This week I’m joined by the remarkable Helen Young-McLaughlin, CEO and founder of the Leverage Academy and a leadership coach based in Maryland, USA. Helen opens up about her personal battle with burnout and the transformative power of empathetic communication in the workplace. Her story is a testament to the resilience and adaptability required of leaders today.

Do you think fun has a place at work? I do! I think it’s vital in fact and in this episode we are exploring the power of fun with my guest Dr Mike Rucker, author of The Fun Habit.  He’s a big believer that in our overprescribed lives we need to seek fun where we can. We’re not talking about zany fun here, it’s finding pleasure in the everyday. It's not about the big milestones, but the small moments that build our rich tapestry of life.

I’m just back from a two-week epic hike along the Australian Alpine Walking Track and reflecting on the fact that the heart of any expedition is its people. Drawing on these recent experiences for this solo episode, I explore the importance of nurturing relationships, understanding individual drives, and creating a supportive environment that empowers your team.

Words matter and my guest this week is an accomplished author and ghostwriter with over 100 books to her name - averaging around one book a month! Rhiannon D’Averc shares her writing process, her experience ghostwriting in various voices, and the importance of detailed outlines. Many leaders are charged with translating complex ideas into compelling narratives and Rhiannon’s insights into how she organises her research and removing roadblocks are not just applicable to writing but to any leadership role: it's all about efficiency and clarity.

My guest this episode has an incredible track record in technology and innovation, is a 2 x author and entrepreneur who bridges the gap between hardware and software. Ajay Malik is the driving force behind Secomind, a forward-thinking company dedicated to incorporating AI seamlessly into products, workflows, and customer support processes. 

This week I have two guests on the podcast: Jason Walker and Rey Ramirez, the innovative minds behind Thrive HR Consulting. Jason has a background in re-engineering workforces and Rey comes from the world of mergers and acquisitions, together they are at the vanguard of using AI to streamline HR. 

We are all about the pursuit of workplace happiness this week with my guest Lori-Ann Duguay.  

Lori-Ann is the owner and founder of People Powered Solutions, and the author of The Happiness Factor, a delightful book filled with actionable insights for creating happy cultures drawn from Lori-Ann’s extensive experience in the HR space. 

She shines a light on the 10 fundamental needs of employees that are key to fostering a joyful and productive work environment. We discuss how effective communication and a robust onboarding process are not just nice-to-haves but essential for long-term success.

Nadeem Ahmad believes that mindset is everything. He's a testament to how shedding limiting beliefs can unlock our true potential and provides powerful insights into how we can create a growth mindset. Nadeem is a visionary tech leader who has taken his extensive experience as a CTO and pivoted to helping entrepreneurs and start-ups to embrace innovation and technology. He shares his leadership journey, from burnout to bouncing back, and insights from his fantastic book, Becoming an Innovation Navigator. We explore how innovation isn't just for products or services – it's for personal growth too. 

Are you listening to what your body is telling you? And what has that got to do with how you show up as a leader? My guest, somatic leadership expert and educator Dr. Pavini Moray, and I explore how tuning into the body's signals can guide better decision-making, boost leadership empathy and prevent burnout. Our conversation also covers the significance of creating trauma-informed workplaces and developing skills to process triggers.

My guest this week is the insightful Russel Lolacher, a fellow Canadian with a background steeped in communications and leadership before an employee experience epiphany in 2018 ultimately led to the creation of his fantastic podcast, Relationships at Work. Russel shares his wisdom on fostering better organisations through stronger relationships. He takes us on his personal journey into the realm of relationship building at work, highlighting the power of personalisation, connecting work to value, and empowerment. It's all about creating a workplace culture that thrives on positive connections.

Have you ever encountered someone in your professional life who seemed charming at first, but turned out to be a bit too self-centred for comfort? This week on the podcast we're diving deep into the world of narcissism with my guest, the insightful Lindsay Ruiz who has deep experience in this area and focused her doctorate in organisational development and change around narcissistic behaviour.

My guest this week is a former lawyer turned empathy guru, and she's here to share her secret sauce for creating a more connected workplace: storytelling. Dr. Ann Kowal Smith and I explore how stories aren't just for entertainment—they're powerful tools for challenging our assumptions, widening our circles of empathy, and sparking those "aha" moments that bring us closer to our colleagues.

Do you want more influence? What about more power? It doesn’t feel quite the same to pursue power does it? Power and power structures don’t have a great reputation, and history is littered with abuses of power, but what if we reframe our understanding of power and use it to make us better leaders?

Benny Callaghan is a leadership coach and facilitator extraordinaire who excels at seeing complexity and the dynamics at play between human relationships. We discuss the challenges of leadership and organisational dynamics, the difficulty of breaking down silos within organisations and how high workloads can prevent leaders from engaging in crucial relationship-building. 

We are welcoming back for the third time on the podcast, because he’s just that good, Dermot Crowley - a maestro of efficiency and author of several productivity books including his latest, Lead Smart. This episode is chock full of productivity and prioritisation insights that will especially appeal to busy leaders looking to build highly productive teams. 

My guest this week has evolved from punk rock protester to common ground champion, she is a fearless Indian American activist and a beacon of hope for racial justice. Meet the truly inspiring Nisha Anand as she shares her remarkable story, from being arrested in Burma for her pro-democracy efforts to leading transformative change with DreamOrg, a social justice nonprofit where she is CEO.

In this solosode I explore seven critical areas for leadership reform: democracy, healthcare, food production, education, wealth distribution, climate change, and urbanisation. Additionally, I identify three key trends that leaders need to navigate this year

We have made it to the end of the year! And this is the wrap up episode for the Zoë Routh Leadership Podcast. I'm going to do my best to summarise the highlights, the insights and the awesomeness that was this year's show. We did a lot of great interviews and I'm really keen to showcase some of the awesome highlights from the year. 

Grayson James is a former CEO, author of Full Contract Performance The Internal Art of Organizational Collaboration and he's a sixth Dan black belt in Aikido - a particular interest of mine as I often use the term emotional Aikido in my programs to help people master the difficult conversations that are part of leadership.