She decided at 12 to become a journalist. No money, no women in the field, no clear path. Here is how she made it happen.

Bian grew up in Mumbai and became a journalist in India before moving to the UK at 25, knowing almost no one. Over the next 25 years she built a career across telecoms, media, consulting and financial services, at Sky, Capgemini, BT, TSB and LinkedIn. Today she is a non executive director and marketing strategist, and she coaches people of colour through her RISE programme.

In this episode of ExExecs, John, Tarek and Robin sit down with Bian for an honest conversation about career resilience: the setbacks, the imposter syndrome, and the choices that shape a working life. She explains why curiosity is a superpower, why hunger is not the same as desperation, and why the question we ask children (what do you want to be) is the wrong one. She is also candid about her hardest lessons, from hiring the wrong people to ignoring her own health while her father was dying.

Key takeaways:

• Take the opportunity in front of you, not the perfect one. A receptionist job became a career in journalism.
• Hunger is a positive force. Desperation is not. Know the difference.
• Imposter syndrome eases when you know who you are, not just what you do.
• Hire for attitude and values, not talent alone. One wrong hire can damage a whole team.
• You cannot run on an empty tank. Look after yourself before the numbers.

Chapters:

• (00:00) Welcome and meet the hosts
• (02:32) Bian's story: from Mumbai to Sky, BT and LinkedIn
• (05:00) Curiosity as a superpower
• (07:49) Getting comfortable being uncomfortable
• (09:59) Deciding at 12 to be a journalist
• (12:20) Receptionist to journalist: there is only one way to find out
• (14:59) Hunger is not desperation
• (15:38) Mentors, and why most were men
• (19:05) Not enough seats at the table
• (24:37) Imposter syndrome: who, not what, do you want to be
• (28:45) Her biggest mistake: hiring for talent, not attitude
• (30:55) Burnout and you cannot run on an empty tank
• (33:04) Culture shock and finding your feet
• (36:05) Marketing, AI and the RISE programme
• (38:56) Closing reflections

If this conversation helped you, follow ExExecs and share it with someone navigating a tough patch in their career.

Get in touch: 3exExecs@gmail.com

Hosts: John Newton, Tarek Anwar and Robin. Guest: Bian Salins, linkedin.com/in/biansalins.

Can you have work-life balance at the top? Three ex-executives on managing yourself: habits, inboxes and stress.

John Newton, Tarek Anwar and Robin have run schools, banks and global businesses. This month they tackle the discipline none of them found easy: managing yourself. Between them they have coached dozens of senior executives, and more than half of those conversations end up in the same place - how do I get my life back?

Tarek explains the 90-day rule for rewiring your brain: pick one behaviour, practise it intentionally, and it becomes a new neural pathway. He shares the habit that mattered most - uncoupling his self-worth from outcomes - and why ego is what stops leaders asking for help. Robin reveals the coaching question most executives cannot answer ("other than work and family, what is your passion?") and his hard rule for email: once a chain hits five replies, kill it and pick up the phone. John owns up to doing emails on Christmas Eve in the south of France, and the three trade honest stress management techniques: spotting your own warning signs, treating emotions as waves that pass, and why staying calm at the top steadies everyone below you.

Key takeaways:

• Change starts with self-awareness: notice one behaviour, question it, then practise its replacement for 90 days until it rewires.
• Your self-worth is not the promotion, the deal or the bonus. Uncouple identity from outcomes and you become easier to lead and to live with.
• Have a passion outside work and family - and be able to name it. If you cannot answer the question, that is the work.
• Work-life balance is real but moving: it shifts with career stage, family, elderly parents. Review it, adjust it, and do not let the balancing itself become a stress.
• Inbox rules that work at the top: a trusted EA clearing 60-70%, no weekend emails (schedule send instead), and the 4-reply rule - if an email chain is not resolved in four replies, kill it and have the conversation.
• Stress is a killer, but not all stress: planned, managed pressure builds trust in teams. Learn your own early warning signs and get to your outlet before it gets to you.

Chapters:

(00:00) Which Beatle are you?
(02:05) Managing yourself: the topic
(03:30) Self-awareness starts change
(06:25) Rewire your brain in 90 days
(09:12) Self-worth vs outcomes
(10:14) Name your passion
(12:05) Is work-life balance real?
(17:40) When we got it wrong
(20:26) Inbox management rules
(22:35) The 4-reply email rule
(25:40) How to manage stress
(27:45) Emotions as waves
(29:56) Who can a CEO offload to?

If this episode helped, follow ExExecs and leave a review - it is the single best way to help other leaders find the show.

Questions, topics or work enquiries: 3exExecs@gmail.com

Disruption has stopped being the exception and become the job. Three former chief executives on how to lead through it.

John Newton, Tarek Anwar and Robin are the ExExecs - three former executives from banking and education who talk honestly about what leadership actually demands. No guest this episode, just the three of them on the topic every exec is living right now.

It's Monday morning. Tariffs, conflict in the Middle East and AI are all landing at once, and you're the one people look to. This episode is a practical answer to "what do I do?" - how to gather your team and run a fast, honest crisis session, why trust decides whether anyone tells you the truth, and how to treat AI as a chance to remodel your team rather than a threat to survive. It is full of real stories, including a few that did not go to plan.

Key takeaways:

• Run the reverse-brainstorm: give the team five minutes to say how they would destroy the business, then flip every answer into a fix.
• Disruption is the new business as usual - practise for it with ten provocative minutes at the end of an ordinary meeting.
• Anticipate risk early and act on it, the way a good school leader prepared for the VAT change years before it arrived.
• Lead from the front: take the pay cut, fly economy, walk the floor, be present.
• Do AI with your people, not to them - automate the humdrum, hire for critical thinking, become ambidextrous.

Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:26) The disruption leaders face now
(01:08) Cost of living and firefighting
(03:02) Comfortable being uncomfortable
(04:23) Monday morning: gather the team
(05:37) Destroy your own business
(09:14) The school VAT risk lesson
(11:43) The shark in the marina
(13:37) Trust and psychological safety
(14:31) Ownership, notes and brunch
(16:30) Missing the obvious
(17:53) A fleet-footed culture
(19:15) The fishmonger who pivoted
(20:31) Protecting your staff
(23:56) A COVID pay cut
(25:40) Lead from the front
(28:52) The AI challenge
(30:06) Remodel the team
(33:17) The ambidextrous company
(34:24) Words matter: the CEO megaphone
(36:06) Wrap-up

Mentioned: the previous ExExecs episode, Crisis Management with Hania, who led HSBC in Cairo through the Arab Spring. Search "ExExecs" on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to hear it.

If this was useful, follow ExExecs and send us a question or a topic you would like us to take on. We read everything: 3exExecs@gmail.com

Hosts: John Newton, Tarek Anwar and Robin.