Crisis What Crisis with Andy Coulson

By Andy Coulson

Hard-earned lessons from people who've faced the worst and come back stronger.

Hosted by Andy Coulson. Follow for weekly insights into the art of the rebuild.

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The podcast currently has 225 episodes available.

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Number 1: ERIN BAKER: “I'm sick and tired of being resilient”
This is a very unusual episode. It is rare that we would choose to have someone join us on the podcast so close to their crisis – usually our guests come to these conversations with the clarity that a few years' distance can bring. Erin Baker is just weeks on from the death of her partner, James, and still very much living in it. What she offers instead of distance is something rarer: the raw, unfiltered honesty of someone grieving out loud, in real time. A warning – this conversation is powerful and at times very difficult, and some of the themes may be upsetting. Erin Baker is one of the most respected motoring journalists in the country – the youngest and only female motoring editor on Fleet Street in her day. But in the autumn of last year, her life came apart. Her partner of thirteen years, James, was diagnosed with an aggressive, terminal brain tumour, and the blows kept coming: her father died, one of her sons was rushed to hospital, the family dog was put down, and a car was written off in a collision with a deer. Wave after wave, all at once. Then, this year, James died. He was 53. Rather than retreat, Erin made the conscious decision to grieve in public, writing for The Times and keeping a diary on Substack called Postcards from Grief, documenting James's dying, the days since, and the unexpected things his death has taught her. She joins Andy for a conversation about resilience and its limits, about loss and control, about black humour and love, and about what actually carries us through the very worst of it. She is, without a shadow of a doubt, someone we can all learn from. POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details. FOUR LESSONS FROM ERINBeing "strong" can be a trap. If people decide you're resilient, they assume you're coping – and leave you to it. Sometimes the bravest thing is to admit you're not fine, and to ask for the help you need.Honesty is what makes people feel less alone. It's not the tidy, theory-shaped version of grief that helps others but the messy, unguarded truth. Say the thing that feels too close to the bone; it's often the thing someone else desperately needs to hear.You can't control the future, because it doesn't exist yet. Make your plans, but hold them loosely, they're only ideas of what you'd like to happen. Learning to live a day at a time is the only way through.Find your release. For Erin it was writing, walking in nature, even paint-by-numbers – something meditative to pour the fear and grief into. When you can't carry it all in your head, give it somewhere to go. CHAPTERS 03:37 – “I'm sick and tired of being resilient”: the exhaustion of always being the strong 07:52 – Grieving out loud: the decision to write through it 11:55 – The formidable mother, and a childhood that built the muscle 13:55 – Keep buggering on 15:20 – Fighting her way to Cambridge, and up a male-dominated newsroom 20:23 – Meeting James 23:05 – The life that looked perfect from the outside – and wasn't 25:08 – The Amazon night shift: the proudest she ever was of him 30:30 – The diagnosis 39:49 – When the blows kept coming 47:02 – Her son's seizure: the worst thing she's ever seen 51:02 – Learning to hold your plans loosely 53:22 – The last night, and a hug she'll never forget 57:04 – The chaos of loss 1:06:05 – The stranger by the roadside who knew exactly what to say FOLLOW ERIN'S WRITING Postcards from Grief – https://erinbaker1001.substack.com/ FOLLOW ERIN BAKER Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/erinbakerauto/?hl=en LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-baker-58901a48/ FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS? Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)
August 18, 20261h 11min
Number 2: FRANK GARDNER: The day I should have died
On June 6th 2004, Frank Gardner was in Riyadh filming what was meant to be a routine piece of background footage when an Al-Qaeda cell opened fire. His cameraman, Simon Cumbers, was killed. Frank was shot six times and left for dead. One surgeon later told him he'd arrived at hospital the colour of a lab coat, bleeding from every wound faster than they could pour the plasma in. It was, in the truest sense, the day Frank should have died. That day split his life in two. Before it, he was a restless Arabist who'd hitchhiked across the Middle East with nothing in his pocket, spent a decade in banking, turned down MI6, and talked his way into the BBC in his mid-30s to become its first ever security correspondent. After it, he was partially paralysed and in daily pain – yet back at work within ten months, and has spent the twenty years since reporting from the very places that nearly killed him. He describes crossing an invisible bridge to a new version of himself, this conversation is about what that crossing actually cost. POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing a crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details. FOUR LESSONS FROM FRANKDon't waste your energy mourning what you can no longer change. Pour it into what you still can. When crisis hits, there's a fork in the road. One path is self-pity – and it's entirely justifiable. The other is deciding to make the most of what you've got left. Choosing the second is a daily struggle.Look outwards, not inwards. Fill your life with the things that make you feel useful and alive. Fixating on your own troubles is a trap – curiosity about the world around you is the way out.Volunteer for the work no one else wants – the weekends, the bank holidays, the night shifts. It's how you make yourself indispensable, and how you get your shot when it finally comes. CHAPTERS 05:18 – The daily indignities most people never see 08:57 – Why he refuses to let it define him 11:33 – Where his grit really came from: two extraordinary parents 14:19 – The bold early decisions that shaped a life 20:38 – Turning down MI6 – and the self-awareness to know why 27:45 – How to break into a career when there's no job at the end of it 30:27 – The attack: what actually happened that day 31:02 – Seven months in hospital, and living with the what-ifs 39:45 – The one thing he's still bitter about 42:15 – Losing Simon, and finding a way through the grief 44:37 – "You'll never walk again" – the second hammer blow 48:05 – The letter from the BBC that gave him something to aim for 50:42 – Going back to Saudi Arabia to face it down 53:52 – Why he doesn't spend his life grieving BUY FRANK'S BOOK Ballistic – https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/178763549X?tag=prhmarketing2552-21 FOLLOW FRANK GARDNER Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/frank.gardner/?hl=en X – https://x.com/FrankRGardner FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS? Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)
July 21, 20261h 3min
Number 3: UNDERSTANDING ANXIETY: Why It Isn't the Enemy
In this country, one in six of us will experience significant anxiety at some point in our lives. It's an epidemic that doesn't care about class, wealth, gender, age or race – and yet, as this episode argues, anxiety isn't the enemy. It's information. A signal to be read, not a fault to be removed. In this special compilation episode, Andy Coulson draws on his own experience of anxiety attacks and revisits six past guests – a broadcaster, a journalist, a content creator, an adventurer, a designer and a cellist – who each faced anxiety in a very different form and found their own way to live alongside it. POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details. FULL EPISODES: Steve Peters: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000547878428 Christian O'Connell: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000659675816 Bryony Gordon: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000650752366 Alex Goldie: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000729186695 Mark Beaumont: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000618838895 Anya Hindmarch: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000768689727 Julian Lloyd Webber: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000779874143 FOLLOW THE GUESTS: Christian O'Connell: https://www.instagram.com/mrchristianoconnell/?hl=en Bryony Gordon: https://www.instagram.com/bryonygordon/?hl=en Alex Goldie: https://www.instagram.com/goldiealexx/?hl=en Mark Beaumont: https://www.instagram.com/mrmarkbeaumont/?hl=en Anya Hindmarch: https://www.instagram.com/anyahindmarch/?hl=en Julian Lloyd Webber: https://www.instagram.com/julian.lloydwebber/?hl=en FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS? Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Johnny Seifert (audio)
September 01, 202644min
Number 4: MIKE SOUTAR: The Apprentice star on the real ingredients for success
Millions know Mike Soutar as the forensic interviewer on The Apprentice, the Scottish voice across the boardroom table for the last 15 years. But long before the television, he built one of the most remarkable careers in British media – on a deceptively simple formula of hard work, optimism and self-belief. In this business episode, we go back to the beginning. Mike started out at 17 writing horoscopes and romantic fiction at DC Thomson in Dundee, working on hot metal presses with a pencil he wasn't allowed to replace until it was a stub. By his early 20s he was editing Smash Hits. He went on to turn FHM into the biggest-selling monthly magazine in Britain, launched some of the country's best-known titles, and sat on the board of IPC when it was sold to Time Warner for more than £1 billion. But the biggest turning point of his career came not in a boardroom, but in a hospital bed. In 2006, at the height of his corporate success, a chicken Caesar wrap left him seriously ill, his organs beginning to fail, unsure whether he'd survive. Lying there, he asked himself whether he had ever really tested himself — and the honest answer was no. So he walked away from the security of corporate life, raised £4 million in five weeks, remortgaged his home and launched ShortList. His new book, Next Gen CEO, is about how the next generation of leaders can navigate an age of AI and uncertainty by becoming, of all things, more human. POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details. FOUR LESSONS FROM MIKEOptimism without a plan is just naivety. When ShortList failed on day one, hope didn't save it, a plan did.Investors back people first, ideas second. Ideas change the moment they meet the real world. What backers are really buying is you.When you're fighting a difficult boss, keep it principled, not personal. Argue for the customer, not for yourself, and keep bringing the data. It's very hard for anyone to argue against a case built on what's genuinely right for the people you serve.Chasing purpose. Mike had sold his company, had the money and the status, and still felt hollow. He thought what was missing was a job, instead it was a purpose.. CHAPTERS 06:38 – Why AI makes human leadership more valuable, not less 10:13 – Whether a self-made career is still possible in a flat economy 14:59 – How instability early on can forge the drive to control your own destiny 21:42 – Fake it till you make it: backing yourself into a job you're not ready for 24:27 – The FHM playbook: build in service of your customer, not your advertiser 28:43 – Why he left a hit at its peak – and what fear of failure does to founders 32:12 – How to stand your ground with a boss who holds all the cards 39:41 – The near-death moment that asked him: have you ever really tested yourself? 44:23 – Losing control, and what to do when you're forced out 46:27 – How he raised £4 million in five weeks – and why investors really said yes 50:16 – The launch-day disaster, and the case for protecting your team from the panic 53:22 – The £1 million opportunity he turned down – and the lesson in why 55:03 – Why success and status left him feeling hollow – and what actually fixed it 59:15 – Knowing when a job isn't worth your reputation, and walking away 01:03:27 – What 15 years on The Apprentice taught him about how to treat people BUY MIKE'S BOOK Next Gen CEO: Leadership Lessons for an Uncertain World – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Next-Gen-CEO-Lessons-Uncertain/dp/1035095726 FOLLOW MIKE SOUTAR Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mike_soutar/?hl=en LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-soutar/ FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS? Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)
September 15, 20261h 11min
Number 5: UNDERSTANDING SHOCK: The body's crisis handbreak
Shock is a fundamental part of almost any crisis. It's a state of complete operating system override which, when left unacknowledged, can turn into something far more damaging. In this special compilation episode, Andy Coulson revisits five past guests who each experienced shock in very different ways, and found very different routes through it. POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details. FULL EPISODES: Johnny Mercer: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000482235919 Rupert Soames: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000700198554 Dr Richard Shepherd: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000533310865 Jill Halfpenny: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000661591052 Kate Bowler: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000762523544 FOLLOW THE GUESTS: Johnny Mercer: https://www.instagram.com/johnnymercermp/?hl=en Dr Richard Shepherd: https://www.instagram.com/drrichardshepherd/?hl=en Jill Halfpenny: https://www.instagram.com/jillhalfpenny/?hl=en Kate Bowler: https://www.instagram.com/katecbowler/?hl=en
July 14, 202625min