Let's Just Start Podcast with Laura Racky and Christian Cunningham

NEW STUDIO! Fun.

We jump straight into three big buckets: health, developing people for 'great doers', and the psychological biases that quietly steer decisions at work.
In no particular order:
• Fasting explained properly, not as a fad, but as a tool that needs context, timing, and discipline
• Autophagy in plain English, why the body starts recycling damaged cells, and why inflammation can drop when you tighten the edges
• The performance downside of fasting if you train hard, work hard, and run on empty without planning
• Low calorie dieting and online aesthetics, why ultra thin bodies often come with a huge cognitive and lifestyle cost
• New leader development, why being a great doer is not the same as being a great manager
• A simple training method for small teams, pick three or four themes, do short daily reps, real scenarios
• Delegation, training for the work you want to hand over, not just throwing people in
• How juniors can learn faster, reduce friction and speed run development
• Biases that drive workplaces, highest paid opinion wins, action versus inaction cultures, social proof, sunk cost traps, halo effect
• The ambition and contentment tension, how to enjoy the now while still chasing the next prize without guilt or manipulation

Find us here:

Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

In the final (probably) of the summer series, this is an excerpt from episode 27 focusing on two serious situations - increasing your authority at work, and dealing with bully bosses in the workplace.

The phrases that build (or weaken) authority

Confidence vs arrogance in leadership communication

Handling “what about” people in meetings

Creating ownership instead of issuing commands

Protecting yourself from toxic behaviour at work

Setting boundaries without escalating conflict

Planning your exit from unhealthy environments

These 5 MAGICAL statements will instantly lift your authority in the room:

“Here’s what I recommend.”

“I’ll take responsibility for that — leave it with me.”

“That’s a fair point — what do you recommend?”

“Let’s focus on what we can control.”

“Do you believe you can deliver X by Y date?”

We then tackle a tougher reality: how to deal with an aggressive or bullying manager when you can’t just walk away.

This is a grounded conversation about reality, protecting your confidence, setting boundaries, detaching from toxic behaviour, and building an exit strategy without pretending the situation is simple.

If you’ve ever struggled to be heard, felt your authority slipping, or needed practical ways to navigate difficult workplace relationships, this episode gives you tools you can use immediately.

Find us here:

Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

In this episode, we tackle radical self-accountability, not as self-blame, but as an approach that can totally change your life.

Even when something isn’t your fault, your reaction is still your responsibility. And when something is partly your fault (choices, omissions, patterns), refusing to face it stops you from learning the lessons it offers.

This is an entirely new way to view the world, and it's not for everyone.

The key question when something goes wrong: “What did I contribute… and should I have seen this coming?”

Why accountability isn’t self-flagellation (and why “I’m the worst” is just another escape)

How “you teach people how to treat you” plays out at work, at home, and in relationships

Why victimhood is seductive and how social media can reward grievance until it becomes an identity

The difference between truth and toxic perfectionism: owning reality while keeping compassion

Why the worst lie is the one you tell yourself and how inner/outer “misalignment” fuels anxiety

The “Matrix choice”: short-term comfort vs long-term freedom

Find us here:

Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

This segment from Ep 17 runs through the 4 Hard Parts Of Senior Leadership No One Tells You About. But we will.

There are parts of senior leadership that almost no one prepares you for, especially once real P&L responsibility lands on your desk. In this episode, we break down four hard truths about very senior leadership that most people only learn the painful way.

First: you will always regret not acting on poor performance sooner. Leaders don’t fail by being too decisive, they fail by letting underperformance drift, damaging morale and driving away their best people.

Second: the higher you go, the worse the information gets. Senior leaders are forced to make consequential decisions with incomplete, imperfect, and often late data. At the top, waiting for certainty is usually more dangerous than making a call.

Third: you must model the standards you expect of others. Culture is set by behaviour, not policy. If you tolerate things in yourself that you wouldn’t accept in your team, the organisation will follow your lead, whether you like it or not.

Finally: if you want to keep moving up, you must aggressively succession plan. The paradox of senior leadership is that the more replaceable you are, the more valuable you become.

This is a grounded, honest conversation about what leadership actually demands when the stakes are real.
Find us here:

Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

This segment from Ep 19 lays out a 12-step, values-intact roadmap to corporate success, not the Machiavellian version, but the version that actually works long-term.

The framework starts with radical humility. Early in your career you know nothing, so your job is to learn, observe, volunteer, and absorb everything. From there, it moves into building relationships, finding mentors and sponsors, and setting crystal clear expectations every time you step into a new role.

As your career progresses, the focus shifts to obsession with clients and customers, delegating early, developing your team so you can be replaced, and deliberately taking on hard, unwanted problems, but only with the right mandate and expectations.

At senior levels, the game becomes more explicit, advocating for yourself professionally, putting pressure on for advancement, documenting everything, telling the truth, keeping promises, and learning to communicate differently with teams, peers, executives, and clients.

The final anchor is values. Once you know what you stand for, you never bend them. If a role or organisation forces you to compromise them, you leave, because the cost of staying is always higher.

Follow these 12 steps at any stage of your career and you dramatically increase your odds of corporate success, while also building skills that protect you if you ever choose to leave and build something of your own.

The 12 Steps to Climbing the Corporate Ladder

Start by shutting up and learning how to show up
You don’t know anything yet. Work hard, listen, follow people around, ask questions, volunteer, and absorb everything.

Do extra. Volunteer. Build relationships. Chase learning
Do the jobs no one wants. Ask for help. Learn two or three things from everyone around you.

Identify a mentor
Learn from someone ahead of you. Earn respect first. Advocacy comes later, quietly and powerfully.

When promoted, define what success actually looks like
Ask: “Twelve months from now, what does success look like? ”Get the measures. Get alignment. Don’t meander.

Obsess over customers and clients
Learn why they buy, why they leave, what they value, and why competitors win. Become irreplaceable.

Delegate early and build people who can replace you
Train your team. Grow their careers. If no one can replace you, you won’t move.

Find a problem no one wants to touch — and take it on with a mandate
Big, ugly, career-defining problems. Set expectations properly. Fix it or move it forward.

Apply professional pressure for advancement
Don’t wait to be noticed. Signal your ambition early. Put timelines around progress — calmly and tactically.

Document everything — keep the receipts
Agreements, timelines, expectations. The truth in writing protects you from politics.

Tell the truth and keep your promises
Don’t overpromise. Be clear about limits. Say what you can and can’t do — and mean it.

Learn to communicate properly
Up, down, and sideways, customer, client, all different communication styles.

Never bend your values
Once you know them, don’t compromise. If the role eats your soul, leave.

Find us here:

Instagram: @letsjuststartpodcast
Tiktok: @letsjuststartpodcast
Youtube: @LetsJustStartPodcast
Laura Insta: @laura.racky
Laura Tiktok: @lauraracky
Christian Insta: @leaderbiltacademy
Christian Tiktok: @leaderbilt
Leadership training and coaching: Leaderbilt.co

*Success not actually guaranteed