The Mindset Economy

'How To Lead When Nobody Knows What’s Coming' with Chris Hirst

What does leadership look like when nobody really knows what’s coming next? In this episode, Jean Gomes and Scott Allender are joined by Chris Hirst, former global CEO and leadership advisor, to explore how leaders and individuals make decisions in a world shaped by uncertainty and AI. Chris challenges some familiar ideas, arguing that working hard is not enough, and that the real differentiator is how you show up, not just what you can do. What follows is a fascinating conversation about ownership, mindset, and the small behaviours that compound over time, from how people actually get hired and promoted, to why complaining and blaming quietly hold us back. This episode offers a practical lens on what creates real value and what does not. It is less about theory, and more about what it takes to move forward when the rules are no longer clear. Reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:  Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, Wiley, 2023)  The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, Baker Books, 2023) Social: Instagram           @mindseteconomypodcast LinkedIn             The Mindset Economy Podcast Bluesky            @mindseteconomy.bsky.social YouTube           @TheMindsetEconomy The Mindset Economy Podcast is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside Consulting Ltd production.

How To Stay Human While Technology Shapes the World with Ja-Naé Duane and Steve Fisher

The rules that got you here may be the very thing holding you back. Ja-Naé Duane and Steve Fisher call them super shifts, fundamental changes so significant that many of the assumptions underpinning how we work, lead, and create value are quietly becoming obsolete. Expertise, control, certainty: the frameworks that once provided stability are starting to break down. Most organisations are yet to reckon with what that actually means. Jean Gomes and Scott Allender, leadership authors and advisors who have spent their careers working at the sharp end of organisational change, push Duane and Fisher on what this means practically for leaders who are already stretched, already uncertain, already looking for ground that holds. Together they examine why our sense of agency may be more fragile than we think, why the shift from control to co-creation is not optional, and what kind of mindset is required when the past is no longer a reliable guide. If you sense that something fundamental has shifted but struggle to articulate what, or what to do about it, this episode is a good place to start. Reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:  Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, Wiley, 2023)  The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, Baker Books, 2023) Social: Instagram           @mindseteconomypodcast LinkedIn             The Mindset Economy Podcast Bluesky            @mindseteconomy.bsky.social YouTube           @TheMindsetEconomy The Mindset Economy Podcast is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside Consulting Ltd production.

How To Create Conditions That Maximise Human Impact with Amy Edmondson

Most leaders say they want candour. Almost none of them have it. Amy Edmondson, Harvard professor and the world's leading researcher on psychological safety, argues that the problem isn't culture, it isn't trust, it isn't people. It's the invisible interpersonal risk that makes speaking up feel more dangerous than staying quiet. In a world where AI is accelerating the pace of change, that silence is becoming increasingly costly. Edmondson sits down with Jean Gomes and Scott Allender, authors and leadership experts who have spent their careers working at the sharp end of organisational change, to reframe psychological safety not as comfort, but as permission for candour, a subtle but important distinction that changes how leaders should think about the environments they create. She explains why intelligent failure is a capability to be built, not a mistake to be tolerated, while learning, not knowing, is fast becoming the defining leadership skill of the AI era. For anyone leading teams through uncertainty, this episode offers a sharper understanding of why high-quality conversations are the most underleveraged asset in most organisations, and what it actually takes to have them. Reading from Amy Edmondson: Right Kind of Wrong: How the Best Teams Use Failure to Succeed (Penguin, 2024) The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth (Wiley, 2025) Reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:  Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, Wiley, 2023)  The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, Baker Books, 2023) Social: Instagram           @mindseteconomypodcast LinkedIn             The Mindset Economy Podcast Bluesky            @mindseteconomy.bsky.social YouTube           @TheMindsetEconomy The Mindset Economy Podcast is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside Consulting Ltd production.

How To Create Hope with Sarah Housley

The greatest risk of the AI era may not be losing our jobs. It may be losing our ability to imagine something better. Futurist Sarah Housley has noticed something troubling. As AI advances and change accelerates, many people are experiencing less agency, not more. The collective imagination about what the future could look like seems to have stalled, replaced by anxiety and short-term thinking at precisely the moment when bold, hopeful vision is most needed. Her book Designing Hope introduces the idea of protopia, futures that improve gradually through experimentation, human ingenuity, and collective action, and it sits at the heart of this conversation. Jean Gomes and Scott Allender, authors and leadership experts who bring their experience working with senior leaders around the world to every conversation, explore with Housley why rapid technological change erodes our sense of agency, why non-linear thinking is becoming an essential leadership capability, and what it practically takes to create hopeful visions of the future rather than simply managing the present. Imagining better futures is not a luxury. For leaders operating in the age of AI, it may be the most important capability of all. Reading from Sarah Housley: Designing Hope: Visions to Shape Our Future (2025, Indigo Press)    Reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:  Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, Wiley, 2023)  The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, Baker Books, 2023) Social: Instagram           @mindseteconomypodcast LinkedIn             The Mindset Economy Podcast Bluesky            @mindseteconomy.bsky.social YouTube           @TheMindsetEconomy The Mindset Economy Podcast is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside Consulting Ltd production.

How to Keep Your Mind Open with Dr Leor Zmigrod

Intelligence does not protect you from dogmatism. In some cases, it makes it worse. This is one of the more unsettling findings to emerge from the work of Dr. Leor Zmigrod, neuroscientist at Cambridge and author of The Ideological Brain. Her research reveals that ideology is not defined by what you believe, but by how you believe it. When thinking becomes rigid and fused with identity, the brain narrows. Cognitive flexibility declines. Empathy weakens. Even physiological responses to other people's suffering can change. Jean Gomes and Scott Allender, whose combined experience advising and writing about leadership at the highest levels informs everything they explore on the show, press Zmigrod on what this means for leaders specifically: the sharp distinction between values and ideologies, why uncertainty makes certainty feel irresistible, and how AI is shifting radicalisation from passive consumption to active dialogue, potentially reinforcing bias in powerful new ways. The question running beneath the whole conversation is one every leader should sit with: how often do we confuse conviction with clarity, and what would it take to cultivate the kind of flexibility that allows us to think freely in a polarised, AI-accelerated world? Reading from Dr Leor Zmigrod: The Ideological Brain: How Rigid Beliefs Harm Our Minds & Bodies – And Why It Matters (L Zmigrod, Penguin, 2026) Reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender: Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, Wiley, 2023) The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, Baker Books, 2023) Social: Instagram           @mindseteconomypodcast LinkedIn             The Mindset Economy Podcast Bluesky            @mindseteconomy.bsky.social YouTube           @TheMindsetEconomy The Mindset Economy Podcast is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside Consulting Ltd production.