This week, my guest is Monica Aldama, the star of the hit Netflix show “Cheer”. Monica is the multi championship-winning cheerleading coach for Nevara College in Corsicana, Texas. She's now put some of her brilliant leadership mantras from the series into a really wise and interesting leadership book.So in this episode, I talk to Monica about what it's been like to suddenly find herself in the centre of attention. We talk about her book “Full Out” as well as family humility and more. There are loads in this episode that I think will help you instil a winning mentality in whatever it is that you're doing. Enjoy!Special thanks to Little, Brown Book Group.✔ Links:Buy Full Out: Lessons in Life and Leadership from America's Favorite Coach:https://www.amazon.com/Full-Out-Leadership-Americas-Favorite/dp/198216591XWatch Cheer on Netflix:https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81039393?s=a&trkid=13747225&t=cp&vlang=en&clip=81566211Follow Monica on social media:https://www.instagram.com/monicaaldamahttps://twitter.com/monicaaldamaSubscribe to Graham's Newsletter:https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is Dave Linton. Dave is a former youth worker turned entrepreneur who started Madlug in 2015 with less than 500 quid, and the company has won hearts and wallets with its cool backpacks. Each product sold allows the company to donate a similar item to a young person in the foster care system.In this episode, Dave explains why it's so important for kids in care to receive these bags. We talk about kindness, leadership, and meeting Richard Branson.Listen to the full episode to know more!✔ Links:Madlug:https://www.madlug.com/https://www.madlugyourbusiness.com/Dave Linton on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dave-linton/Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter:https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is Sarah Ockwell-Smith, one of the world's leading parenting experts, having written 13 books and sold half a million copies. Her philosophy of gentle parenting is hugely influential in the motherhood WhatsApp groups of Great Britain and her latest book ‘How To Be a Calm Parent’ has as much to tell us about how to look after ourselves, as it does about how to look after our kids. In this episode we talk about how to be calm, self-kindness and why being a busy parent isn't actually something to be proud of. Sarah mentions seven principles of being a calm parent in her book. I asked her about the first one, which is everybody can be a calm parent or a calmer parent:The number of parents I meet who believe that you're calm or you're not, they kind of view calmness as a fixed trait. So they'll look and think, "well, other people are calm". I'm not calm. It's kind of not worth me trying. So they're very much in the fixed mindset that calmness is something you have or you don't have. And if they don't have it, then it's not really worth trying. You know, that's not how they were born.But I really and truly don't believe that's true. I believe that everybody can be calmer. There are obviously things that get in our way. So what's happening in their life at the moment, depending on the sort of certain amounts of privilege you have and whatever, we can't all be like zen-calm gurus, but we can definitely improve on where we are at the moment.✔ Links:Sarah Ockwell-Smith on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/sarahockwellsmith/Sarah Ockwell-Smith on Twitter:https://twitter.com/TheBabyExpertSarah Ockwell-Smith:https://sarahockwell-smith.com/Sarah Ockwell-Smith’s books:https://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Ockwell-Smith/e/B007L3YENI%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_shareSubscribe to Graham's Newsletter:https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/linksEdited by Pavel Novikov:https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavelnovikovf/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is Matt Rudd. Matt is a writer, columnist and deputy editor of The Sunday Times Magazine. He's also the author of several books, his latest being ‘Man Down: Why Men Are Unhappy and What We Can Do About It’.In this episode, we talk about mental health, shared parental leave and taking paternity leave more seriously. We talk about the trap of busyness and why you're better off with a bronze medal than a silver one and much more. Matt's book 'Man Down' is entertaining and thoughtful just as you'll find Matt.Special thanks to Little, Brown Book Group.✔ Links:Matt Rudd at The Sunday Times:https://www.thetimes.co.uk/profile/matt-rudd?page=1Matt Rudd on Twitter:https://twitter.com/MattRuddBuy 'Man Down':https://www.amazon.co.uk/Matt-Rudd/e/B003VN5B20%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_shareSubscribe to Graham's Newsletter:https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is Debbie Millman. Debbie was described by Fast Company as one of the most creative people working in business. She's the founder of the hugely influential podcast Design Matters. From 1995 to 2016, Debbie worked in leadership roles for Sterling Brands, leading influential projects for the likes of Burger King, Star Wars, 7up, and Campbell Soup.Her new book ‘Why Design Matters' taps into the brains of Tim Ferris, Brené Brown, Esther Perel and Malcolm Gladwell amongst many others and explores what it means to be creative and innovative in work and in life. In this episode, we talk about her pioneering work, who owns your logos, how to deal with internet pylons and much more.✔ Links: Debbie Millman:https://www.debbiemillman.com/Debbie Millman on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/debbiemillman/Buy the book "Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People":https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Design-Matters-Conversations-Creative/dp/0062872966Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is Ranjay Gulati. Ranjay is a professor at Harvard Business School and the author of ‘Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies’. In this episode, we talk about how to harness a sense of purpose to create a great team and the power of good storytelling. Ranjay also offers some leadership lessons from the Seattle Seahawks NFL team and Howard Schultz at Starbucks, and stay tuned at the end for a great story about Ranjay's mum as well. We discussed if people want to have a sense of purpose individually and also corporately:I think it's very clear that we're facing a meaning crisis in the world today. I mean you look at the data on great resignations or great reshuffle or whatever you want to call it. You look at mental health demands being placed on the mental health care system which is flooded. You know, I think people are going through a deep period of introspection. There's a lot of, kind of, all of us have been touched by death, illness and a whole range of things. And so I think rightfully people are interrogating themselves about what's my life purpose. And also what is my work purpose? How do I get more purpose out of my work? And when you ask those questions, I think it forces you to think hard about what am I doing and why am I doing it?Listen to the full episode to know more!✔ Links: Ranjay Gulati:https://ranjaygulati.com/Buy Deep Purpose:https://www.amazon.com/dp/0063088916/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_H4JG9PKJ0HBMTYM1JYK3Ranjay Gulati on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ranjay-gulatiSubscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is Sarah Stein Greenberg, the executive director of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University, better known as d.school. Sarah has built her career on helping companies unlock innovation and creativity. She's also the author of a new book ‘Creative Acts For Curious People’.In this episode, we talk about how boredom helps you to be creative, the questions to ask instead of making small talk, how design can help you reframe your problems, ways to develop empathy and much more. It's a book chock-full of takeaways and the conversation is too. In the book, there are a whole set of practices and assignments that we teach all the time. And there's a set of those that are about really cultivating your ability to notice in new ways and to spot opportunities that are kind of hiding in plain sight.One of my favourite ones is called the derive. And the derive is like, if you are stuck on a problem or you just feel like you're lacking curiosity, the derive is just a fantastic approach. It involves taking 30 minutes, maybe an hour and taking a walk in a familiar neighbourhood or part of the place, the city that you live in.And, instead of planning your route in advance, you let your route be dictated by what you notice along the way. So you get a wide range of observations and ahas and just something as simple as a 30 or 60-minute investment in that ability to shift what your brain is taking in and what your brain is filtering out can lead to all kinds of other benefits.✔ Links: Link to image discussed in the episode:https://www.instagram.com/p/CZeIUWcIaBb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkSarah Stein Greenberg on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/steingreenberg/Sarah Stein Greenberg on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahsteingreenberg/ Stanford d.school Books:https://dschool.stanford.edu/books-plpBuy ‘Creative Acts For Curious People’:https://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Stein-Greenberg/e/B09455W266?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_5&sr=8-5Subscribe to Graham's Mailing List: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is James Routledge. James is a mental health advocate and author of the book ‘Mental Health at Work’. After burning out when his first business failed at the age of 24, he founded Sanctus who are on a mission to help companies invest in the mental health of their employees. In this episode, James talks openly about his personal experiences. We also cover some of the myths of mental health: how to manage boundaries, how to question some of the conventional narratives on mental health and more. I asked James what the motivation was to be very open about his own mental health: Well, I didn't for so long. I definitely didn't grow up being open about how I felt or articulating my emotions. I suppose for me now I've experienced the power and the transformational change of taking the time to become aware of how I'm feeling, articulate it and share it with others… …and I've seen the benefit of that. It's changed the course of my life and taken my life in directions that I would never have expected. I would never have expected to have written a book on mental health! That was never on my radar. James explained why some people find it so hard to share their emotions with others:The reason we don't open up is because we don't feel safe or we don't feel comfortable. Often that is through the fear of judgment or fear of dismissal. And when I say dismissal, I don't just mean being dismissed from your job. That's one way. I mean just dismissal. You know, you are saying something that’s really important for you to someone and it just goes completely over their head.I really enjoyed this important conversation about mental health at work and would like to say a special thanks to Penguin Business for connecting me with James.✔ Links: James Routledge:https://jamesroutledge.co/James Routledge on Twitter:https://twitter.com/jd_routledgeMental Health at Work:https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/146158/james-routledge.htmlSubscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/linksEdited by Pavel Novikov:https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavelnovikovf/ See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is General Stanley McChrystal. General McChrystal led a stellar military career culminating in becoming the commander of US and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Since leaving the US military, he's founded the McChrystal group and has also written several books. His latest book is called ‘Risk: A User's Guide’.In this episode, we talk about different ways to think about risk, how he led an information-sharing revolution in the American Secret Service. He also tells us about a recent phone call to patch up his differences with Joe Biden and what it was like to get sacked, but in a kind way, by Barack Obama. I could have listened to Stan talk all day.✔ Links: Stan McChrystal on TED:https://www.ted.com/speakers/stanley_mcchrystalStan McChrystal on Twitter:https://twitter.com/stanmcchrystalMcChrystal Group:https://www.mcchrystalgroup.com/Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

My guest today is Sarah Archer. Sarah is a speaking and marketing coach, as well as a playwright and comedy performer. Her podcast ‘The Speaking Club’ helps people to increase their confidence around public speaking and she has written a couple of books on the subject too! In this episode, we talk about authenticity, overcoming fear, how to measure your success and much more.Sarah spoke about how she learnt to deal with putting yourself out there:Detachment is something that I'm still learning about. I think the issue is around expectations. If you've got to manage your expectations and do it for the love of it, which is what I, you know, truly do it for the love of it. But you know, there's these sort of rags to riches stories about Edinburgh and it’s trying so hard not to take it personally when someone says something about your work, it's what we always do as human beings. We ignore all the positives and we just focus on those negatives. We need to sort of balance that out or just detach from it and it's not making it mean anything about us. It's still hard to detach you from the work you do and that's why people, certainly I've seen in the corporate world before, getting your identity mixed up with what you do. It is dangerous because we need to keep those two things separate as much as possible.✔ Links: Sarah Archer:https://www.sarah-archer.co.uk/home28404204Sarah Archer on Twitter:https://twitter.com/SarahArcher15Sarah Archer on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/SarahArcherSpeak/The Speaking Club Podcast:https://thespeakingclub.com/Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-upOur Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.