The Being Human Podcast with Richard Atherton

#359 Why Hope Is a Leadership Skill - Jen Fisher

▶️ Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardatherton-firsthuman/
 
Is hope naïve or is it the missing ingredient in modern leadership?
In this episode of Being Human, I speak with Jen Fisher, former Chief Wellbeing Officer at Deloitte and author of Hope Is the Strategy. After experiencing severe burnout herself, Jen discovered that hope isn’t wishful thinking — it’s a measurable, actionable skill grounded in research.
We explore why burnout may actually be a symptom of hopelessness, how leaders unintentionally kill hope through language and behaviour, and why cultivating agency, multiple pathways, and honest truth-telling transforms culture. Jen shares practical tools, including hope audits, hope spotting, and the power of vulnerability in leadership.
We discuss:
Burnout as a crisis of hopelessness
What real hope actually means
Leadership language that builds or kills hope
Practical tools to cultivate hopeful cultures
Links:Jen’s Website

#358 When Trust Breaks — And How to Repair It - Dennis Reina & Michelle Reina

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What happens when trust breaks down in relationships, in leadership, in organisations?
 
In this episode of Being Human, I speak with Dennis and Michelle Reina, founders of the Reina Trust Building® Institute and authors of Trust & Betrayal in the Workplace. Drawing on decades of research and lived experience, they explain why trust is far more fragile than most leaders realise, and why rebuilding it requires courage, accountability, and choice.
 
We explore the three dimensions of trust, how victimhood traps us in blame, and why trust repair is not about forgetting but about responding differently. This is a deeply human conversation about conflict, repair, and responsibility, relevant to leaders, partners, and anyone navigating broken expectations.
 
We discuss:
Growing up with an alcoholic father
Why trust is fragile
The anatomy of betrayal
Victimhood vs responsibility
Practical steps to rebuild trust
Links:Reina Trust Building

#357 Creativity Is What Makes Us Human - Fredrik Haren

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What if creativity isn’t a talent for the few, but the defining quality of being human?
 
In this episode of Being Human, I’m joined by Fredrik Haren, global creativity expert, speaker, and author of The World of Creativity. Fredrik has spent decades travelling the world studying where ideas come from and why modern organisations and education systems so often crush creative thinking.
 
We explore why creativity has little to do with confidence, why having ideas brings profound joy, and how each of us carries an “inner theme”: a unique perspective the world needs.
 
If you’re someone who sees yourself as ‘not creative’, or if you struggle to get your creativity flowing, this episode is a must-watch.
 
We explore:
How we don’t create for others
Why creativity defines humanity
How the get the ideas flowing
The joy of having ideas
Discovering your ‘inner theme’
 
Links:Fredrik’s Website

#356 What Happens When the Self Disappears? - Ken Wilber

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What actually happens when the sense of “self” disappears — and does it make you wiser?
 
In this episode of Being Human, I’m joined by Ken Wilber, one of the most influential philosophers of human development and the founder of Integral Theory, something which played a big role in my own intellectual development. Ken shares his early awakening experience, in which he experienced a complete dissolution of the separate self, and explains why spiritual awakening alone does not equal psychological maturity or ethical wisdom.
 
We explore the crucial distinction between waking up and growing up. And why this explains how many spiritual gurus and their communities can become so toxic. Drawing on decades of scholarship, meditation, and systems thinking, Ken offers a comprehensive framework for understanding consciousness and development. This helps us to appreciate the multiple vectors and methods of human expansion. 
 
We explore:
What happens when the self dissolves
Waking up vs growing up
Stages of human development
Why maturity still matters
Links:Ken’s Website

#355 The Leadership Intelligence Everyone Ignores - Yosi Amram

▶️ Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardatherton-firsthuman/
 
What if great leadership requires more than IQ and EQ? In this episode of Being Human, I speak with Dr. Yosi Amram, psychologist, executive coach, and pioneer in developing our understanding of Spiritual Intelligence (SQ). Yosi offers a research-backed framework for translating spiritual values into practical action. Drawing on extensive empirical studies, Yosi shows how SQ predicts leadership effectiveness and personal well-being in ways traditional models miss.
 
And Yosi is not speaking only as an academic. Yosi held the record for the fastest promotion to captain in the history of his regiment in the Israeli Air Force.  He has taken two tech start-ups to IPO. He’s a man who knows how to lead.
 
We explore how to make spirituality accessible without dogma, how SQ helps leaders navigate complexity and suffering, and why meaning, purpose, and inspiration are no longer optional in modern work. Yosi also shares principles from his clinical and executive coaching work on how to lead with integrity, compassion, and presence.
 
We explore:
What SQ actually is
Spirit → action translation
Leadership + meaning + purpose
Beyond IQ and EQ
His recommendations for developing SQ
Links:Yosi’s Website
 

#354 Most Human Knowledge Work Gone by 2030 - Alastair Moore

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Is AI about to take over knowledge work? And what does that mean for the rest of us?
 
In this episode of Being Human, I speak with Alastair Moore, AI strategist and co-founder of ventures helping organisations navigate the machine intelligence revolution. Alastair argues that we’ve already crossed a threshold: AI isn’t just assisting knowledge workers — it’s now performing tasks at the frontier of research, science, and complex problem-solving.
 
We explore how large models are reshaping entire categories of white-collar work, why organisations are unprepared for the acceleration curve, and what skills will matter in a world where cognition becomes a shared capability between humans and machines. This is a grounded, practical, and sometimes unsettling conversation about the next decade of work.
 
We discuss:
AI at the scientific frontier
Automation of knowledge work
Human–machine complementarities
Skills for the post-GPT economy
Links:
DeepFlow - the company co-founded by Alastair

#353 The Science of Energy Healing - Dr. Shamini Jain

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Can energy healing be measured? And if so, what does it mean for medicine?
In this episode of Being Human, I speak with Dr. Shamini Jain, founder of the Consciousness and Healing Initiative (CHI) and one of the leading scientific voices bridging mind-body medicine and biofield science. Drawing on controlled laboratory studies on cells, tumors, animals, and humans, Dr. Jain explains why the evidence for biofield mechanisms can no longer be dismissed as placebo or wishful thinking.
 
We explore how ancient healing practices map onto modern physics, why the biomedical model struggles with subtle energy, and what a paradigm shift in healthcare could look like. This conversation sits at the frontier where science, spirit, and healing converge.
We discuss:
Evidence beyond placebo
What “biofield” actually means
Cancer and cell line studies
Why medicine must evolve
Links:Dr. Jain’s Website

#352 Pure Unlimited Love - with Dr. Stephen G. Post

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What if love isn’t just an emotion — but the deepest truth of reality itself?
In this episode of Being Human, I speak with Dr. Stephen G. Post — bioethicist, medical humanities professor, and founder of the Institute for Research on Pure Unlimited Love. Drawing on decades of work in medicine, neuroscience, spirituality, and ethics, Stephen explores love as a lived practice, not a vague ideal.
 
Stephen shares extraordinary stories from medicine, caregiving, near-death research, and neuroscience, including a striking insight: pure unlimited love may be the first thing we encounter when life ends. We explore why modern education and culture often strip meaning from life, how service transforms suffering, and what it means to live aligned with a deeper calling.
 
A profound conversation about love, purpose, and what truly matters.
 
We explore:
Following your calling
All are suffering
Love tough vs the 'carefrontation'
Addressing the Nature Deficit Disorder
Pure unlimited love in the workplace
Links:The Institute for Research on Pure Unlimited LoveStephen’s Website

#351 How Modern Education Is Driving Global Collapse - with Jim Garrison

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Is modern education preparing us for the world we’re actually living in? Or is it accelerating our collapse? In this episode of Being Human, I’m joined by Jim Garrison, founder of Ubiquity University, to explore why today’s education system may be failing humanity at the deepest level.
 
Jim argues that Western education prioritises left-brain development: memorisation, analysis and knowledge acquisition, while neglecting ethics, inner growth, and wisdom. Drawing on philosophy, systems thinking, and decades of institutional leadership, he explains how this imbalance fuels ecological destruction, political instability, and moral drift. We explore what a new educational paradigm could look like. It includes somatic, creative, and experiential learning, along with the development of our rationality. Ultimately, it focuses on pursuing the good, the beautiful and the true. 
 
We discuss:
Why memorisation replaces wisdom
Education’s role in global crises
The loss of ethics and values
What transformative learning requires
Jim is a brilliant orator and true pioneer of a new educational paradigm.
Links:Uniquity University

#350 Toxic Leader to Compassionate CEO - with Nigel Kilpatrick

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What happens when a high-flying executive loses himself in the pursuit of success? Breaking down in a bar with his CEO became the turning point for rebuilding his entire leadership philosophy on compassion? In this episode, Nigel Kilpatrick shares his remarkable journey from burnout, toxicity, and emotional collapse to becoming a leading voice for compassionate leadership.
 
Nigel reveals how confronting his own behaviour and facing multiple health crises reshaped his understanding of work, responsibility, and what people truly need from leaders today. He explains why compassion is not “soft,” but a strategic and measurable foundation for performance, culture, and wellbeing.  He shares why organisations that ignore it risk losing both their people and their purpose.
 
We dive into his book The Ten Traits of a Compassionate Leader, his creation of the Compassion Exchange, and his mission to transform workplace culture from fear-driven to human-centred.
 
We cover:
From toxic leadership to self-healing
Compassion as a business strategy
Why empathy alone isn’t enough
Building cultures rooted in trust and honesty
Links:The Ten Traits of a Compassionate Leader - The BookThe Compassion Exchange