What if calm doesn’t live on the far side of your to-do list? I share hard-won lessons from coaching two high performers on the edge of overwhelm and a deceptively simple practice that helped me respond instead of react at the dinner table. From there, we take a seat at the theatre—steep rows, exposed sightlines, and a powerful performance from a friend who becomes his character night after night. That backstage glimpse opens a wider question: what’s the real cost of the roles we play ...
Phil Richards MBE spent 32 years at Tesco before life changed in 2017 with stage-four cancer. In this conversation we unpack how he reframed fear into action: the bathroom-mirror moment (“I’m not going to die today”), his three grounding questions (best, worst, reality), and his simple PROOF framework—Purpose, Resilience, Optimistic Reality, Objectives, Focus. We get practical: breaking the impossible into the “next rock,” living in the moment with family, training at 6 a.m. when motivation i...
What if the strongest thing you can bring to the room isn’t control, but connection? We sit down with leadership mentor and former elite high-performance coach Craig White to chart the shift from head to heart, and from managing outcomes to mastering attention. Craig takes us behind the scenes of life at the top of rugby and into the inner practices that changed everything: breathwork as the master regulator, nature as a nervous-system reset, and relational presence as the true measure of lea...
Season 3 opens with Air Commodore Rob Caine, Head of UK Military Flying Training. We get straight into resilience, how stoicism and The Obstacle Is the Way shape his mindset, then into decision-making under pressure via the OODA loop. Rob breaks down “Combat Edge,” a holistic upgrade to UK aircrew training that blends coaching, psychological skills, and cutting-edge synthetic/AR environments so more people reach the front line ready to fly, fight, and win. We talk psychological sa...
Wrapping up Season Two of Forging Resilience with reflections on the journey so far and exciting changes ahead for Season Three. Sharing five key insights gained from creating 76 episodes exploring different perspectives on strength and leadership. • Immense gratitude for guests who have offered their time to discuss important topics and build meaningful relationships • Even after 76 episodes, the nervous excitement before recording remains, making the experience feel alive and energizing • ...
What does a former commando know about financial freedom? As it turns out, quite a lot. In this illuminating conversation with Kev Halborg, chartered financial advisor and military veteran, we explore how true financial resilience creates the foundation for everything else in your life. Kev shares his remarkable journey from council estate to financial advisor, revealing how early exposure to entrepreneurial thinking shaped his understanding of money. With refreshing clarity, he breaks down ...
James Porter's story is a testament to resilience and transformation. After his teenage dream of becoming an RAF fighter pilot was medically disqualified, James found himself on a wildly different path—one that would take him from teaching drums in a garage to traveling the world with rock stars as Zildjian's International Artist Relations Manager. The conversation traces his extraordinary journey through the music industry, including the surreal experience of singing onstage with Queen in f...
What does it really take to raise emotionally resilient boys in today's digital world? This question sits at the heart of my conversation with Nicky, life coach and mother of two teenage sons navigating the complex landscape of modern masculinity. The conversation delves deep into how boys learn respect for women directly through their relationships with their mothers. Through a powerful story about enforcing PlayStation boundaries, Nicky illustrates how maintaining calm, loving firmness rat...
What does it take to guide a boy into healthy manhood? In this profound conversation, Adam Gornow returns to explore the challenges facing teenage boys and the crucial role fathers play in their development. Adam begins by highlighting perhaps the most overlooked yet powerful tool in parenting: genuine attention. "One of the best things we can do for our sons is just pay attention," he explains, describing how truly listening creates space for authentic connection in a world demanding consta...
What happens when elite sport collides with military service? Jordan Dawes knows this terrain intimately. As both a professional basketball player and Royal Marine, he navigates two demanding worlds that surprisingly share deep commonalities—challenging our assumptions about performance, identity, and resilience. Jordan's basketball journey began quite literally from birth, with family photos showing him being breastfed courtside during his mother's games. His father, a coach who met h...
What happens when a leader steps away from strategy and embraces their heart? Twenty years ago, Jeanette Meier made a radical decision – to stop living for others, start loving herself, and rebuild her life on a foundation of emotional truth. This choice transformed not just her personal relationships, but revolutionized her approach to professional leadership. "I was 100% giver," Jeanette reflects, describing how she once lived entirely for others to the point where "I didn't even know what...
Greg Barden's journey defies conventional career paths in ways that might make most of us rethink our own trajectories. From his early days in the UK Special Forces to an unexpected pivot into professional rugby with Bristol Bears and ultimately captaining England's Rugby Sevens team, Greg's life has been defined by adaptation and purpose. What truly sets his story apart is how these seemingly disparate experiences converged into a powerful mission. During military deployments in Afghanistan...
Fear has a unique way of announcing its presence in our bodies. For me, it's the cold sweat under my arms that appears despite the warm spring air of Barcelona. As I made my way to a radio station where I'd been invited to speak in Catalan—my third language—about my personal journey and professional work, that familiar cold sweat reminded me I was stepping far beyond my comfort zone. What makes this experience worth sharing isn't the interview itself, but the practices that helped me move th...
What happens when everything you’ve worked for is ripped away in an instant? Just weeks before beginning his military career, Matt Addison-Black was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. It had already spread to his stomach, lungs, and bowels. He was 22. This conversation goes way beyond survival. Matt takes us inside the mental, emotional, and spiritual trenches of facing cancer at an age where most people are just getting started. We talk about identity loss, the quiet pain of watching f...
Have you ever felt completely stuck on a project despite your expertise? In this episode, I explore a powerful mental framework that emerged from my conversation with an accomplished writer struggling with a new project. Despite his impressive track record in one area, venturing into unfamiliar creative territory triggered intense self-doubt and unconscious self-sabotage. This writer's experience reveals a common human struggle: our brains can resist accepting our competence in unfamil...
Dr Sharon Pickering shares her perspective on personal and professional alignment, challenging us to explore what alignment means to us as individuals and how it impacts our ability to perform at our best. We discuss how to navigate the complex relationship between our internal values and the external demands that compete for our attention in modern life. • Understanding alignment means recognising there's no right or wrong way to align yourself with your values • Finding alignment requires ...
Ever caught yourself saying "I should" before tackling a task, only to feel immediate resistance? That simple word reveals volumes about our emotional landscape and often keeps us trapped in patterns of guilt and judgment. Our language gives profound clues about what's happening beneath the surface, with "should" being one of the clearest signals that we're operating from obligation rather than choice. These patterns typically originate in childhood when our lives were structured by externa...
What drives us to persevere through challenges? How can we find meaning in the struggle? And why do some high achievers reach their goals only to feel empty? My friend Dr. Nick Wadsworth returns to dive deep into the intricate relationship between meaning, authenticity, and purpose. As a chartered sports psychologist working with elite athletes and a co-founder of MAP Performance, Nick brings profound insights into how we can unlock our potential while honoring our true selves. ...
Ever found yourself waiting to feel confident before taking that important step? You're not alone. The myth of confidence keeps countless people stuck in perpetual preparation mode, forever postponing meaningful conversations, career moves, and personal growth. What I've discovered—both personally and through coaching clients like "Dave"—is that we've been thinking about confidence all wrong. Confidence isn't something we need before taking action; it's what naturally develops after we've sh...
Have you ever noticed how resistance to uncomfortable feelings can keep you stuck in patterns that no longer serve you? Prompted by feedback from mentors and colleagues, I explore the transformative power of acceptance - not as passive resignation, but as an active choice to create space for honest self-awareness. Through the lens of my own public speaking journey, which started with a splash when in childhood I experienced wetting myself on stage at nine years old, I reveal how ...