Work and Wellness

For episode 100, Liam joins me to debrief our Camino and answer the questions you sent through the Instagram question box. We talk about why we chose it, how we planned it, the brutal first day that taught us to respect the walk, and the moments that made us laugh, struggle and lean on each other.

It’s honest, funny and in places very personal, including what it meant to walk in the months after losing both our dads. We also get into what being offline taught us about attention, social media and living for an audience, plus the practical side if you’re thinking about your own walk: training, kit and what we’d do differently. Thank you for being here for 100 episodes.

KEY TOPICS

• Why we do one hard thing every year, and what we hoped to get from this one
• How we planned the walk, and what the first day taught us about heat, water and food
• The hardest moments, and how we looked after each other through them
• What we learned about each other after about 20 days side by side
• Walking and remembering our dads
• What going offline revealed about attention, social media and living for an audience
• What we’d pack, wear and do differently, and what to know before you try your own
• The biggest lesson we brought home: disconnect, slow down and enjoy the journey

KEYWORDS

Camino, hiking, travel, disconnecting, digital detox, relationships, resilience, grief, rich life, slowing down

What if the best way to prepare for the future isn’t trying to predict it?

In this episode, I sit down with Steph Clark, futurist, facilitator and founder of 28 Thursdays, to talk about how we can think harder about what’s next, at work and in life. Steph started out as an accountant, moved into learning and development, and now helps leaders and teams use strategic foresight to think differently about the future. She also runs the How to Friend project, which explores the art and science of friendship.

We get into why so many organisations fail to think ahead, what is happening to trust and enjoyment at work, how your brain can rehearse a crisis before it happens, and which human skills matter most as AI changes work. Then we talk friendship, and some wonderfully simple ways to stay connected when life is busy.

KEY TOPICS

• Why reinvention is usually a gradual experiment, not a burn the boats leap
• What leaders get wrong about the future, and why “what if to the what if” matters
• Why the loss of entry-level roles today creates a problem down the track
• What lean, restructured teams are doing to trust and enjoyment at work
• How futures thinking works and why it is about preparedness, not prediction
• The human skills that matter most as AI changes work: thinking, facilitation, feedback and discernment
• Why friendship is the foundation of everything else, and simple low lift ways to nurture it
• Backcasting: how to work backwards from the future you want

ABOUT STEPH

Steph Clark is a futurist, facilitator, lifelong learner and founder of 28 Thursdays, where she helps organisations challenge conventional thinking, explore emerging trends and prepare for the future. She began her career as an accountant before moving into learning and development, spending 15 years designing and facilitating leadership and learning experiences across industries and around the world.

Today she combines strategic foresight, human-centred design, innovation and facilitation to help leaders and teams think differently about what’s next. She is also the creator of Steph’s Business Bookshelf Podcast and the How to Friend project.

CONNECT WITH STEPH

LinkedIn: Steph Clark

How to Friend Substack

How to Friend Podcast

KEYWORDS

futures thinking, strategic foresight, future of work, friendship, connection, AI, leadership, career change, human skills, workplace culture

We talk a lot about what we eat, how we move and how we sleep. We talk far less about what we consume digitally.

In this episode I sit down with Jocelyn Brewer, Sydney-based psychologist and founder of Digital Nutrition, to explore what our digital diet is really doing to our brains. I had just come back from hiking the Camino with almost no access to technology, so this conversation was very much on my mind.

Jocelyn has spent over a decade translating complex research into practical, human-friendly language. We get into why screen time is far more nuanced than “good” or “bad”, what technology is doing to loneliness and friendship, how short form content trains our attention, and why we need to think carefully about outsourcing our thinking to AI. We also cover simple, realistic ways to design a digital diet that works for your life, without going cold turkey.

KEY TOPICS

• What digital nutrition is and why the “virtual vitamins” analogy keeps getting stronger
• Why screen time is more complicated than the hours on your phone
• What technology is doing to loneliness, friendship and our tolerance for human discomfort
• Why short form content trains our brains for short bursts and how to rebuild attention
• How AI is changing the way we think, work and relate to each other
• What leaders can do to reduce digital overwhelm in their teams
• Why digital detoxes often fail and what a healthy day to day digital diet looks like
• The one change Jocelyn would encourage everyone to make tomorrow

ABOUT JOCELYN

Jocelyn Brewer is a Gadigal Sydney-based psychologist and the founder of Digital Nutrition. With a master’s in cyber psychology, she is an expert on how people live, love and learn in a hyper-connected, AI-immersed world. Known for her practical, approachable style, Jocelyn translates complex research into clear language and cuts through the anxiety around screen time and tech habits.

CONNECT WITH JOCELYN

Website: https://jocelynbrewer.com/

KEYWORDS

digital wellbeing, screen time, attention, AI, loneliness, social media, sleep, burnout, leadership, mental health

We have more information, more advice and more technology available to us than ever before. But are we losing the ability to trust our own judgment?

In this episode, I share something deeply personal — how grief quietly disconnected me from my own intuition for over a year without me even realising it. It wasn’t until I spent hundreds of thousands of steps walking the Via Francigena in Italy with almost no external input that I recognised what had been missing.

This episode is about what intuition actually is, why we are outsourcing our thinking more than we realise, what constant input is doing to our judgment, and six practical ways to reconnect with the most valuable voice in the room — your own.

Key Topics

• What intuition actually is and why it is not woo-woo. It is neuroscience
• How grief, stress and overload quietly disconnect us from our own judgment
• Why outsourcing our thinking to AI and external sources is eroding a critical skill
• The default mode network and why your brain needs space to wander
• Six ways to reconnect with and strengthen your intuition and judgment
• How to distinguish true gut feel from fear, bias and old experiences

Keywords: intuition, self trust, decision making, leadership, grief, AI, judgment, self awareness, mental clarity, burnout

I just walked over 600,000 steps across Italy and one of the most powerful things I chose to do along the way was to go offline.

In this episode, I share what that space brought up because within minutes of coming back online after one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life, I immediately felt behind. Nothing had changed. I had just checked social media.

This episode is about what being offline reveals — about our identity, our attention, our relationship with comparison, and the question I kept coming back to on the road: how much of what we do are we doing because we truly want to, and how much are we doing because we want to be seen doing it?

Key Topics

• What going offline for four weeks actually revealed about identity and wellbeing
• Why comparison hit the moment social media was back and the reframe that helped
• How fragmented attention is quietly costing us more than we realise
• The 2025 study that found blocking mobile internet for two weeks improved attention, wellbeing and mental health
• Who are you when you are not performing for an audience
• How to be more intentional about what you consume and what you share

Keywordssocial media, identity, wellbeing, comparison, attention, digital boundaries, offline, mindfulness, authenticity, burnout

Your team is watching you. Every micro decision you make, every emotion you walk in with, every conversation you avoid — they notice all of it.

In this episode, I sit down with Anton Guinea, leadership coach and host of the Find Your Influence podcast, to explore how leaders influence their teams in ways that go far beyond what they say in meetings. We get into emotional contagion, the difference between influence and manipulation, what 1600 coaching conversations revealed people need most from their leaders, and how to lead with confidence when everything feels like it is falling apart.

KEY TOPICS

• Why your emotional state is contagious and how it shapes your entire team's day
• The difference between influence, impact and inspiration and why the best leaders are chasing the last two
• What 1600 coaching sessions revealed: the three things people need most from their leaders
• The micro decisions leaders make that set the standard without saying a word
• How to have difficult conversations without the feedback sandwich
• Radical Candor: care personally before you challenge directly

ABOUT ANTON
Anton Guinea is a leadership coach, researcher, speaker and author based in Australia. He is the host of the Find Your Influence podcast and has conducted over 1600 one-on-one coaching and leadership training sessions. Anton works with leaders and organisations across safety, culture and performance, with a particular focus on the human side of leadership — how leaders show up, how they influence, and how they build environments where people feel cared for, valued and supported.

CONNECT WITH ANTON
https://antonguinea.com.au/

In this episode I sit down with May Samali, founder of Human Leadership Lab and Fellow of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School, to explore the human capabilities that no algorithm will ever replicate. Because the skills that got us promoted, perfectionism, having all the answers, pushing through, are often the very same skills that now hold us back as leaders.

We get into what it really means to lead with self-awareness, why psychological safety has been completely misunderstood, how to lead through uncertainty, and what sustainable high performance actually looks like when you stop performing and start being human.

KEY TOPICS

• What human leadership actually means and why every person is a leader regardless of title
• The skills that get us promoted that become liabilities when we lead others
• Why psychological safety does not mean making everyone comfortable and what it actually requires
• How to lead through uncertainty without pretending you have answers you don't have
• The ABC framework of human leadership: adaptability, bravery and compassion
• Why wellness is a performance strategy, not a nice to have
• What AI will never be able to do and the human skills it is quietly eroding
• What May now believes about leadership that she didn't believe ten years ago

ABOUT MAY

May Samali is the founder and CEO of Human Leadership Lab, a Fellow of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School, and an executive coach, facilitator and researcher. Her career has spanned corporate law, venture capital, entrepreneurship and leadership development. May works with leaders and organisations to build the human capabilities needed to lead and thrive in a complex, rapidly changing world, with a particular focus on sustainable high performance and what it means to lead with self-awareness, bravery and compassion as AI continues to reshape how we work.

CONNECT WITH MAY

LinkedIn: May Samali

Website: humanleadershiplab.com

What does it actually cost to be ambitious and is it worth it?

In this episode, I sit down with Kelly Barrett, founder of Underwear for Humanity, to talk about one of the most honest conversations I've had on this show. Kelly grew up in commission housing, moving every six months, hiding from real estate agents. That instability built a tenacity that would take her to the London College of Fashion, through corporate life, two business closures and ultimately to one of Australia's most quietly radical purpose-led brands.

This is a conversation about ambition, identity, burnout and what it really means to build a successful life, not by society's definition, but your own. Kelly doesn't have everything figured out. She oscillates between trust and panic, between hustle and rest, between the woman she wants to be and the workaholic she knows she can become. And that honesty is exactly what makes this episode worth listening to.

Key Topics

• How growing up with financial instability shaped Kelly's ambition and resilience
• Why closing Silent Arrow, a business deeply tied to her identity, was both heartbreaking and clarifying
• The kookaburra moment in Byron Bay that became the beginning of Underwear for Humanity
• Why martyrdom in business is not a virtue and what it actually costs you
• How Kelly reckons with being a hard worker when that hard work has come at a personal cost

About Kelly

Kelly Barrett is the founder of Underwear for Humanity, a purpose-led underwear brand embedding social and environmental responsibility into every part of its business model. With over 20 years designing underwear and bras, Kelly co-founded Starcorp in 2009 which became the second largest supplier to one of Australia's largest retailers. She then founded feminist lingerie brand Silent Arrow before launching Underwear for Humanity, where every purchase provides a free pair of underwear to someone in need. A multiple award winner including Banksia and Planet Arc, Kelly is proving that business can be both commercially viable and genuinely good.

Connect with Kelly

Website: underwearforhumanity.com.au

Instagram: @underwearforhumanity

Keywords: ambition, entrepreneurship, burnout, purpose, identity, impact business, sustainability, resilience, women in business, success

What if happiness isn't something you find — it's something you build?

In this episode, I sit down with Declan Edwards, happiness researcher, TEDx speaker, author of How to Be Happy and founder of BU Happiness College, to completely reframe how we think about happiness. Because most of us are chasing it the wrong way, waiting for the right achievement, the right milestone, the right moment, when the research tells us something completely different.

Declan has spent over a decade studying the science of happiness and translating it into practical skills anyone can learn. We get into what happiness actually is beyond joy and excitement, why the arrival fallacy is keeping so many high achievers stuck, what the 80-year Harvard study found about what actually makes a good life, and the three free practices that Declan believes would change the world if everyone did them.

This one is warm, deeply human and full of things that will shift the way you think about your own life.

Key Topics

• Why happiness is not just joy and the slower deeper forms we chronically undervalue
• The arrival fallacy — why "I'll be happy when" is keeping so many high achievers stuck
• What the 80-year Harvard study found is the single biggest predictor of a happy life
• Three free practices under five minutes a day that Declan says would change the world
• Why happiness is measurably contagious up to three degrees of separation

About Declan

Declan Edwards is a happiness researcher, TEDx speaker, author and founder of BU Happiness College — built on the belief that happiness is a skill anyone can learn. He has spoken at the United Nations and the Red Cross, and his work has been featured in Harvard Business Review and Psychology Today. He is the host of the How to Be Happy podcast and author of the book of the same name.

Connect with Declan

Socials: The Happiness Guy
BU Happiness College
Podcast: How to Be Happy at Work
Happiness Scorecard and Burnout Scorecard

When did you last let your brain be bored?

In this episode, I get into something that I think is one of the most underrated reasons why so many of us feel mentally exhausted — and it has nothing to do with how hard we're working. It's how constantly connected we are.

We have eliminated boredom from our lives almost entirely. We scroll while we wait, listen while we walk, check emails while we eat and reach for our phones before we've even gotten out of bed. And our brains are paying the price.

This episode is packed with research on what constant connectivity is actually doing to our attention, our sleep, our mental health and our performance and five practical experiments you can run this week to give your brain the space it's desperately craving.

Key Topics

• Why our brains are exhausted and why constant connectivity is the culprit
• The myth of multitasking — what your brain is actually doing and why it costs you
• Why even notifications you don't answer are draining your cognitive capacity
• The brain drain effect — why your phone doesn't need to be in your hand to be distracting
• Workplace telepressure — the invisible pressure to always be reachable and what it costs
• What a 2025 study found when people blocked mobile internet for two weeks
• Five practical experiments to become more intentional about your technology use

Keywords

phone addiction, focus, attention, burnout, mental health, productivity, sleep, social media, wellbeing, digital boundaries