Truth & Spectacle

Leaders today face a world on fire, demanding constant adaptation and creative reinvention. Psychological safety is the essential tool for this shift—not as a "comfort zone," but as shared permission for candor. Here is how leaders can practically foster a culture where teams are safe to fail, imagine, and leap together.

This is a part of a series about big leaps and a culture of reinvention.

Ivan Pols and Alex Mecklenburg, co-founders of Truth & Spectacle, reflect on a year of unsticking leadership teams through their Big Leap methodology. They dismantle the myth that iteration is better than bravery, and talk about why a solid foundation is the only place you can jump from. From high-stress charities to sticky boards, learn the vital difference between agreement, alignment, and compliance—and why your strategy is just a story waiting to be told brilliantly to inspire action.

Recorded in London in January 2026.
Hosted by: Alex Mecklenburg and Ivan Pols.
Truth & Spectacle

In their latest podcast episode, Ivan Pols and Alex Mecklenburg, co-founders of Truth & Spectacle, explore the vital role of storytelling in organisations. They emphasize how effective narratives can inspire action and foster a sense of community within teams.

Ivan and Alex reflect on their journey since 2016, during which they have collaborated with a diverse range of clients, from NGOs to tech start-ups. They highlight that the stories developed through their workshops have significantly enhanced organisational culture, clarified strategies, and strengthened teams. By transforming abstract concepts into actionable behaviours, they help organisations turn strategies with initiatives.

A key theme in their discussion is the concept of inclusive creativity. Both Ivan and Alex believe that everyone has a unique story to tell, and their workshops are designed to encourage participants to share their perspectives. This collective storytelling approach allows organisations to weave together diverse narratives into a cohesive vision.

The conversation also addresses the challenges organisations face today, particularly considering rapid technological advancements like AI. Ivan points out that while machine learning offers new tools, the human element—critical thinking and creativity—remains irreplaceable. They stress the importance of empowering employees to ask insightful questions that lead to positive impact.

Alex explores the idea of prompt engineering as a trend, emphasizing that teaching organisations to ask better questions can enhance storytelling capabilities. This approach not only fosters creativity but also encourages a culture of inquiry that can adapt to changing circumstances.

To tackle these challenges, Ivan and Alex have evolved their workshop into what they call The Big Leap. This workshop aims to create a safe space for participants to explore complex strategies and translate them into simple actions. Inspired by Warren Berger's book, “A More Beautiful Question”, they focus on crafting ambitious yet actionable inquiries that can catalyse change.

They also draw from David Kord Murray’s, Head of Innovation at Intuit, concept of long-distance connection creation, encouraging participants to combine seemingly unrelated ideas to generate innovative solutions. This method taps into the brain's natural ability to find connections, leading to those "aha moments" that fuel creativity.

Ivan emphasizes the importance of psychological safety in their workshops. By fostering an environment where participants feel comfortable sharing ideas without fear of judgment, they facilitate deeper understanding among team members. The result is often surprising: individuals discover new facets about their colleagues, enhancing collaboration and trust.

In conclusion, Ivan and Alex invite organisations looking to turn strategy into initiatives and actions to contact them about the Big Leap workshop. Their mission is clear: empower teams to tell better stories that resonate both internally and externally.

[email protected]

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We discuss what brand story coaching is and why do we think it matters.

Our simple definition of a brand is that it’s a collective story that helps a group of people achieve a common goal. 

Organisations should be consistent with that story when they communicate with the world and themselves, and express it beautifully wherever they do their work.

As brand coaches we help organisations understand the stories that already exist within, make them visible to everybody, and get alignment and agreement on what their core story is. We then enable people to tell that story themselves in the best possible way with the help of creative tools.

In coaching one of the core objectives is to build accountability, and if you coach teams it’s all about building shared accountability. 

If you translate that into brand coaching it’s about building shared accountability around one story, one brand. Not relying on one department and asking them to tell that story to a client or audience, but being able, comfortable and confident to tell that story right here and now yourself.

The biggest change moving from brand experts and consultants to a methodology of coaching and co-ownership of the brand is that everyone understands the core story, and owns how they share that story. It could be how they represent the brand in a service, or how they introduce themselves to clients, or how they react in social media.

• We’ve discovered that brand coaching enables our clients to get down to the core, to cut down all the noise that is around things. 

• It’s vital to first unearth the stories that already exist across the organisation, let everyone hear them, and then craft them into a brand story.

• Brand coaching helps create accountability, and gives people permission to do things themselves and own them. In an organisation or a product team, you do that collectively. We all have shared permission, accountability, and responsibility for the brand. 

Which is really exciting because suddenly its your brand and the story belongs to you.

That’s pretty cool.

Alex Mecklenburg is a creative business and leadership coach at Consequential CIC, a fellow of the RSA,  and storyteller in residence at SIX, the Global Social Innovation Exchange. Ivan Pols is the creative director of what3words. Together they are the co-founders of Truth & Spectacle, creative consultancy coaches.   

Subscribe to this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.

Find us on LinkedIn: Alex or Ivan / Twitter: Alex or Ivan

Drop us an email

When we started Truth & Spectacle, it was done with the belief that people are more creative than they imagine.

We assumed that being ‘creative’ was something that teams and organisations wanted to be - but we learned quickly that it wasn’t that straightforward. To many people creativity is a ‘gift you’re born with’, for others creativity evokes stories of ego, genius, loudness or elitism.

We'd like people to experience creativity as an inclusive, more gentle force.

In this podcast Alex and Ivan talk about the definitions of creativity, the associations of the “creative” label and some simple, useful principles to work with.

We discuss how about how we design creative processes that balance idea ownership and craft, the delight of making new connections in teams, and being surprised by your colleagues.

Creativity is a journey that has lots of paths, many are correct. We’ve even transformed our own way of being creative.

It’s a skill you can learn. Teams can get better at questioning, connecting, imagining and making.

If you’re interested in this topic for your organisation we’ve designed a new, more inclusive workshop. [create space] is a workshop game that’s designed to help every member of your team develop their ability to think creatively about big questions and turn their ideas into actions. It’s surprising and fun and you can see more here.

Look after yourselves wherever you are and keep creating. We hope you enjoy the episode.

Alex Mecklenburg is a creative business and leadership coach at Consequential CIC, a fellow of the RSA, and storyteller in residence at SIX, the Global Social Innovation Exchange. Ivan Pols is the creative director of what3words. Together they are the co-founders of Truth & Spectacle, a creative consultancy.

Subscribe to this podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.

Find us on LinkedIn: Alex or Ivan / Twitter: Alex or Ivan

For more news about Truth & Spectacle sign up to our newsletter.

Stuff we mentioned in the show:

[create space] - a workshop game

Slack - business messaging

Figma - UX design tool

Truth & Spectacle - creative business consultants

Monday - project management

Frame.io - video management platform

Since our business and personal worlds have suddenly relied on video calls like never before, we thought it would interesting to talk about the new challenges of running workshops, what virtual work is, how to make deep connections with colleagues and how to do this with no post-it notes or snacks.

Alex and Ivan discuss their experiences and share what works for them. It turns out that virtual workshops are a powerful tool for teams to be creative and they’ll definitely be part of a new blended tool set for working on certain kinds of problems as groups.

We talk about how to get prepared for a workshop, how to help the participants be present and give them control, the difference between virtual connections and working in real spaces, how to use provocations to stimulate creativity and team bonding, the tech platforms we prefer and embracing working open.

We hope you enjoy it.

Alex is a creative business coach and an associate at the digital think tank Doteveryone, a fellow of the RSA, and storyteller in residence at SIX, the Global Social Innovation Exchange. Ivan is the creative director of what3words. They are co-founders of Truth & Spectacle, a creative consultancy.

Find us on LinkedIn: Alex or Ivan / Twitter: Alex or Ivan

Subscribe to our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.

For more news about Truth & Spectacle sign up to our newsletter.

Stuff we mentioned in the show:

Miro Board - white board tool

Mural - white board tool

Zoom - video conferencing

Provoke - the webinar game

Google G Suite - slides and docs

It’s Spring 2020, and we’re in the middle of the Covid-19 meltdown. Alex Mecklenburg and Ivan Pols had a conversation about how much has changed, what hasn’t changed, and what we’re doing now.

The big questions seem to be more urgent that ever, but we can do small things that make a difference today. For ourselves and others.

Alex is a creative business coach and an associate at the digital think tank Doteveryone, a fellow of the RSA, and storyteller in residence at SIX, the Global Social Innovation Exchange. Ivan is the creative director of what3words, working with a world class in-house marketing and product team.

We talked about what we’re doing now, the mass emotional roller coaster, dealing with new expectations, kindness, grief, and teams that dream. Among other things.

Find us on LinkedIn: Alex or Ivan / Twitter: Alex or Ivan

Subscribe to our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Stitcher.

For more news about Truth & Spectacle sign up to our newsletter.

Stuff we mentioned in the show:

Miro Board - white board tool

Mural - white board tool

Remo - video conferencing

Zoom - video conferencing

WeTransfer - file sharing

Provoke - the webinar game

MegaPops are Megan Egan & Poppy Cumming-Spain, a creative team working at Creature London. They’re recent grads of SCA 2.0 and have pretty much launched themselves into the industry on a rocket fuelled with mad energy. Alex met them while mentoring at SCA and was struck by their charisma, honesty and wonderful work.

We met them in Shoreditch in early May and talked about how they built their team brand, MegaPops, the work they rate and how they pursue truth. They also shared their opinions about the state of “purpose advertising” and the value of doing real things rather than talking about them. It’s a refreshing perspective from smart people whom we hope go far.

Meg & Pops can be found at megapops.party

Katharina is a Business Psychologist and the Managing Director at InnovationBubble. They are a business consultancy who use behavioural science to understand how organisations and brands really work.

She’s advised companies like Virgin Atlantic, TalkTalk and Habito on finding the hidden psychological influences that affect their business strategies.

She talks about the difference between truth and purpose, the importance of getting your values right from the beginning, the facts about fluffy towels in travel and eye implants.

Jonathan McKay joins Ivan Pols and Alex Mecklenburg to discuss how Girl Effect use brands to improve the lives of girls around the world, and the role of truth and spectacle in reaching them.

Jonathan is the Senior Director of Create at Girl Effect, who were founded by the Nike Foundation in 2004, and today are an independent creative non-profit working from nine global locations and active in over 50 countries.