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This week we tried (unsuccessfully, messily, hauntingly) to mate a canary with a cockerel – all in a bid to impress our guest, former Norwich and Tottenham footballer, turned performance psychologist, Paul McVeigh. 
Having played more than 270 professional games, as well as earning 20 caps for Northern Ireland, Paul kicked ball with and against some legendary players, earning a few trophies, a few promotions and, perhaps the ultimate honour, his own song.
But rather than go off and do the sort of generic post-playing jobs many ex-pros go for (like moaning about stuff on the tv. Or moaning about stuff on the radio. Or moaning about stuff on a podcast etc.) Paul has bottled up all his remarkable experiences in sport and used them to help all kinds of leaders to perform when it matters most.
As a highly respected performance psychologist, Paul has built a super-successful second career out of helping to dismantle the old narratives about shouty, macho, ego-driven leadership, through his coaching and his two excellent books: ‘The Stupid Footballer is Dead’ and ‘It’s Not About You: The Psychology of Leadership.
 In a chat where Giles tries really, really hard not to dribble ‘Spurs’ all over the conversation, we ponder the most common mistakes, and misunderstanding, when it comes to ‘being the boss’, and some of the most influential sporting figures who inspired Paul’s philosophies on leadership. 
 This episode is proudly dedicated to Paul’s Aunt Jean – proof that it’s never too late to reinvent yourself and that anything is possible.
Follow Paul on LinkedIn

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Timestamps

1:32 – Quick Fire Questions
5:37 – Leaving Belfast for Tottenham Hotspur
10:05 – Inside a High-Performance Environment
16:03 – Leadership Styles in Football
19:12 – It’s Not About You and Modern Leadership
24:21 – Leadership Beyond Football
27:25 – Humility and Misconceptions About Leadership
33:18 – Ahead-of-the-Curve Professional Habits
39:58 – Transformational Habits That Stick
42:52 – Advice to His Younger Self
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Paul’s book recommendations are:

Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins
Money Master the Game by Anthony Robbins
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This week we made our way through twenty rolls of ‘Word a Day’ toilet paper – not (entirely) because of tummy trouble, but in order to impress one of the world’s greatest wielders of words, copywriting legend Tim Delaney.

An advertiser who made all of advertising try harder with their adverts, Tim is of course the founder of the famous Leagas Delaney agency as well as being one of the all-time great copywriters. 

You’ll no doubt have spent much time gawping at and/or weeping over some of his most iconic work – including some extraordinary campaigns for Harrods, Adidas and Nationwide. He’s also the creative brain behind the unforgettable ‘Perfect Day’ film for the BBC – giving the world the briefest sniff of what a Bowie/Boyzone collaboration might have been.

Wildly successful in both the building of an agency and the writing of copy, Tim is also one of advertising’s most compelling talkers of sense – with a philosophy built around strategic thinking, disciplined work and a healthy appreciation for the value of intuition.

In a chat where we skid quickly and wildly away from what we laughably called ‘the agenda’, Tim takes us on an entertaining and eye-opening journey through one of the most remarkable lives in the creativity game.
 
This episode is proudly dedicated to Tom Harrington.

Follow Tim on LinkedIn
 
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Timestamps
 
04:40 - First Job in Advertising
06:45 - Transitioning to Copywriting
09:40 - Early Days in Advertising
12:49 - The Band Experience
14:03 - From Music to Advertising
19:07 - Climbing the Advertising Ladder
22:11 - The Role of Creativity in Advertising
29:03 - Challenges at BNP
30:41 - Understanding Advertising's Mystique
34:08 - The Impact of Technology on Advertising
39:39 - Enthusiasm for Newcomers
43:53 - Advice for Junior Copywriters

This week we’ve been out every night, committing crimes (twocking Nokias, cussing at ducklings, stealing the dust caps off your dad’s tyres) all to attract the attention of South-London Batman himself – and this week’s guest – Kazeem Jama. 

A comedian so entertaining he almost makes you hate yourself slightly less for being on Instagram all the goddam time, Kazeem has been liberally lubricating the amusement pipes on the BBC, Comedy Central and the Mobo Awards.

Before comedy grabbed him by the earlobe and dragged him over to the funny side, Kazeem spent decades working in the education sector, primarily with children with special needs and in alternative education – making him humorous and kind-hearted enough to make us all feel really bad about our own decisions, especially the terrible stuff we said to those ducklings. 

This episode is proudly dedicated to the people who shaped Kazeem: his mum, his dad, his kids, and all the doubters along the way.

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Follow Kazeem on Instagram and Facebook
Watch the videos that has us cracking up: Frozen and Waze
Sign up to the mailing list
To go see him live: tickets here.

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Timestamps

02:50 - Kazim's Uncommon Path: From Rugby to Comedy
07:51 - Ownership: The Key to Kazim's Comedy Journey
11:26 - Drama Class: The Shy Comedian's Dilemma
12:52 - Channelling Frustration: The Sports Outlet
18:30 - Stage vs. Socials: The Comedy Landscape
21:26 - Navigating Tough Topics: Kazim's Approach
27:06 - The Unexpected Funeral Laugh
31:03 - Nine-to-Five vs. Comedy Dreams: The Struggle
34:08 - Attention, Skill, Monetizing: The Comedy Cycle
39:03 - The Art of Not Giving a Damn: Embracing the Process
42:48 - Comedy Contracts: The Safe Space Agreement

This week we rented the top 3 maths movies of all time – A Beautiful Mind, The Imitation Game and 3 Men and a Baby – all in order to be mathematically competent enough to share a pod with one of the world’s greatest number nibblers, Marcus du Sautoy.

So highly acclaimed and awarded, we could have filled the entire podcast by listing out his many achievements, Marcus is perhaps best known as a Professor in Mathematics, Fellow of the Royal Society and Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University.

But, as well as being one of the very smartest people on the planet, he’s also one of the most engaging and enlightening speakers on the unexpected stories to be found in numbers, having written for several national newspapers and appeared on a number of mathematically-inclined TV shows including Mind Games, The Story of Maths and The Code (not to be confused with The Cube).

By now you’ve probably run out of fingers to tally up all the brilliant things he’s done, so we shall just wrap up by saying he’s also the author of a series of superb books examining the relationship between maths, creativity, music, games and more – including Blue Prints, The Music of Primes and The Creativity Code. 

(Basically, the fact that it took us all this time to mention he’s also an OBE tells you all you need to know. He’s an impressive dude.)

In an episode where Giles wears his disappointing GCSE results like a hi-vis vest of inadequacy, we ponder the search for meaning in numbers and how the stories behind them can help shape ideas and solve problems. 
 
 This episode is proudly dedicated to Mr Baleson. 

Follow Marcus on LinkedIn

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Timestamps

04:17 - The Influence of a Great Teacher
06:03 - Mathematics as a Language and Creative Outlet
08:44 - The Intersection of Mathematics and the Arts
12:08 - Exploring Creativity in Mathematics
15:17 - The Relationship Between Structure and Artistic Expression
21:10 - The Cicada's Prime Number Life Cycle
30:51 - Patterns and Expectations in Art and Comedy
33:09 - The Role of Mathematics in Problem Solving
43:15 - The Importance of Storytelling in Science
46:25 - The Search for Meaning in Numbers
48:13 - The Dual Nature of Scientific Thinking

Marcus’ Book recommendations are:

A Mathematician’s Apology by G.H. Hardy
 
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This week we broke a golden rule and crossed podcast streams with a pair of excellent guests, Richard Shotton and MichaelAaron Flicker, hosts of the Behavioural Science for Brands podcast and co-authors of the soon-to-be released (and definitely-to-be brilliant) Hacking The Human Mind.

Richard is, of course, returning for a record third appearance on Call To Action® although we have respectfully honoured his request to not be left alone with Giles. Responsible for opening industry eyes to the potential of behavioural science, Richard is the author of two books that serious marketing types like you and I could not do without – The Choice Factory and The Illusion of Choice.

Alongside him today, as is so often the case, is MichaelAaron Flicker, founder and president of (Zeeenno-Sigh) XenoPsi Ventures, a brand incubator firm that helps out all kinds of companies with financial, marketing and intellectual capital. As well as co-hosting their pod, and co-authoring their book, they’ve completed a hattrick of Co’s by co-founding the Consumer Behaviour Lab, where they apply their considerable collective knowledge to help make marketing smarter, better and less stinky.

In an episode where we open the sunroof on the human mind and reveal there’s much more to it than day dreams, crippling doubt and song lyrics from 1996, we hear from two of the field’s most compelling experts on what it really takes for a brand to be chosen.

This episode is proudly dedicated to Rory Sutherland.
 
 Follow Richard and MichaelAaron on LinkedIn.
 
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Timestamps

08:27 - Reflections on Career Path and Pivots
10:09 - Richard's Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne
12:39 - How Richard and Michael Met
14:22 - The Concept Behind Their New Book
16:01 - Writing Process and Collaboration Insights
20:21 - Discussion on Haagen-Dazs and Country of Origin Effect
25:04 - The Power of Naming: Patagonian Toothfish vs. Chilean Sea Bass
30:07 - Marketing Confusion Between Marketing and Sales

Their Book Recommendations are:

Alchemy by Rory Sutherland
Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg

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