Truth, Lies & Work

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Showing 121–150 of 347

EP 227

Why Doing One New Thing Every Week Could Change Your Life, with behavioural scientist Patrick Fagan

· 42:37

Patrick Fagan spent a year doing something completely new every single week. From joining cults to attending cuddle workshops, from My Little Pony conventions to colonic irrigation, he pushed himself into the uncomfortab…

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EP 226

Ranking the Wildest Workplace Stories of 2025 (So Far) - Summer Sessions Episode 4

· 53:27

Some get an A+. Some fail spectacularly. All of them get a grade. - `0:02` Intro — Summer Sessions continues (and the rosé is out)…

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EP 225

The ‘Ta-Da’! Philosophy: Why Fun Could Save Your Workplace, with Joel Zeff

with Joel Zeff · 47:32

Joel joins Al and Leanne for a summer session on why fun isn't a distraction — it's a leadership tool. He shares the story of getting fired from his newspaper job and ending up on a loading dock playing harmonica for the…

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EP 224

How to protect your people (and yourself) in uncertain times (Truth, Lies & Work x Nerd Journey)

· 46:46

They dig into what happens when you're expected to lead a large team in a flatter organization, why more than half of managers aren't equipped with the skills they need, and the practical steps you can take to protect yo…

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EP 223

Why small talk is exhausting (according to science), with Associate Professor John Michel

with Associate Professor John Michel · 44:26

John Michel joins Al and Leanne to reveal what his research discovered when his students started digging into coworker socializing: awkward small talk doesn't just make people uncomfortable — it leads to emotional exhaus…

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EP 222

Ask old people! Answering Reddit’s funniest nostalgia questions - Summer Sessions Episode 3

· 55:13

- `0:06` Intro — welcome to Summer Sessions - `0:52` Back in our day… the AOL era begins…

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EP 221

Is chasing success making you unhappy? With Carolina Lasso, former Google and AmEx high-flyer

with Carolina Lasso · 43:25

What followed was a six-month mental health sabbatical, a solo journey across Italy, India, Kenya and beyond, and a radical redefinition of what success actually means. Carolina joins Al and Leanne to unpack the "achieve…

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EP 220

Remote Work Roulette: the best (and worst) places we’ve ever worked - Summer Sessions, Episode 2

· 54:48

- `0:02` Intro — welcome to Remote Work Roulette - `3:12` New Zealand: beautiful, expensive, and maybe not for working…

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EP 219

What is holiday anxiety - and why can’t we switch off? With clinical psychologist, Dr Elaine Smith

with Elaine Smith · 41:23

Dr. Elaine Smith joins Al and Leanne to unpack holiday anxiety: why we can't switch off, why even one reply to a work email on leave reinforces the cycle, and how to set boundaries that actually hold. She breaks down the…

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EP 218

The F-ckup Files: Our biggest work (and life!) failures. Summer Sessions, Episode 1

· 52:32

- `4:17` The Disaster Files — Leanne's demotion story begins - `10:50` The call: three options, none of them good…

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EP 217

What makes a better boss? With The Economist’s Andrew Palmer, host of Boss Class Podcast

· 45:46

The answers are rarely what you'd expect. The best leaders don't try to win the room — they create space for others to think. Trust is built slowly and breaks fast. There's no single "right way" to lead, but there are pa…

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EP 216

The intruder paradox, hiring extremes and return-to-office pressure. PLUS! Should you ever admit you’re planning to quit? With Becky Simms

with Becky Simms · 55:27

Al and Leanne dig into the "intruder paradox," unpack a viral hiring post that promises A-players through tough-love recruitment theatre, and explore why the mere *threat* of return-to-office mandates is denting UK worke…

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EP 215

How to lead with confidence, not control. With law firm CEO, Tim Lupinacci

with Tim Lupinacci · 38:46

Tim joins Al and Leanne to share how he's flipped traditional leadership on its head — leading through vulnerability, service, and personal values in a sector that's famously high-pressure, high-burnout, and historically…

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EP 214

The wildest overemployment scam in tech history. PLUS! Fake empathy, nepo hires and salary secrets, with Rameez Kaleem

with Rameez Kaleem · 56:53

Al and Leanne break down the most outrageous employment heist in recent tech history — a software engineer who collected salaries from dozens of Silicon Valley startups simultaneously — and what it reveals about the futu…

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EP 213

How to manage a genius, with Steve Roest, CEO of PocDoc

with Steve Roest, PocDoc · 44:06

Steve joins Al and Leanne to share how he turns his so-called "weakness" — being the non-technical founder — into a leadership superpower. He explains why you don't need to be the smartest person in the room to lead bril…

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EP 212

Can toxic cultures really change? Inside BrewDog, NatWest and secret burnout. PLUS! Why do wellbeing leaders have to be perfect? With Matt Smeed

with Matt Smeed · 58:56

Matt Smeed joins Al and Leanne for this week's Hot Take to argue that wellbeing leaders are held to impossible standards. Other departments get to try, fail and iterate — but when it comes to wellbeing, the bar is sky-hi…

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EP 211

How To Get Anything You Want At Work (The BATNA Method), with Richard Birke

with Richard Birke · 34:14

Richard joins Al and Leanne to break down the BATNA method (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) — the psychological framework that world-class negotiators use to walk into any conversation with quiet confidence. …

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EP 210

Could £139k be the cost of motherhood? PLUS! The death of job boards, emotion hacks and the best manager stories on LinkedIn

· 1:00:22

- `2:21` Story 1 — Great bosses exist (and here's the proof) - `10:40` Story 2 — Monster Jobs goes bust: what killed the job board?…

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EP 209

How to Lead Without Saying a Word, with award-winning orchestra conductor, Roit Feldenkreis

with Roit Feldenkreis · 33:45

Roit joins Al and Leanne to translate the unspoken power of presence, body language, and tempo from the conductor's podium into boardroom leadership. She shares how conducting teams — musical or managerial — starts with …

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EP 208

Steve Jobs wisdom, Gen-Z hustle and the perfectionist trap. PLUS! Is your Zoom set-up saying 'I don't care?'

· 54:00

- `[2:56]` Story 1 — "Locking In": Hustle Culture Gets a Makeover - `[10:08]` Story 2 — Steve Jobs and the Case for Creative Rule-Breaking…

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EP 207

What happens when leaders start being kind? With Jeff LeBlanc

with Jeff LeBlanc · 41:59

Jeff joins Al and Leanne to dismantle the myth that kindness is weakness. He argues we've been defining kindness all wrong: it's not about being liked, it's about being trusted. It's not about avoiding hard conversations…

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EP 206

Digital eye-rolls, loud living and Pride Month silence. PLUS! Should we regulate management?

· 56:59

- `3:37` Story 1 — Digital incivility: the passive-aggressive problem you're ignoring - `10:12` Story 2 — Loud living vs quiet quitting…

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EP 205

Why your team zones out when you talk (And how to fix it in 2 minutes), with Dr. Cheryl Robinson

with Cheryl Robinson · 42:39

Dr. Cheryl Robinson joins Al and Leanne to explain why so much workplace communication misses the mark — and how to fix it in about two minutes. From the words that kill your authority (spoiler: "just" and "sorry" are on…

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EP 204

Boss traumas, 2am callers and benefit ballers. PLUS! Is alcohol a well-being blindspot?

· 58:46

- `[3:17]` Story 1 — Are we normalising trauma at work? - `[14:24]` Story 2 — 8 ways to say "screw you" at work (without getting fired)…

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EP 203

Where did everyone go? How to manage your team during the summer slowdown

· 49:51

- `[0:02]` Intro — "Where did everybody go?" - `[0:34]` The 8 questions we're answering today…

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EP 202

Divorce, disruption and the death of the watercooler. PLUS! Are you a duck shuffler? With Kristyna Hawkett - This Week in Work, 3 rd June 2025

with Kristyna Hawkett · 1:00:40

This week, Al and Leanne dive into three big workplace stories: the new archetype of the duck shuffler (the person who disrupts your perfectly aligned plans — but for good reason), why the US job market is changing rathe…

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EP 201

How to bounce back when work & life falls apart (our true story)

· 54:54

- `4:09` The backstory — why there was no Thursday episode - `7:39` Why resilience is built in advance, not in the moment…

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EP 200

Rule-benders, quiet quitting and the DEI dilemma. PLUS! Is happiness overrated? With Julian Hayes II

· 56:09

- `[3:11]` Story 1 — Happy staff = better business (Best Places to Work 2025) - `[8:45]` Story 2 — The $40 loan that went viral…

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EP 199

The Truth and Lies of Trans Inclusion at Work, with Sophie Wood

with Sophie Wood · 34:41

Trans inclusion at work is one of the most misunderstood — and most avoided — topics in people management. So Al and Leanne asked the questions most managers have but are too afraid to ask. Sophie Wood joins them to cut …

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EP 198

Should we all move to Iceland? PLUS! Reverse bucket lists, imposter syndrome and the trust crisis we can’t ignore, with Rose Soffel - This Week in Work 20th May 2025

with Rose Soffel · 59:21

Rose joins Al and Leanne to deliver a hot take that's not holding back: we're in a full-blown trust crisis between employers and employees, and behavioural science might be the only way out. She argues that post-pandemic…

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