Imagine your business is weeks from collapse. You sit down for a crisis meeting with your team, anxious about the future.

That’s what happened to my guest on this week’s Fearless Forward podcast, Think Productive founder Graham Allcott, when Covid wiped out most of the company’s face-to-face work.

And with one simple question his MD Elena Kerrigan changed everything:

“What’s going well right now?” she asked.

Graham’s initial inner response, he admits, was far from polite.

Yet from that small ritual came an idea that saved the business. They realised they’d all been working from home for years. They already had what people needed.

Graham calls it a tiny act of kindness. And his latest book Kind is the one he wants to be remembered for. He believes that kindness is how good work gets done.

The research he gathered for the book supports his belief. Kindness builds empathy, empathy builds trust, and trust creates psychological safety: in Amy Edmondson’s terms, the sense that “it’s safe to take an interpersonal risk”.

So why is kindness not more mainstream?

Three ideas from our conversation have stayed with me:

1. Busyness is the biggest source of accidental unkindness. When we feel there isn’t enough time, money or energy, a friend, colleague, or family member who needs a few minutes of our attention becomes an interruption. Graham calls this a scarcity mindset, and he sees it as rooted in fear.
2. There are no kind people, only kind acts. Kindness is less a character trait, and more a practice. The good thing is that practices can be learned.
3. Leaders can build vessels for kindness. At Think Productive, a bowl of toy giraffes sits on the meeting table. When someone sticks their neck out, a colleague hands them one.

And a personal reflection from me: Graham can’t remember which colleague spotted the idea that saved his business, but he does remember how the meeting began.

That’s the quiet power of kindness. It may not look like the thing that made the difference, yet it’s often what made the difference possible.

Highlights:

• [00:00:29] Introduction to Graham Allcott
• [00:01:39] Kindness as Productivity's Rocket Fuel
• [00:03:32] The Science Behind Kindness
• [00:04:52] Google's Study on Team Success
• [00:06:46] Defining Psychological Safety
• [00:09:33] Fostering Psychological Safety in Meetings
• [00:13:36] The Giraffe Symbol
• [00:15:54] Kindness Starts With You
• [00:18:52] Fear, Scarcity, and Abundance
• [00:22:16] Graham's Personal Motivation
• [00:23:37] The Gift of Interdependence
• [00:26:42] Overcoming Fear with Kindness
• [00:30:42] Kindness as a Conscious Practice
• [00:34:42] Graham's Biggest Fear
• [00:36:57] Lessons from a Crisis
• [00:40:58] The Meaning of "Fearless Forward"
• [00:43:19] Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Links:

• Think Productive (website)
• Graham Allcott (website)
• Graham on LinkedIn

"Death involves everyone," says Ivor Williams. “Design accordingly.”

This line from my conversation with this week’s Fearless Forward guest sums up his life’s work.

Many wisdom traditions and indigenous cultures treat awareness of mortality as a way into deeper consciousness. In the West, we tend to do the opposite: often pushing the subject away until it becomes urgent. But by that time it may be too late to do and say things that really matter.

Ivor is a death care design consultant offering us a different way of looking at our own mortality. As he sees it, mortality awareness is a uniquely human trait which can sharpen our appreciation of life and help us live with more intention and joy.

His own path to this work was far from linear. After art college, he spent ten years on a wide range of design projects and won multiple awards. Then a year-long residency for young creatives at a design research centre in Italy changed the direction of his career.

Working on experimental projects about death and dying, he found his vocation. He went on to found one of the first design studios dedicated to rethinking how we experience the end of life.

In the twelve years since, his work has included long-term projects with hospices and co-founding Humane Engineering, a tech-for-good mental health start-up. Its app, Cove, was one of the first available on the UK’s National Health Service and has been used worldwide.

But our conversation, as you might expect, is less about his achievements and more about the person behind them. We talk about how Ivor’s own life has shaped his work, and what led him to create Mortals, an online community and group programme.

Facing mortality alone can feel overwhelming. Mortals offers a safe space to explore it together, as a way of living more fully.

If you’re curious to learn more about this enlivening perspective on death, I’d encourage you to listen in.

Highlights:

• [00:00:16] Introduction to Ivor Williams
• [00:02:14] Mortality Awareness and Joyful Living
• [00:03:58] The "Mortals" Program
• [00:06:40] The Vividness of Life Near Death
• [00:07:50] Ivor's Journey and Upbringing
• [00:09:58] Early Experiences with Loss
• [00:12:48] Turning Towards Grief
• [00:13:57] The Aftermath of a Friend's Death
• [00:17:41] Following Feelings and Intuition
• [00:21:25] Designing for Palliative Care
• [00:25:26] The Power of Group Work
• [00:27:26] Leaving Nothing on the Table
• [00:29:14] Intergenerational Trauma and Family History
• [00:33:20] The Concept of "Living Practice"
• [00:36:24] Self-Care and Finding Rejuvenation
• [00:38:45] What "Fearless Forward" Means
• [00:39:58] Episode Outro and Reflection

Links:

• Mortals Community
• Ivor on LinkedIn

Imagine a nine-year old girl writing and directing her first play. Even at this young age, she has a natural inclination to lead.

An extrovert, she’s also highly sensitive. And this trait, while often misunderstood by others, becomes a cornerstone of her self-awareness. Over time, her hypersensitivity becomes a guide to what feels right for her.

The little girl grows into a remarkable woman whose career journey crosses continents and industries, and takes her from her native Nigeria to a new home in Scotland - via a series of bold reinventions: entrepreneur, strategic marketing consultant, author, certified coach, inspirational speaker, and now Chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland and CEO of Somebody Cares Scotland.

This is the brief history of the amazing Dr Yekemi Otaru - my guest on this week’s Fearless Forward podcast.

How she came to be the CEO of Somebody Cares Scotland — an award-winning charity that alleviates hardship by providing free food, furniture and essential household items to people moving into empty homes — is itself an extraordinary story.

Serendipity brought her to the role. Self-trust propels her forward.

For Yekemi, self-trust is built through experience, reflection, and the courage to recognise fear — without letting it stop you from doing what you really want to.

“It’s about trusting that you can adapt, learn, and find your way — even when the path is unclear.”

She listens to others carefully and asks for input; but may still make a decision not everyone likes.

Because in leadership and in life, self-trust is about ceasing to defer to other people’s opinions, and instead paying attention to what feels true to you and what drains you; to where you’re just performing and where you’re actually in flow.

To be the leader, parent, partner, friend you want to be, self-trust is essential.

As you step into your day, take a moment to ask yourself:

• Where might I be allowing my choices to be shaped by other people’s wishes?
• Am I giving myself permission to explore the paths that align with what I truly want and need?

Highlights:

• [00:00:19] Introduction to Dr. Yekemi Otaru
• [00:02:30] Who Are You?
• [00:07:04] The Journey of Self-Understanding
• [00:11:29] Self-Trust in Leadership
• [00:17:20] A Leader's Evolving Approach
• [00:22:45] A New Chapter in the Third Sector
• [00:28:15] The Work of Somebody Cares
• [00:34:27] Expanding the Charity's Impact
• [00:37:15] A Key Career Lesson: Overcoming Fear
• [00:41:02] What Fearless Forward Means
• [00:42:42] Episode Wrap-up

Links

• Somebody Cares Scotland
• Dr. Yekemi Otaru on Wikipedia
• Dr. Yekemi Otaru on LinkedIn