Having arrived in Britain as a five-year-old refugee fleeing the Nazis on the Kindertransport, Dame Stephanie Shirley went on to build one of Britain's most successful software companies. She built a business valued at $3 billion and has dedicated the last three decades of her life to philanthropy, giving away most of her personal wealth. Here are Dame Stephanie’s three crisis comforts.

Full episode 

https://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/dame-stephanie-shirley-on-91-years-of-resilience-and-brilliance/

Links 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/damestephanie_/?hl=en

Website: https://www.steveshirley.com/

Book

Let It Go (2019): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Let-Go-Extraordinary-Entrepreneur-Philanthropist/dp/0241395496

Charities 

Autistica: https://www.autistica.org.uk/

Autism at Kingwood: https://www.kingwood.org.uk/

Prior’s Court: https://www.priorscourt.org.uk/

The Oxford Internet Institute: https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/

The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists: https://wcit.org.uk/ 

Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm

Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk

Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682

This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson Partners

Host – Andy Coulson   

CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering

With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

Having arrived in Britain as a five-year-old refugee fleeing the Nazis on the Kindertransport, Dame Stephanie Shirley went on to build one of Britain's most successful software companies. Using the pen name ‘Steve’ to be taken more seriously by clients, she built a business valued at $3 billion, turning 70 staff members into millionaires along the way. But her impact goes far beyond the business world. Dame Stephanie has dedicated the last three decades of her life to philanthropy, giving away most of her personal wealth. Once the 11th richest woman in the UK, she’s the only person to drop off the Sunday Times Rich List due to generosity. 

Inspired by her late son, Giles, who was profoundly autistic, Dame Stephanie has helped transform care for those with autism along with supporting a range of other causes. In this episode she shares stories from her childhood, her career and her personal life – all of them packed with invaluable lessons. A former podcast guest of ours, Baroness Martha Lane Fox, wrote the foreword to Dame Stephanie’s brilliant memoir, Let it Go; and described her as “ ... a role model for how to build your life, not just your company.” She wasn’t wrong.    

Links 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/damestephanie_/?hl=en

Website: https://www.steveshirley.com/

Book 

Let It Go (2019): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Let-Go-Extraordinary-Entrepreneur-Philanthropist/dp/0241395496

Charities

Autistica: https://www.autistica.org.uk/

Autism at Kingwood: https://www.kingwood.org.uk/

Prior’s Court: https://www.priorscourt.org.uk/

The Oxford Internet Institute: https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/

The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists: https://wcit.org.uk/ 

Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm

Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk

Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682

This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson Partners

Host – Andy Coulson   

CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering, Linus Fielder, Linus Difford

With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

Katie Melua has sold more than 11 million albums and picked up 56 platinum awards along the way. She had her first hit aged just 19 and was thrown immediately onto the treadmill of writing, recording, tours, promotion. More hits followed, but not without a very heavy price - her sudden fame contributed to an acute psychotic breakdown in 2010. Here are Katie’s three crisis comforts.  

Full episode 

https://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/100th-guest-special-singer-katie-melua-on-teenage-fame-a-psychotic-breakdown-and-how-she-found-her-way-back/

Links 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiemeluaofficial/

Website: https://katiemelua.com/ 

Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm

Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk

Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682

This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson Partners

Host – Andy Coulson   

CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering, Linus Fielder

With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

In our first live podcast recording at the 2024 CBI Annual Conference, Andy speaks to Dawn Airey CBE, one of the most remarkable figures in British media. In front of an audience of business leaders and policy makers, they discussed resilience and reputation along with the crises and triumphs that have defined her career.  

Dawn has spent her career thriving on challenge, and along the way earned a reputation as a bold and unapologetic trailblazer. For some who couldn’t keep pace she became Scary Airey or Zulu Dawn.                                           

From her early days at ITV navigating a world she has described as rampantly sexist, to launching Channel 5 where her passionate leadership and sharp vision put the channel on the map, Dawn’s career has been nothing short of a masterclass in resilience.                                            

But it has also included some significant setbacks, including when she left Sky TV to join what she thought would be a global media business, but which turned out to be something, just eight days later, to something very, very different.                                           

Today, as Chair of the Women’s Super League, Dawn is shaping the future of women’s football.  

In this short episode she provides some brilliant lessons for anyone looking to be a stronger leader.   

Links 

CBI: https://www.cbi.org.uk/articles/2024-annual-conference-highlights/

Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm

Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk

Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682

This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson Partners

Host – Andy Coulson   

CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering, Linus Fielder, Linus Difford

With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

Selling 11 million albums, more than a million concert tickets and picking up 56 platinum awards along the way, Katie Melua is one of Britain’s most successful singer songwriters.  

In this episode, she takes us on a very candid and emotional journey - from Georgia to Belfast to London and to fame at just 19 years old where she was thrown immediately onto the treadmill of recording, tours and promotion.  But the impact of her sudden stardom took a heavy toll on Katie’s mental health.  

In 2010 she suffered an acute psychotic breakdown. In frankly frightening detail, Katie tells us what happened but also shares the actionable, practical tools and insights that helped her find a way back to herself.  

Katie’s is a story of epic success but also of trauma and of recovery … all of it in the public gaze. An amazing conversation with our 100th guest.  

Links 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiemeluaofficial/

Website: https://katiemelua.com/ 

Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm

Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk

Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682

This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson Partners 

Host – Andy Coulson   

CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering, Linus Difford

With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

On January 28th, 2009, a rehearsed stunt on set of Harry Potter went horrifically wrong. David, who had been the lead stunt double for his friend Daniel Radcliffe for a decade, was left paralysed from the chest down. His is a story of acceptance, of finding positives in the darkest of places and of the power of human spirit. Here are his three crisis comforts which helped and continue to help him reject bitterness about his old life and instead pursue a different life … one full of meaning and purpose.   

Full episode 

https://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/harry-potter-stuntman-david-holmes-on-finding-purpose-and-positivity-beyond-paralysis/

Links 

David’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidholmes83/?hl=en

Book 

The Boy Who Lived: https://amzn.eu/d/auagBtq

Documentary

David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B0CN4X1Q8B/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r 

Charities: 

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital: https://www.rnohcharity.org/

Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm

Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk

Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682

This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson Partners

Host – Andy Coulson   

CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering, Linus Difford

With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

On January 28th, 2009, a rehearsed stunt on set of Harry Potter went horrifically wrong. David, who for a decade was the lead stunt double for his friend Daniel Radcliffe, was left paralysed from the chest down.

A number of long and dangerous operations followed, many of them lifesaving. David survived but his condition is degenerative - each year bringing yet more challenge for him.

From being an elite gymnast and professional stunt double for the most famous boy in the world at the time… as someone who was defined by their physicality … David’s accident stripped of his identity.

His story – told brilliantly in the moving documentary David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived and now in his autobiography - is more than one of survival. It is the story of someone who decided to reject bitterness about his old life to pursue a new one full of meaning and purpose. 

As David puts it: “I’m having a unique journey on this planet, and I am going to own it.”

David is now a podcaster, producer, author … and an inspiration to all that meet him. He is speaking at Creative Folkestone Festival on 21st November. Secure your tickets now: https://www.creativefolkestone.org.uk/whats-on/david-holmes-harry-potterandrsquos-double/?book=566337

Thank you David for sharing your remarkable perspective, positivity and wisdom.

Links 

David’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidholmes83/?hl=en

Book 

The Boy Who Lived: https://amzn.eu/d/auagBtq

DocumentaryDavid Holmes: The Boy Who Lived:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B0CN4X1Q8B/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r 

Charities 

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital: https://www.rnohcharity.org/

Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm

Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk

Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682

This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson Partners

Host – Andy Coulson   

CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering, Linus Difford

With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – [email protected]

On the face of it, magazine guru Lindsay Nicholson has had a brilliant, glamorous and high-powered career. Yet she achieved all this whilst her own life has been marked with crisis, with drama and the most unimaginable grief.  

Here are her three crisis comforts which helped and continue to help her survive and thrive through the most extreme and painful experiences.  

Full episode 

https://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/series/series-7/ 

Links 

Lindsay’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsayannenicholson/

Lindsay’s X: https://x.com/linsnicholson

Book

Perfect Bound: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Bound-memoir-trauma-heartbreak/dp/0008685274 

Charities: 

Riding for the Disabled: https://rda.org.uk/

Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm

Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk

Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682

This podcast is brought to you by Crisis What Crisis? Productions and Coulson Partners

Host – Andy Coulson   

CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering, Linus Difford

With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global