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Leading Awake

Leading Awake

Van: with mentalist Gilan Gork
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Leading Awake is where top executives, founders, and senior leaders drop the mask and get real about the human side of leading at the highest level. The high-pressure, high-stakes moments where leadership actually counts. The decisions, conversations, and responses that can't be taken back. Each episode brings three of them into the kind of unscripted, honest conversation that doesn't usually happen in public.Copyright 2026 © PeakAwake Management & Leadership Persönliche Entwicklung Persönlicher Erfolg Ökonomie
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  • 3 Execs Get Real: How to Lead When Everything Is Urgent | S01E06

    3 Execs Get Real: How to Lead When Everything Is Urgent | S01E06
    18 Aug 2026
    Three senior executives get honest about what it actually takes to lead when everything on your desk is marked urgent. The Group CEO of DNI (formerly CEO of Discovery Health), the Head of Corporate and Public Sector Sales at Citi, and the Group Chief Risk Officer at FirstRand get into the two-inboxes principle, why almost nothing truly needs an instant decision, and the courage it takes to let the people you hired do their jobs.WATCH THE FULL CONVERSATION ON YOUTUBE:https://youtu.be/V38sgMQKzVAThe PEAK Practice is Gilan's three-week programme for high performers who want their wisest response to arrive while they're still in the room, instead of arriving late, on the drive home. Put your name on the list to hear first when the next cohort opens: https://www.peakawake.comGUESTS:Ryan Noach, group CEO of DNI and former CEO of Discovery Health, where he led 6,000 staff serving 4 million customers. A medical doctor by training, he now oversees an investment group with stakes in 23 businesses.Sheetal Shah, head of corporate and public sector sales at Citi, covering governments and multinationals across Sub-Saharan Africa. Twenty-five years in sales taught her that what got her here won't get her there.Emma Mer, group chief risk officer at FirstRand, running one of the most critical functions in one of South Africa's largest financial services groups. She leads with a village mindset, starting from trust.THEY EXPLAIN:◼ Why very little is so urgent that it needs an instant decision, and how to buy time to think◼ The two-inboxes principle, and what slips when the urgent one gets too full◼ How managing your energy beats managing your time (and why Emma is never in a grocery store)◼ Why A players hire A plus players, and what that asks a leader to stop doing◼ The difference between excellence and perfectionTIMESTAMPS:(00:00) - Episode trailer (01:17) - Welcome to Leading Awake (03:56) - The PEAK Practice (04:37) - What seasoned leaders have changed their minds about (07:07) - How becoming a parent changed Emma's leadership (10:28) - Managing energy, not time (12:58) - Ryan's counterpoint: the always-on leader (17:06) - The T-shaped leader (and why so little is truly urgent) (19:05) - The two inboxes: urgent vs important (22:13) - Protecting your team from the noise (24:09) - The Adrian Gore dinner: three hours, phone face down (25:21) - Too many big rocks: the Four Thousand Weeks reframe (27:29) - Letting go of control (and the trust Ryan can't rebuild) (31:21) - What got you here won't get you there (32:52) - A players hire A plus players (36:39) - The structure that makes trust hold (38:54) - Excellence is not perfection (39:15) - The PEAK Practice (mid-episode) (40:55) - The sweet spot between patience and pressure (42:20) - Hire for attitude (you can teach the product) (44:13) - Don't set people up to fail (46:51) - Bad news first: what earns real trust (49:30) - Giving away the credit, taking the accountability (51:55) - Saying no without burning relationships (55:52) - Closing reflections + PEAK PracticeABOUT LEADING AWAKE:Leading Awake is a podcast for senior leaders who want to see clearly under pressure and respond wisely in the moments that count. Each episode is an honest, unscripted conversation with leaders willing to drop the mask.Host Gilan Gork started as a professional mentalist working with the human mind on stages across more than 40 countries, including Fortune 500 companies, governments, and NATO. That work pulled him deeper into the inner game of leadership, and into the body of work that became PeakAwake.THE PEAK PRACTICE:When the pressure is on, your perception narrows, exactly when you need it widest. Timothy Gallwey wrote the formula 50 years ago and it still holds. Performance equals potential minus interference. You already have the ability. It's the noise that pressure and complexity stir up that gets in the way, and clearing some of it lets more of the ability you already have show up in crucial moments, while it still counts.The PEAK Practice is three weeks of putting in the reps, so the next difficult moment meets a version of you that's already practised for it. You practise on 14 days across the three weeks, about 15 minutes each time, eyes closed in the app, working on a real situation of your own rather than a case study. You also meet Gilan and your cohort live online 4 times, 90 minutes each. The cohort is 6 to 8 leaders, curated, each carrying real responsibility.Since 2020, more than 1,000 people have trained these skills with Gilan, in an earlier version of this work.Waitlist members get a preferential rate, with no payment or commitment: https://www.peakawake.comIF THIS CONVERSATION LANDS WITH YOU:Follow Leading Awake on your podcast app so you don't miss the next conversation. And if you have a moment, please leave a rating or a review. It sounds like a small thing, but it's the most useful way to help platforms recommend the show to other senior leaders.If you...
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    1 u.
  • How 3 Senior Leaders Keep Trust While Making Unpopular Calls | S01E05

    How 3 Senior Leaders Keep Trust While Making Unpopular Calls | S01E05
    14 Jul 2026
    Three senior executives get honest about what it costs to do the right thing when jobs, trust, and results are all on the line. The CEO of Sappi Southern Africa, the Chief Brand Activation Officer at Smollan, and the Group CFO of iOCO drop the mask on the decisions that tested their integrity, and what staying true actually cost them.It's easy to talk about values when things are calm. The real test comes when the right decision affects people's jobs, when the board wants answers now, and when every piece of advice says do something. This is the conversation that doesn't usually happen in public. Three leaders running forestry, global retail activation, and a JSE-listed technology turnaround get into selling a loss-making sawmill for the sake of its people, the tough calls behind a first profit in four years, and why trust is built months before you ever make the hard decision.Guests:Graeme Wild is the CEO of Sappi Southern Africa, one of the country's largest forestry and paper companies. He stepped into the role after three consecutive record years, with the pressure to put his stamp on it starting immediately.Mike Smollan is the Chief Brand Activation Officer at Smollan, a global brand agency employing tens of thousands of people. He's helped grow a multi-generational family business into a global retail powerhouse while protecting the people-centred culture at its heart.Ashona Kooblall is the Group CFO of iOCO, formerly the EOH Group. She stepped in with revenue in the JSE's top quartile and profitability at the bottom, made the tough calls in her first three months, and delivered the company's first solid profit in four years.They explain:◼ Why choosing between right and right is the hardest call a leader makes◼ The five words that decided the sale of a sawmill in rural South Africa◼ What it took to deliver iOCO's first solid profit in four years (and why it was never about proving herself)◼ How taking everything personally becomes a strength, once you separate the emotion from the reaction◼ Why the golden period for new leaders might be a myth, and what to do insteadTimestamps:(00:00) - Episode trailer (01:02) - Welcome to Leading Awake (02:25) - Meet the leaders: Sappi, Smollan, and iOCO (04:10) - The PEAK Practice Programme (05:16) - The myth that the CEO always knows (07:08) - When the illusion of brilliant leaders shatters (10:34) - Honesty when the share price is under pressure (12:59) - Integrity is institutional courage (15:07) - Trust is harder to earn and keep than you think (16:36) - Choosing between right and right (19:19) - Selling the sawmill: it's about people's jobs (21:33) - Hope is not a strategy (23:17) - Masks down: the fear before the big calls (25:04) - The iOCO turnaround: first profit in four years (27:56) - The golden period: act fast or hold back? (32:08) - Leading a family business like a listed corporate (33:46) - Just wait, just listen and learn (35:27) - The PEAK Practice Programme (mid-episode) (37:17) - I will be as honest as I can be with you (38:50) - I will debate anything with you, until the decision's made (42:56) - The overnight rule: unless the roof is falling, it can wait (44:08) - I take everything personally (and why it helps) (47:41) - Advice to a young leader: the social media test (49:16) - The one habit that most improved their leadership (52:58) - What it costs to stay true: closing reflectionsWatch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/AnF1YzPWKIEAbout Leading Awake:Leading Awake is a podcast for senior leaders who want to see clearly under pressure, connect more deeply, and respond more wisely in the high-stakes moments that count. Each episode is an honest, unscripted conversation with senior leaders who are willing to drop the mask and talk about what it actually takes to lead at the highest levels.Host Gilan Gork started as a professional mentalist working with the human mind on stages across more than 40 countries, including Fortune 500 companies, governments, and NATO. That work pulled him deeper into the inner game of leadership, and into the body of work that became PeakAwake.More at https://peakawake.comThe 14-Day PEAK Practice Programme:Everything in this episode points to the same thing: when the pressure is on, your perception narrows, exactly when you need it to be widest. The PEAK Practice Programme is a 14-day guided audio practice built to train the inner capacity to see clearly and respond wisely in real conditions. 10 to 15 minutes a day. Leaders who've completed it call it one of the most practically useful things they've done for their leadership.Start here: https://peakawake.comIf this conversation lands with you:Follow Leading Awake on your podcast app so you don't miss the next conversation. And if you have a moment, please leave a rating or a review. It sounds like a small thing, but it's the most useful way to help platforms recommend the show to other senior leaders who'd benefit from these conversations.If you...
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    56 min.
  • 3 Senior Leaders Admit It: Sometimes You Just Don't Know | S01E04

    3 Senior Leaders Admit It: Sometimes You Just Don't Know | S01E04
    22 Jun 2026
    Three senior leaders get honest about what happens when the pressure is real, the answers aren't there, and everyone in the room is looking to you anyway. The MD behind Starbucks South Africa, the CIO of Tiger Brands, and the head of HR at Pernod Ricard Africa share what deciding without certainty has actually looked like, and what it took to step into it.The question most senior leaders carry privately and rarely say out loud: what do I do when I'm supposed to know and I don't? This episode is built around exactly that. Leah McCrae asked a boardroom of executives "is it okay if I don't know?" and it turned out to be one of the most trust-building moments of her career. Eugene van der Merwe had no management manual for leading through a pandemic where colleagues ended up in ICU on ventilators. Devandre Lawrence went for counselling to understand the childhood trauma underneath the persona he had built, and found it was the thing that made him the leader he is today. The conversation that doesn't usually happen at this level.Guests:Leah McCrae is the Managing Director of Rand Capital Coffee and the force behind Starbucks South Africa. She built the brand through bankruptcy, COVID, load shedding, and supply chain chaos, and became a leader who describes herself as intentionally vulnerable, and means it.Eugene van der Merwe is the Chief Information Officer at Tiger Brands. At the time of recording, he was approaching the end of more than a decade as CIO of AVI Limited, where he led an essential services company through a pandemic and a major cyber event, both times with people's lives and livelihoods genuinely in the balance.Devandre Lawrence is Head of HR at Pernod Ricard Africa. He came into a 24/7 FMCG environment as a gay man from a disadvantaged community, built a persona to survive it, and found his way through in a process that made him one of the most human voices in this conversation.They explain:◼ Why "is it okay if I don't know?" was the most trust-building thing Leah ever said in a boardroom◼ What leading through a pandemic actually looks like when the decisions your team executes carry a real risk of death◼ How childhood trauma shapes the leader you become, and why counselling isn't a detour from the work, it is the work◼ The difference between transparency and honesty in a crisis, and why not everyone on your team can hold all of the information◼ Why psychological safety looks different for each person on your team, and why getting that right opens the real conversationTimestamps: (00:00) - Episode trailer (01:12) - Welcome to Leading Awake (02:50) - The PEAK Practice Programme (intro) (03:30) - The belief shift: leadership doesn't have one look or sound (05:26) - Why humility is the thing nobody put in the leadership manual (07:02) - "Is it okay if I don't know?" (Leah's boardroom moment) (09:39) - Bringing a company out of bankruptcy through COVID (12:00) - The ivory tower that doesn't exist (12:23) - When the decisions could cost someone their life (Eugene, COVID) (14:46) - What it takes to decompress when colleagues don't make it (17:11) - Leadership holds no title, it holds identity (19:34) - Coming into an industry that expected a different leader (22:00) - Why Devandre went for counselling (and what it changed) (25:11) - Leah on depression, loneliness, and the mask every leader wears (27:38) - "We're all just winging it" (and why that's actually okay) (29:15) - The PEAK Practice Programme (mid-episode) (31:39) - Pre-decision values: the answer before the crisis hits (32:19) - The cyber event and the humans behind the 36-hour shift (35:05) - The only way out of a wrong decision is honesty (40:36) - Psychological safety: the environment that opens the conversation (43:00) - Rapid fire: what's most improved your leadership effectiveness (45:44) - Closing thoughts + PEAK PracticeFollow our guests:◼ Leah McCrae◼ Eugene van der Merwe◼ Devandre LawrenceAbout Leading Awake:Leading Awake is a podcast for senior leaders who want to see clearly under pressure, connect more deeply, and respond more wisely in the high-stakes moments that count. Each episode is an honest, unscripted conversation with senior leaders who are willing to drop the mask and talk about what it actually takes to lead at the highest levels.Host Gilan Gork started as a professional mentalist working with the human mind on stages across more than 40 countries, including Fortune 500 companies, governments, and NATO. That work pulled him deeper into the inner game of leadership, and into the body of work that became PeakAwake.More at https://peakawake.comThe 14-Day PEAK Practice Programme:Everything in this episode points to the same thing: when the pressure is on, your perception narrows, exactly when you need it to be widest. The PEAK Practice Programme is a 14-day guided audio practice built to train the inner capacity to see clearly and respond wisely in real conditions. 10 to 15 minutes a day. Leaders ...
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    49 min.
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