Send us a text The Working Genius Model Episode Overview Ish has just been certified in the Working Genius model and is excited to share this powerful framework for understanding team dynamics, project workflows, and personal energy. In this episode, he unpacks the model live with Sacha, who's just received her results and is wrestling with what it means to not be naturally gifted at something. Spoiler: it's not about skill, it's about what gives you energy and joy. Key Topics Discussed Unde...
Send us a text The Core Question What conversation has been sitting in the back of your mind, taking up mental bandwidth? Why We Avoid Conversations Hoping it will just go awayFear of conflict or discomfortLack of preparationEmotional reactivity The Two Negative Outcomes of Delay Option 1: Extended delay Physical effects: not sleeping, overthinkingBuilds up exhaustionWhen you finally have it, you're depletedOption 2: React without preparation Have it while angry or unpreparedDon't get the o...
Send us a text Is It Good? Is It Bad? It Just Is: Lessons in Resilience Fresh off a 17-hour flight from New York and jetlagged beyond belief, Sacha joins Ish to talk about resilience, mental fortitude, and adapting when things go spectacularly wrong. This episode is raw, real, and packed with stories about handling crisis situations—from emergency room visits in New York to water landings in Fiji—and the lessons we can apply to workplace challenges. Key Topics Discussed Human Adaptation &...
Send us a text MID WEEK MINI: Check the Question Before You Answer Ever start talking and hope your brain catches up with your mouth? Yeah, we've all been there. Join Ish and Sacha as they share the power of the pause and the phrases that help you actually answer the question being asked (not the one you think you heard). Key Phrases to Have Ready: "Before I answer, let me check - are you primarily interested in X or Y?""Can I ask you to clarify?""Help me understand, are we talking about this...
Send us a text MID WEEK MINI Your team is doing amazing work - but does anyone else know about it? Join Ish and Sacha as they explore how to build your team's credibility beyond simply stating "we've been working on this" and actually spotlight the individual contributors doing the heavy lifting. Key Takeaways: Move beyond collective "we" language - call out individuals by nameGive credit even when team members aren't in the room - builds brand equityNot many people resist having others know ...
Send us a text Mid-Week Mini -The Power of Microfeedback Stop saving up feedback for formal reviews and start creating momentum shifts in real-time. Join Ish and Sacha as they break down why waiting six months to give someone feedback is completely unfair and how those little "you've got something in your teeth" moments can transform your team's performance. Key Takeaways: Give feedback immediately after sessions - pick one thing to work on for next timeIt's unfair to dump six months of feedb...
Send us a text Episode 235 Show Notes Ever wondered if you should start a podcast? Spoiler: you probably should. Join Ish and Sacha as they unpack why podcasting isn't just about creating content - it's about developing a critical set of skills, building your personal brand, and creating a living, breathing business card that works while you sleep. From the power of editing to the legacy you'll leave behind, this is your blueprint for launching a podcast that matters. Main Topics Why Podcast...
Send us a text In this episode, Ish and Sacha dive deep into the power of reflection for leadership and career growth. They explore why the skills that got you to where you are today may not be the ones that take you to the next level, and share practical exercises to help you identify and develop your superpowers. Key Topics Why leaders need to maintain a growth mindset regardless of their levelThe danger of believing you're "done" learningUnderstanding what you don't know about what y...
Send us a text Sacha's texting furiously about house purchases while declaring busyness isn't impressive ("it makes you stupid"), while Ish has prepared a leadership trivia quiz based on their own podcast transcripts because he's "a man of action." This leads into a conversation about the gap between good intentions and actual follow-through, featuring uncomfortable singing, breast cancer fundraisers, and why you should push past discomfort when it actually matters. AI is going to have a fiel...
Send us a text Your Roman Empire (And Why Your Brain Won't Shut Up) Sacha's wearing her new Temu t-shirt ("More Spaghetti Less Upsetting") after finally breaking her months-long resistance to fast fashion retail therapy, while Ish has discovered a new level of ChatGPT skills can solve tech support problems in minutes that actual support teams can't solve in days. This spirals into a conversation about mental noise, the Roman Empire TikTok trend, and whether we should all just become pen pals ...
Send us a text Episode 230: Stop Being So Shit (A Leadership Manifesto) Recording at actual breakfast time for once, Sacha's successfully navigating life without peanut slabs through strategic fruit substitution and emergency dried fruit protocols. This leads into a conversation about whether we need more leaders or just more people willing to improve their performance and help each other out. Maybe we don't need more leaders - we need more people operating with a leadership mindset, regardle...
Send us a text Ish has discovered the joy of AI video creation, pumping out caveman presentation ads that make everyone laugh, while Sacha's fresh from speaking to the RV crowd about her bus childhood (finally an audience that gets it). This leads into expanding their coaching toolkit beyond their beloved "Not So Breakfast Show" model with five coaching styles that all conveniently start with E. All good coaching outcomes should result in clear actions and follow-up accountability. If you wal...
Send us a text Laptops, Notebooks, and the Art of Meeting Presence Sacha's fully dressed this week (an achievement after last episode's Jedi robe situation), while Ish has been designing corporate off-sites and pondering the eternal question: what does your choice of meeting tech say about you? From notebooks to laptop barriers, this conversation dives into how showing up intentionally can transform your professional brand. Main Topics The Great Laptop vs. Notebook Debate - Why Sacha ca...
Send us a text Sacha appears in full Jedi regalia (aka her dressing gown) because house staging has banished all her warm clothes to boxes in the attic, while fake dried flowers now populate her formerly book-filled shelves. From this perfectly timed example of "not feeling it" comes a conversation about practical strategies for showing up when motivation has completely abandoned ship. Main Topics The Normalcy of Not Feeling It -- Why successful people aren't perpetually motivated machines, t...
Send us a text Episode 226: The Gap Between Expectation and Rain-Soaked Reality The episode opens with something completely unprecedented: Sacha starting the show with a ChatGPT-generated script about disappointment. Three minutes of AI-crafted banter later, both hosts are thoroughly weirded out and decide to start over properly - leading to a deeper conversation about disappointment, expectations, and why sitting with difficult feelings might actually be helpful. Main Topics The AI Exp...
Send us a text Episode 225: Decision Fatigue Sacha's sparkling from her early morning gym session (not traditionally a morning person but aging into it), while Ish admits to being in bed by 8:30pm because everyone else was out. From this perfectly matched energy mismatch comes a conversation about decision fatigue - plus Sacha drops a challenge that might just produce New Zealand's next Christmas number one. Main Topics Recognition Signs of Decision Fatigue -- Delaying decisions while s...
Send us a text Episode 224: The Hour of Fails and the Power of Reflection Join Ish and Sach for the discovery of the dreaded F8 button, and the ultimate podcast fail -doing an entire show without hitting record. But from this beautiful disaster comes a conversation about reflection, journaling, and learning from our daily experiences (including how to properly operate recording equipment). Main Topics Matthew McConaughey's Journaling Renaissance -- How the "Alright, alright, alright" guy rein...
Send us a text Listen, laugh, and learn as we share our latest thoughts on staying relevant, contemporary leadership, and doing life right. Ish Cheyne is the Head of Fitness in New Zealand for global fitness juggernaut Les Mills. Sacha Coburn is the co-owner and Head of Helping at Coffee Culture, a leading group of boutique coffee shops.
Send us a text Episode 222: Coffee Culture Chronicles - Building Community One Cup at a Time Sacha's broadcasting live from her Antarctic igloo (aka Christchurch in winter), complete with puffer jacket indoors, preparing for this week's Momentum conference, where she's the lone woman among a lineup of "bros and me." This leads into the fascinating origin story of Coffee Culture and what it really takes to build a business that becomes part of people's lives. PS: This episode is brought to you...
Send us a text Not So Breakfast Show - Episode 221: Say What You Mean Without Being Mean Ish and Sacha are live and in-person for only the third time in 222 episodes. Today's topic: how to challenge ideas and give feedback without being mean, plus how to receive that feedback without taking it personally. Also, the irony wasn't lost on anyone that an episode about "saying what you mean without being mean" started with Ish immediately talking shit about Hamilton. Main Topics The Board Ro...