What if the way you’ve learned to succeed is the very thing that’s exhausting you? In this episode I’m joined by Dr Pippa Grange - performance psychologist and coach with more than 25 years’ experience working with elite performers across sport and industry.

Formerly Head of People and Team Development at The Football Association, she worked closely with Gareth Southgate and the England men’s football team during their journey to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals. Today, her work draws on performance psychology and ecological thinking to help individuals and teams sustain excellence without burning out.

Together we explore how overperformance becomes a way of being - and why it so often leaves us depleted rather than fulfilled. Pippa invites us to rethink what it really means to perform well, offering a radically healthier vision of success - one that is regenerative rather than extractive, and feels as good as it looks.

We discuss:

• The difference between “winning deep” and “winning shallow”
• How fear becomes our behavioural GPS
• Why success can be fleeting when we’re running on the wrong fuel
• Why overperformance isn’t random - but shaped by the rules of the game
• What it means to perform in a way that feels whole, not hollow

If you want to perform well - without losing yourself in the process - this conversation is for you.

• Continue the conversation with Grace here: gracemarshall.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracemarshall/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gracemarshallninja/

About Guest

Dr Pippa Grange is a performance psychologist and coach with more than 25 years in the field, working with some of the world’s top performers across sport and industry.

Formerly Head of People and Team Development at The Football Association, she worked closely with Gareth Southgate’s England men’s football team and is widely credited for her pivotal role in their success reaching the 2018 World Cup semi-finals.

Her transformative work was portrayed in the smash-hit national play ‘Dear England’, which is currently being adapted into a four-part TV drama for BBC One. Her practice today draws on ecopsychology and performance principles to help individuals and groups sustain and thrive in all their performance adventures.

Find out more at www.pippagrange.com Pippa’s book Life. Reclaimed: https://dk.com/products/9780241761908-life-reclaimed

What does it really take to create a culture where people speak up - consistently and constructively? In this episode I’m joined by Stephen “Shed” Shedletzky to explore what makes it both safe and worth it for people to use their voice.

Shed is a leadership speaker, coach and author of Speak-Up Culture: When Leaders Truly Listen, People Step Up. As a thought leader on psychological safety in the workplace he helps leaders create environments where people feel able - and motivated - to contribute.

Together we explore how fear shows up not only in the hesitation to speak, but in the resistance to hear, the ingredients that make a culture healthy or toxic, and why leadership is ultimately about care.

We discuss:

• Why safety alone isn’t enough if it doesn’t feel worth it
• The difference between healthy fear and corrosive fear
• What happens when silence becomes self-protection
• The anatomy of a hard conversation
• How culture shapes behaviour more than character

If you’ve ever held back from speaking up - or wondered why others aren’t telling you what you need to hear - this conversation offers a thoughtful and practical place to start.

• Continue the conversation with Grace here: gracemarshall.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracemarshall/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gracemarshallninja/

About Guest

Stephen Shedletzky - or “Shed” to his friends - helps leaders make it safe and worth it for people to speak up. He supports humble leaders - those who know they are both part of the problems they experience and the solutions they can create - as they put people and purpose first.

A thought leader on psychological safety in the workplace, Shed is the author of Speak-Up Culture: When Leaders Truly Listen, People Step Up. He is a sought-after speaker, coach and advisor who has led hundreds of keynotes and leadership programs around the world.

For more than a decade, Shed worked at Simon Sinek, Inc., serving as Chief of Staff and Head of Brand Experience, Training & Development, where he led a global team of speakers and facilitators. He is a graduate of the Richard Ivey School of Business and received his coaching certification from The Co-Active Training Institute.

Find out more at shedinspires.com Shed’s book Speak-Up Culture: shedinspires.com/book Shed’s leadership podcast: shedinspires.com/podcast

What if fear isn’t weakness - but data? In this episode I’m joined by Susan Asiyanbi to explore what fear looks like in leadership - and what becomes possible when we stop pushing it down.

Susan is a strategist, pattern recogniser, and the person senior leaders call when facing their biggest leadership challenges. As CEO and founder of The Olori Network®, she and her team study what the strongest executives do differently - capturing the principles, practices and pitfalls of leadership - and bring those insights to bear in real time with CEOs and their teams.

Together we unpack how fear can hide in plain sight - in busyness, control, people-pleasing, or the pressure to prove you’re enough - and how those patterns ripple through teams when they go unnamed. Susan shares what shifts when leaders begin to treat fear as information, rather than weakness.

We discuss:

• How fear disguises itself as productivity and performance
• Why high achievers stay stuck longer than they should
• What it takes to make the undiscussable discussable
• How leaders can create space for honest, real-time dialogue
• Why seeing fear as data can change how we make decisions

If you’re feeling stuck as a leader - this conversation will help you understand the patterns shaping your leadership and your team and offer a more freeing way to lead.

• Continue the conversation with Grace here: gracemarshall.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracemarshall/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gracemarshallninja/

About Guest

Susan Asiyanbi is an executive advisor and operator with more than two decades of cross-sector leadership. She helps CEOs and senior teams navigate complexity, accelerate alignment, and strengthen the systems and relationships that drive performance.

Before founding The Olori Network®, Susan served as Chief Operating Officer at Teach For America, where she led operations across 51 regions and stewarded more than 2,000 staff — building high-performance teams capable of driving results while maintaining a strong culture, even amid significant change.

Earlier in her career, she held strategic and operational roles at Boston Consulting Group and Sears Holdings Corporation. Through The Olori Network®, Susan brings together everything she has learned: that strategy and culture must move together, and that leadership is ultimately about relationships, trust, and clarity in action.

Find out more at www.olorinetwork.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-asiyanbi/