What happens when technically brilliant engineers are promoted into leadership roles without the skills or support to manage people effectively? In this episode of The SAFE Leader Podcast, Dr Mark McBride-Wright is joined by Jeremy Doran, founder of NeuroConversant Leadership, to explore the challenges of transitioning from technical expert to effective leader. Drawing on his background in mechanical engineering and psychology, Jeremy shares insights into why communication often breaks down in technical environments, how cognitive diversity strengthens teams, and why leaders need to adapt their approach to people who think and work differently. They also discuss the power of storytelling, what improvisation can teach us about listening, and the growing importance of human connection in an AI-driven world.

In this episode of The SAFE Leader Podcast, Dr Mark McBride-Wright is joined by Ian Collins, Founder and Managing Director of Wellbeing Daily, to explore why employee wellbeing must be treated as a critical part of workplace safety and operational performance, rather than simply an HR initiative. Drawing on his experience across safety-critical industries and his personal journey through burnout, Ian challenges traditional approaches to resilience, incident investigation and organisational culture, arguing that we cannot expect individuals to thrive in systems that are fundamentally broken. Together, they discuss the difference between wellness and wellbeing, the importance of addressing systemic risks, and how leaders can use better questions, meaningful data and the Capacity Index to create safer, healthier workplaces.

In this episode of The SAFE Leader Podcast, Mark McBride-Wright is joined by Mehmet Baha, founder of Solution Finder and keynote speaker and trainer on AI fluency, leadership and psychological safety. Drawing on a career that has taken him from conflict resolution and the United Nations to Facebook’s early European headquarters and his own consultancy, Mehmet explores what psychological safety really looks like in practice, why command-and-control leadership can undermine it, and how leaders can create more space for people to speak up, experiment and learn. The conversation also looks at the growing role of AI at work, the risks of outsourcing too much thinking to technology, and why human judgement, trust, connection and care will become even more important as automation continues to accelerate.