Success Matters

Have you ever felt stuck in a career that just doesn't feel right?

My guest, Charlotte Blair, has. In this episode, we dive deep into her journey of discovering a more fulfilling path and the lessons she learned along the way.

Tune in as we discuss:Strengths-based career success:

Learn how playing to your strengths and aligning your career with your values can lead to greater fulfillment.

Dyslexia as a superpower: Discover how dyslexia can be a unique strength that fosters creativity and alternative ways of thinking.

Unleashing your potential with CliftonStrengths: Learn how the CliftonStrengths assessment can help you identify your natural talents and apply them to your career.

Overcoming confirmation bias: Understand the importance of focusing on what energises you rather than trying to fix your weaknesses.

Defining success on your terms: Discover how true success is about meeting your own expectations and goals, and the role of continuous learning and growth.

Ready to break free from your career rut and find a job you love? Tune into this episode of Success Matters and discover practical steps and tools to achieve a 10 out of 10 role!

How do words shape our thoughts, emotions, and even our reality? 

In this episode of Success Matters, my guest Steve Payne dives deep into the fascinating world of language and communication.

From the intricacies of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) to the power of values and intention, we explore how we can use language to understand and influence others ethically. Discover the secrets of successful communication and learn how to live a more authentic and fulfilling life.

Tune in as Steve shares his top value, freedom, and how it drives his actions. And don't miss his thought-provoking question for our next guest, and for you: What are your top values, and how do they support your journey?

Imagine a world where oceans are teeming with life, their vibrant colors and diverse creatures a testament to our commitment to environmental restoration. 

But this vision is far from reality. Overfishing, pollution, and climate change are wreaking havoc on our marine ecosystems. That's where David Washbrook, the founder of Red Sea Reef Builders, comes in.

In this first episode of the new season of Success Matters, we dive deep into David's inspiring journey.

From a chance encounter in Bangladesh that sparked his desire to make the world a better place to his groundbreaking work with subsea robotics, David shares the challenges and triumphs of protecting our oceans. Discover how his organization is using technology to restore marine habitats, combat climate change, and support local communities.

Tune in to hear David's unwavering belief in the power of human ingenuity and the importance of global collaboration to create a sustainable future for generations to come.

My guest today is Manu Juneja whose journey from the black and white world of Law to the vibrant world of the Bombay fashion industry made her feel that there was an emptiness in life.  

Manu is a mindfulness practitioner and meditation enthusiast who found clarity and understanding in the simple act of writing down her thoughts and meticulously discovering the subtle patterns woven within the labyrinth of her thoughts.  

Unraveling their hidden meanings she offers us a glimpse into the profound impact of self-awareness and the beauty of embracing the present moment.

Manu was first introduced to the world of meditation whilst studying for her MBA where, paradoxically, the curriculum required her to attend a mandatory meditation course. 

Highly sceptical about it she recalls telling her parents that it was for old people only! 

But when the Covid Pandemic hit, it was the practice of meditation and mindfulness that helped her through. 

Mindfulness and journaling helped Manu to 

look inside herself, stop second guessing and over analysing and begin to focus on filling her inner cup first before trying to fill the cups of others.

Join us as Manu shares practical tips on how to cultivate mindfulness in our daily lives and harness the power of introspection to navigate life's challenges with grace and clarity..

Growing up in a Mormon household steeped in political conservatism, Madeleine Hahn was raised in an environment where skepticism towards climate science was prevalent.

Madeleine faced a profound battle as she sought to reconcile her family's conservative political beliefs with her own evolving understanding of the world, with it coming to the fore when she applied for and was offered the opportunity to intern at the Obama White House!

The prevailing sentiment in Madeleines family was that climate change was nothing more than a political ploy, a narrative propagated by opposing ideologies rather than a scientifically grounded reality. 

This viewpoint posed a significant challenge to Madeleine's burgeoning awareness of environmental issues as she travelled the world to places as far afield as Samoa, Iraq and Lebanon.

While her upbringing instilled in her a strong sense of faith and family loyalty, her parents also instilled a thirst for knowledge. 

This intellectual curiosity has led her to becoming a Gates PhD Scholar at Cambridge University delving deeper into the disparity between culture and the overwhelming evidence supporting the reality of global warming.

Along with two colleagues, Madeleine has established Rootd, an organisation with a mission to mobilise millions by connecting them with the right climate action opportunity for them. 

Join us as Madeleine shares the story of her extraordinary journey.

Love, loss, compassion and the human spirit, today’s episode has it all!

I’m joined today by Karl Connor, a remarkable individual whose journey through adversity has transformed him into a beacon of hope and resilience in the realm of mental health advocacy..

As a mental health ambassador, Karl's mission transcends personal tragedy. He tragically lost his first wife to illness, an experience that fundamentally altered the course of his life. Karl and his family found solace and support through Listening Ear, a charity that provided invaluable assistance to him and his children during their darkest moments. 

Inspired by the kindness and support he received, Karl now serves as a trustee for the organization, paying forward the compassion that helped him navigate his own journey.

But Karl's story doesn't end there. In a remarkable gesture of love and remembrance, he reached out to none other than Richard Branson, the visionary entrepreneur and founder of Virgin Group and who Karl and his wife had met a few year before. 

Karl’s wife had told Branson that she didn’t have long to live and asked him if he would take her on his spacecraft. She passed before Virgin Galactic was launched and Karl reached out to Branson to ask if he would take a photo of his wife into space. 

Branson honored Karl's request, demonstrating the extraordinary impact of human connection and empathy.

For someone so young, my guest today has a very mature head on his shoulders.

At the age of 14 Shiven was struck down by a life changing illness that could have left him paralysed. Through the care and love of his parents and his own determination, Shiven overcame that illness to get back on his feet within 6 months.

This sparked a desire in Shiven and Aged 18, he decided to drop out of college and follow his passion to be an entrepreneur. 

However, he quickly found out that it was not as simple as people make out on Instagram and Youtube!

Shiven found himself at a low point in his life, and, after 5 months of effort, which felt like 5 years, Shiven was questioning his self worth and questioning his decisions.

It was at that low point that he found my first podcast guest, Adele Chee who coached him to reframe his situation and to believe in himself and his process.

Always keen to learn, Shiven talks about the importance of long-term thinking and the compounding effect of resilience and consistency. Shiven shares his success mantra of thinking broad and going narrow, and he provides advice on finding mentors and dealing with regrets in life.

You’re privileged to receive spam! 

In a world where spam emails flood our inboxes and unwanted messages inundate our digital lives, it might sound counterintuitive to consider spam as a privilege. 

However, as my guest today, Smita Ram says, receiving spam is an indicator that you have something rather than nothing.

Smita Ram is the CEO of Rang De, a peer to peer lending platform that brings colour into the lives of small businesses, farmers and artisans in rural India. 

These businesses have very little by way of digital or credit footprints so don’t get spammed for loans and credit yet are the people who need access to funding to grow their business.

Smita shares how she and her husband Ram spent some years in the UK during which they contrasted life in a British village with life in an Indian village. This spurred them on to do something to change the lives of people in rural India and they returned to India with a plan to establish Rang De.

Smita shared how Rang De not only contributes to individual success stories but also fosters a ripple effect of positive change within entire communities.

Over the years, Rang De has amassed a track record of transforming lives. 100,000  entrepreneurs and families have benefited from the organization's credit initiatives, breaking the cycle of poverty and creating avenues for sustainable development.

The quality of your life depends on the quality of your networks and today’s guest has one heck of a network!

My guest today is the energetic and ever enthusiastic Connector Queen herself, Katrina Fuhrman.

Katrina has always been interested in the human connection starting from an early age at school. As she grew older, she took advantage of social media to extend her network, using the transformative power of networking as an invaluable tool for personal and professional growth.

Networking feels alien to many of us and Katrina shares the importance of adopting a giving mindset in networking and how approaching interactions with a genuine desire to add value to others can lead to more meaningful and lasting relationships.

We talk about the idea of 6 degrees of separation that we are all interconnected,  and have boundless possibilities for meaningful connections. We even set ourselves a challenge to see how many degrees of separation there are between us and Oprah Winfrey! 

Welcome to Success Matters, my guest today is ADHD Family Coach Simone Machell.

Simone helps families where children have ADHD.

Children with ADHD often face challenges in their childhood and teenage years and it’s crucial to provide them with understanding and support. 

In a shocking statistic, Simone shares with us that children with ADHD are likely to suffer 20,000 more negative corrections than a child without!

Having ADHD herself, Simone is on a mission to ensure that children don’t suffer the same challenges that she did growing up. 

With a background in teaching and a degree in supporting children with Special Needs, Simone has developed a framework to help parents and children reframe their relationships so that they pause, reflect and understand the child's perspective.

There's so much to learn from Simone and I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.