Donate to Karolina (Fine NGO): https://fine.ngo/en/make-a-donation Donate to Zuzanna (Salam NGO): https://paypal.me/salamlab In this podcast Zuzanna and Karolina tell their stories of how they responded to the outbreak of war on the Polish border, and to the sudden influx of millions of refugees, mostly women and children fleeing war. Their individual responses were driven by empathy and a deep humanitarian impulse.  Each share how they utilised and transferred existing skillsets, and...

Michael Barnett is a leading thinker and scholar on humanitarianism, which as he says cannot be separated from humanity. Michael frames humanitarianism in the context of Empire, discussing the ongoing tensions between paternalism/control and compassion/giving that have been present since humanitarianism began. In more recent times humanitarianism has shifted from a voluntarism ethos to an expert professional ethos. The benefits and challenges of these changes are now under scrutiny....

Julian is a British psychoanalyst who has worked in the public health sector for many years. In this podcast, he begins by reflecting on how complacent ways of thinking and being are becoming more commonplace, particularly in the consulting and psychotherapeutic world. He discusses a particular clinical case to emphasise this.  Julian then explores the connection between complacency and action and discusses with Simon how dissociation can lead to conformist ways of being. The conversation...

In this episode, we focus on Carl Jung's work in relation to coaching and consulting.  Laurence is an eminent Jungian practitioner and author who is trying to bring the magic of Jungian thinking to the modern world of coaching and consulting.  In this rich exchange Laurence shares why he believes Jung's work is so important.  At the heart of this approach is a recovery of the 'soul' that is so often amiss in our dominant rational, managerial approaches.  We discuss the importance of symbolism...

In this podcast, Nick and Simon go on an intriguing journey that explores coaching from different perspectives. Nick shares his experiences of what is called ‘life coaching’ and reflects on how this differs, and shares common ground with, executive coaching and other forms of helping relationships such as counselling and psychotherapy.   Nick believes that coaching is a new configuration, built on the shoulders of giants i.e. it draws from the well of knowledge and practices from psychology,...

Animal rights activism is at the heart of Esther’s work and life. In this podcast, Esther shares her thinking on the entanglements between the way we treat animals and how we live in consumer capitalist cultures. Esther discusses the economic structures behind our mistreatment of animals and the ways in which they are commodified and treated as resources that mirror slavery. She then also offers ideas about what a future world could look like; where animals and human beings have a healthy...

We are celebrating our Golden Jubilee with the 50th episode of Edgy Ideas and thought it appropriate to reflect on the monarchy and its meaning.  My guest Leslie Brissett draws on his wealth of experience in human dynamics and as Director of Group Relations at the Tavistock Institute to share his thoughts on what is projected onto the monarchy from the people, and what the monarchy represents, contains and holds for us.   Simon is an anti-monarchist, and whilst able to admire Queen...

In this episode, Liz Hall draws on her experience of editing 'Coaching at Work' journal to reflect on the state of coaching today. Liz shares how she believes coaching is thriving for two key reasons First, the demand on managers increasingly means they need a reflective space, and support to help them navigate the emotional and relational people side of the work, and the intensity of work demands upon them.  Second, Liz blurs the boundaries between coaching and therapy and believes that...

Shermin Voshmgir is a leading thinker in the world of Web 3. This podcast explores the intersections between human dynamics and Web 3 developments. Shermin discusses the new possibilities of more democratic and decentralised ways of being and organising, and shares her growing concerns about how old politics, ego-driven behaviours, and simply the lack of awareness around potential dangers. There are tensions around transparency and privacy, algorithmic bias, and lack of participation in...

Daniel Matalon is on a mission. Dan asserts that humanity’s biggest existential threat is not climate change, tribalism, or inequality but our inability to make agreements with each other at the level we require to address our challenges.  In this podcast Simon explores both the mission and what's behind it, making interesting connections to how the personal and the project come together.  The question "is there enough?" is like a yeast starter, once you ask the question it expands. Dan aims...

Giles Hutchins shares his work and thinks about how to lead organizations following nature's flow rather than using nature as an external resource.  Since the industrial revolution, we have been an extractive society, taking from the environment, without understanding or considering our interconnectivity and interdependence with the environment.  We are now paying heavily for this way of thinking, and Giles works in organizations to change worldviews and create regenerative leadership. He...

Hetty explores how transpersonal coaching takes us ‘beyond the person’ and into the wider ecosystems in which we live and work, including the spiritual realm. Hetty and Simon share their own faith journeys that have shaped how they engage with this work. They discuss how spirituality is either ignored in the workplace because it is not relevant to a high-performance ‘modern’ work culture and belongs in the private realm, or how it can be instrumentalised i.e. take this mindfulness course and...

Our guest this week is Dr Eliat Aram, CEO of The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR).  Dr Eliat Aram has been the CEO of TIHR for over 13 years. The TIHR, a not-for-profit outfit operating in the UK and abroad is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2022 and is a world-leading research, evaluation, consultancy, and professional development organisation. Believing in the abundant potential of human relationships and love for people are the drivers in the way she shapes the...

Susan Long has studied and practiced working with the unconscious for many years. She brings fresh thinking to help us understand the unconscious in its many forms. Susan discusses the pre-Freudian unconscious drawing on the romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling’s work who thought of the unconscious as a source of creativity. Susan reflects on the ‘repressed unconscious’ of Freud, and how he developed a treatment method (psychoanalysis) based on using free association to access the...

In this episode, Simon Western is joined by organisational consultant, certified Analytic Network coach, and Emerita Professor of Psychoanalysis and Culture Caroline Bainbridge to reflect on what is happening in Ukraine, drawing on psychosocial thinking. Their aim is not to provide answers but to stimulate thinking and insights. This horrific, shocking, and unnecessary war is about the Putin regime deepening its own power base, and imagining themselves as Tsarist heroes ‘making Russia great...

In this podcast Dr Vamik Volkan shares his fascinating personal journey, and some of the theories that have gained him an international recognition.   Born in 1932, Vamik a Turkish Cypriot lived in Cyprus under British rule, with the second world war and Nazi’s in the shadows as he grew up.  His journey took him to study medicine in Turkey, and psychiatry and psychoanalysis in the USA.  Experiencing the loss of a dear friend through a Greek terrorist attack back in Cyprus, Vamik in the USA...

Father David McCallum is at the heart of a very interesting change process taking place in the Catholic Church.  Pope Francis has called for a 2 year process to advance a synodal church.  David discusses how a synodal church embraces leadership from the edges, engaging the laity and being less hierarchical and clerical in its approach.   Simon and David share thoughts on how this process might happen, and how synodal leadership symbolises how the Catholic church is responding to our...

Danny is a leading practitioner working with elite athletes. In this podcast he shares his reflections on working at a leading premiership football club in the UK. Drawing on his experiences of studying at the Tavistock clinic, Danny discusses the leadership and power dynamics at play in these soccer clubs.  He applies Menzies-Lyth theory of social defences against anxiety to his experience, observing how the obsessive focus on diet and nutrition are a social defence against the anxiety of...

Ian Parker is a practising psychoanalyst, an academic and a revolutionary activist.  Ian discusses the radical roots of psychoanalysis and how these have changed overtime, to make psychoanalysis fit with contemporary capitalist society.   Ian believes that psychoanalysis should be a radical practice than impacts on individuals and society, rather than an elite practice that adapts individuals to conform to social norms. He writes “Our task is to connect social struggle with the kind of...

Olya Khaleelee shares her experiences and thoughts on 'OPUS, An organisation promoting the understanding of society'.  OPUS aims to develop a deeper understanding of conscious and unconscious organisational and social dynamics; and to promote reflective citizenship – using this understanding to act authoritatively and responsibly as members of society and organisations within society.  Olya shares some of the OPUS early work in the prison sector and workplace settings, and the development and...

Stanley Gold is concerned with racism, and in his recent book, ‘Unthinkable Evil-Understanding Racism’ he makes the claim that we talk about racism, but not about the cause of racism, because to do so is unthinkable. He takes this phrase from politicians who talk about the ‘unthinkable evil’ when confronted with a racist or terrorist incidents.   Stanley shares his edgy idea that racism is caused by neuro-biological and infantile changes in brain structure. Simon challenges this idea as the...

Josephine is Australia’s first out Transgender priest and on this podcast, shares her experiences, and why she believes that trans people can help to shine a light into the world.   Simon and Josephine reflect on why transphobia occurs, and how trans, queer and non-binary ways of being create anxieties for those who fear transition in their own lives.  Josephine believes that trans liberation is not just about emancipating transgender people, but it offers a vision of a beautiful world, where...

Dr Mishel McMahon, a Yorta Yorta First Nations woman from Australia, draws from 60,000 years of Aboriginal cultural experience to discuss what she terms ‘Relational Ontology’ - ontology meaning how we understand reality, what’s real and what’s not real.   She says “Relational ontology is a view of reality that all entities; plants, animals, elements, seasons, skies, waterways, the land, the spirit world and humans are in relationship, like a web. First Nations peoples and many other groups...

Paul brings deep insights into climate change drawing on psycho-social thinking. This conversation explores climate anxiety, climate denial and climate delay, and how we as ‘moderns’ find it very difficult to escape deeply embedded ideas that entrap us. Paul relates this thinking back to our founding myths from Judeo-Christianity that throws humanity outside of the Edenic garden, and outside of nature, and is always looking for external salvation.  He reflects that “Us moderns live in a kind...

This conversation is important for anyone working in organisations, and trying to make sense of systems thinking.  Jim has been working with systems for many years and offers insights into how systems thinking evolved, why it is so important, and also why it is problematic and creates resistances.  Drawing on psychoanalysis as a ‘moral’ practice, Jim believes that unless we understand the psychodynamics and emotions that are at play when we take a systems approach, it will likely fail.  For...