My first guest of 2022 is Allan Butler, who has at various times been an economist, a primary school teacher and a herdsman on a dairy farm, amongst many other jobs. 

A lot of our conversation revolves around ‘forks in the road’. The times when, because of personal or work circumstances, Allan has found himself having to choose between very different paths towards his future.  But Allan is also very open about his recent diagnosis of dyslexia and how that undiagnosed condition has shaped his life and career to date. 

Interestingly, despite the difficulties Allan has faced, what his experience shows is something I’ve noticed with a lot of people – including myself – who have a condition that needs managing. Take the strategies they employ out of context and they bear a striking resemblance to the good practice that many coaches recommend to anyone who wants to improve their life or the way they work. If you're interested in any of the things Allan and I talk about then hopefully the links below will help:

• Dyslexia - NHS
• British Dyslexia Association
• International Dyslexia Association
• American Dyslexia Association
• Professor Eric Beinhocker | Oxford Martin School
• Tony Buzan | Inventor of Mind Mapping
• Santa Fe Institute
• FutureLearn: Online Courses and Degrees from Top Universities
• For Women in Economics, the Hostility Is Out in the Open - The New York Times

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Kate Cousens is my guest for this episode of Serendipity Soup - the antidote to celebrity success podcasts - and the question of ambition is central to our discussion. Kate is an author, podcaster, entrepreneur and all round high achiever. But it’s that level of achievement and ambition that we spend quite a bit of time talking about. 

Kate, like all my guests, is brutally honest about what it takes out of you as a person to achieve the goals you have set for yourself. That there’s a cost to success as well as a cost of failure and that sometimes it’s not clear what the boundaries between those two things actually are.

If you're interested in any of the things Kate and I touch on in our discussion then hopefully the links below will help:

• HM bamboo - Hillyer McKeown
• Eddie Stobart Logistics
• ‎Ladder Down: Meet Irene Afful on Apple Podcasts
• Ladder Climbing in High Heels: A professional woman's guide to climbing the career ladder
• ‎How To Fail With Elizabeth Day on Apple Podcasts
• ‎Griefcast: Alan Davies on Apple Podcasts
• Hoʻoponopono - Wikipedia

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Shopping without Amazon

Challenging Amazon report

The Trussell Trust

Metabunk

Goliath: The 100-Year war between monopoly power and democracy By Matt Stoller

Why We Sleep By Matthew Walker

Extreme Economies By Richard Davies

The Official History of Britain By Boris Starling

Wilding By Isabella Tree

Exposure By Robert Bilott

Winners Take All By Anand Giridharadas

Rebels at Work By Carmen Medina

Escaping the Rabbit Hole By Mick West

Ordinary Men By Christopher R. Browning

How To Read Water By Tristan Gooley

Trans By Helen Joyce

Material Girls by Kathleen Stock

Dirt to Soil By Gabe Brown

Rotherweird By Andrew Caldecott

Project Hail Mary By Andy Weir

City By Clifford D. Simak

Cloud Atlas By David Mitchell

Royal Flash By George MacDonald Fraser

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August By Claire North

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In this episode of Serendipity Soup – the antidote to celebrity success podcasts – I talk to Tom Saunders; a man who seems to have done every job possible before becoming a successful publisher of consumer hobby magazines. Especially for those listeners outside the UK I thought a little bit of info about Croydon might be useful in case some of Tom's references sound a bit mysterious. I've also put in links to his various magazines in case they sound like your scene.

• Croydon - Wikipedia
• Silverback Publishing
• Retro Ford Magazine
• Shindig! magazine: Latest Issue | Silverback Publishing
• Blocks magazine
• SGB Outdoor
• SGB Sports

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In this episode of Serendipity Soup – the antidote to celebrity success podcasts – I talk to Julian Watkins, a professional sailor turned social scientist who is searingly honest about the interactions between his mental health and his career.

Julian has done amazing things in his life and so I’ve put some links below in case you want to follow up on any of them. He’s also spent a lot of time coming to terms with a number of mental health conditions so if you want to find out more, or access support, I’ve included some links on that too. I don’t work in the mental health field so these are just a starting point, but it will hopefully be useful if this interview prompts any questions in your mind. The sources of support reflect the fact that I’m UK-based.

• Julian Watkins | LinkedIn
• The Environment Agency (the environmental regulator for England)
• The Ocean Youth Trust
• The Tall Ships Youth Trust
• The Liberal Democrats at the 2015 election: Nick Clegg resigns after Lib Dem losses - BBC News
• Bullying in school: National Bullying Helpline; YoungMinds; Helping Children Deal with Bullying & Cyberbullying | NSPCC
• Eating disorders: Beat (beateatingdisorders.org.uk); How to help someone with an eating disorder - NHS
• ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis): The ME Association; M.E. Support; Action for ME
• Depression: About depression | Mind, the mental health charity; Get help from a mental health charity - NHS; Depression (supportline.org.uk)

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In this episode of Serendipity Soup – the antidote to celebrity success podcasts – I talk to Anuj Desai, a former media lawyer turned legal cannabis industry commentator, because why wouldn't you make that step right?

Anuj is a fascinating guy and, in case you want to follow up on some of the topics he mentions, or you'd like to find out more about what he's doing, I've put some links in below. I'd especially recommend listening to his brilliant podcast, 'The Cannabis Conversation'. Even if it's not your industry, you'll easily find something in his back catalogue of episodes that will intrigue you.

• Anuj Desai | LinkedIn
• Anuj's podcast: The Cannabis Conversation: Overview | LinkedIn
• Carol Dweck and the Growth Mindset: Carol Dweck | Speaker | TED
• Dan Pink on autonomy, mastery and purpose as motivators: Dan Pink | Speaker | TED
• Anuj's cannabis consulting business: Canverse - Strategy and venture partner for the cannabis industry
• Anuj's legal service business: Smarter legal. Faster growth. Your flexible business lawyer - LegalEdge
• Am I becoming one long advert for Anuj's bewildering array of ventures?

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In this episode of Serendipity Soup – the antidote to celebrity success podcasts – I talk to Anna Gunn, Director and Founder of the Porto Photography Festival and her own company McGunn Media, photographer, artistic mentor, content creator... the list goes on!

But how did Anna get to where she is now? Why did she take a four year aerospace engineering degree? And just how should you react when your workmates weld shut the ends of your steel-toed boots so you can't wear them any more? As ever, my intrepid guest is on hand to help with these and many more career related questions.

In case there's anything you hear that you'd like to follow up on, I've done my best to add links to the variety of topics that Anna and I discuss below:

• 10,000 hours from Malcolm Gladwell's fantastic book 'Outliers'.
• The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA)
• WoMansion
• Porto Photography Festival
• The Open University

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In this episode of Serendipity Soup – the antidote to celebrity success podcasts – I talk to Nicole Shamier, Chief Economist of the island of St. Helena; one of the most remote places on the planet.

What would make you leave everyone you know to work on a tiny island a five-day boat journey from the nearest port?

How difficult is it when what you want from your career doesn’t fit into a neat box?

What it’s like when your boss can call the local hospital to find out why you didn’t come into work? 

The answers to all these and more are covered by Nicole as she gives a wonderful account of her career to date.

As ever, here are some notes in case there’s anything in this episode you want to dig into a bit more:

• Six degrees of separation - Wikipedia
• The Wealth of Nations: The Economics Classic - A Selected Edition for the Contemporary Reader: Adam Smith
• You might also be interested in Smith’s lesser-known sister book to ‘The Wealth of Nations’ in which he sets out why cold, economic calculations are not the only things that drive society. The Theory of Moral Sentiments: Adam Smith
• For more on the problems with and solutions to narrow, mathematically abstract economics, this is a great starting point: Rethinking Economics
• Nudge: The Final Edition: Richard H. Thaler
• Useful and informative, despite its bias towards free market economics: The Economist - World News, Politics, Economics, Business & Finance
• The Environment Agency
• Thames Estuary 2100
• Paul Tyson’s blog about living on St. Helena: Two Years in the Atlantic
• Nicole’s awesome podcast: An Irish Girl And English Girl Walk Into A Bar
• For more on how different people across the world have experienced the Covid pandemic, I’d really recommend BBC iPlayer - Pandemic 2020, especially episode 2.

Huge thanks to Nicole for her time and tech patience, to Julian Holmes for his awesome cover artwork and to Anna Gunn for her editing super skills.

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The first ever episode of Serendipity Soup - the antidote to celebrity success podcasts!

This one is with Simon Oliver, Digital Play Discovery Lead at Lego's Creative Play Lab, who talks about the highs and lows of his work in the video games industry, his love of duck-billed platypuses and why 'Jodorowsky's Dune' contains a great message for striving creatives and anyone else who needs to balance vision with practicality.

There is some discussion of depression in the last 10 minutes or so of this podcast, which I thought I should mention just in case that's not what you want to hear about right now. If you've been affected by depression, or any other mental illness, then the MIND website - Home | Mind, the mental health charity - help for mental health problems - is a good source of advice and support as is your local GP.

And finally, here are a few links to some of Simon's many esoteric references:

UK club for adult fans of Lego

Sir Ken Robinson – Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Tomato

Nathan Barley

Ngmoco

Rolando at HandCircus and Wikipedia

Okabu

Jodorowsky’s Dune

Seabeard

Huge thanks to Simon for his time, to Julian Holmes for his awesome cover artwork and to Anna Gunn for her editing super skills.

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A short introduction to 'Serendipity Soup' - the antidote to celebrity success podcasts.

Serendipity Soup | LinkedIn

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