Steve Clayton is Chief Communications Officer at Cisco and the former Chief Storyteller at Microsoft, where he spent 15 years helping shape how one of the world’s most influential companies communicates with the world. In this conversation, Steve joins Chris Hare for a thoughtful and surprisingly personal discussion about storytelling, creativity, identity, and the moments that quietly shape a life.

At the center of the episode is a simple but powerful idea: storytelling isn’t first and foremost a professional skill—it’s a human instinct. As Steve reflects, when people gather—whether in a pub, a living room, or around a table—they naturally start with, “Let me tell you…” What follows isn’t information. It’s meaning. It’s how we make sense of what we’ve experienced and share it with others.

That lens shows up in Steve’s work. He talks about the shift at Microsoft from telling product-centric stories to telling stories grounded in customer impact—and how that single change reshaped not just the narrative, but the way the company connects with the world. It’s a reminder that the most powerful stories aren’t about what we build, but what they make possible for someone else.

But this episode is also about something more personal: the tension between the stories we tell professionally and the ones we carry privately. Steve has spent a career helping others tell their stories, but as he shares here, telling his own doesn’t come naturally. What unfolds is a rare moment where that line blurs—where the person behind the role starts to step into view.

Along the way, Steve reflects on growing up in Liverpool surrounded by natural storytellers, nearly pursuing journalism before finding his way into technology, and the unexpected turns that defined his career—including the now-famous “wrong Steve” story that led to his job at Microsoft. He also shares the discipline behind writing every week for nearly two decades—not because it’s easy, but because it’s how he continues to refine his craft.

This is a conversation about storytelling, certainly. But even more, it’s about the gap between the role and the person—and what happens when that gap begins to close.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Why Steve sees storytelling as a human instinct, not a learned skill—and how it shows up anytime people gather and try to make sense of what they’ve experienced.
• How Microsoft shifted from product-first to customer-first storytelling—and what happens when you focus on signal instead of noise in how you communicate.
• The idea of isolating the “source of the signal” in a story—and why clarity often comes from removing distortion, not adding more.
• The early influences that shaped Steve’s creative instincts, growing up in Liverpool surrounded by people who told stories for the sheer joy of it.
• The discipline of writing every week for nearly two decades—and why treating storytelling as a craft, something you return to and refine over time, still matters.
• The story behind the “wrong Steve” and what it reveals about opportunity, readiness, and the unpredictable paths that shape a career.

Gilad Tiefenbrun is the second-generation CEO of Linn, the iconic, heritage hi-fi company founded in Scotland in the early 1970s. In this conversation, Gilad joins Chris Hare for a rich discussion about engineering, succession, culture, and the deeper human values that shape great leadership.

At the center of the episode is a deceptively simple Linn principle: lose less. It began as an audio insight about preserving more of the original signal, but over time it became something much larger, a philosophy for product design, manufacturing, sales, stewardship, and leadership. Gilad shares how that idea shaped Linn’s approach to modular, upgradable products, long-term customer relationships, and the company’s resistance to the waste created by so many modern businesses.

But this episode is also about what it means to love more. Gilad talks candidly about entering a company culture marked by stress, conflict, and fear, and helping reshape it into something healthier and more collaborative. He reflects on the enduring influence of his father, the complexity of succession in a family business, what he learned from his years in engineering at Symbian, his collaboration with Jony Ive, and why the deepest measure of a life is not possessions or even experiences, but people, interactions, and love.

This is a conversation about the magic of premium hi-fi, certainly. But even more, it is about how to get to the end of life having lost less: less signal, less integrity, less time to fear, less humanity to conflict, and less of what matters most.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• How Linn’s founding principle of lose less shaped not only its products, but its thinking about waste, longevity, and value.
• What Gilad found when he entered the company, and how he helped move the culture away from confrontation and toward healthier collaboration.
• Why fixing process, not perks, is what actually improves morale and helps teams feel they are winning.
• What Gilad’s collaboration with Jony Ive reveals about what he values most
• Why Gilad believes life is ultimately about people, interactions, and love, not experiences, status, or accumulation.

Earlier this year, I traveled to Rockport, Texas to chase redfish with legendary fly fishing guide Alvin Dedeaux and his crew at All Water Guides. The first day was tough fishing. Really tough. Why?

Besides the fact that I’m not great at fly fishing, there was next to no sun, a whole lot of clouds, and a whole lot of shadows. And if you’ve fished there before, you know that you need a lot of light just to spot the fish, let alone cast to them and catch them.

But one of the things you notice when you’re out there with Alvin is that he seems happy, regardless of the conditions. And that seems to apply to his life beyond fishing as well.

Alvin has lived a storied life. From discovering his passion for fly fishing as a kid to becoming frontman for a rock band with a record deal (Nirvana actually opened for them), and from meeting the love of his life and building a life together to establishing himself as one of the top fly fishing guides in Texas.

But last summer, the shadows hit all of a sudden when he lost his wife Lenée to cancer. The cancer came out of nowhere and she was gone within about a month of getting the news from the doctors.

Shortly after, I booked a call with Alvin to talk about a fly fishing trip and on the call learned that he had lost her. He was right in the middle of it and was trying to figure out the path through it, something I can't even imagine trying to navigate. Then in December and February I had the privilege of spending time with him down on the Gulf.

A few months back, I had the privilege of interviewing Alvin. Sure we talked about his journey but this really became a conversation about Lenée’s legacy and the transformational impact she had on him, their kids, their company, and their community.

What struck me about Alvin is the joy that he has in the face of all he’s been through over the past year, in spite of the shadows he’s been walking through.

Please give this one a listen and you’ll quickly see what I mean.

There’s a lot of laughter, some extraordinary stories, a powerful exploration of Alvin's narrative, and yes, there are some tears.

Thanks for telling your story, Alvin. You have taught me and inspired me. And I know your story will continue to help a lot of other people find joy in the journey, wherever they are.

In this special episode, learn about Sienna Jackson’s extraordinary journey from child prodigy to becoming Director of Film and Television Music at The Weinstein Company by the age of 20, to working to build safer and more just workplaces for people everywhere.

Across every stage of her storied career, Sienna has demonstrated an audacious faith in the future and, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., she is on a journey to transform "dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows."

While at the Weinstein Company, Sienna worked on multiple Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated original soundtracks. She also had a front-row seat to one of the most notorious downfalls in Hollywood history when Harvey Weinstein's evil was exposed and his career and company came tumbling down.

The lessons Sienna took from that experience propelled her toward a mission-driven career, using her power, skill, and passion to build a better future for people in workplaces everywhere.

Today, Sienna is a Los Angeles-based founder, social impact consultant, and producer. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of Nortera, a tech startup that is working to uncover hidden risk and expose bias and discrimination in the workplace. Sienna is also the CEO of Zoran Creative Strategies, where she continues to drive meaningful change at the intersection of technology, culture, and social impact.

There are few narratives bigger than space exploration, and few journeys that require a more dogged commitment to an unseen future—one that can only be reached through sustained innovation, flawless operations, and a whole lot of belief in that future.

Today's guest, Steve Rader, has worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for 34 years, in mission control, developing software for the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, building command and control systems for the X-38, and working on the Constellation Program. He is currently working to crowdsource innovation at NASA and across the federal government by tapping into a crowd of hundreds of millions of people around the globe.

In today’s episode, Steve and Chris discuss:

• How Steve's upbringing inspired a love of space and an appreciation of the importance of diversity
• Why some organizations fail at unlocking internal innovation, and what they can do differently
• The story of the very first video conference in space
• How the right narrative can become a center of future gravity that overcomes the pull of the status quo and shifts the future to give everyone the opportunity to win, together

And much more!

Our guest on the first episode of 2024 is Jennifer Riel, an IDEO Partner and Chief Strategy Officer. Before IDEO, Jennifer spent 13 years at the Rotman School of Management, where she taught undergrads, MBAs, and executives how to think creatively about their toughest challenges. During this period, she partnered with organizations to help them build their strategic thinking capabilities and transform their teams. Jennifer also teamed up with Roger Martin to write the book Creating Great Choices: A Leader's Guide to Integrative Thinking.

In this fascinating and wide-ranging episode, Jennifer and Chris discuss:

• The five essential questions at the heart of any strategy
• The beauty of being wrong, the costs of not embracing this narrative, and how being wrong can help you build a better strategy
• The false promises of the consensus narrative and why you should leave it behind and embrace tension
• And how to effectively communicate your strategy from the boardroom to the buyer, and beyond

And much more!

Today’s guest, Jonathan Adler, is an internationally recognized scholar in the study of personal narrative and its relationship with well-being. Jonathan is a professor of psychology at Olin College of Engineering, a senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School, and a theater director and playwright. His work brings together the rigor of science with the wonder and mystery of art, to show how writing a narrative and then living into that narrative can shift the future for the better.

Jonathan and Chris discuss:

• What the science tells us about how storytelling and narratives work
• Why humans tell stories, and the role these stories can play in transforming leaders and organizations
• Why redemptive narratives, such as the American narrative about beating cancer, can be transformative—but why these same narratives can also do harm
• How leaders can use storytelling to navigate narrative conflicts and create alignment around a shared vision of the future

And much more!

Our guest today is Dr. Herminia Ibarra, the Charles Handy Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School and an authority on leadership and career development. Earlier this year, Herminia and her colleagues Claudius A. Hildebrand and Sabine Vinck published an article in Harvard Business Review called “The Leadership Odyssey,” which explored the correlation between CEO skills and firm performance by examining 235 candidates across 75 CEO successions. Herminia and her colleagues then created a narrative pathway that aspiring CEOs can follow to transform their leadership and increase their effectiveness.

In this episode, Chris and Herminia explore:

• The narrative pathway CEOs can use to elevate their leadership and move from a hands-on, directive approach to empowering and enabling their teams
• Insights and stories from her global bestseller Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader, as well as her book Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career.
• The surprising truth that will challenge your understanding and beliefs about authenticity and purpose, and how to build a new narrative grounded in your identity that can unlock new levels of growth.

And much more!