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• What role do illusions play in your decision-making? 
• How can you challenge your illusions so you can make better decisions? 
• How does a manager with hindsight bias prevent his or her team from making good decisions?  

For this episode, I sat down with magician, mentalist and keynote speaker, Alex Si, to explore the world of illusions at work.  During our conversation, we explore how we create illusions, how we're susceptible to illusions created by others and how we can challenge our illusions to make better decisions. 

We also answer the questions above.

Alex has just published his first book on the topic and was keen to explain how his book is different from others on the subject of decision making. 

Stay tuned to the end as Alex has a special offer for some lucky listeners.

So, why not head over to your favourite podcast channel and dive in...

Meet your host, Gerry Murray

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Connect with Alex Si on LinkedIn

Buy Alex's book Cerveau menteur ! - Déjouez les pièges de la prise de décision

Check out Alex's Website

Make Better Talent decisions with Wide Circle

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Why do we have a brain? It's not what you think...

How does exercise benefit your brain?

How much of your brain do you use each day?  

This week's guest is Gregory Caremans, founder of the Brain Academy which currently has over 400,000 students enrolled in its courses on how to understand and better manage your brain. 

The aim of the Brain Academy is to make brain science accessible to as many people as possible in a way that anyone can understand it. Gregory's goal is to demystify the scientific jargon. 

In 2020 and 2021 the Brain Academy won several awards for “Most innovative neuroscience & personal development enterprise” and “Excellence in online learning”. Its courses have been featured on such noteworthy platforms as The Economist, CNN, Entrepreneur, and Udemy and its YouTube channel has over 300,000 views. 

During our conversation, we touch on some common myths about the brain before getting into how leaders are impacting our brains at work and what can be done to ensure that these are positive impacts. We even explore how some organisation structures may not be the most effective way to get the best out of people. 

And, stay tuned to the end because Gregory has an offer for some lucky listeners.

So, why not head over to your favourite podcast channel and dive in...

Meet your host, Gerry Murray

Show Links

Connect with Gregory Caremans on LinkedIn and get his special offer

Check out the Brain Academy's FREE courses

Make Better Talent decisions with Wide Circle

Enjoyed this episode? The Leading People Community is where these conversations continue to flourish. 

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On the morning of Tuesday, 8th June 2021 I sent an email to this week's guest, Julie Brown. It was an invitation to herself and her husband to be a guest on this podcast. I'd met him on the street a few weeks beforehand just days before he left for an expedition to Greenland and I'd forgotten to ask him. 

I never received a reply. 

Within hours it became clear why. The news broke that world-renowned polar explorer and leadership guide, Dixie Dansercoer, had fallen through a deep crevice in the ice in Greenland and rescue workers had given up their search for his body. 

So, this episode is partly to honour and celebrate Dixie's life. But it is also a celebration of Julie his wife and how she has dealt with this tragedy and given herself permission to thrive. Many leadership lessons shine through in our conversation. 

It's also a love story on three dimensions. The deep love that Dixie and Julie had for one another, their tremendous love of nature and the environment and a profound love of life and humanity. 

Dixie and Julie also published several books illustrating how we can efficiently convert professional challenges into successes and how we can surpass personal dilemmas. These themes feature prominently in our conversation. 

Therefore, lots to unpack and leadership lessons to be learned...

So, why not head over to your favourite podcast channel and dive in...

Meet your host, Gerry Murray

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Connect with Julie Brown on LinkedIn and get her special offer

Check out Polar Experiences

Make Better Talent decisions with Wide Circle

Enjoyed this episode? The Leading People Community is where these conversations continue to flourish. 

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What have cornflakes, penicillin, cling film, velcro and post-it notes got in common? 

This week's guest is an award-winning author and Head of Learning at the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development, Andy Lancaster. During our conversation, he answers this question among many others. 

Andy also outlines 7 ways in which leaders could leverage mistakes for the better in their organisations, which feature in his latest book 

He even explains what we could learn from the Japanese art of kintsugi.

And, if you stay tuned to the end Andy has a special offer for you.

So, why not head over to your favourite podcast channel and dive in...

Meet your host, Gerry Murray

Show Links

Connect with Andy Lancaster on LinkedIn and get his special offer

Buy Driving Performance Through Learning

Make Better Talent decisions with Wide Circle

Enjoyed this episode? The Leading People Community is where these conversations continue to flourish. 

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• Why should we become good at public speaking and what difference could it make to our careers? 
• Why do some of us love public speaking and so many of us hate it? 
• What is a Public Speaking Monkey, anyway?
• How could some of the issues that we have with public speaking be affecting other aspects of our lives? 

These are just some of the questions I explore with this week's guest, author and public speaking expert, Dee Clayton.

Dee has written two books on public speaking and presenting and has also won several business awards for her Public Speaking Monkeys concept and brand. 

According to Dee, some people think they're fantastic public speakers and they're not. Others dread the thought of speaking in public but once they overcome certain hurdles they can become great public speakers. 

During our conversation we unpack some of the myths about public speaking, the silly things we say to ourselves and others say to us just before we give a presentation, including some well-meant advice that is rarely helpful. 

Dee outlines the 3 steps in what she calls the monkey taming process and also provides us with valuable and useful tips for getting better at speaking in public.

So, why not head over to your favourite podcast channel and dive in...

Meet your host, Gerry Murray

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Connect with Dee Clayton on LinkedIn

Check out Dee's company website Simple Amazing Training

Buy Taming your public speaking monkeys 

Buy High Performance Presentations

Make Better Talent decisions with Wide Circle

Enjoyed this episode? The Leading People Community is where these conversations continue to flourish. 

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• Why do organisations need to invest in Internal Communications? 
• What is Internal Communications, anyway? 
• How do you get Managers onboard with your Internal Communications?
• How do you communicate internally in a Post-covid Hybrid working environment? 

These are just some of the questions I explore with this week's guest, author and Internal Communications expert, Liam Fitzpatrick. 

During our conversation, Liam explains why he's brought out a revised edition of his latest book, Successful Employee Communications, why the emphasis in the book is on tools, models and best practices rather than theories and why Middle Managers play such an important role in Internal Communications. He also has some useful tips for how to help Managers become better communicators.

So, why not head over to your favourite podcast channel and dive in...

Meet your host, Gerry Murray

Show Links

Connect with Liam Fitzpatrick on LinkedIn

Buy Successful Employee Communications

Make Better Talent decisions with Wide Circle

Enjoyed this episode? The Leading People Community is where these conversations continue to flourish. 

Free to join — Book reviews, Leading People Café recordings, Podcast episode previews, and a growing group of active HR and L&D professionals, leaders, and coaches who take their work seriously. 

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Would you like to have more influence and get more buy-in and commitment from colleagues or other stakeholders? 

Or, perhaps to sell more of your products or services? 

Or, to better deal with a low performer on your team? 

Or, simply to be a better parent? 

This week's guest is Certified Forensic Interviewer and author, Michael Reddington whose new book is called The Disciplined Listening Method. 

Michael shares his experiences of forensic interviewing - he also explains what it is - and how this led him to develop the seven core behaviours of disciplined listening which ultimately led to him writing his book, which has just been published.

During our conversation, Michael addresses the questions above and many more and explains how his method goes beyond other techniques such as active listening. He also describes how to apply his seven core behaviours to a wide variety of situations.

So, why not head over to your favourite podcast channel and dive in...

Meet your host, Gerry Murray

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Connect with Michael Reddington on LinkedIn

Buy The Disciplined Listening Method  

Check out Michael's website InQuasive

Make Better Talent decisions with Wide Circle

Enjoyed this episode? The Leading People Community is where these conversations continue to flourish. 

Free to join — Book reviews, Leading People Café recordings, Podcast episode previews, and a growing group of active HR and L&D professionals, leaders, and coaches who take their work seriously. 

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Do you have high performers on your team?

How would you feel if they went to work for your competitors?

I guess you'd prefer if they stayed and worked with you? 

So, how do you create the conditions so people can thrive, enjoy what they're doing and perform at their best? 

These are just some of the topics I covered in my conversation with this week's guest, Paul Zak. 

Apart from having a TED talk with nearly 2 million views, Paul has written two best-selling books and there's a third one on the way. He is also the founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and a Professor of Economics, Psychology and Management at Claremont Graduate University in California.

His former colleagues included renowned scholars such as the late Peter Drucker and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Paul is also a co-founder and Chief Immersion Officer of the firm Get Immersion. 

During our conversation, Paul explains what he's learned from his extensive research and provides tangible tips and advice that any of us can implement straight away.

So, why not head over to your favourite podcast channel and dive in...

Meet your host, Gerry Murray

Show Links

Connect with Paul Zak on LinkedIn

Buy Paul's book "Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High Performing Companies"

Buy Paul's book "The Moral Molecule: How Trust Works"

Check out Get Immersion

Make Better Talent decisions with Wide Circle

Enjoyed this episode? The Leading People Community is where these conversations continue to flourish. 

Free to join — Book reviews, Leading People Café recordings, Podcast episode previews, and a growing group of active HR and L&D professionals, leaders, and coaches who take their work seriously. 

Join the Leading People Community

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Why has coaching become so popular and why do leaders need coaching now more than ever as we emerge from the pandemic? 

And what impact has the pandemic itself actually had on leaders?

How has the virtual work environment of the pandemic affected leaders? 

These are just some of the questions that I explore with this week's guest - author and Executive Coach, Andrea Lages. 

Andrea has been working as a coach for nearly 25 years and has noticed some interesting impacts that the pandemic has had on Leaders and what this means for the future. 

She is also the Director of the International Coaching Community (ICC) that has over 15,000 members worldwide.

So, why not head over to your favourite podcast channel and dive in...

Meet your host, Gerry Murray

Show Links

Connect with Andrea Lages on LinkedIn

Buy How Coaching Works 

Download the FREE E-Book

Check out the International Coaching Community (ICC)

Make Better Talent decisions with Wide Circle

Enjoyed this episode? The Leading People Community is where these conversations continue to flourish. 

Free to join — Book reviews, Leading People Café recordings, Podcast episode previews, and a growing group of active HR and L&D professionals, leaders, and coaches who take their work seriously. 

Join the Leading People Community

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In recent years you may have come across terms such as Agile, Lean, Self-Organising Teams, Teal Organisations, Non-Violent Communication and Holocracy.

My guest this week is the author and consultant Jef Cumps.  Jef will not only explain and demystify many of these wonderful terms but will also speak about Sociocracy 3.0 and how the principles of Sociocracy are actually quite familiar to many of us, even though the term Sociocracy may not be used in our workplaces.

A key aspect of Sociocracy is how it can enable an organisation to easily adapt itself to a changing world and Jef will help you understand why and how this works. 

He'll also explain the background to his book: Sociocracy 3.0 - The Novel.

So, why not head over to your favourite podcast channel and dive in...

Meet your host, Gerry Murray

Show Links

Connect with Jef Cumps on LinkedIn

Buy Sociocracy 3.0 - The Novel

Request a FREE copy of Jef's book: jef.cumps [at] gmail.com

Check out Sociocracy 3.0

Make Better Talent decisions with Wide Circle

Enjoyed this episode? The Leading People Community is where these conversations continue to flourish. 

Free to join — Book reviews, Leading People Café recordings, Podcast episode previews, and a growing group of active HR and L&D professionals, leaders, and coaches who take their work seriously. 

Join the Leading People Community

Connect with Gerry on LinkedIn