Your Time With James Sweetman

What happens when people find themselves in leadership roles, but the culture they’ve worked in has never allowed them to develop as leaders? This week I look at how command and control environments can unintentionally create a leadership skills gap and why asking people to take more ownership and be more proactive is rarely as simple as it sounds.
I look at how organisations can begin to close that gap, why leadership development has to go beyond tools and frameworks, and share some insights and reflection questions for managers caught in that ‘messy middle’ between an old culture and a new way of working.

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending the 'Up Close with Oprah Winfrey' event in Dublin. Like many people, I've admired Oprah for many years and being in the room was a special experience.
This week, I explore the ideas Oprah shared that resonated most deeply with me, including the importance of ‘owning your number’, trusting ourselves, shifting from asking ‘what am I earning?’ to ‘what am I offering?’ and the power of surrender when we’ve done all we can do. It’s a personal reflection on inspiration, purpose, ageing and the ongoing journey of becoming the fullest truest expression of ourselves.

Have you ever found yourself asking the question - where did the joy go? This week I look at why we can lose our connection with the things we love. How a passion can become a pressure, how a talent creates an expectation, and how something that once energised us, can now drain us. 
I share my own experiences of falling out of love with my business and how I reconnected with that original spark. I also speak about how joy is not something we need to find, it’s something we need to stop abandoning.

To launch a new series of episodes, I’m joined by Carole Kelly, Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) practitioner and coach, for a conversation about change and the beliefs that shape how we live our lives.

Carole shares her own journey from a highly stressful work environment to starting her own business. We chat about what that transition taught her and what it takes to step away from what’s no longer working. We also discuss RTT, why it resonated with her, and how moving beyond old stories allows us to create a more authentic relationship with ourselves.

Have you ever felt like you’re behind? Behind where you thought you’d be, behind your peers, behind the version of yourself you imagined you would become.

This week, I explore a pressure many of us carry, the pressure to ‘catch up,’ something that sits at the intersection of comparison, expectations and our relationship with time.

I share a simple ritual to help us shift from ‘catch-up’ mode, which is all about correction, to what I call ‘re-entry’ mode, which is about connection - with others, and most importantly, with ourselves.

As ever, this is a thought-provoking episode that invites you to consider your relationship with time, the stories you tell yourself and the freedom that can be found when we realise that we don’t catch up with life, we meet it.