Bristol2Beijing

"You were asking how the 23 year old Luke thought. He thought in terms of three years...of course I’m going to have that time. I don’t think like that now"

The tables are turned in this episode as Luke speaks candidly to family friend Jane Philips of his journey over the past two years, encompassing his own diagnosis with cancer, the loss of his brother John shortly afterwards, and his altered perspective on life.

"If you don't have much time to live then surely you want to do as much as possible with that time - because it becomes immensely precious."

In this second part, Graham and I discuss how he dealt with challenges in a robust Naval environment, what makes good leadership and why he thinks 'Generation Snowflake' have it harder than he did. 

"I did feel a duty to look after my mother"

In this episode I chat with my grandfather, Graham, about some of his experiences from the earlier part of his life, including his early bomb disposal work during as a child in the second world war, and how he came to join the Navy as a ship's boy and work his way up from the bottom.

In this first part we also discuss our respective childhoods and how they shaped who we are today.

Continued in part 2.

In this episode, Philip and I continue our discussion. Philip explains to me he does so much more than drive an ambulance, the importance of teamwork and family and his perspective from being on the front line of the COVID-19 response.

For different outro music, Philip recommends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY4l2Xx3crs

And Philip also found these two books highly impactful, check them out if interested!

Leadership and Self Deception: Getting out of the Box by The Arbinger Institute

Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway by Susan Jeffers

This episode I talk with Philip Taylor, who "had it all" as a senior executive at IBM. However, despite the salary and company car, this didn't make Philip satisfied with his work or his life at IBM. We discuss the challenges he faced changing his career from the corporate world to a totally new sphere - the ambulance service.

Along the way, we also discuss fear, materialism and the right way to buy.

This is the first half of our discussion - it will be continued in part 2.

This week, Facing Up takes a different tack and I discuss with Kate, Kirsty and Miranda what it is to live with a cancer diagnosis.

We discuss the similarities and differences in the experiences each of us had, from coping with different treatments, handling uncertainty and how we have decided to continue our lives.

We also discuss how having a cancer diagnosis has changed us as people, and to what extent it forms part of our identity.

In this episode, Samuel Asare Twumasi Ampofo tells me about his childhood, describing the challenges he faced growing up in rural Ghana - with career prospects starting and ending at cocoa farmer - and how he defied every difficulty and expectation to study and develop himself.

His journey so far has brought him to the University of Oxford, from which he graduated in 2019.

We also hear Samuel's thoughts on racism, diversity and why his favourite place in the world is at once one and many.