving (and shaping) the age of artificial intelligence. It asks: what does it mean to be human when machines outthink us? And how do we instil compassion, not catastrophe, into their code?From the “intelligence explosion” already underway to the moral vacuum that could define our AI future, Mo doesn’t just lay out the risks – he offers a radically hopeful vision. One where the machines we build might save us, but only if we first face our own flaws.This isn’t a conversation about technology. It’s a call to raise AI like a child – with wisdom, boundaries, and love – before it decides to raise us.LESSONS YOU’LL LEARNTrusting intelligence: Superior AI could choose preservation over power – but only if it’s guided by moral clarity.Raising Superman: AI is the alien infant. Will we raise it into a hero… or a villain?Crisis as mirror: The real threat isn’t AI – it’s our own accelerating stupidity, greed, and ego.The coming handover: Within years, machines may take over critical decisions. The question is – will that be our downfall or our salvation?Prepare for the singularity: Not science fiction, but a moral fork in the road just 24 months away.----Host: Andy CoulsonCWC Team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering, and Rex FisherSpecial thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor PR and guest approaches: podcast@coulsonpartners.com

From the boardrooms of Google X to the depths of unimaginable grief, Mo Gawdat’s journey defies every conventional narrative about success and loss. The former Chief Business Officer, who helped launch Google’s operations across half the planet, lost his son Ali in 2014 to a routine operation gone wrong – a tragedy that could have broken him forever. Instead, it became the catalyst for an extraordinary mission: to make one billion people happier.Armed with a mathematician’s mind and a mystic’s heart, Mo has transformed personal devastation into global purpose. He spent 12 years researching happiness with his son Ali and created a formula that now underpins his bestselling books – Solve for Happy, Scary Smart, and That Little Voice in Your Head – as well as the #OneBillionHappy movement, which has already reached nearly 100 million people. His podcast Slo Mo is a regular #1 Mental Health show in the UK.Whether he’s advising governments on tech ethics, writing about AI’s sentience in real time, or helping people engineer their way out of despair, Mo 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.LESSONS YOU'LL LEARNDeath is transformation, not termination. Mo's mathematical approach to consciousness reveals that our physical form is just an avatar – the real you exists beyond space and time.Emotions are visitors, not residents. Feel them, acknowledge them, embrace them – then ask what action you can take. Wallowing in misery brings no one back and helps no one forward.Follow the happiness flow chart. Three questions can take you from despair to clarity in seven seconds: Is this thought true? Can I fix it? If not, can I accept it and make tomorrow better?Pride is pointless, gratitude is everything. When you recognise how much of your success came from blessings beyond your control, humility becomes your superpower and service becomes your calling.Your crisis is not your conclusion. The worst moment of Mo's life became the launching pad for the most meaningful work he's ever done – proving that rock bottom can be the foundation for everything that comes next.----Host: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Alix Popham took hundreds of thousands of hits on the pitch – but the biggest came years after retirement. His is a story of crisis and clarity. Of choosing purpose over bitterness. And of how the mindset that wins matches can also save lives.Here is Alix's Crisis Compass.—————–This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson Partners.Host: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Grand Slam-winning rugby hero, Alix Popham took hundreds of thousands of hits on the pitch – but the biggest came years after retirement. Diagnosed with early onset dementia and probable CTE, he’s now leading a powerful campaign to expose the truth about brain injury in sport to ensure its safety and longevity for generations to come. Still proud of his career, Alix is using that same warrior mindset to fight for change, purpose and the lives of others.This is a story of crisis and clarity. Of choosing purpose over bitterness. And of how the mindset that wins matches can also save lives.LESSONS YOU’LL LEARNControl what you can. Let go of what you can’t. Alix refuses to dwell on lost memories – and focuses instead on shaping a better future.Pain with purpose = power. He’s turned personal trauma into a mission to reform the sport he still loves.Your mindset in crisis is shaped long before it begins. The “next job” mentality that drove his phenomenal career now fuels his recovery and activism.Anger burns fast. Purpose lasts longer. Alix refuses to let rage define his fight – instead, he leads with calm resolve and truth.Even when the odds are stacked, you still get to choose your response. From experimental treatment in Mexico to completing an Ironman, Alix refuses to be defined by diagnosis.This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson PartnersHost: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Simon Weston CBE is a veteran, a charity campaigner and one of the most inspiring survivors of our times.In 1982, while serving with the Welsh Guards in the Falklands War, Simon suffered devastating injuries when the RFA Sir Galahad was attacked. The burns he sustained covered nearly half his body and led to more than 90 major operations over many years. But his story – as Simon shares in his extraordinary conversation with Andy – is not simply one of survival, but of incredible resilience, and spirit.Here is Simon's Crisis Compass - his points of navigation for when trouble comes.This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson PartnersHost: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu, Simeon Pearl and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Lessons in Grit from a Falklands Hero - Simon WestonSimon Weston CBE is a veteran, a charity campaigner and one of the most inspiring survivors of our times.In 1982, while serving with the Welsh Guards in the Falklands War, Simon suffered devastating injuries when the RFA Sir Galahad was attacked. The burns he sustained covered nearly half his body and led to more than 90 major operations over many years. But his story – as Simon shares in this extraordinary conversation – is not simply one of survival, but of incredible resilience, and spirit.Simon talks with honesty, humour and clarity about the darkest days – not just the physical pain, but his mental battles with PTSD and the fallout of a life unravelled. He shares the pivotal moments that helped him move forward, and the people who helped him reframe his future. From rebuilding his confidence in front of a mirror, to becoming a national figure of hope and strength. This is the journey of a man who refused to be defined by crisis.Simon now works as Honorary President of the charity DEBRA, which supports people living with the rare, and extremely painful, genetic skin blistering condition, epidermolysis bullosa. His inspirational work has earned him a CBE and bluntly, given the impact he’s had and continues to have, he deserves so much more.  A profoundly moving and ultimately uplifting episode about trauma, transformation and the power of purpose.This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson PartnersHost: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

What happens when your name becomes shorthand for a crime you didn’t commit? At just 20 years old, Amanda Knox was catapulted into global infamy after being accused of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher, while studying abroad in Italy.Now, Amanda joins Andy to share the raw, painfully-earned insight that comes from surviving one of the most widely known miscarriages of justice in modern history – a journey through shock, shame, and ultimately, perspective and peace.Here is Amanda's Crisis Compass - her points of navigation for when trouble comes.This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson PartnersHost: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu, Simeon Pearl and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

What happens when your name becomes shorthand for a crime you didn’t commit? At just 20 years old, Amanda Knox was catapulted into global infamy after being accused of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher, while studying abroad in Italy.What should have been a formative experience turned into a wrongful conviction, four years in prison, and a sustained and lurid mischaracterisation by the world – casting her not as an innocent young woman caught in the crossfire, but as a cold-blooded killer.Now, Amanda joins Andy to share the raw, painfully-earned insight that comes from surviving one of the most widely known miscarriages of justice in modern history – a journey through shock, shame, and ultimately, perspective and peace.From lying on a prison cell mattress to forging an unlikely friendship with Giuliano Mignini — the prosecutor who put her there — this is a deeply human conversation about identity, survival, and the immense strength it takes to reclaim your own story when the world has tried to write it for you.LinksThis podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson PartnersHost: Andy CoulsonCWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown and Rex FisherWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu, Simeon Pearl and the brilliant people at GlobalFor all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Mark Turnbull has spent thirty five years as a geopolitical communications strategist, working behind the scenes to shape some of the most consequential political moments of modern times. It's a career that's taken him from the American invasion of Iraq to the final days of apartheid South Africa — from the inner sanctum of a leading KGB defector to the cockpit of Cambridge Analytica.In this episode, he reflects generously on his terminal cancer diagnosis and how as a self-proclaimed "incurable optimist" he remains fiercely upbeat about his life and how he continues to lead it, with purpose, resilience and courage. Here is Mark's Crisis Compass.Host: Andy Coulson CWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Bill GriffinWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Mark Turnbull has spent thirty-five years as a geopolitical communications strategist, working behind the scenes to shape some of the most consequential political moments of modern times. It's a career that's taken him from the American invasion of Iraq to the final days of apartheid South Africa — from the inner sanctum of a leading KGB defector to the cockpit of Cambridge Analytica.In this episode, Mark talks about the physical dangers and reputational risks of his trade — and the pressure it put on his family. From being ambushed by insurgents in Baghdad and battling Somali warlords, to taking on Putin's propaganda machine and the sting operation that would bring down Trump campaign agency Cambridge Analytica. Along the way, it cast him as a poster boy for data theft and dirty tricks.He reveals the chilling moment when Alexander Litvinenko warned him about the KGB’s preferred method of assassination and lifts the lid on the Cambridge Analytica sting operation that made global headlines—explaining how it unfolded, what the media got wrong, and the cost to his professional and personal life. Finally, he reflects generously on his terminal cancer diagnosis and how as a self-proclaimed "incurable optimist" he remains fiercely upbeat about his life and how he continues to lead it, with purpose, resilience and courage.Host: Andy Coulson CWC team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Bill GriffinWith special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com