What happens when pushing through becomes your normal way of working? You’re still delivering, still showing up for everyone else, but finding it harder to switch off.

In this episode of the Thriving Leaders Podcast, I’m joined by Melo Calarco, mindfulness and high-performance coach, keynote speaker and author of Beating Burnout, Finding Balance. With more than 25 years of experience working with leaders, executive teams and athletes, Melo explores a challenge many of us recognise: wanting to perform well without running ourselves into the ground.

We talk about the warning signs we can overlook, why slowing down feels so uncomfortable for high performers, and what being more present might mean in a life that is already full.

In this episode, we cover:

• Where healthy pressure ends and the warning signs of burnout begin
• Why knowing you need a break doesn’t always make it easier to take one
• What constant interruptions could be costing your focus and creativity
• The relationship between mindfulness, attention and how we respond under pressure
• Why switching off at the end of the day can be harder than it sounds
• What presence looks like when leadership and caring responsibilities compete
• How to think differently about recovery and sustained performance

This conversation had me reflecting on how often I’m doing one thing while thinking about the next. It’s something I want to be more intentional about, both at work and with my family.

If your days are full but your energy is running low, join us to explore what a more sustainable way of performing could look like.

Could AI make it easier to find answers while making us less likely to ask each other? Explore what AI at work could mean for team collaboration, critical thinking and human connection. In this Best Of episode of the Thriving Leaders Podcast, Justin Williams and I discuss a question leaders need to consider: how do we use AI’s capabilities while continuing to develop the skills that help people think and work well together? We explore what teams could lose when individual prompts replace shared conversations, why active listening and curiosity still matter, and the judgement needed to question and improve an AI-generated response. You’ll hear us explore: – How AI could change the way team members ask for help – The value of different perspectives and healthy, challenging debate – Why critical thinking matters beyond the initial AI response – How emerging professionals can keep developing human skills – Using AI to enrich team conversations and learning For me, this comes back to how we create space for people to think together. Listening to learn, asking curious questions and sharing knowledge all contribute to the quality of a team’s decisions. Watch the full conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hATSzblvpX0 I’m Claire Gray, leadership and team facilitator, executive coach, keynote speaker, and author of Thriving Leaders and Thriving Teams. Through Thriving Culture, I help leaders and teams build the skills to unite, align and achieve. Subscribe for practical conversations about leadership, workplace culture and high-performing teams.

Have you ever seen someone’s name pop up in your inbox and immediately felt frustrated? Before you’ve even read their message, you already have a story about how the interaction will go. I’m joined by Amy Gallo, contributing editor at Harvard Business Review and author of Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone, Even Difficult People, to explore why work relationships can become so difficult and what we might be missing when we’re convinced the other person is the problem. From the conversations we avoid to the feedback that doesn’t land as expected, we explore the messy human dynamics leaders navigate every day. In this episode, we explore:

• Why certain people push our buttons
• What if we’re the difficult person?
• The fear of making a relationship worse
• Defensiveness, tears and the poker face when receiving feedback
• What a lack of disagreement might mean for your team
• How AI could be shaping our expectations of each other
• Why working across teams can bring a different set of tensions.

Watch the full conversation and consider the work relationship or conversation you might approach differently. Resources

• Amy Gallo’s website
• Amy Gallo’s LinkedIn
• Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People)
• HBR Guide to Dealing with Conflict
• Thriving Leaders and Thriving Teams books
• Thriving Culture website