Dot to Dot

Giles is an award-winning author, podcaster and screenwriter. Giles' first novel for adults One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days come out in March 2020. Author of several books for children and two adult novels, with a third on the way. His book One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days has been adapted by Giles and Elizabeth Morris for Arclight Films and Future Artists Entertainment. Giles is the writer of six short films for Little Angel Theatre. Giles’ children’s books include The Fearsome Beastie, winner of The People's Book Prize 2012, Heart of Hawick Children's Book Award 2013, Bizziebaby Gold Award, The US Forward National Literary Award and Shortlisted for The Rotherham Children's Book Award 2012. Tamara Small and the Monsters' Ball is shortlisted for The People's Book Prize 2013. He has written several picture books, including Things You Never Knew About Dinosaurs, Princess Stay Awake and a collection of nonsense poetry. 

Giles' is co-host and producer of the award-nominated Blank Podcast and regularly writes for Aquila Magazine. He’s also co-host of the ‘A Little Bit of Positive’ podcast with Julia Bradbury and co-host of ‘Things I forgot were good for me’ with Dr Radha Modgil.

Giles lives with his wife and two sons in East Sussex

To pledge for Gile’s next book go to: 

https://unbound.com/books/gigantium/

To connect with Giles on Twitter go to:

@eliistender10

For more from Fiona go to:

https://fionamurden.com

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

So while Sophie’s subjects are animals, her ability to watch people and question why people are doing what they're doing, whether they're doing what they should be doing, or think they should be doing, or whether they're actually being kind of authentic to themselves must have influenced her ability to so accurately reflect not just the image of the animals but the emotion that comes with that. As she says herself:

“It is impossible to admire the beauty of the natural world without also reflecting on its vulnerability.” 

Sophie has dedicated her time and artistic work to raising awareness for issues surrounding animal welfare and the environment. Her art is magical, emotive and so realistic that it’s hard to believe it’s not a photograph stepping out of the canvas toward you. Sophie says:

Throughout her career as a fine artist and since founding the online gallery and art store, Art Basket, Sophie has donated 10% of her profits to wildlife & conservation charities and has worked closely with foundations such as IFAW, The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and Explorers Against Extinction to help to make a difference.

In 2021, Sophie was awarded the ‘medal of excellence’ by the Artists for Conservation foundation for her outstanding work in the wildlife & conservation sphere. Sophie was also the winner of the Leisure Painter People's Choice Award 2020 and 2021, runner-up in the BBC Wildlife Magazine People’s Choice and was deemed ‘highly commended’ in prizes such as the Wildlife Artist of the Year competition, the Sketch for Survival Award and the Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize. In 2021, Sophie was selected to be one of 20 Artists to exhibit at COP26 in the Blue zone.

To see some of Sophie’s brilliant work go to:

https://www.sophiegreenfineart.com/

For more from me go to

https://fionamurden.com

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

Fiona explores how gambling became a drug for Patrick. How the biggest thing for him was learning how to show his emotion, the importance of self-awareness. Patrick now works for Epic Risk Management which was formed in 2014, when the CEO of the company had ended up in prison, having attempted suicide, and stolen £434,000 from his employers, which was one of the world's biggest banks to fund his gambling addiction. Whilst he was in prison, he recognised that actually, he wasn't the only person who had suffered from an addiction of this kind who must have done things like he had done and ended up in the situation that he was. Patrick says that he realised that there were a lot of organisations that dealt with people once they'd kind of fallen off the cliff but that there weren't enough trying to prevent it in the first place. Patrick explains how gambling carries such stigma that what they try at his company is to try and break down those barriers and ultimately allow people to make more informed decisions, to understand how to spot signs in themselves and probably most importantly what to do if they do need help.

Patrick’s book is called - Might Bite: The Secret Life of a Gambling Addict

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

We explore psychological profiling and how important it is to fit the right personality to the right operations and delve into the use of MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) as a tool used to help every officer in the CIA understand themselves. Andrew explains his view of the world as a former spy, that ‘every human being you meet is either a source or some kind of support asset or some kind of network capability.’ And we touch on various other topics such as the elite leader, elite surgeon, elite athlete or elite in any field who is perhaps less used to failure than the average joe, or more able to plough on in spite of failure. Andrew shares his view of this, that ‘their failure is not in their skill. Their failure is seen in the rate of alcohol abuse, that they have substance abuse, the divorce rates, the lack of sleep, the sociopathic tendencies, the psychopathic tendencies.’ 

More about Andrew

Andrew describes himself as an improvement junkie. He’s also a former covert CIA intelligence officer, US Air Force combat veteran, and Fortune 10 corporate advisor. He surrounds himself with knowledge, experiences, and people who help him grow and he look for opportunities to share what he’s learnt with others. For more from Andrew go to everydayspy.com 

For more from Fiona go to www.fionamurden.com 

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

Fiona and Dermot discuss what Alan was really like, from his utter brilliance through to those areas that he was less adept. The truth about his relationships with a few close friends which stands in deep contrast to the portrait drawn of him as a loner, by Hollywood and many biographers. Of course we also talk about the people who impacted Alan Turing from shaping his thinking to the decisions he made. We also cover Dermot's own incredible career and how much Alan Turing influenced the course that he took.  

Dermot Turing – like his celebrated uncle Alan Turing – was educated at Sherborne School and King’s College, Cambridge. After a doing a D.Phil in Genetics at Oxford, he concluded that scientific research was not for him, and moved into the legal profession.

Dermot worked for the Government Legal Service and then the international law firm Clifford Chance, where he was a partner until 2014. His specialism was financial sector regulation, particularly the problems associated with failed banks, and financial market infrastructure.

As well as writing and speaking, Dermot is a trustee of The Turing Trust and a Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, Oxford. He continues his interest in the financial world.

Dermot lives in Kippen in Stirlingshire. He is married with two sons, and as well as history his interests include cooking, gardening and opera.

To read more about Dermot and find links to his books go to DermotTuring.com  

For Fiona's book that Dermot wrote an endorsement for click here Mirror Thinking - How Role Models Make Us Human 

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

Pat’s interest in Mental Health, Resilience and more specifically Mindfulness started in 2009, whilst on operations in Afghanistan.  He completed an Open University degree in Psychology after noticing the lack of a ‘therapeutic relationship’ between soldiers returning from operations and their counsellors.  He ran weekly online Mindfulness sessions throughout the COVID-19 period and continues to do so. Currently he is leading the implementation of Physical Attention Training (PAT), an innovative approach to bringing Mindfulness based coping strategies into the existing culture of physical training. 

More about Major Burgess 

Major Burgess was brought up in Wells, Somerset, joined the Army in September 1992 and started his career at The Second Royal Tank Regiment in Fallingbostel, Germany. He served with the regiment in Germany, Northern Ireland, Canada, Poland, Iraq and Afghanistan in a career that saw him from Trooper, through Tank Commander to Regimental Sergeant Major.  He was recently promoted to Major as Officer Commanding the Combat CIS School. 

He was awarded an MBE in the 2020 New Year's Honours List in recognition of his tireless work in bringing mindfulness to Defence and has more recently been awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) by Glasgow and Caledonian University. He is a member of the Defence Mindfulness Steering Group and his course content and delivery are endorsed by the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB). 

For more on Major Burgess go to his website www.oneworldmindfulness.co.uk

For more from me go to www.fionamurden.com 

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

We talk about having an ‘elite education’ and how when Sarah went to Harvard she ‘saw how the sausage is made’. “And by sausage, I mean, how elite people are made, and who runs the universe, so to speak.” Sarah also explains how through her studies at Oxford she has seen that “the way that political thinking is just not very much like other forms of thinking. It's deeply tied into our sense of who we are, whether we're good people. And not only that, but it's tied up in our sense that we need to kind of feel okay about the immediate opportunities for action available to us in the future.” We also discuss how the School of Life shaped Sarah’s thinking, whether there are ever any ‘new’ ideas as opposed to a reshaping of those that have existed sometimes for centuries, we explore nudges and the extent to which they are all that they are cracked up to be and many, many other topics. 

More about Sarah. 

Sarah is a writer, content strategist, learning designer, and researcher at Oxford University. Her academic research focuses on the role of emotion in political communication, and specifically on cognitive dissonance. Another string to her bow is that she’s the Head of Content Strategy at the Future Narratives Lab where she works on projects related to policy and politics. She also serves on the Institute of Imagination’s Global Imagination Board. For many years she was also the Head of Content at The School of Life, where she is still a faculty member and learning designer. To read more about Sarah click her to go to her website. 

For more from us go to:

www.fionamurden.com 

or www.oka.life 

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

Kimmel is an Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at Stony Brook University. Among his many books are Manhood in America, Angry White Men, The Politics of Manhood, The Gendered Society and the best seller Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men. With funding from the MacArthur Foundation, he founded the Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities at Stony Brook in 2013. He has delivered the International Women’s Day annual lecture at the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of Europe, and has worked with the Ministers for Gender Equality of Norway, Denmark and Sweden in developing programs for boys and men. He consults widely with corporations, NGOs and public sector organizations on gender equity issues. 

For more from Michael go to www.michaelkimmel.com 

For more from Fiona go to www.fionamurden.com 

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

I’ve been wanting to record an episode with Nabil for ages, but there simply hasn’t been time. He moved from one fast paced role to another most recently holding the position of Global Chief Creative Officer at Soho House. I’m pleased to say that finally he’s taking a breather (although even that involves a course at Harvard University) so I caught him just long enough to share his story with you. 

We talk about his fascinating background growing up in Singapore with the expectations that loomed over him. He shares a point where he felt he had failed, the shame that he experienced and the reflection that ensued in what some may consider unusual circumstances – in the jungle during 2 years military service. Nabil’s creativity started early in life but was further ignited by time spent at London College of Fashion, followed by roles held with three globally iconic brands – Urban Outfitters, Selfridges and most recently (at the tender age of 28) the position at Soho House. 

Nabil is hungry for growth, deeply committed to continually stretching himself and explains in simple terms how earlier on in life a lack of role-models while pursuing the creative route was hard… 

“I'm the guy who would, who would stay back sewing things or painting or whatever it might be. It was always a creative pursuit. It was always about expression. Definitely not football and definitely not playing with the lego set. That was My brother. And I guess at that point, I thought, Okay, this is what being a creative means, but I didn't have role models, then per se, to say, Oh, this is a career path, I couldn't make a living out of this. And Singapore back then was the be all and end all for me. I hadn't really travelled elsewhere, to say oh, you could be a creative director, whatever that means. So, at 15, you, you have a feeling, and you try to manifest as best as possible by eliminating options. And I think that's the hardest thing to do.”

But also, how having role-models as an adult enables him to craft his career with even more care. 

“One of the benefits of having role models in your career is that you get to reverse engineer your way? Checking is it OK? If you have 50 years of work life - how do you want to make the most of that time? How can you pace yourself? Most importantly, so that you are peaking at absolutely the right time, when you have the most to give.” 

If you are curious about who you are, your brain and the role-models and influences in your life then you may enjoy my most recent book Mirror Thinking – How Role Models Make Us Human. 

https://bit.ly/MirrThink

For more from me go to: 

https://fionamurden.com

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com 

Amongst other things we discuss the impact of having a family on friendship, the devastating outcomes associated with social isolation and the issue of avoiding the difficult conversations that could improve friendships. 

Denworth is a contributing editor at Scientific American and the author of Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bond, which was named one of the best leadership books of 2020 by Adam Grant and called “the best of science writing” by Booklist. She is also co-author, with Dana Suskind, of the New York Times bestseller Parent Nation, and has written two other books of popular science: I Can Hear You Whisper and Toxic Truth. Her work has also appeared in The Atlantic, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Time, and many other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family.

For more about Lydia and her work – here is the link to Lydia's books page. 

For more from me go to

www.fionamurden.com

For more on Fiona visit www.fionamurden.com