Edgy Ideas

In this podcast, Rob Briner shares his expertise and insights on evidence-based practice. Rob became interested in evidence-based research early in his academic career when he realised how much knowledge and assumed facts lacked convincing evidence. Simon converses with Rob from the position of a sceptic, having experienced evidence-based practice in healthcare and human resources settings when poorly delivered. Rob offers a fascinating insight into how evidence-based practice can be useful if delivered in a thoughtful and rigorous way.  He shares the importance of collecting evidence from multiple sources and different perspectives. In a healthcare setting for example, this would include gathering opinions from patients and families, getting expert views from professionals, gathering data from the context such as healthcare outcomes, and finally looking at scientific data to search for the best knowledge/evidence available to apply to the situation.  Evidence-based research can be distorted to produce ‘magical numbers’ and Rob emphasises the need to critically examine what these numbers do and do not mean, and how they are used and misused. Critical thinking is also necessary to reflect on assumptions and biases that can lead to ‘evidence-based’ findings, produced to convince people to follow a particular path that was pre-ordained. Rob also points to the need for a more ground-up approach, to really think about what the challenge or problem is, and then design an evidence-based research study,  rather than  designing a study that will produce findings desired by a particular power group.  This podcast is a must listen for all who wish to deepen their understanding of evidence-based practice.   Bio Rob is Professor of Organizational Psychology at Queen Mary, University of London and is co-founder and Scientific Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Management. He is also a Visiting Professor of Evidence-Based HRM at Birkbeck (University of London) and Professor at Oslo Nye Høyskole. He has held positions at the Institute for Employment Studies, London School of Economics, Kings’s College (University of London), Bath University and University of Edinburgh. His research has focused on several topics including well-being, emotions, stress, ethnicity, the psychological contract, organizational culture and climate, absence from work, motivation, work-nonwork and everyday work behaviour. Beyond academic research and teaching, Rob helps practitioners and organizations make better use of evidence, including research evidence in decision-making as well as encouraging academics to make scientific research more accessible. He has received several awards for his work in this area including the British Psychological Society Division of Occupational Psychology Academic Contribution to Practice Award in 2014, topped HR Magazine’s Most Influential Thinker list in 2016, received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019 and was admitted to HR Magazine’s Hall of Fame. Contact Rob: r.briner@gmail.com

Alicia brings a multicultural spirit and curiosity to her work and thinking, having been born in Argentina to European Jewish parents, having Spanish daughters, and now living in Spain. In this podcast, Alicia discusses her reflections on a lifetime of experience and work, much of which focuses on women and leadership. She highlights the importance of recognizing age and generational differences, which are often marginalized when we talk of women's issues as if they are universal. Alicia's research identifies how different age groups have different relationships to work and life, and these must be accounted for. Alicia also highlights how sibling relationships are often left out of our sense-making of workplace dynamics. Yet our sibling relations so often get re-enacted unconsciously at work with our peers and teams, and how we react to our bosses/managers. Alicia has lived a rich life, believing that living in precarious contexts not only produces hardship and anxiety but can also stimulate imagination and innovation, as it has done in her own life. Alicia's insights are rich: enjoy this podcast!  Bio Alicia E. Kaufmann holds a doctorate degree in Sociology from Paris and Madrid. She has taught at Instituto de Empresa management school and was a Fulbright scholar twice, once at Yale University in organizational behaviour and the other on leadership. Previously a tenure profesor at Alcalá de Henares University. She is a member of ISPSO (International Society of Psychoanalysis of Organizations) and OPUS (Organization for Promoting Understanding of Society) in London, as well as ICF (International Coaching Federation). Her multicultural background (European parents, born in Argentina, with Spanish children) has opened up a range of interests and curiosity for life that has led her to explore different paths. In 1984, she was part of the executive team of the first Hospital Management School in Madrid. She worked as a facilitator for Stephen Covey, author of "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" (USA). She has written 28 books, including "Women in Management and Life Cycle (London Palgrave McMillan, 2008), "Change Female Identities" (London Palgrave McMillan, 2012), and "Woman Power and Money: Build Your Puzzle of Success" (editor Madrid, Medialuna, 2016). Alicia is a Certified Analytic Network Coach and a member of the Eco-Leadership Institute. She now works mainly in Executive Coaching in Organizations, reflecting on new cultures and leadership styles, and helping people take up their authority.  Get in contact with Alicia: aliciakauf@gmail.com

In this podcast, Julia Vaughan Smith shares her reflections about mother and daughter relationships, having just completed a book on the subject. Julia describes the entanglement between mother and daughter that often occurs, and how this can entrap daughters into ways of being that don't enable them to flourish. Anger and hurt can become life scripts that are hard to shake off, limiting daughters' capacity to have joy in their lives. Simon and Julia discuss cross-generational patterns, and also how our relationships to parents continue even when they have died. How daughters relate to mothers, and children to parents more generally, requires time and safe spaces to work through and liberate us from the more destructive patterns and narratives we get caught up in. Julia shares how through the writing of the book, her own relationship with her mother changed and she became more compassionate, understanding and free in the process.  Bio Julia Vaughan Smith is an accredited master executive coach and coach supervisor; a qualified psychotherapist (no longer practising) who has spent many years as an organisational and leadership development consultant primarily in health care. ‘Daughters: How to Untangle Yourself from Your Mother’ is her third book and her first for a general readership. Her two previous books ‘Coaching and Trauma’ and ‘Therapist to Coach’ were written for coaches. She has been teaching about coaching and trauma for the last five years. Her latest book for daughters will be launched on 3rd April 2023, and will be available from all booksellers and via www.becomingourselves.co.uk.

Donate to Karolina (Fine NGO): https://fine.ngo/en/make-a-donation Donate to Zuzanna (Salam NGO): https://paypal.me/salamlab In this podcast Zuzanna and Karolina tell their stories of how they responded to the outbreak of war on the Polish border, and to the sudden influx of millions of refugees, mostly women and children fleeing war. Their individual responses were driven by empathy and a deep humanitarian impulse.  Each share how they utilised and transferred existing skillsets, and drew on their networks to offer extraordinary responses.  Karolina managed to set up a kindergarten within two weeks of the outbreak of war, providing support for 100 children, employing Ukrainian women and establishing a charity to support this work.   Zuzanna’s small NGO had been working on the Belarusian border with refugees and pivoted their focus to immediately provide a help centre and homeless shelter to support the thousands of homeless war refugees flooding into Krakow.    One year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, over 9 million border crossings have taken place, and approximately 2 million refugees remain in Poland. Karolina and Zuzanna’s organisations have organically grown and adapted to meet changing needs.  Now their focus is more on integration, building civil society, education and psychological support. They work directly with refugees and also with teachers and others who support them. Their work is being replicated throughout Poland. Small start-up initiatives alongside existing NGOs have innovated, adapted and worked tirelessly to accommodate and support refugees. These inspiring stories have lessons for the wider humanitarian organisations and for all of us engaged in leading change.  This is also a story of how women’s leadership, which dominates the NGO sector in Poland and beyond, can deliver amazing results. I met Zuzanna and Karolina and many other NGOs in Poland as part of a new initiative sponsored by the Humanitarian Leadership Academy.  The Eco-Leadership Institute is partnering with the HLA to pioneer new ways to deliver humanitarian aid we call Eco-Mutualism This approach challenges paternalistic and centralised approaches, offering alternatives that engage people mutually and harvesting the resources in their wider ecosystems.  Zuzanna and Karolina offer excellent case studies of Eco-Mutualism in action.  Their task now is to help make their initial urgent responses more sustainable.  The Humanitarian Leadership Academy and the Eco-Leadership Institute will be working mutually with them, and you can help by donating directly. Donate to Karolina (Fine NGO): https://fine.ngo/en/make-a-donation Donate to Zuzanna (Salam NGO): https://paypal.me/salamlab Bios Zuzanna Tamas Co-Founder of Salam Lab; Board Member, Director of Humanitarian Aid and Fundraising. Salam Lab is an NGO working for human rights, inclusion and against discrimination. Zuzanna worked for 7 years in Qatar, with people from all over the world, and brings that experience to create an inclusive and diverse workplace at Salam Lab. She specialises in humanitarian aid, diversity and inclusion. Zuzanna is certified in Management, Humanitarian Standards, Inclusive Humanitarian Programming, as well as Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. Karolina Bisping-Adamik President of the FINE NGO Foundation. Professionally involved in the organization of production and promotion of cultural events, film and music festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, and young art and design fairs for many years. Academic teacher at the Pedagogical University in Krakow and at the School of Computer Graphics. Master of Sociology at the Philosophy Faculty of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and postgraduate studies in Cultural Diplomacy at Collegium Civitas in Warsaw 

Michael Barnett is a leading thinker and scholar on humanitarianism, which as he says cannot be separated from humanity. Michael frames humanitarianism in the context of Empire, discussing the ongoing tensions between paternalism/control and compassion/giving that have been present since humanitarianism began. In more recent times humanitarianism has shifted from a voluntarism ethos to an expert professional ethos. The benefits and challenges of these changes are now under scrutiny. Professional experts, on the one hand, bring important knowledge and changes that save lives;  on the other hand, there has evolved a technocratic and instrumentalism that silences local and different voices and creates a managerialist machinery that stifles engagement.   Michael shares his thinking that will be published in a forthcoming book co-authored with Unni Karankura,  "Humanitarianism in a Post-Liberal Age" (Cambridge University Press). Three areas he points to that are driving change are: Securitization – how security is impacting humanitarian work in new ways, and more humanitarians are at risk today. Marketisation – how market forces have radically changed the face of humanitarianism, whereas previously there was a split between the 'sacred-humanitarianism' and the 'profane-market', and now the two find themselves very entangled, with contested outcomes.  Cosmopolitanism — the shift from human rights to a rooted cosmopolitanism in which the givers and receivers are questioning the quality of the aid relationship, typified by the rise of localization, the racial reckoning in the aid sector, and decolonizing aid.  This is a fascinating and insightful discussion - enjoy. Bio Michael Barnett is a University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at the George Washington University. His research interests span the Middle East, humanitarianism, global governance, global ethics, and the United Nations. Author of Empire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism; his most recent books include The Star and the Stripes: A History of the Foreign Policies of the American Jews; Paternalism Beyond Borders; and, most recently, the edited collection Humanitarianism and Human Rights: Worlds of Differences? His current research projects include the changing forms of global governance, hierarchies in humanitarian governance; the end of the two-state solution and the rise of the one-state reality in Israel/Palestine; and the relationship between suffering and progress in the liberal international order. A former Associate Editor of International Organization, Professor Barnett is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the recipient of many grants and awards for his research. Contact Michael: https://elliott.gwu.edu/michael-barnett

Julian is a British psychoanalyst who has worked in the public health sector for many years. In this podcast, he begins by reflecting on how complacent ways of thinking and being are becoming more commonplace, particularly in the consulting and psychotherapeutic world. He discusses a particular clinical case to emphasise this.  Julian then explores the connection between complacency and action and discusses with Simon how dissociation can lead to conformist ways of being. The conversation then reflects more widely on the role of psychoanalysis in society, and in particular the demise of psychoanalytically applied practices in the public sector. Julian holds the view that society needs containers for its more disturbed and long-term 'ill' citizens, for as he says "not everybody gets well". If psychoanalysis gets pushed wholly into the private sector Julian believes there will be a great loss to society (and also to psychoanalysis). As the public sector increasingly becomes a market-led sector and filled with short-term, more market-friendly treatments and fixes (some of which are helpful of course) the space for holding pain, suffering and dysfunction is diminished.    When exploring what it means to work towards a good society, Julian shares his view that a good society needs a 'maternal' public sector, and that the nanny state, to paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, obliterates the mother. Julian asks then what happens to the welfare state, to the health and education system and to social care?     Enjoy this stimulating and rich discussion.   Bio  Julian Lousada is a psychoanalyst and former clinical director Adult department of the Tavistock and Portman Clinic, and former chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council and British Psychoanalytic Federation.  He is an Organisational Consultant in private practice.

In this episode, we focus on Carl Jung's work in relation to coaching and consulting.  Laurence is an eminent Jungian practitioner and author who is trying to bring the magic of Jungian thinking to the modern world of coaching and consulting.  In this rich exchange Laurence shares why he believes Jung's work is so important.  At the heart of this approach is a recovery of the 'soul' that is so often amiss in our dominant rational, managerial approaches.  We discuss the importance of symbolism and how it can be used in coaching, and Jung's work on the collective unconscious, individuation among many other topics. Laurence also shares his views on Jungian ethics and on misconceptions of Jungian thinking.    This is an excellent exploration of Jungian thinking and more importantly Jungian practice. Enjoy the listen! Bio Laurence is a coach and consultant, and a Director of Heresy Consulting. Prior to joining Heresy as a Founder Director, Laurence spent over two decades in change leadership roles including most recently as the Director of Group Resourcing and Development for Prudential plc. He holds an MSc in the Psychodynamics of Human Development (Jungian) from the British Psychotherapy Foundation and an MBA from Lancaster University. He trained as a coach and supervisor with the Tavistock Institute and in group work at the Institute of Group Analysis. More recently he has developed an interest in our broader place in the world and holds certificates in Ecopsychology and Ecotherapy from the Pacifica Graduate Institute. He also works as a Practicum Supervisor on the INSEAD Executive Masters in Change and is the author of ‘A Jungian Approach to Coaching: The Theory and Practice of Turning Leaders into People’. Follow Laurence Website: https://www.heresyconsulting.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurence-barrett Buy his book: https://www.routledge.com/A-Jungian-Approach-to-Coaching-The-Theory-and-Practice-of-Turning-Leaders/Barrett/p/book/9780367766368

In this podcast, Nick and Simon go on an intriguing journey that explores coaching from different perspectives. Nick shares his experiences of what is called ‘life coaching’ and reflects on how this differs, and shares common ground with, executive coaching and other forms of helping relationships such as counselling and psychotherapy.   Nick believes that coaching is a new configuration, built on the shoulders of giants i.e. it draws from the well of knowledge and practices from psychology, psychotherapy and more. Yet he also claims that coaching delivers its support to others in a new way, and also that it has created a new and different client group.  Contemporary society demands a lot emotionally and psychologically and navigating our way through ‘life coaching’ has emerged because it can be beneficial in this domain. Those who are attracted to life coaching aren’t typically experiencing their lives as dysfunctional or suffering in a way that might attract them to psychotherapy or counselling. This opens up a new space to explore and leads to new conversations, methods and insights.  In this fascinating podcast, what it means to be human emerges to be at the centre of Nick's work.  Nick Bolton is the founder and CEO of Animas Centre for Coaching and the International Centre for Coaching Supervision. With a particular interest in the role of coaching in helping individuals navigate existential issues and the complexities of 21st-century life, Nick combines a solution-focused approach with a deeper inquiry into the client’s worldview which contributes to, though isn’t exclusively responsible for, the conditions or dilemmas they are facing. Nick is an avid lifelong learner and recognises that anything he says today merely reflects his limited thinking in the moment. He considers that a wise disclaimer for any foolishness he says along the way!

Animal rights activism is at the heart of Esther’s work and life. In this podcast, Esther shares her thinking on the entanglements between the way we treat animals and how we live in consumer capitalist cultures. Esther discusses the economic structures behind our mistreatment of animals and the ways in which they are commodified and treated as resources that mirror slavery. She then also offers ideas about what a future world could look like; where animals and human beings have a healthy relationship with one another   Simon and Esther discuss what facing animal rights issues bring up in others, often disassociation and guilt.  To live with the awareness of how we treat animals is to live with a burden.  We all like to protect the idea of our ‘good-self’; therefore, to acknowledge the animal suffering we collude with is a direct challenge to our 'good-selves', hence our defensiveness.  Esther and Simon discuss whether animals are 'individuals', and what rights they have in relation to individual humans.  Esther discusses broader social movements, direct action and mass mobilisations in this fascinating podcast.  Bio Esther delved into full-time Animal Justice work early in life. She dedicates her time towards understanding and building people-powered organisations capable of creating transformative change. She helped to kick-start Animal Rebellion as a full-time member in 2019 and supported it through its first wave of resistance. Esther is the co-founder and Strategic Lead of Animal Think Tank, where she works to promote nonviolence, mass direct action, civil resistance and grassroots activism. Follow Esther Websites: https://animalthinktank.org.uk https://www.plantbasedfuture.animalrebellion.org LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esther-salomon-0a89a11b9/

We are celebrating our Golden Jubilee with the 50th episode of Edgy Ideas and thought it appropriate to reflect on the monarchy and its meaning.  My guest Leslie Brissett draws on his wealth of experience in human dynamics and as Director of Group Relations at the Tavistock Institute to share his thoughts on what is projected onto the monarchy from the people, and what the monarchy represents, contains and holds for us.   Simon is an anti-monarchist, and whilst able to admire Queen Elizabeth's extraordinary leadership over 70 years and recognise how the monarchy offers continuity for many, it also is highly problematic. Simon believes it reinforces a dependency and a "know-your-place" culture that reproduces class divisions, and elitist power and undermines our capacity for autonomy and to maximise our collective potential.  Leslie and Simon ponder together the meaning of the monarchy and explore the difference, and continuity between a matriarchy (the Queen) and patriarchy (the King). They reflect together in a non-partisan way, what future containment might look like without a monarchy and what can be learnt from the monarchy, that can help us to work towards creating the good society.     Bio  Leslie is a member of the Judiciary in England and Director of the Group Relations Programme at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and has studied human dynamics in experiential settings in many countries. He is also the Company Secretary at TIHR. Born in the UK, Leslie experiences life as a Citizen of the World More on Leslie: https://www.tavinstitute.org/staff/leslie-brissett/