The Michael Chaskalson One: From Mindful to Wakeful

The Michael Chaskalson One: From Mindful to Wakeful

Michael Chaskalson has a new book out! When we did an earlier podcast in April 2025 Michael was busy writing - and now the book is here. It is such a vital topic - an exploration of moving from mindfulness to wakefulness, with all of the implication and applications that has to offer. I loved doing this episode with Michael - enjoy!

The Karen Blincoe One: Sustaining deep work over time

I worked with Karen Blincoe when she led Schumacher College at Dartington, Devon. Karen invited me to join her, and Programme Director Toni Spencer, in co-creating and facilitating the Schumacher Certificate in Sustainable Education.  We had a wonderful group from all over the world, and it was a joy to work with Karen on that programme. Karen has done so many rich and wonderful things, in the UK, Denmark and beyond. This is a lovely conversation, and I do hope you enjoy it. Karen has provided some links to her work and to references she makes during the conversation, and these are below. Links and Credits: Photo: SILVERS: Yolanta C. Siu https://www.schumachercollege.org/ [https://www.schumachercollege.org/] www.thesilvers.dk [http://www.thesilvers.dk] https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-10023-9 [https://link.springer.com/book/10⁠.1007/978-3-031-10023-9] https://www.karenblincoe.dk/ [https://www.karenblincoe.dk/]

The Tricia Riddell One: Neuroscience - beyond the hype and myth

Professor Patricia Riddell is a neuroscientist. She teaches and consults widely, and is a coach and author too. She spends a lot of her time dispelling the many airport management book myths and overclaims about brains and how they work.  Tricia brings science to centre stage, helping leaders to get clearer on what we do know, what we don’t know, and why each of these matters. She does all of this in a wonderfully clear and engaging way, making brain science practical and applicable to leaders and coaches. I loved our conversation and Tricia’s generosity in sharing her links and inspirations too. I do hope you enjoy this one as much as I did. Links: University profiles https://www.henley.ac.uk/people/professor-patricia-riddell [https://www.henley.ac.uk/people/professor-patricia-riddell] https://www.reading.ac.uk/pcls/staff/patricia-riddell [https://www.reading.ac.uk/pcls/staff/patricia-riddell] NeuroEffective Leadership book https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003534563/neuroeffective-leadership-patricia-riddell-ian-mcdermott [https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003534563/neuroeffective-leadership-patricia-riddell-ian-mcdermott] Neuroscience of Leadership Coaching book https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/neuroscience-of-leadership-coaching-9781472911124/ [https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/neuroscience-of-leadership-coaching-9781472911124/] The course I run with Ian McDermott at ITS on Applied Neuroscience https://itsnlp.com/applied-neuroscience-programme/ [https://itsnlp.com/applied-neuroscience-programme/]

The Barbara Banda One: Brilliant work with brilliant energy

I have known Professor Barbara Banda for many years - since we worked together at Ashridge (we started around the same time and had many opportunities to work together). I’ve admired Barbara all that time, and was delighted when she wrote her book The Model Black, which is packed with stories and insights. I was delighted to feature Barbara and her book on a GameShift pop-up event back in December 2022. This is a more personal conversation, about the book and about the life experiences and journey behind it.  Barbara’s energy and passion leap out in this podcast. I loved recording it, and I hope you’ll enjoy it every bit as much as I did. Links to the book, the previous podcast and to Barbara’s own webpage are below. The Model Black:  https://www.routledge.com/The-Model-Black-How-Black-British-Leaders-Succeed-in-Organisations-and-Why-It-Matters/Banda/p/book/9781032060545 [https://www.routledge.com/The-Model-Black-How-Black-British-Leaders-Succeed-in-Organisations-and-Why-It-Matters/Banda/p/book/9781032060545] The December 2022 Podcast: https://gameshift.co.uk/how-to-have-a-good-conversation-about-race-at-work/ [https://gameshift.co.uk/how-to-have-a-good-conversation-about-race-at-work/] Barbara’s webpage: https://www.barbarabandaconsulting.co.uk/ [https://www.barbarabandaconsulting.co.uk/ ]

The Isabel Carlisle one: Placing bioregions centrally in thinking and action

I first met Isabel when she came on a certificate programme at the legendary Schumacher College, where I was teaching with Chris Seeley and Toni Spencer. Isabel was already a highly accomplished leader and pioneer, particularly in the arts and education, and it was a delight to see her take her talents into a new field. Over the past ten years she’s co-created and led the South Devon Bioregional Learning Centre, which is now a flourishing and influential hub and part of an international network and shared learning spreading the practices and ideas. It’s a fascinating podcast, I hope you get as much from the episode as I did, and from Isabel’s links via the bioregion web page here : www.bioregion.org.uk [http://www.bioregion.org.uk]