What makes it so hard to ask for help when you’re struggling — and what can change when we do?

Chris Baréz-Brown talks with Geoff McDonald about his experience of anxiety-fuelled depression, the stigma that can keep people silent, and how the love and hope he found by opening up helped shape his life’s work.

After 25 years at Unilever, Geoff has spent the last 12 years helping organisations make mental health and wellbeing part of how they work — not just a tick-box or an app. He and Chris explore why people’s energy matters, how compassionate leaders can help people feel safe enough to speak up, and what the next generation gives Geoff hope for.

A thoughtful conversation about vulnerability, leadership and creating workplaces where people can bring their best selves.

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What if the biggest risk isn’t making a change, but staying exactly where you are?

Terence Mauri joins Chris Baréz-Brown on Who’s Elvis Around Here? to explore how we stop chasing certainty and start seeing the possibilities in the unknown.

After surviving a car crashing into a shop, Terence used his recovery to rethink his life and leave a career that no longer fitted who he wanted to become. That experience sparked a powerful question: what if disruption is an opportunity to seize?

From the bureaucracy draining our teams to the doubt holding us back, this conversation is full of ideas for freeing up our energy, unlocking our genius and finding the courage to move.

We explore:
• Why uncertainty can be a source of opportunity.
• How to reduce your “Bureaucratic Mass Index”.
• Why subtracting can achieve more than adding.
• The hidden cost of waiting for certainty.
• How to “do faster than doubt” and start before you’re ready.

If life isn’t bad, but isn’t quite brilliant either, this one’s for you.

What’s one small step you could take today? Tell us in the comments, and subscribe for more conversations about bringing out the brilliance in people.

What does it take to lead when you can’t control everything? How do we create the conditions for people to flourish? And what changes when we stop trying to be right and start becoming more open to possibility?

In this episode of Who’s Elvis Round Here?, Chris Baréz-Brown sits down with organisational systems explorer, coach and author Simon to explore leadership, identity, family systems and the power of surrender.

Simon shares the moving story of his son Tom, and the moment he chose to draw on the wall with him rather than react—an experience that reshaped how he thinks about parenting, leadership and change.

Together they dive into:

• Why the only real choice we have is how we show up
• How a breath can create the space between reaction and response
• Why changing your “dance” can change the whole system
• The family stories and unmet needs we bring into work
• Why leadership is about facilitating, not controlling
• How surrender can unlock creativity, connection and human potential
• The power of play, laughter and making space for better ideas
• What it really means to ask: “What are you working for?”

This is a rich, soulful conversation about loosening our grip, seeing systems more clearly and creating workplaces where people can bring more of themselves.

If you care about leadership, culture, coaching, human potential or building more meaningful organisations - this one’s for you.

🎙️ Guest: Simon
Organisational systems explorer | Coach | Author of Who Invited My Mum to the Meeting?

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