The Being Human Podcast with Richard Atherton

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What if what’s really wearing you out isn’t your to-do list, but the hidden burden of everything your mind is juggling at once?

In this episode of Being Human, Richard Atherton talks with Dr. Liane Davey, an organisational psychologist, New York Times bestselling author, and co-founder of 3COze Inc. Liane has spent more than thirty years studying what helps teams succeed and what causes them to quietly fall apart. Her new book, Thoughtload: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work, began with a moment on stage when someone in the audience challenged the idea that workload was the main problem. Liane paused during her talk and said for the first time, "It's not the workload that's killing us — it's the thought load." That line caught the room and launched the idea.

Thoughtload is the hidden cost that affects how you perform and show up at work. It comes from growing mental demands, an emotionally unsettled world that follows you into the office, and the idea that you shouldn’t take time to recharge.  

We talk: 

Why "priorities" had no plural

The invisible tax on your focus

Emotions vs. feelings at work

Energy as a renewable resource

The 15-minute overwhelm fix

Links:
Liane Davey
Thoughtload (book + resources)
Liane on LinkedIn

▶️ Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardatherton-firsthuman/

 

What if the movement meant to free women has actually made them less happy, and people have struggled to discuss it?

In this episode of Being Human, Richard Atherton talks with Carrie Gress, a philosopher, co-founder of The Theology of Home, and author of eleven books, including The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us. Carrie, who has a PhD in philosophy, originally planned to write a short chapter on first-wave feminism. Instead, she spent four years discovering how its roots are closely linked to socialism, the occult, and a view of womanhood shaped more by envy than by freedom.

​She links Mary Wollstonecraft's call for equality to the consciousness-raising methods used in Mao's China, revealing a history that is new to many people. Her argument is not against women. Instead, she argues for restoring what feminism has quietly removed: the unique strengths women bring to families, workplaces, and culture when they embrace their own identity.

We discuss:

The hidden origins of feminism

Why women are less happy now

Motherhood as feature, not flaw

The false binary no one questions

What men really love about women

 

Links: 

Carrie Gress / The Theology of Home
The End of Woman (Book)
Carrie’s Substack

▶️ Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardatherton-firsthuman/

 

Have you ever thought that the hardest things you’ve faced might actually be preparing you for the life you’re meant to live?

In this episode of Being Human, Richard Atherton talks with Ali Mahlodji, CEO of futureOne, keynote speaker, five-time author, and guest lecturer at the University of Cambridge.

As a toddler, Ali found himself in a refugee camp in Austria. At 13 he started stuttering and didn’t stop until he was 22. He left school early, worked more than 40 jobs ranging from floor cleaner to carpenter, and taught himself software engineering using library books. After 70 application letters to OG Silicon Valley giant, Sun Microsystems, Ali lands himself his first tech role.  What made the difference for him was something his mother did every day, no matter how tough things got: she told him she loved him just as he was. Not for his grades or achievements, but simply for being himself. Now, through futureOne’s Heroes programme, he helps people in 40 countries break free from old patterns. In this conversation, he shares why, with AI on the rise, doing this inner work is more important than ever.

 

We discuss:

Escaping Iran aged 2

Dealing with his father's mental breakdown

Getting his break in Tech

Building a start-up and exiting

Recovering from burnout and building futureOne

Links: 
Ali's Website
futureOne

▶️ Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardatherton-firsthuman/

 

What if drinking the same milkshake could make you gain or lose weight, just based on what you believe about it? The same idea could also affect your stress, how you age, and your relationships.

 

In this episode of Being Human, Richard Atherton talks with David Robson, a science writer and author of The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Transform Your Life and The Laws of Connection. David used his mind training approach to go from an average student to getting in to Cambridge University to study mathematics. He is now a respected science journalist in the UK, writing for the BBC, The Guardian, and New Scientist. His work explores how our beliefs not only shape our actions but also affect our cortisol levels and our health.

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For example, just having a positive view of ageing can add 7.5 years to your life. David also challenges the idea that willpower runs out as the day goes on, showing that what we believe about self-control is more important than the time of day. He explains why self-compassion is the key to lasting performance, backed by scientific evidence.

 

We discuss:

The art of being a "Beautiful Mess"

How to rapidly build rapport

It's not just about listening to them

Why they might like you more than you think

How to eat decadently and lose weight

Links: 
David’s Website

▶️ Connect with Richard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardatherton-firsthuman/

 

What if the most important leadership skill has nothing to do with leading others and everything to do with the person you're choosing to become?

 

In this episode of Being Human, Richard Atherton is joined by Andrew Bryant, worldwide self-leadership thought leader, keynote speaker, and author of five books, including Potential-ize: How Leaders Unlock Human Potential in the Age of AI. 

 

Andrew trained as a physiotherapist in London in the early eighties, working with athletes, football players, and even a ballet company, learning how the body performs under pressure. But what he was really learning was that performance lives or dies in the narrative, our internal dialogue, that we tell ourselves in the moments that matter. That insight carried him from sports clinics to boardrooms across 40 countries, and ultimately into a framework for self-leadership that treats intentionality, identity, and personal agency as the foundation on which everything else is built. When a cancer scare during lockdown brought him face-to-face with his own mortality, the philosophy he'd spent decades teaching became the philosophy that carried him through.

 

We discuss:

Self-leadership as daily practice

Identity shifts that transform everything

The IGNITE framework explained

AI efficiency vs human effectiveness

The Pygmalion Effect at work 

Links: 
Andrew’s Website
Potential-ize - The Book