Two per cent in BP and Shell. One per cent in tobacco, one in weapons. Dan Sherrard-Smith found all of it in his own pension.

Host Jules Harrison-Annear meets Dan in this Humans at Work conversation, the special series recorded between December 2022 and July 2025 and now running inside Shifting to Ethical Systems. He is founder and CEO of MotherTree, based in Bratislava.

Earlier there was Good Company, a loneliness charity. The idea was invented in a meeting room and defended for eighteen months. When it did not work they gave ninety-five per cent of the funding back. Dan remembers crying on the kitchen floor, then realising the only thing bruised was his ego.

MotherTree takes its name from Suzanne Simard's finding that trees of different species feed each other: oak passes beech the nutrients it needs, and beech returns the favour. He took it as instruction: be the connector.

The company started with The Climate Challenge, his wife's idea: groups of about eight taking on thirty challenges in thirty days. Going vegan for a day and dropping single-use plastic were the straightforward part. Looking at their bank and their pension is what woke people up, and a money carbon calculator followed. It closes on Jules's point: system change starts by building somewhere better before asking anyone to leave what they depend on.

This episode is for founders and leaders in ethical business who want the money they hold, and the money they take, to match the work.

Key quote:

"Insurance is fascinating because a coal mine could have all the funding it needs to get going but if it doesn’t get the insurance, it’s not gonna happen."

Psst… If you liked the episode, check out this one next: #2 Ethical Investment | When Finance Serves Life: Impact Investing

P.S. If you have never looked at where your pension or banking sits, that is an afternoon well spent. Visit jericaglobal.com, or bring what you find to a discovery call and decide what to move first.

Credits:

Music: Under the Willow Tree by Vita Irrita, used with full permission from the artists.Podcast created with the support of Conscious Marketing Movement.

Singapore did not go to plan. The first 21km was a breeze; in the second, something seemed to grab Enver Samuel by the shoulders. Months on, the harder question is what this work is doing to him.

This is a postscript: a Humans at Work follow-up inside the Shifting to Ethical Systems series, recorded between December 2022 and July 2025, with host Jules Harrison-Annear returning to Enver in the same Johannesburg office, under the same bright weather.

He has just come back from camping in Kruger National Park. His parents took him there decades ago, and the rivers no longer run as they did. Climate change, he says, sits well down a national list headed by poverty, unemployment and electricity.

Murder in Paris, his documentary on the assassination of Dulcie September, refuses to stop working after broadcast. Its impact campaign runs into a third year next year, her virtually forgotten name is back in public view, and she and her family are receiving an award. He is now making six documentaries on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, screened to families with a counsellor alongside them. One mother and son spoke about a killing for the first time in three decades.

This episode is for anyone choosing between work that pays and work they cannot put down, knowing both choices carry a cost.

Key quote:

"This year I turned down three of my normal jobs – I told you I turned down a Netflix reality show, two on BBC Prime, so three reality shows I turned down. Because I think I’m convinced that this is the way I wanna go."

Psst… If you liked the episode, check out this one next: #23 Humans at Work | How to Fund Work That Matters Without Losing Yourself to It

P.S. Turning down good money for work that matters more is worth thinking through with someone. Visit jericaglobal.com or book a discovery call, and put the numbers and the reasons on the same table.

Credits:

Music: Under the Willow Tree by Vita Irrita, used with full permission from the artists.Podcast created with the support of Conscious Marketing Movement.

Some months Enver Samuel is on a cooking show, tasting the bakes so he knows what to ask next. Others are with a family whose parent was killed by the security police thirty years ago.

Enver is a South African television producer and director making social impact documentaries about the unsung heroes and heroines of the struggle against apartheid. He talks with host Jules Harrison-Annear in this Humans at Work conversation, part of the special series recorded between December 2022 and July 2025 and now inside Shifting to Ethical Systems.

He grew up in exile in England, Ghana and Zambia, a master climber of trees with no technology near him. Film-making found him later, when British Council camera equipment turned up at the SACHED Trust, where Jules's mother had been posted, and he started fiddling with it. School videos in Soweto followed.

Friends in Australia asked why he would go back to South Africa. He wanted to vote as an equal citizen, and would not miss it.

The model he has built since is deliberate: hard documentary work, then Survivor or the Bake Off, which pay the bills documentary funding cannot and keep him out of the dark void. Running through both is the one-on-one interview, where someone drops their guard and forgets the camera.

This episode is for leaders and makers whose work keeps them close to other people's pain, and who want to sustain it over decades rather than months.

Key quote:

"When I’m facing the hardest difficult times with my work, I say to myself inside of me, you’ve done a marathon, what is this?"

Psst… If you liked the episode, check out this one next: #11 Ethical Leadership | Grief Is Part of the Work: How to Feel, Think & Act with Integrity

P.S. If your work asks you to carry heavy material for long stretches, pace matters as much as craft. Visit jericaglobal.com, or bring the question to a mentoring conversation.

Credits:

Music: Under the Willow Tree by Vita Irrita, used with full permission from the artists.Podcast created with the support of Conscious Marketing Movement.

What happens to the person everyone offloads to? Sophie Bretag spent about fifteen years in HR, seven and a half of them in aged care, watching people hand over what they carried and walk away lighter.

In this Humans at Work conversation, a special series inside Shifting to Ethical Systems recorded between December 2022 and July 2025, host Jules Harrison-Annear sits down with Sophie, who runs kindness workshops and women's connection circles in far north Queensland.

Her first real job was a call centre on an internet tech support line, the most regimented and least human place she has worked. She left it having promised herself she would never again be just a number.

That promise became a practice. Kindness, as Sophie teaches it, starts with self-kindness and values, then lands on boundaries: she is strict about her time, her emotional energy and what she will and will not keep. People who know exactly what to expect from a leader feel safe. For sceptics who file kindness under fluffy, she has the business case: engagement, sick leave, return-to-work claims.  

And, Sophie has just written and published a book: see The Kind Way.

Jules brings the same question to buildings, remembering the Manchester office where she led an organisation supporting asylum seekers and refugees: three sets of bars on the windows, four locks on the door, in the dark at each end of the day.

This episode is for HR professionals and care sector leaders who have become their workplace's confidant with nowhere to set that weight down.

Key quote:

"Offices are not designed for humans. I’m gonna say it on the record – if you can’t open a window in your office, who would design that?"

Psst… If you liked the episode, check out this one next: #18 Ethical Leadership | How Small Everyday Decisions Shape the Business You're Building

P.S. If you are the one holding everyone else's information and running low, you don't have to do this alone. Visit jericaglobal.com or book a discovery call to work out what you will keep carrying.

Credits:

Music: Under the Willow Tree by Vita Irrita, used with full permission from the artists.Podcast created with the support of Conscious Marketing Movement.

Diane White will tell you the croissant voted best in the world is overrated. What she is really interested in is power, and who is willing to name it.

Humans at Work is a special series inside Shifting to Ethical Systems, recorded between December 2022 and July 2025, and here host Jules Harrison-Annear talks with Diane, a director in EY's Infrastructure Advisory team in Melbourne who trained as a lawyer.

Diane left New Zealand to help write the judgment in the Black Saturday bushfires class action: 200 days in court, the longest civil trial in Victoria's history. A month after she started, it settled. Pens down. It was the other judgments the judge handed her next that taught her she did not want to practise law.

The harder shift came later. She had led a Humans Rights Commission enquiry into sex discrimination and harassment in Police, what she calls her golden cause, and then had to work out whether wanting a job she enjoys, among people invested in her, was a betrayal of purpose or simply allowed.

Underneath runs her working theory of boundaries: where they are not articulated and understood, they get exploited. Once you hold the seniority, the small voice saying "I had to do it this way" is the one to catch.

This episode is for purpose-driven leaders who have measured their own goodness by their job title, and are starting to wonder what else they are allowed to want.

Key quote:

"But it all comes down to power and until you name it and find space to talk about it comfortably, it can loom over organisations and people and society."

Psst… If you liked the episode, check out this one next: #20 Ethical Leadership | The Art of Saying No: How Boundaries Build Integrity and Trust

P.S. If you are weighing a cause you believe in against a place that would actually invest in you, that decision gets easier with company. Visit jericaglobal.com or book a mentoring conversation, and work out where your boundaries sit.

Credits:

Music: Under the Willow Tree by Vita Irrita, used with full permission from the artists.Podcast created with the support of Conscious Marketing Movement.

Saying no sounds simple. In practice, when opportunities are scarce, relationships feel fragile, and the need for capital is real, it's one of the hardest things ethical leadership asks of us.

In this episode of Shifting to Ethical Systems, host Jules Harrison-Annear explores the art of saying no, and why getting better at it might be one of the most important things you can do for the long-term integrity of what you're building.

There's an easy version of “no”, when something is obviously wrong. 

The hard version is when the thing looks good. Good money. Good exposure. A respected name. Something you'd be mad to turn down. And yet something in you is hesitating. That's the “no” that tests character. And it's the one that, if you learn to trust it, builds the most durable kind of integrity.

This episode is for leaders, founders, and changemakers building ethical businesses. Anyone who's been saying yes when they mean no.

Key quote:

"The boundaries you hold don't diminish what you're building. They define it."

Psst… If you liked the episode, check out this one next: #13 Ethical Leadership | Why Ethical Leaders Feel Lonely (And How to Find Your People)

Episode breakdown:

00:44 Why “No” Is So Difficult

Why saying no becomes harder when opportunities are scarce, relationships matter, and the stakes feel high.

01:33 The Hardest Kind of No

How to recognise when an opportunity looks right on paper but feels wrong in practice.

02:20 The Tension: Strategic Yes or Slow Capitulation?

Why distinguishing between intentional compromise and pressure-driven decision-making requires real discernment.

03:07 A No That Costs Something Is Often the Most Honest One

Jules reflects on turning down a seemingly valuable opportunity that conflicted with deeper principles.

04:09 Living with the Second-Guessing

Why ethical decisions often bring uncertainty, self-doubt, and the temptation to revisit your choice.

05:07 The Long-Term Value of Integrity

How staying aligned creates space for the right people, partnerships, and opportunities to emerge.

05:47 Regret or the Cost of Staying True?

A reflection on the difference between missing an opportunity and honouring your values.

06:04 No Is a Relationship Statement, Not a Rejection

Why a clear and respectful no can strengthen trust rather than damage it.

07:02 Honesty Builds Stronger Partnerships

How transparency and clear boundaries create credibility over time.

07:39 The No That Protects Someone Else

Why ethical leadership sometimes requires declining opportunities to safeguard communities, partners, and future outcomes.

08:30 Protecting the Integrity of the System

How saying no can become a structural act that shapes who benefits from the systems you're building.

09:02 Whose Interests Are You Protecting?

A question for leaders navigating difficult decisions and competing pressures.

09:25 Developing the Practice of Saying No

Why discernment, confidence, and ethical boundaries strengthen through repetition.

10:15 Ethical Partnerships Create Safer Decisions

How trust and collective reflection help leaders make difficult choices with greater clarity.

10:40 Finding the No as Well as the Yes

Why collaborative spaces can help uncover the decisions that truly align with your values.

11:34 The Boundaries You Hold Define What You Build

How every no helps shape the integrity, direction, and impact of your work.

P.S. If you're sitting with an opportunity that looks good but feels off, you don't have to weigh it alone. Visit jericaglobal.com. Our collaborative and advisory spaces are built for exactly this: thinking it through together, finding the nos as well as the yeses.

Credits:

Music: Under the Willow Tree by Vita Irrita, used with full permission from the artists.Podcast created with the support of Conscious Marketing Movement.

When a woman holds a principle firmly, there's a word that tends to get used. Stubborn. When a man does the same thing, the words are different. Clear. Focused. A strong negotiator.

In this episode of Shifting to Ethical Systems, host Jules Harrison-Annear explores the cumulative weight of small decisions, and goes somewhere adjacent but distinct: the extra weight women carry when those decisions are theirs to make.

Ethical leadership asks all of us to hold firm on what matters while staying open to learning. That's hard for anyone. 

But for women, there's an added layer: the social expectation, still very present in 2026, to be agreeable, to smooth things over, to not make people uncomfortable. And when you're building an ethical business that sometimes challenges the norm, that pressure can be relentless.

Through three reflections, Jules names what rarely gets named. The loaded language used for women who hold firm. The extra cognitive and emotional load that runs in parallel with the actual work. And why your gut instinct deserves to be treated as evidence, not noise to be overridden.

This episode is for women leaders and female entrepreneurs navigating the gap between what they know to be right and the pressure to behave differently. It is also for anyone who leads alongside them.

Key quote:

"Being principled is not the same as being stubborn. Knowing the difference is one of the most important things ethical leadership asks of us."

Psst… If you liked the episode, check out this one next: #13 Ethical Leadership | Why Ethical Leaders Feel Lonely (And How to Find Your People)

Episode breakdown:

00:44 The Double Standard Around Holding Firm

Why women leaders are often judged differently when they stand by their principles.

01:45 The Hidden Cost of Ethical Leadership

How social expectations can make values-based decision-making more complex for women.

02:57 The Tension: Flexibility or Capitulation?

Why distinguishing between strategic adaptation and giving in to external pressure is harder than it seems.

03:55 When Principle Gets Labelled as Stubbornness

A founder's experience of being criticised for protecting a core ethical commitment.

05:03 The Power of Language

How words like "stubborn," "difficult," and "inflexible" can obscure what's really happening.

06:02 A Question Worth Asking

How to tell the difference between refusing to bend and refusing to abandon a principle.

06:28 The Extra Cognitive Load Women Carry

Why women leaders often spend additional emotional and mental energy processing difficult decisions.

07:53 Gut Instinct Is Data, Not Noise

Why intuition deserves consideration alongside logic when making values-based decisions.

09:01 Listening to What Feels Off

How to recognise when external pressure is overriding your own judgement.

10:08 The Wisdom of Not Responding Immediately

Why creating space before making a decision can strengthen clarity and integrity.

11:03 Separating External Pressure from Internal Uncertainty

How reflection helps distinguish genuine doubt from the accumulated weight of other people's expectations.

11:55 Mentoring as Critical Infrastructure

Why judgement-free spaces for reflection are essential for ethical leadership.

12:37 Being Principled Is Not the Same as Being Stubborn

Why understanding the difference is a vital leadership practice for anyone creating meaningful change.

P.S. If you've been called stubborn for holding a principle, you don't have to untangle it alone. Visit jericaglobal.com or book a mentoring conversation. Not to be told whether you were right or wrong, but to think it through on your own terms.

Credits:

Music: Under the Willow Tree by Vita Irrita, used with full permission from the artists.Podcast created with the support of Conscious Marketing Movement.

What if the decisions that shape your business most aren't the big, dramatic ones, but the small ones you make on a tired Tuesday afternoon?

In this episode of Shifting to Ethical Systems, host Jules Harrison-Annear explores the power of small decisions, and how everyday choices compound into the business, and the leadership, you actually intended to build.

We talk a lot about systems change as big structural shifts. But values-based leadership usually starts much closer to home.

Who you take a call from. Which client you say yes to. Whether you soften a boundary because you're worried what someone will think. None of those feel world-altering. Together, they are writing the story of your business.

Through three reflections drawn from years of mentoring founders and leaders, Jules names a tension many of us feel but rarely say out loud: the difference between strategic flexibility and a slow drift away from what matters. They can look almost identical in the moment. It is usually only in hindsight that you can tell which one it was.

This episode is for founders, business owners, and purpose-driven leaders who want their everyday choices to add up, rather than waking up one day to a business that doesn't quite sound like them anymore.

Key quote:

"The business you intend to build is shaped, more than you might think, by the decisions you make when no one's watching."

Psst… If you liked the episode, check out this one next: #5 Ethical Leadership: Anchored by Values, Turning Pressure into Purpose

Episode breakdown:

00:44 Small Decisions Shape Big Outcomes

Why the choices you make in everyday moments often have the greatest impact on your business and leadership.

01:56 Systems Change Starts with Micro-Choices

How seemingly insignificant decisions accumulate to shape the future of your organisation.

02:33 The Tension: Flexibility or Drift?

Why adapting to circumstances is essential, but losing sight of your values happens more easily than you think.

03:14 Small Decisions Are Never Just Small

A founder's story of how a series of reasonable choices gradually led her away from the business she intended to build.

04:34 The Alignment Check

Why pausing before saying yes can reveal whether an opportunity truly supports your purpose.

04:49 Flexibility Without Anchors Becomes Drift

How principles and values act as a compass when navigating difficult decisions.

05:53 Building with Clear Principles

Why explicit anchors create consistency, trust, and clarity for your team, clients, and partners.

06:35 The Regret Test

A practical framework for making decisions you can stand behind, regardless of the outcome.

07:34 The Power of Values-Aligned Decisions

How coherence between your values and actions strengthens trust, reduces fatigue, and attracts the right opportunities.

08:22 Patterns, Not Isolated Decisions

Why meaningful change often begins by recognising the cumulative effect of small choices over time.

09:17 Creating Space for Better Decisions

How reflection and mentoring can help uncover patterns, clarify priorities, and support intentional leadership.

09:58 Change Begins with Choices

Why the business you're building is ultimately shaped by the decisions you make when no one's watching.

P.S. If you're carrying a decision right now, small or large, that doesn't quite feel right, you don't have to think it through alone. Visit jericaglobal.com or book a mentoring conversation: a space to reconnect with what you actually believe, and make the choice you'll be able to stand behind.

Credits:

Music: Under the Willow Tree by Vita Irrita, used with full permission from the artists.Podcast created with the support of Conscious Marketing Movement.

What if the ecosystem you’re building depends too much on you?

In this episode of Shifting to Ethical Systems, host Esteban Fernandez Drovetta speaks directly to ecosystem builders — leaders working across organisations, sectors, and communities to create lasting change.

Because there’s a common but rarely challenged assumption:

That we need to be at the centre to hold everything together.

But here’s the tension: If you step back, will everything fall apart?

Drawing on JERICA Global’s Catalyst Projects, including a powerful example from Fiji, this episode explores what happens when ecosystem builders shift from being the hub to becoming part of the system they helped create.

You’ll learn why centralized ecosystems are fragile, how shared leadership builds resilience, and why the goal isn’t to be indispensable, but to design systems that thrive without you.

This episode is for ecosystem builders, founders, and leaders who want to create systems that last — without becoming the bottleneck.

Key quote:

“If the ecosystem can’t function without you, it’s not an ecosystem. It’s a dependency.”

Psst… If you liked the episode, check out this one next: #9 Ethical Models | How Ecosystem Builders Share Power Without Losing Impact

Episode breakdown:

00:44 Ecosystem Builders and the Illusion of Centrality

Why many leaders assume they need to be at the centre and why that creates risk.

02:15 The Tension: Letting Go of Control

The fear of stepping back when you’ve built the relationships and hold the vision.

03:30 A Real Example: The Fiji Catalyst Project

How shifting from leading to supporting strengthened the entire ecosystem.

06:25 Redefining Your Role in the Ecosystem

Why your position will change and why that’s a sign of success, not failure.

07:40 Centralised vs Decentralised Systems

Why ecosystems built around one actor are fragile, and distributed systems are resilient.

08:43 The Whole Is Greater Than Any One Part

Why ecosystems should evolve beyond you and why that’s the goal.

09:58 Sharing Power Multiplies Impact

How distributing decision-making unlocks innovation, leadership, and capacity.

11:27 From Control to Catalyst

How governance, visibility, and partnerships shift when you design for decentralisation.

P.S. If you’re building an ecosystem and navigating the tension between control and shared leadership, you’re not alone. At JERICA, we support ecosystem builders to design for resilience, not dependency — through advisory, gatherings, and Catalyst Projects. Visit jericaglobal.com or book a discovery call to explore how we can support you.

Credits:

Music: Under the Willow Tree by Vita Irrita, used with full permission from the artists.Podcast created with the support of Conscious Marketing Movement.

What if “value for money” is actually costing more than you think?

In this episode of Shifting to Ethical Systems, host Esteban Fernandez Drovetta explores ethical supply chains and the hidden human and environmental costs behind the pursuit of the lowest price.

Because the real question isn’t just “What does this cost?”

It’s “Who is paying the price?”

Through reflections from JERICA Global’s Catalyst Projects, Esteban shares how ethical supply chains move beyond transactions: toward relationships, resilience, and long-term value creation.

You’ll explore the real tension leaders face: How do we balance budgets with ethical responsibility?

And a powerful reframe: ethical supply chains aren’t more expensive, they’re more honest!

This episode challenges the assumption that cheaper equals better, and offers a more grounded way to think about value, impact, and long-term success.

If you’re a founder, investor, or leader trying to build systems that are not only efficient — but fair, resilient, and built to last — this episode is for you.

Key quote:

“When something is dramatically cheaper than alternatives, there’s a reason. And that reason is usually: someone else is absorbing the cost.”

Episode breakdown:

00:44 Rethinking “Value for Money”

Why cost optimisation often hides human and environmental impact.

02:05 The Tension: Cost vs Ethics

Balancing budget pressure with the responsibility to avoid exploitation.

02:57 The Problem with Cheap Supply Chains

How low-cost sourcing often hides fragility and hidden harm.

04:48 Building Supplier Ecosystems

Why relationships (not transactions!) create stronger, more resilient supply chains.

06:48 The Hidden Cost of Cheap

Why the lowest price usually means someone else is absorbing the real cost.

08:18 Redefining Value

Why ethical projects measure more than financial cost, including people and planet.

09:33 Ethics Create Resilience

How ethical supply chains outperform extractive ones in times of disruption.

10:45 Changing Supply Chain Practice

How sourcing, budgeting, and partnerships shift when ethics are prioritised.

P.S. If you’re designing projects and navigating the tension between cost and ethics, you’re not alone. At JERICA, we help leaders redesign supply chains for fairness, resilience, and long-term value. Explore our Catalyst Projects at jericaglobal.com or book a discovery call to start a conversation.

Credits:

Music: Under the Willow Tree by Vita Irrita, used with full permission from the artists.Podcast created with the support of Conscious Marketing Movement.