"Kindness fuels everything. When you're kind, you win. It's as simple as that."

When my guest said those words during a keynote in Rome, the room of 200 investment bankers divided into two camps. Team Kind, and as he calls them, Team Screw Them All and Be Evil.

That moment sparked a book, an award and a mission.

Graham Allcott is the founder of Think Productive and the author of six books including How to be a Productivity Ninja and Kind, winner of the Institute of Leadership's Book of the Year.

For my money, Graham is the UK's leading expert on kindness at work and this conversation is one I'm truly proud of. We cover:

💛 Why kindness is a performance strategy, not a fluffy one. Psychological safety helps organisations achieve more, not less

💛 Why the care sector trains for compliance but not for connection, and what that costs us all

💛 What younger generations really want from work and why we should be listening, not judging

💛 Why boardrooms and policy makers need more voices from charities, frontline services and young people

💛 Tales from Holland. Graham's deeply moving piece of writing about parenting his son Roscoe, who lives with a unique chromosomal disorder, and learning to love the life you didn't plan for

Graham brings warmth, honesty and vulnerability to every answer. We got on like a house on fire and I promise this episode will leave you thinking differently about that little word that means so much.

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"The recipe for disaster is having no comfort, no belonging, no security, no identity, no meaning."

My guest this week shares an insight that we all can benefit from harnessing: Identity, purpose, and meaning are central to wellbeing at every stage of life, not just in dementia care.

Professor David Sheard is one of the UK’s most influential voices in dementia care reform.

What begins as a discussion about dementia care soon becomes something far more personal: a conversation about identity, vulnerability, coming out as a gay man in the 1970s, living with terminal heart failure, and what it means to leave a legacy.

Emotional Intelligence plays a key theme in David’s life and advocacy for more understanding care.

This episode invites us all to remember that all human beings are more feeling beings, than thinking beings, and that emotional intelligence can be the key to helping us connect with each other better.

Music: 'Spirit of Fire' - fiftysounds.com

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“You don’t have to be liked as a leader, but you must always be kind.”

Those are the words of this week’s Unmuted podcast guest, Zoe Egerickx, a leadership and team coach who spent 30 years in the NHS.

Zoe began training as a coach at weekends whilst still working as a nurse to help others find what she had discovered herself: that real, lasting change at work starts with how we relate to each other.

We cover:

• Why moving into leadership can be so overwhelming and why nobody warns you it will be
• The difference between being nice and being kind and why it matters more than you'd think
• Why "clear is kind" in the relatives' room, the boardroom, and everywhere in between
• How burnout is spreading at every level and what we can actually do about it
• The power of reverse mentoring and why your most junior colleague might have the most valuable perspective in the room
• Why we need to stop outsourcing the responsibility of our own wellbeing

She believes everyone is born with the potential for EQ but not everyone fully develops theirs. It can be grown through experience and self-awareness, and it underpins everything from clinical care to executive leadership.

Whether you’re an established leader, new to leadership and management, or simply looking for inspiration to grow your own emotional intelligence for the workplace - this podcast delivers a masterclass in how to hold space for others whilst taking care of yourself.

Music: 'Spirit of Fire' - fiftysounds.com

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He’s one of the most recognised voices in dementia care and widely renowned for his revolutionary research and approach to supporting people with a dementia.

David Wilson Wynne is a senior dementia consultant and an award-winning practitioner in dementia care. In this episode, we put the professional credentials to one side and got to know the man behind the work and the stories from his experience that continue to drive him today.

Over 60 minutes, David talks about:

🎵 How a simple playlist transformed a hospital ward and why colleagues told him he was just ‘winding patients up’.

🗣️ Why he believes the word care is doing more harm than good and what he thinks we should say instead

🎤 Creating the UK's first choir for people living with dementia and the powerful effect it has had

💡 Why person-centred care, as we know it, is no longer fit for purpose

❤️ The older people who shaped who he is, including a World War II veteran whose story he's never forgotten

Whether you work in health and social care, support a loved one with dementia, or have simply ever wondered what good, human support actually looks like this episode will make you think, and we promise it will make you feel something.

Music: 'Spirit of Fire' - fiftysounds.com

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Six decades in showbusiness. A king of the jungle. A dame of legendary status. And still, somehow, the most genuine man in the room.

Despite all of these extraordinary accolades, Christopher Biggins offers a masterclass in how to be self-aware without being self-important when he met with Gary Robinson for the latest episode of Unmuted.

Biggins reveals that there was no grand ambition, his career simply unfolded, perhaps in part due to his open-mindedness and lack of ego.

It may be surprising to learn that Biggins cites winning I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! as the single most important thing he's ever done.

"What is the most important job I've ever done? Winning I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here. Because I won it through the public voting for me."

An openly gay man who has never hidden his sexuality, He speaks movingly about those who never came out, and the personal cost of living a hidden life. He shares very frank views on influencers, cancel culture and the worrying debt-burden young people face from higher education pressures.

A frank, endearing and revealing interview with one of the UK’s most enduring and entertaining characters.

Music: 'Spirit of Fire' - fiftysounds.com

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What if you could look back on your life and see that your work has made the lives of millions of children around the world so much better?

Ben Perks is a leader at UNICEF, an author and child rights advocate who spent his youth running away from violent care homes. His inspirational story is far from ordinary and proves that it just takes one person to see the potential in you, for you to believe in yourself.

Ben is the cycle breaker and change maker who was told “Your job is to save children’s lives at scale” and rose to the challenge. He could either have turned his life into a victimhood of his younger years, or used his lived experiences to create a positive impact and change for children around the world. He chose the latter.

In this episode, we discuss who inspired him to escape the life society would have conditioned him into. The inspirational leader who demanded “No bullshit” and to focus on their real outcome - to save children’s lives at scale.

Not to mention the incredible work that is showing parents the skills to be able to meaningfully love their children, and in turn healing themselves. True proof that love heals.

His book Trauma Proof explores how childhood trauma is not an insurmountable problem, it is in fact one that we can heal from globally through simple, scalable united actions.

“What is our legacy? We now have this science that tells us if we can reduce childhood adversity, improve nurturing care, we can have much better outcomes and save a lot of money for the lives of the life cycle. And for society, that should be a no-brainer.”

If one person can break the cycle, this podcast asks - can we all be cycle breakers?

Take a listen, this is a powerful episode!

#unicef #childhoodtrauma #generationalcyclebreaking #traumaproof #inspiringpodcasts

Music: 'Spirit of Fire' - fiftysounds.com

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Sports leader, author, journalist, teacher and academic. Before she passed, Marie Weir graciously shared her 90 years of life experience with me and boy, had she filled her life with success.

Marie’s "tough but fair" leadership style led to a historic victory for Scottish hockey. Replicating the tactics she saw in football Marie led Scotland Women to beat England in 1972 for the first time in 39 years!

This is a thoughtful reflection on leadership styles, empowering the individual to build a better team and the enduring power of true self confidence.

Marie’s reflection on the core of leadership remained rooted in respect, listening, and love.

This is a beautiful episode that reminds us of the real values that good leadership requires.

Music: 'Spirit of Fire' - fiftysounds.com

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In this episode of Unmuted, host Gary Robinson sits down with Peter McGinnis, a veteran of the global high-end service industry. From the prestigious Ivor Spencer School for Butlers to the sun-drenched decks of superyachts and the private suites of Hollywood royalty, Peter has seen it all.

Recording live from a park bench between Hyde Park and Kensington, Gary and Peter explore the evolution of "service," the stark differences between old and new money, and why Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is the ultimate survival tool when your boss is a billionaire.

Music: 'Spirit of Fire' - fiftysounds.com

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