The Pin Drop Podcast

Deborah is a cherished friend, mentor and someone I consider a guiding light in my life. Her own story draws on some extraordinary life experiences from the mountains of Peru, to the mid Pacific Ocean.

Deborah is a leadership communication expert who has worked for many years with senior execs from Accenture, AmEx and the MOD to help leaders and speakers discover a more empowering narrative for their lives and their organisations.

Her book, ‘Your Leadership Story’ is now a transformational programme for speakers to find their message and story in order to inspire themselves and others. She inspires and coaches speakers and leaders to evolve how they think about who they are in their role, and how they can influence others to leave a legacy that matters. 

Debs combines her professional background in clinical and business psychology, neurolinguistics, and hypnotherapy with her many extraordinary life experiences: sailing the world’s oceans, being held at gunpoint, working behind the cameras at Pinewood and Shepperton Studios and leading training around the world to help leaders to become extraordinary. 

And I am lucky enough to say that Deborah has coached and continues to coach me from time to time as I develop my own story and deliver keynotes to my own corporate clients. She helped me evolve what I thought was a flash in the pan TV appearance into a purpose-driven story that ultimately got me a Tedx talk and paved the way for me to become a motivational speaker and an author in the making..!

Find out more about Deborah at www.deborahhenley.com 

Don't forget to share, rate/review, download and subscribe to the Podcast, this helps us to continue growing the audience and continue to secure incredible guests to inspire you to be a little more...intrepid.

Thanks for listening!
Vicki 

Tom Williams is a former professional rugby player, turned transition coach and keynote speaker. 

What lies behind Tom’s story is something I think we can all identify with to some extent. Which is the power of influence. Making decisions that in hindsight, we might regret. And then having to live with the aftermath of that for a period of time, or even forever. 

Tom had a highly successful rugby career and played for Harlequins for 13 years until 2009 when he was at the centre of the "Bloodgate" scandal.

A bizarre chain of events that in rugby at that time were worryingly ‘normal practise’.

Tom was initially given a 12-month ban, but it was later reduced to four months due to his cooperation with the investigation. 

The incident had a significant impact on the reputation of Harlequins and the sport of rugby union as a whole. It exposed unethical behaviour and undermined the integrity of the game. It left Tom unfairly stripped of his playing career and left to deal with the stigma of the incident for many years after it happened.

Tom has since gone on to become a highly-sought after executive coach and delivers knock-out keynotes on the subjects of integrity, coercive leadership, pressure to perform and the detrimental effects of ‘winning at all costs.’

Don't forget to share, rate/review, download and subscribe to the Podcast, this helps us to continue growing the audience and continue to secure incredible guests to inspire you to be a little more...intrepid.

Thanks for listening!
Vicki 

Pamela Maynard is the CEO of Avanade, a global digital consulting firm. Pam has been with Avanade since its inception and has held various leadership positions within the company before becoming CEO. Pam is a recognized thought leader in the technology industry and has been named one of the "Most Powerful Women in Technology" by the National Diversity Council and more recently “Women of the Year’ at the EveryWoman Tech Awards.

Pam is also a long-standing client of mine, dating back to the days when I owned a Barre Studio, where she was a regular at the 7am classes, she has since shown her true power potential with weekly weightlifting sessions. Pam and Avanade were a huge part of the success of Girls Who Dare securing the World Record for our Pacific crossing and I’m excited to share that Avanade are also going to be supporting my next adventure, the Race Across America. 

Why have Pam on a podcast about facing fears, sharing stories of adversity and human potential? Well, aside from applying a serious amount of grit to every single training session I introduce her to, Pam is an exceptional leader. 

Pam is all about putting people-first, making a genuine human impact in the world of technology. She is also a very proud black woman in what continues to be a very white, male-dominated industry. The ceilings she has broken are too many to count and while she may not (yet) have tested her determination and deep resilience in physical adventure (yet!) the battles she has taken on to close the digital divide (especially for young people, women and minorities) and the humility she displays in everything she does have changed the landscape of the world she operates in and inspired so many to follow in her footsteps.

I'm pretty sure you're going to love her nearly as much as I do...

www.avanade.com
LinkedIn @PamelaMaynard

Don't forget to share, rate/review, download and subscribe to the Podcast, this helps us to continue growing the audience and continue to secure incredible guests to inspire you to be a little more...intrepid.

Thanks for listening!
Vicki 

Carla Devlin is the very definition of a 'tour de force.' And I am so honoured to say she if a friend and fellow Crossfit devotee at my local gym. But that's not the only way our paths have crossed. During treatment for triple negative invasive breast cancer in 2018, she watched me on SAS Who Dares Wins and decided that if I could plunge myself in ice holes high up in the frozen lakes of the Andes,  she could withstand the agony of wearing a chemotherapy ice cap. 

Not only that, she sat in her hospital bed and wrote her application to appear on the show the following year, seeing it as the perfect 'goal' for which to regain her health and fitness after her treatment had finished. 

Carla is also mother to 4 children under the age of 13. She is the main carer for her sister who has downs syndrome, following the devastating death of both her parents within a couple of years of each other. 

In her 'former life' Carla also competed at the Beijing Olympics as a Team GB rower in 2008, having discovered rowing at university where she was one of only 4 girls (amidst 50 boys) to train semi-professionally.

Carla got through to the final stages of SAS Who Dares Wins in 2020 and astounded the DS with her phenomenal mental attitude at times when her physical fitness was not where it had been pre-cancer. 

Carla is now a Business Development Manager for a batch testing company for banned substances in elite sport. She continues to be an all round legend and is a much-loved figure within my community.

Have a listen to find out why... 

Don't forget to share, rate/review, download and subscribe to the Podcast, this helps us to continue growing the audience and continue to secure incredible guests to inspire you to be a little more...intrepid.

Thanks for listening!
Vicki 

An end-of-series special recorded LIVE at the London Podcast Show with none other than our host Vicki Anstey. 

A deep dive into some work, life updates, recent thinking and content development - and a reminder of the power of vulnerability in opening up about the impact of other people's behaviours on our lives. 

Vicki introduces a concept she has been developing; that 'Other People Are Like The Weather' and the perspective that if you can discover your true inner strength, accept that the most important relationship you will ever have is with yourself, then navigating your way through the relationships that life delivers us (in all their many colours) may just bring less friction. It may be less likely to cause you to question the essence of who you are and keep you on the life trajectory you are on. 

To discover that when you have nothing else or feel alone, you can rely on yourself is the absolute goal. That you already have inside you what you need not just to survive but to thrive. 

With thanks to SpiritLand Productions for their technical expertise and to the London Podcast Show for hosting!

Don't forget to share, rate/review, download and subscribe to the Podcast, this helps us to continue growing the audience and continue to secure incredible guests to inspire you to be a little more...intrepid.

Thanks for listening!
Vicki 

After losing nearly 75-pounds from a complete lifestyle overhaul, Dani Overbaugh discovered her one true passion - riding bikes.

While on a training ride in Panama City Beach, Florida, Dani was hit by a car and broke her leg. She was told that her competitive multisport days were likely over. Not one to be easily deterred Dani was determined to return to racing. In 2013 she became the youngest 2-person female team to complete Race Across America, setting a new record.

Shattering the stereotypes of women in ultra-sports Dani became the first woman to compete in and complete the EPIC5 Triathlon: Five Ironman distance triathlons in five days, each on a different Hawaiian Island. In 2019 Dani and her husband Jason set a new mixed 2-person record in a 1000-mile bike race, Race Across the West.

Dani is the author of best-selling book 'Fear No Distance' which  encourages people to challenge themselves to dream big and let go of limitations. She is also to be one of Vicki's teammates in the four women RAAM record attempt in June 2024.

Follow Dani @dani_overbaugh
Buy Dani's book 'Fear no distance' here

Don't forget to share, rate/review, download and subscribe to the Podcast, this helps us to continue growing the audience and continue to secure incredible guests to inspire you to be a little more...intrepid.

Thanks for listening!
Vicki 

Simon Blair is the CEO of SHB, a Commercial Property company, and  Pattrn, a design-led furniture company. He is 42, married and has 3 kids. 

Simon's upbringing was in his own words, 'different' and he lived with his father from the age of 5. He says it formed his independence from an early age, as well as his ADHD. Both of which, although the basis of much frustration, have been very useful attributes in his life.

Until his early 30s, Simon played competitive rugby and cricket. He has more recently found a replacement with running, with a focus on multi stage events and has competed in the Marathon des Sables, safari, jungle and arctic ultras (where he met Vicki). He is self-confessed in his addiction of the discipline, connection with nature, and above all, the people.

Simon's journey has been about navigating the successes and the failures of business and ultra running (with some revealing common themes between them), trying to find his own version of balance through the enjoyment of nature and embracing challenge - and in that, finding himself  a large dose of self therapy.

Simon is funny, loveable and shows his true strength through vulnerability. We think you will love this episode.

Don't forget to share, rate/review, download and subscribe to the Podcast, this helps us to continue growing the audience and continue to secure incredible guests to inspire you to be a little more...intrepid.

Thanks for listening!
Vicki 

Having served ten years as a military intelligence officer, Edd Owen-Burge now helps entrepreneurs, business owners and executives to enhance their professional performance, without being tied to their desk or giving up the things they enjoy. 

He describes himself as James Bond with a powerpoint presentation…Make of that what you will!

Edd supports people to develop their "operational resilience" using a system of tools, techniques and processes practised  in the military intelligence space and that have been proven in a variety of operations around the world. 

Edd's philanthropy is satisfied via supporting a selection of humanitarian and environmental organisations in their discreet intelligence requirements.

Edd's next new project is something we're working on together - a very ambitious and exciting programme delivering performance training across the full spectrum of human ability using a variety of diverse performance specialists from around the world. 

Watch this space! But listen to the podcast first...

Don't forget to share, rate/review, download and subscribe to the Podcast, this helps us to continue growing the audience and continue to secure incredible guests to inspire you to be a little more...intrepid.

Thanks for listening!
Vicki 

Sarah de Lagarde, is the  Global Head of Communications for an Asset Management firm in the City. She has a 20 year award-winning history in corporate communications across finance and FMCG, a double Masters and is multi-lingual.

But that’s not what we met to talk about. 

Sarah was working late on Friday, September 30 2022 when she went to rush home and pack for a trip to Germany with her family. She fell asleep on the tube and woke up at the end of the line, missing her stop. She lost her footing and fell between the train and the platform. The train pulled away and another train ran over her body resulting in life-changing, devastating injuries.

Sarah credited for keeping herself alive by thinking about two things -  her family, and the fact that she had just climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and simply refused to die in a tube accident. She had lost two limbs in the accident, but remarkably she managed to calm her breathing and get her heart rate down. Pure survival instinct is what kept her alive.

This is the most incredible, awe-inspiring story of facing adversity. An example of how fragile life is and that none of us can guarantee what may happen to us from one day to the next. But what we can control and to some extent guarantee is our attitude in response to the circumstances we are dealt.

It is a story of bravery, gratitude, perspective, hope and purpose. I hope you take as much inspiration from Sarah as I did.

Follow Sarah on Instagram @sjlagarde
Donate to Sarah's GoFundMe page for a bionic arm https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-sarah-get-a-bionic-arm

Don't forget to share, rate/review, download and subscribe to the Podcast, this helps us to continue growing the audience and continue to secure incredible guests to inspire you to be a little more...intrepid.

Thanks for listening!
Vicki 

Josie West is the UK Head of AI and IOT (yeah, we had to google it too) at global tech consultancy Avanade. She is also the Founder of 'She Flies'  a worldwide organisation that enables women to find their boldness and courageousness in extreme sports, specifically kite-surfing.

In her spare time, Josie is also a Performance Coach for career women. And we caught her just before she was about to head off to Antarctica for 6 weeks on an ice-breaker. 

Vicki had first met Josie during preparations for her Pacific row, for which  Avanade was a corporate sponsor. Josie was involved in the team that was assigned to Girls Who Dare, to equip them with as much data and knowledge as possible to secure a new World Record. 

How does someone with such a strong left-side brain for logic and reasoning, mathematics and facts also have this incredible ability to harness the power of feelings, imagination and intuition? Well, if you want to know the answer, this podcast is for you.

Josie’s mission is to create a voice that celebrates, grows and strengthens diversity of thought and emotion in technology and sport by encouraging women to redefine what it means to face fears.

She has already qualified as an 'Intrepideer' before we've even pressed record.

#leftsidebrain #rightsidebrain #emotion #fact #empowerment #intuition #strength #ai #kitesurfing

Find out more about She Flies here.
Follow Josie on Linked In @josiewest or Instagram @what_would_josie_do or @sheflies_
Enquire about coaching here. 

Don't forget to share, rate/review, download and subscribe to the Podcast, this helps us to continue growing the audience and continue to secure incredible guests to inspire you to be a little more...intrepid.

Thanks for listening!
Vicki