The Independent Minds

Working With and Supporting Employees with Addiction

In this thought‑provoking episode of The Independent Minds, host Michael Millward speaks with Jeff Jones of thefamilyrecoverysolution.com to explore one of the workplace’s most uncomfortable realities: addiction.

Drawing on his personal history and professional experience as a therapist, Jeff explains why addiction is rarely a simple, individual problem. As he puts it, “families are on the front lines… they see this first,” and employers often become the next crucial part of the support system.

Together, Michael and Jeff examine how addiction develops, why behavioural changes at work matter, and how workplace culture can either reduce risks or unintentionally amplify them.

The conversation challenges black‑and‑white thinking and instead encourages employers to recognise the “shades of grey” that define each person’s relationship with addiction. Jeff outlines what a truly supportive employer looks like—one who focuses on whole‑person wellbeing, builds trust, avoids harmful cultural norms, and creates systems that help employees recover rather than fall further.

Whether you’re an HR professional, a leader, or simply someone interested in healthier workplaces, this episode will make you think differently about addiction, support, and the role work plays in recovery.

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The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, the all-in-one podcasting platform, that really does make creating content so easy.

Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices.

Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

Fit For Work – The Annual Health Test from York Test; assesses 39-health markers.

Use discount code MIND25.

Being a Guest

We recommend the podcasting guest training available from WPLC.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

Thank you for listening.

Why Your Marketing Data Is Letting You Down

Dive into one of the most persistent, and costly, marketing challenges: businesses are making decisions with data that is incomplete, misunderstood, or simply wrong.

Michael Millward speaks with TJ Kelly, a digital sales and marketing practitioner who was with Tier Eleven at the time of recording, but now works with Wicked.

TJ explains, the explosion of devices, platforms, privacy rules, and competing tech ecosystems has fragmented the data marketers rely on. The result? Organisations confidently make decisions based on numbers that only tell half the story.

Michael and TJ explore:

• Why intuition-led marketing still dominates—and why it’s dangerous
• How big tech platforms limit what businesses can see
• The difference between new visitors and truly new customers
• Why attribution is outdated, and contribution is the future
• How anonymised tracking protects users while empowering businesses
• The critical importance of knowing your true cost of customer acquisition

This episode is a must‑listen for anyone involved in marketing, sales, digital strategy, or business growth. It won’t tell you what to think—but it will make you rethink what you think you know about your data.

Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds

The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, the all-in-one podcasting platform, that really does make creating content so easy.

Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices.

Visit Threefor information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

Fit For Work – The Annual Health Test from York Test; assesses 39-health markers. 

Use discount code MIND25.

Being a Guest

We recommend the podcasting guest training available from WPLC.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

Thank you for listening.

Inner Conflict, Ambition, and the Psychology of Work

In this thought‑provoking episode of The Independent Minds, host Michael Millward sits down with author, hypnotist, veteran, and former intelligence officer Ryan Christensen, the Belief Engineer to explore why so many people struggle internally even while striving externally — and how understanding the mind can transform the way we work.

Drawing on insights from his book Winner Peace: How to End Inner Conflict and Make Success Inevitable, Ryan explains how subconscious patterns, insecure attachment styles, and early life experiences shape our adult behaviour; especially in the workplace.

Ryan introduces two powerful concepts: the Cage, where self‑doubt keeps people from reaching their potential, and the Treadmill, where high performers run endlessly in pursuit of validation.

Together, Michael and Ryan:

• how managers can distinguish genuine ambition from performance driven by insecurity,
• why some employees thrive while others burn out, and
• how leaders can better understand the motivations, strengths, and vulnerabilities of their teams.

They discuss the difference between working to build a life and working to prove a self, the role of ego in workplace politics, and the subtle signs that reveal whether someone is driven by inspiration or fear.

This conversation blends psychology, leadership, personal development, and lived experience, offering managers, HR professionals, and curious employees a fresh lens on human behaviour at work.

As always, The Independent Minds doesn’t tell you what to think, but it certainly gives you plenty to think about.

Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds

The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, the all-in-one podcasting platform, that really does make creating content so easy.

Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices.

Visit Threefor information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

Fit For Work – The Annual Health Test from York Test; assesses 39-health markers.

Use discount code MIND25.

Being a Guest

We recommend the podcasting guest training available from WPLC.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

Thank you for listening.

Exploring the role of managers and leaders in change management

In this thought‑provoking episode of The Independent Minds Michael Millward meet leadership expert, author, and long‑time educator Paul Thornton to explore a simple idea: improving the status quo.

Drawing on over 20 years in corporate America and two decades teaching leadership and management, Paul shares how small, continuous improvements—and the mindset behind them—can transform teams, organisations, and individual careers.

Michael and Paul

• Unpack the subtle but powerful distinction between managingand leading,
• Examine why many workplaces still operate with expectations rooted in the Industrial Revolution, and
• Explore why shifting from command‑and‑control to collaboration requires both managers and employees to unlearn deeply ingrained behaviours.

Paul explains his “three Ds” of leadership—Directing, Discussing, and Delegating—and how these approaches help people think for themselves, solve problems independently, and ultimately contribute to a healthier, more adaptive organisation.

Rich with practical advice for leaders, managers, and anyone navigating incremental or transformational change, this is a conversation about developing people, evolving processes, and creating workplaces where improvement becomes a natural part of everyday work.

If you’re interested in leadership, organisational culture, or simply making things better without blowing everything up, this episode will make you think—exactly as The Independent Minds intends.

Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds

The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, the all-in-one podcasting platform, that really does make creating content so easy.

Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices.

Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

Fit For Work – The Annual Health Test from York Test; assesses 39-health markers. Use discount code MIND25.

Being a Guest

We recommend the podcasting guest training available from WPLC.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

Thank you for listening.

Exploring the often overlooked essential first steps

This episode of The Independent Minds dives into the real, often unseen challenges of taking a founder‑led business beyond its home borders. Michael Millward speaks with international growth specialist Nadia Pace, whose career has been dedicated to helping organisations in Malta, Greece, Cyprus, the UK, Africa and Asia navigate the complex journey of expanding into new jurisdictions.

Drawing directly from the conversation “Internationalization can be very costly, especially for small, medium-sized enterprises” and “having a trusted local partner can facilitate a great deal” this episode explores:

• Why founders’ emotional attachment to their business can both drive and complicate international growth
• How to choose the right market based on data, sustainability and future potential
• The importance of cultural alignment, political stability and economic context
• Why partnerships, joint ventures and acquisitions can accelerate expansion
• The hidden pitfalls: currency restrictions, time‑zone strain, employment law surprises, and the realities of starting from zero in a new country
• The value of independent advisors who can spot blind spots founders may miss

Nadia shares candid insights from her work with SMEs and founder‑managed organisations, highlighting the delicate balance between ambition, practicality and organisational readiness. Michael brings his HR and compliance expertise to the discussion, adding real‑world examples of how seemingly small details; like marital status or local employment norms; can derail international expansion plans.

This is a thoughtful, experience‑rich conversation for founders, leaders and anyone curious about what it really takes to grow a business internationally.

As always, The Independent Minds doesn’t tell you what to think, but it certainly aims to make you think.

Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds

The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, the all-in-one podcasting platform, that really does make creating content so easy.

Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices.

Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

Fit For Work – The Annual Health Test from York Test; assesses 39-health markers.

Use discount code MIND25.

Being a Guest

We recommend the podcasting guest training available from WPLC.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

Thank you for listening.

Creativity, Process, and the Future of Recruitment

In this thought‑provoking episode of Independent Minds, host Michael Millward meets Darren Tompkins,  founder and CEO of Veda Ray Companies. Together they explore the often‑misunderstood relationship between creativity and process—and why getting that balance right matters more than ever in today’s workplace.

Drawing on a career that spans the US military, oil and gas, executive recruitment, and even film production, Darren shares how structure shaped his early professional life and how creativity became the essential counterweight. As he puts it, “Variety is the spice of life and creativity is too.”

Michael and Darren dig into some of the most pressing challenges in modern recruitment:

• Why the post‑COVID world has shifted from an employer’s market to a candidate‑driven market
• How cultural fit now matters as much as technical skill
• The dangers of “creative” CVs that cross the line into fiction
• Why honesty, authenticity, and understanding personal motivators are becoming the real differentiators
• How employers can—and must—be more imaginative in how they attract and retain talent

Darren illustrates these points with memorable real‑world examples, including the warehouse manager role where candidates must be comfortable working alongside “two giant dogs… a Cane Corso and a big Dobrin.”

This episode is rich with practical insights for employers, HR professionals, recruiters, and job seekers alike. It challenges traditional thinking, encourages more human‑centred hiring, and highlights how creativity—used responsibly—can transform recruitment outcomes.

As always, The Independent Minds doesn’t tell you what to think, but it certainly aims to make you think.

Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds

The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, the all-in-one podcasting platform, that really does make creating content so easy.

Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices.

Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

Fit For Work – The Annual Health Test from York Test; assesses 39-health markers.

Use discount code MIND25.

Being a Guest

We recommend the podcasting guest training available from WPLC.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

Thank you for listening.

The No-Fluff Guide to Ranking Higher and Becoming Your Customers’ First Choice

This episode of Independent Minds dives into the real meaning of “getting found” in the digital world not through gimmicks, hacks, or gaming the system, but by helping people solve real problems. Michael Millward speaks with Matt Diamante, founder and CEO of HeyTony.caand author of Get Found, a practical guide to SEO that strips away the mystery and exposes the strategy behind ranking well on Google and AI-driven search.

Matt explains why effective SEO is fundamentally about helping others first, not self-promotion. As he puts it in the transcript, “SEO is solving people’s problems… you can be that solution, whether it’s with content, a product, or a service.”

Matt shares the story behind the name Hey Tony, the importance of building goodwill, and how offering genuinely useful content — even free courses — creates informed, confident clients who understand what they need and why. 

Matt also highlights the dangers of SEO “scammers,” the value of educating your audience, and the long-game nature of digital marketing: “It takes time for Google to pick up your site, start trusting you, and start ranking you.”

You will learn:

• Why SEO is really about answering real questions people are asking
• How helpful content builds trust, credibility, and better client relationships
• Why visibility alone isn’t enough — expertise matters
• How data guides content choices, formats, and audience targeting
• The role of patience, consistency, and authenticity in online success

This thoughtful conversation blends practical guidance with real-world examples, making complex ideas accessible and actionable. 

Whether you're a business owner, marketer, or simply curious about how online visibility really works, Matt’s insights will make you rethink how you show up online — and why helping people is the most powerful strategy of all.

Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds

The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, the all-in-one podcasting platform, that really does make creating content so easy.

Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices.

Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

Fit For Work – The Annual Health Test from York Test; assesses 39-health markers.

Use discount code MIND25.

Being a Guest

We recommend the podcasting guest training available from WPLC.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

Thank you for listening

Lessons from connecting teams in therapy businesses for every business

In this episode of Independent Minds, host Michael Millward speaks with Patrick Eilers, a licensed professional counsellor and master’s‑level coach based in Detroit, Michigan, about one of the most pressing challenges in modern therapeutic and coaching practices: how to reconnect disconnected teams.

Patrick draws on a decade of clinical experience across outpatient settings, specialist recovery programmes, and supervisory roles to explain why so many counselling and coaching practices struggle with culture, cohesion, and turnover. As he puts it, many owners “have a hard time… finding that balance between being an owner and also being a therapist” a tension that often leads to weak systems, unclear expectations, and overwhelmed leaders.

Michael and Patrick explore:

• Why therapists are trained as independent practitioners; and how this creates friction when they enter team‑based workplaces. Patrick notes that new clinicians move from a highly supported academic environment to one where they are “left in the open, without a lot of support”.
• The rise of virtual therapy and its unintended consequences, including professional isolation and fragmented organisational cultures.
• The “four P’s” framework Patrick uses to help practice owners build healthier organisations: philosophy, population, process, and ongoing education.
• The mindset shift owners must make; from seeing themselves as independent practitioners to recognising that they are responsible for creating the conditions in which others can thrive. As Patrick emphasises, “your business… is an extension of you as a therapist”.
• Why turnover in mental health roles is so high, and what leaders can do to create workplaces people want to stay in.

This conversation offers practical insights not only for counselling and coaching practices, but for any organisation navigating the transition from individual expertise to collective performance. Thought‑provoking, candid, and rich with real‑world experience, it’s an episode designed as Michael says, not to tell you what to think, but to make you think..

Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds

The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, the all-in-one podcasting platform, that really does make creating content so easy.

Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices.

Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

Fit For Work – The Annual Health Test from York Test; assesses 39-health markers.

Use discount code MIND25.

Being a Guest

We recommend the podcasting guest training available from WPLC.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

Thank you for listening.

Making discussions visual transforms how organisations think.

Host Michael Millward chats with Australian business strategist and visual model architect Sharlene Lynch about a deceptively simple idea: that transforms how organisations think, communicate, and collaborate: making thinking visual.

Sharlene explains how she moved from delivering feel‑good keynote speeches to creating presentations that genuinely changed behaviour — all by shifting from words to visual frameworks. She describes how 50% of the human brain is dedicated to visual processing, and why teams who aren’t shown a shared picture will each create their own. The result? Misalignment, confusion, and conflict. Her solution is the “third point”: a visual model that everyone can see, understand, and act upon.

Across the conversation, Sharlene introduces her four‑model communication system — results, answers, process, and outcomes — and shows how organisations can use it to clarify complex ideas, reduce conflict, and build cohesive teams. She shares real‑world examples, including a land‑development company that reduced a 47‑step process to four simple visual stages and secured 52 qualified investors in just six minutes.

The discussion explores:

• Why people create conflicting mental images when visuals are missing
• How visual frameworks improve communication, especially in difficult conversations
• The role of visual thinking in team cohesion, conflict resolution, and organisational change
• How extraction sessions reveal hidden “gold” in people’s thinking
• Why even brilliant experts struggle to communicate without visual models
• How Sharlene’s Think Rapt framework works for organisations, teams, and even personal development

This is a conversation about clarity, collaboration, and the power of seeing what you mean. As always on Independent Minds, we don’t tell you what to think — but we do hope to make you think.

Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds

The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, the all-in-one podcasting platform, that really does make creating content so easy.

Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices.

Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

Fit For Work – The Annual Health Test from York Test; assesses 39-health markers.

Use discount code MIND25.

Being a Guest

We recommend the podcasting guest training available from WPLC.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

Thank you for listening.

Understanding core motivations can transform the way we work, lead, and collaborate.

In this thought‑provoking episode of The Independent Minds, host Michael Millward chats with Kimberly Collins, Enneagram expert and author of Enneagram in the Workplace, to explore how understanding core motivations can transform the way we work, lead, and collaborate.

Kimberly shares her personal journey from burnout in a fast‑growing orthodontic practice to discovering the Enneagram as a powerful tool for self‑awareness, emotional intelligence, and healthier workplace relationships. Together, Michael and Kimberly unpack what the Enneagram really is, why it asks whyrather than what, and how uncovering our core fears and desires can help us respond—not react—in moments of stress or conflict.

They also dive into the practical realities of using the Enneagram at work:

• why it must start with individual self‑reflection,
• how teams can use it to build empathy, communication, and psychological safety,
• why no Enneagram type is “better” than another,
•  and what organisations must consider before adopting it as part of cultural or leadership development.

Looking ahead, Kimberly explains why emotional intelligence is becoming a defining skill for modern leaders—and how tools like the Enneagram can support more harmonious, productive workplaces.

This conversation doesn’t tell you what to think, but it will certainly make you think.

Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for The Independent Minds

The Independent Minds is made on Zencastr, the all-in-one podcasting platform, that really does make creating content so easy.

Travel – With discounted membership of the Ultimate Travel Club, you can travel anywhere at trade prices.

Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote my referral code WPFNUQHU.

Fit For Work – The Annual Health Test from York Test; assesses 39-health markers.

Use discount code MIND25.

Being a Guest

We recommend the podcasting guest training available from WPLC.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscriber.

Thank you for listening.