with Alec Pearson

After 19 honest conversations with leaders, founders and coaches working in very different worlds, the same themes kept appearing.

Questions about identity, energy, trust, change and what really happens when leadership becomes personal.

Why do some leaders know exactly what needs to change, yet still do nothing about it?

And what are the questions that leadership keeps asking, regardless of role, sector or experience?

In this 20th episode, Alec Pearson looks back across the first six months of Beyond Leading to explore the recurring themes that have shaped the podcast so far, what those conversations have reinforced for him personally, and why knowing what to do is rarely the same as being ready to do it.

We explore:

• Why does leadership become more personal the further up you go?
• What happens when reflection is constantly squeezed out by the diary?
• Why can knowing the right thing still fail to change our behaviour?
• How do energy, trust and self-awareness affect the way we lead?
• What have 19 very different conversations revealed about the reality of leadership?

If you lead people, carry responsibility or find yourself knowing what needs to change but still not acting on it, this episode is worth your time.

Follow Beyond Leading on LinkedIn for episode clips and updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyond-leading-podcast

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with Alec Pearson, Tiffany David and Graham Da Costa

Change is no longer a one-off event, it's the constant backdrop of working life. New technology, shifting client expectations, the rise of AI. And yet most change programmes still fail. Not because the strategy was wrong, but because of something far more human.

What if the real problem is that your people don't think there's a problem at all? You can't sell a solution to someone who doesn't believe anything is broken, and that one insight, borrowed from the world of addiction psychology, might explain more failed change programmes than any strategy document ever will.

We explore:

• Why do so many change programmes fail before they've even started?
• What's the one question Graham put to leaders that stopped most of them in their tracks?
• When your team asks "what's in it for me?" - do you actually have an answer?
• Could your people already be ready for more change than you think?

If you lead a team through change, and every leader does, this one is worth your time.

Follow Beyond Leading on LinkedIn for episode clips and updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyond-leading-podcast

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with Nick Sellers, Tiffany Barnard and Ellen Putz.

In this episode of Beyond Leading, Nick Sellers takes the host's chair and is joined by Tiffany Barnard and Ellen Putz.

The topic: team leadership.

And the conversation goes a lot further than the textbook version.

Because the way teams are led has changed. The old hierarchical, fear-based, command-and-control playbook is being replaced by something very different, and not every leader is keeping up.

We explore:

• what really sits at the heart of every effective team, and what most leaders still get wrong
• the line between leading and managing, and why it matters more than people think
• the trap most people fall into when they go from doer to leader
• why people don't leave bad jobs, they leave bad leaders

If you lead a team, or you want to, this is a conversation worth sitting with.

Follow Beyond Leading on LinkedIn for episode clips and updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyond-leading-podcast

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with Alec Pearson and Lucy Nicholson, Registered Somatic Movement Educator and Movement Analyst.

In this episode of Beyond Leading, we explore an approach to leadership that most people have never come across, and once you hear it, you will not be able to unsee it.

Somatic leadership.

Most leadership development focuses on what we think, what we say and how we behave. Very little focuses on what our body is doing, and what it is telling us, in the moments that matter most.

Lucy Nicholson brings a fascinating and genuinely different perspective to this conversation, rooted in years of working with leaders, communities and organisations on the power of bodily awareness.

We explore:

• what somatic leadership actually is, and why most leaders have never considered it
• what the connection between mind and body has to do with how you lead
• why the pressure leaders carry shows up in the body, and what to do about it
• what happens when you give yourself permission to pause, ground and reset
• how something as simple as the way you carry yourself can change how others respond to you
• the role of stillness and silence as leadership tools, not indulgences
• and what one leader discovered when she stopped trying to be heard and started leading differently

If you have ever felt the weight of leadership in your body without knowing what to do with it, this episode will give you a completely new way of thinking about it.

To find out more about Lucy's work visit www.in-movement.co.uk or find her on LinkedIn.

Follow Beyond Leading on LinkedIn for episode clips and updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyond-leading-podcast

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with Alec Pearson, Nick Sellers and Tiffany Barnard.

In this episode of Beyond Leading, we tackle something every leader, manager and professional quietly struggles with, but rarely talks about honestly - Procrastination.

This conversation challenges some of the most common assumptions people make about why they put things off. It is not about laziness. It is not about poor time management. And it is not always a bad thing.

We explore:

• what procrastination really is, and what it is not
• where the line is between putting something off and genuinely thinking it through
• the role perfectionism and self-doubt play and why most people never make the connection
• why some leaders actually need stress to get things done, and whether that is a good thing
• the practical approaches that help, and why some popular advice misses the mark
• what procrastination reveals about how leaders ask for help

If you have ever found yourself doing everything except the one thing you actually need to do - this episode is for you.

Follow Beyond Leading on LinkedIn for episode clips and updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyond-leading-podcast

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with Alec Pearson and Rich Carter, Chief Growth Officer and President of Advanced Programs at Albers Aerospace.

In this episode of Beyond Leading, we sit down with a leader who operates at the sharp end of one of the most fast-moving, high-stakes industries in the world: aerospace and defence.

The world leaders are operating in right now is faster, more complex and more unpredictable than anything most leadership textbooks prepared us for.

So what does it actually take to lead well in that environment?

We explore:

• why speed has become the defining leadership challenge of our time
• how to lead from the front when the plan changes before the day has even started
• why banning the word "I" might be one of the most powerful cultural shifts a leader can make
• the frozen middle and how to thaw it
• whether the old leadership playbook needs throwing out or simply evolving
• how to think about AI as a tool, not a threat, and what that means for your people
• generational differences, reverse mentoring and why diverse teams move faster
• and what to say to the leader who is tired, overwhelmed and wondering where to start

This is a practical, honest conversation from someone who has done it, and is still doing it.

About Rich Carter

Rich Carter is Chief Growth Officer and President of Advanced Programs at Albers Aerospace. With over 20 years of executive leadership experience, he drives revenue generation, business development, and customer relationships serving the U.S. Intelligence Community, the Pentagon, international partners, and commercial entities. Previously, Rich held executive roles at MAG Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, and Sierra Nevada Corporation. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Bucknell University and a Master of Science from Stony Brook University.

About Albers Aerospace

Albers Aerospace is a proud company built by Warfighters and committed teammates who share a deep passion for serving the Nation. For the past decade, the company has delivered exceptional value across its Industrials, Defense, and Advanced Programs sectors — operating with a People First, Mission Always mindset.

Through its Industrials division, Albers provides vertically integrated, full-spectrum manufacturing capabilities that strengthen the aerospace and defense industrial base. In Defense, the company delivers products and services within complex, multi-security environments — ensuring readiness, reliability, and mission success. Through Advanced Programs, Albers solves emerging challenges with agility, innovation, and technical precision.

Albers Aerospace exists to make a difference — for the country, for the men and women who serve it, and for the future of aerospace and defense. The team brings operational insight, engineering excellence, and an unwavering commitment to quality in everything they do.

Follow Beyond Leading on LinkedIn for episode clips and updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyond-leading-podcast

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with Alec Pearson, Tiffany David and Graham Da Costa.

Emotional intelligence. Two words that have been talked about, trained, workshopped and plastered on LinkedIn until they mean almost nothing.

So why are we talking about it?

Because most of what you've heard about EQ only scratches the surface.

It isn't a personality type. And it definitely isn't something you either have or you don't.

In this episode of Beyond Leading, we get underneath it, the real, unfiltered version of emotional intelligence that shows up in how you lead, how you connect, and how you read the room when it actually matters.

We explore:

• why 85% of us are less self-aware than we think we are — and what that's costing us
• how your triggers, your energy and your values are shaping every relationship you have, whether you know it or not
• why face-to-face connection does something Zoom never will
• the assumptions quietly destroying your team relationships
• and whether the next generation of leaders are arriving in the workplace with an EQ gap nobody is talking about

This isn't another definition of emotional intelligence.

It's a challenge to how you think about it.

Follow Beyond Leading on LinkedIn for episode clips and updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyond-leading-podcast

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with Alec Pearson, Tiffany Barnard and Nick Sellers.

In this episode of Beyond Leading, we explore a question that sits at the heart of leadership, growth and change:

Can we gain from pain?

When does discomfort lead to progress, and when does it simply wear us down?

How much of what we call “pain” is really fear, stretch, uncertainty or anticipation?

And what happens when the very thing we are avoiding may be the thing that helps us grow?

We explore:

• the difference between positive stretch and toxic pressure
• why growth so often feels uncomfortable
• how leaders, coaches and individuals can think more carefully about what challenge is useful - and what challenge is too much.
• fear, self-labelling, resilience, public speaking, personal growth, team development
• the role of coaching in helping people move beyond the beliefs and experiences that keep them stuck.

If you are navigating change, supporting others through growth, or trying to understand the difference between discomfort that develops you and pressure that drains you, this episode will give you plenty to reflect on.

Follow Beyond Leading on LinkedIn for episode clips and updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/beyond-leading-podcast

Follow/subscribe to Beyond Leading for new episodes — wherever you listen.