Explore every episode of the podcast Build Your Edge

How do you have difficult conversations without damaging relationships?

In this episode of Build Your Edge, Jeremy sits down with Tom Day, Partner at PA Consulting, to explore how leaders, managers, and team members can tackle difficult conversations with confidence, empathy, and clarity.

Whether you’re giving difficult feedback, addressing poor performance, resolving workplace conflict, speaking to a client, or handling challenging conversations at home, Tom shares a practical framework for knowing when to speak up, how to prepare, and why waiting almost always makes things worse.

Tom explains why he believes all conflict starts with a lack of communication, how honesty builds trust rather than destroys it, and why the best leaders don’t avoid uncomfortable conversations. They prepare for them.

You’ll also discover Tom’s Manual of Me and Manual of Us frameworks, simple tools that help teams understand each other’s working styles, reduce misunderstandings, and prevent conflict before it starts.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• How to have difficult conversations at work

• Why people avoid conflict and difficult feedback

• How to prepare before an important conversation

• How to give honest feedback without damaging trust

• Why clarity creates stronger teams and better leaders

• How to build psychological safety through communication

• How the Manual of Me and Manual of Us frameworks help create high-performing teams

Download Tom’s Manual of Me and Manual of Us templates at:
https://buildyouredge.org/downloads

#Leadership #Management #Communication #DifficultConversations #ConflictResolution #LeadershipSkills #PeopleManagement #Teamwork #PsychologicalSafety #BuildYourEdge #TomDay

Most of us end the day feeling busy but not accomplished. The meetings happened. The emails got answered. The messages were dealt with. Yet the work that really mattered somehow never got done.

In this episode, mindset and leadership coach Zahra Saleh explains why that happens and why it’s not a personal failing. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, and her own experience leading complex technology programmes, Zahra reveals how our brains struggle to cope with the constant interruptions, notifications, and competing demands of modern work.

You’ll learn how to stop reacting to everything around you and start taking control of your day. Zahra shares practical tools from her MindTactics framework, including the Mental Stage concept, focus blocks, habit loops, boundary setting, and simple planning techniques that can help you create more calm, clarity, and productivity.

If you’ve ever reached the end of the day wondering where the time went, this episode will help you reclaim your focus, one small shift at a time.

Technical people are often brilliant at solving problems, but not always at explaining them.

In this episode, Jeremy sits down with Ben Pearce, a former Microsoft leader, founder of Elevated You, and host of the Tech World Human Skills podcast, to explore why communication has become one of the most important skills in modern technical careers.

Ben spent more than a decade leading technical teams at Microsoft before realising that many engineers, architects, and technical leaders were being held back by one thing: their ability to communicate ideas clearly to other people.

Together, Jeremy and Ben unpack:

• Why technical teams struggle to influence stakeholders
• The common communication mistakes engineers make
• How to explain complex ideas without dumbing them down
• Why emotion and storytelling matter in technical conversations
• How communication impacts promotions, leadership, and career growth
• Ben’s AOREN framework for structuring clearer, more persuasive communication

This isn’t about becoming a motivational speaker or “salesperson”. It’s about learning how to communicate technical ideas in a way that people understand, remember, and act on.

Whether you are explaining architecture decisions, presenting to leadership, working with customers, or trying to get buy-in from your team, this episode is packed with practical advice you can apply immediately.

If you have ever felt frustrated that your ideas are not landing the way they should, this episode is for you.

In Part 2 of this Hiring Masterclass, former Amazon Bar Raiser Sean O’Neill explains how great hiring teams compare evidence, challenge assumptions, and make confident decisions about who joins the team.

The interview only gathers the evidence. The real hiring decision happens in the debrief.

Sean shares the debrief practices he learned and refined across thousands of interviews, including blind voting, structured scoring, re-voting, candidate ranking, and how to avoid bias, groupthink, and the loudest voice in the room.

You’ll learn how to run a focused debrief, when to challenge the panel, how to handle split decisions, why “on the fence” is a weak vote, and how to decide whether a candidate truly raises the bar.

If you hire people, manage teams, or want to understand what happens after the interview, this episode is for you.

Find details of Part 1: The Craft of Interviewing, here: https://www.buildyouredge.org/community/podcasts/episodes/the-hiring-masterclass-part-1-the-craft-of-interviewing

Hiring is the highest-leverage decision a leader makes.

Choose the wrong person and they can drain energy, slow the team down, and create problems for months. Choose well and you strengthen the entire organisation.

In this episode, former Amazon Bar Raiser Sean O’Neill shares the interviewing techniques he developed after conducting thousands of interviews and hiring hundreds of people across Amazon, Tesco, and global technology organisations.

Sean explains how great interviewers uncover real evidence of ability using experiential questions, the STAR method, and what he calls the investigative journalist approach to interviewing.

You’ll learn how to probe beyond polished answers, distinguish drivers from passengers, and spot candidates who can talk a great game but lack real depth, skills that matter even more in a world of AI-assisted candidates and increasingly rehearsed interviews.

Whether you hire people, manage teams, or want to perform better in interviews yourself, this episode will help you understand what great interviewing actually looks like.

This is Part 1 of a two-part Hiring Masterclass. In Part 2, we go inside the hiring debrief, where the real decision gets made.

Sean also shares the interview and hiring debrief template he has used for years to help teams run structured hiring discussions and make confident decisions.

AI is moving fast. Faster than most of us can fully process.

It promises efficiency, creativity, and progress. But what might we be losing along the way?

In this episode, Eloisa Tovee explores the hidden costs of AI, from the impact on jobs, critical thinking, and creativity to deeper concerns around bias, online harm, misinformation, and the erosion of human connection.

As a UN Delegate for Women in the UK and a writer working at the centre of this shift, Eloisa brings a clear, grounded perspective on how AI is shaping society, and who is most affected.

This conversation goes beyond the hype to ask better questions: what are we trading off, who is being left behind, and how do we stay human in an AI-driven world?

Burnout rarely arrives overnight. For many leaders, it builds quietly over time, until one day it suddenly becomes impossible to ignore.

In this episode, Jeremy speaks with Andy Skipper, CEO and Founder of CTO Craft, about why burnout is so common among CTOs and senior technology leaders, how it develops gradually, and what happens when leaders finally hit the wall.

Andy shares his own experience of burning out early in his CTO career and the PTSD-like symptoms that followed after leaving the role. Together, they explore how the pressure of startup environments, unclear expectations, and the transition from engineer to leader can slowly push people toward exhaustion, self-doubt, and cynicism.

They discuss how to recognise the warning signs in yourself and others, why burnout can spread through teams and organisations if left unchecked, and what practical steps leaders and companies can take to prevent it.

Andy also introduces a simple four-stage approach to dealing with burnout:

• recognising it early
• taking immediate action
• changing the conditions that caused it
• building a healthier long-term environment

If you’re a CTO, engineering leader, founder, or ambitious technologist who feels close to the edge — or you simply want to build a sustainable career without sacrificing your health — this episode offers practical insight and reassurance from someone who has been through it and now helps thousands of leaders find their way back.

We were all given the same advice. Pick a lane. Specialise. Stick to the plan. Work hard. Climb steadily.

For decades, that approach made sense. In a stable world, depth and certainty were safe bets.

But the world of work isn’t stable anymore.

In this episode, Jeremy sits down with Kieran Cornwall to challenge the very foundation of modern career advice. Together, they explore why rigid career paths can quietly limit your potential, and why a fundamental shift in mindset may be the difference between stagnating and thriving.

This isn’t an argument against specialisation. It’s an argument against rigidity.

Kieran shares the perspective he’s built across banking, media, software engineering and consulting and explains why careers built on direction rather than fixed plans are better equipped for uncertainty.

You’ll hear:

• Why following a predefined “career map” can box you in
• The difference between certainty and direction
• Why adaptability is becoming a defining advantage
• How to think beyond the lane you were trained to stay in
• What it really means to build range without drifting

If you’ve ever felt stuck, boxed in, or unsure whether the path you’re on still fits this conversation will challenge how you think about progress, growth and long-term success.

Because the safest career strategy may no longer be playing it safe.

Leaving corporate to work independently sounds simple. Take your experience, pick your clients, set your own terms.

In reality, many consultants, fractional leaders, and NEDs discover something else instead: unpredictable income, one “client that feels like a job”, and a constant low-level anxiety about what happens next.

In this episode, I sit down with Dan Gwalter to unpack why this happens and how to avoid it.

Dan has lived this journey end to end. After leaving a FTSE 100 technology leadership role, he built a profitable consulting business the hard way, learned where most independents go wrong, and turned those lessons into a clear operating model that helps others build businesses they can actually rely on.

This conversation is not about hacks, personal branding tricks, or “just post more on LinkedIn”. It’s about structure.

Together, we explore:

• Why most independent professionals aren’t failing — they’re just operating without a system
• The difference between being a “fractional employee” and running a real business
• How to define the right clients, the right offers, and the right problems to solve
• Why visibility alone doesn’t create clients — and what actually does
• How to design an operating rhythm that works alongside delivery, not against it
• The psychological side of independence: confidence, self-doubt, and identity shifts

Dan also walks through the core elements of The Fractional Formula: an operating model designed to help consultants, fractional leaders, and NEDs build predictable deal flow, reduce fragility, and create momentum they can sustain.

If you’re thinking about going independent, already working as a consultant or fractional leader, or building a portfolio career and want it to feel stable rather than stressful, this episode will give you clarity, reassurance, and a practical path forward.

This is about building a business you can rely on, not winging it and hoping for the best.

If you’ve got the seed of an idea you keep pushing aside, you owe it to yourself to explore it.

Not to quit your job. Not to take a reckless leap. But to see whether it could become something real.

This episode is for senior leaders who feel successful on paper but quietly stuck; people who sense there’s more they could be building, yet don’t know where to start or how to do it safely.

We are joined by Ken Valledy, who talks through a practical, low-risk way to turn a side hustle into a real business; one that gives you options and a way out of the corporate rat race, without blowing up your life.

You’ll hear:

• Why leaving your job isn’t the goal; starting is
• How small steps create momentum long before money shows up
• What happens when you say your idea out loud for the first time
• How to test, shape, and validate an idea while keeping your job
• The five simple moves that take you from “what if?” to real progress

Ken shares his R.E.A.C.T. model, a framework designed to help you go from zero to one: getting your idea out of your head, into the world, and onto a path that could eventually support you full time.

If you feel the itch to do something of your own and don’t want to look back in five years wishing you’d tried, this conversation will help you take the first step.

In this episode, we sit down with Freddie Quek—Research Associate at Henley Business School, award-winning technology leader, advisor, and founder of #JoiningTheDots—to explore a question every tech professional needs to confront: What is our responsibility as technology leaders in a world where millions are still digitally excluded?

Freddie has led digital transformation across global organisations, including RELX, Wiley and Times Higher Education, where he helped develop the World University Rankings and SDG Impact Dashboard. Recognised by Computer Weekly and CIO 100 as one of the UK’s top technology leaders, he brings a rare blend of technical depth, social purpose, and strategic clarity.

Together, we dig into:

• Why 30% of the world being offline is not someone else’s problem.
• How digital exclusion shows up in everyday life — even for people who think they’re “tech savvy.”
• The Triple Bottom Line (Profit, Planet, People) and why it’s becoming essential leadership, not optional ethics.
• How AI and rapid technological change are widening new forms of inequality.
• What organisations, teams, and individual technologists can do today to make a measurable difference.
• Why solving this won’t come from charity — it will come from collective action across the tech sector.

Freddie also shares the story behind #JoiningTheDots and the newly formed NextPath Device Consortium, a sector-wide initiative helping the UK tackle device access, e-waste, and digital poverty at scale.

If you work in technology — in any role, at any level — this conversation will challenge how you see your influence and show you how to use your “superpower” for something bigger than your job description.

Most people treat interviews like an exam: tense, rehearsed, high-stakes. But what if the real key to performing well is the same thing that makes a great first date: connection, curiosity, and being your authentic self?

In this episode, Marylin Schlamkow returns to the show to share a fresh, more human way to approach interviews. Drawing on the surprising parallels between dating and interviewing, she breaks the process into three stages — before, during, and after — and shows how simple behavioural shifts can help you stay calm, build rapport, and show up with confidence.

We cover how to understand your values and principles, research effectively without overdoing it, create genuine two-way conversations, tell stronger stories, ask better questions, handle ghosting and rejection, and reflect in a way that actually improves your performance in your future interviews.

Whether you’re job-hunting now or preparing for a move, this episode gives you practical tools to interview in a way that feels more natural and produces better results.

You’ll learn:

• Why interviewing feels so much like dating (and how that helps)
• How to prepare in a calmer, more intentional way
• How to build rapport and create a real conversation
• How to talk about yourself without performing
• What to do after the interview, including ghosting, rejection, and reflection
• The one mindset shift that improves every interview

If interviews make you anxious or you simply want to show up as your authentic self and create a stronger connection, this one’s for you.

Most people think progressing into senior technical leadership is about becoming “good at everything.” It isn’t.

In this episode, Meri Williams breaks down the six skills that truly define modern technical leadership; the real capabilities behind roles like CTO, VP Engineering, Director of Engineering, and Staff-plus IC.

Meri has led engineering at Monzo, M&S, Moo, Healx and Pleo. She’s been an architect, a manager of 300+, a multi-time CTO, a board member, and a trusted advisor to CEOs. She’s seen what great leadership looks like, and what happens when the role and the leader don’t match.

Whether you’re already in the top seat or aiming for it, Meri’s Career Vectors Framework gives you a clearer way to understand where you stand and what to do next. Together, we unpack:

• Why leadership isn’t a “promotion” from engineering, but a career change
• What your company truly needs from you
• How your strengths match those expectations
• Where you’ll excel, where you’ll stretch, and where you may be miscast
• How to have honest, grown-up conversations with your CEO or manager
• How to evaluate a new role before you say yes
• Why you don’t need to be a “five out of five” in every dimension

We also explore how different shapes of technical leaders fit different stages of a company, and why talented people often struggle simply because they’re in the wrong context.

If you’re a Director on the rise, a VP looking for clarity, a Staff or Principal engineer exploring the leadership path, or a CTO sharpening your edge, this episode gives you a practical, visual way to map your capabilities to the role in front of you.

If you want to do the exercise yourself, Meri’s downloadable Career Vectors Framework is available at buildyouredge.org/downloads.

Hard work will get you started, but it won’t take you all the way. Every ambitious professional eventually hits a point where more effort stops creating more progress. You take on more, say yes to everything, work longer hours, yet somehow feel less effective. That’s 'the effort ceiling', and today’s guest has built a way to break through it.

In this episode, technologist and former Tide VP/CTPO Giorgos Ampavis shares The Multipliers Map: a practical framework that helps you understand where you are on the journey from doing the work to creating real impact. We dig into the five levels of high-impact leaders, how to recognise when you’re stuck, and the small shifts that help you move up the ladder without burning out.

If you want more clarity, more influence, and more momentum AND more fulfilment in your career, this conversation will help you take the next step. And you can download Giorgos’s self-assessment tool to follow along as you listen.

Giorgos' profile: https://www.buildyouredge.org/people/profile/giorgos-ampavis

Giorgos Amapvis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ampavis/

Download The Multipliers Map: https://www.buildyouredge.org/downloads/the-multipliers-map

Every day, around 12,000 people in the UK become carers, often right at the peak of their careers. Most don’t plan for it. Many don’t even realise they are carers. But the impact on their work, well-being, and future is enormous.

In this episode, Jeremy sits down with leadership coach and former tech MD Kirsten Hurley, who shares her deeply personal journey caring for her two autistic brothers while navigating senior leadership roles. Her story isn’t unusual; it’s the reality for millions of people quietly holding their families together while turning up to work with the same expectations as everyone else.

Together, Jeremy and Kirsten unpack:

• Why so many carers stay invisible at work
• The emotional and mental load nobody sees
• The leadership strengths caring builds: empathy, resilience, clarity, perspective
• The flexible, simple steps employers can take to support carers properly
• Why supporting carers is a retention strategy, not a favour
• How to spot the carers already in your organisation
• How to create a culture where people feel safe to speak up

Kirsten also shares her practical guide, “The Hidden Leaders In Your Workforce (and How to Get the Best from Them)”, available to download with the episode.

If you care about people, culture, leadership, or retention, you need this conversation. And if you’re a carer — even if you’ve never used the word — this will help you feel seen.

Let’s be honest: your website probably sucks. It’s slow, out of date, confusing, and says everything except what your business actually does.

In this episode, Craig Burgess, Creative Director of Genius Division, joins Jeremy to share five simple ways to fix your website and make it work harder for your business; no coding, no jargon, and no expensive rebuild. Everything he shares can be done with free tools and a bit of common sense.

You’ll learn how to:

• Tell people what you actually do (in plain English)
• Speed up your website using free tools
• Avoid the AI traps that hurt your ranking and credibility
• Write for your audience, not your ego
• Make your website look professional without hiring a designer

Craig has also created a free downloadable guide, “5 Common Website Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)”, that walks you through each problem step by step so you can audit your site and make instant improvements.

Whether you run a corner shop or a global brand, this episode will help you turn your website from a digital brochure into a tool that actually drives business.

Download Craig's free guide here: 

Find Craig here: buildyouredge.org/people/profile/craig-burgess

Craig on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/craigburgessuk/

Genuis Division: geniusdivision.com

A strategy is only as good as the people who deliver it. You can have the sharpest vision, the boldest goals, and the slickest slides, but if the message doesn’t land with your teams, it goes nowhere.

In this episode, Andy Toor joins Jeremy Burns to unpack how to make strategy stick. Together, they explore what happens after the town hall; how to turn leadership intent into clear, consistent action across the company.

Andy introduces The Strategy-in-Action Toolkit, a practical set of tools to help leaders translate strategy into human connection and measurable progress. You’ll learn how to:

• Run a 20-minute team conversation that makes the strategy real
• Communicate direction clearly and confidently at every level
• Spot misalignment before it becomes inertia
• Reinforce strategy through weekly “signal checks” that build lasting momentum

Whether you’re setting the direction or delivering it, this conversation will help you turn strategy into a living system; one that people understand, own, and act on.

Most people move through their careers by reacting to opportunities rather than creating them. But the most successful careers — the ones that lead to meaning, mastery, and momentum — are built with intention.

In this episode of Build Your Edge, Jeremy Burns talks with Bruce Pannaman, a startup technology leader who developed the Tech Career Strategies framework. This free downloadable guide helps you plan your career with purpose and direction.

Bruce explains how to think strategically about your career by first asking:

👉 What outcomes do you want from your work?

He walks through how to translate those outcomes —whether autonomy, wealth, impact, recognition, or leadership — into clear career destinations and avenues, such as building a startup, joining big tech, or becoming a recognised expert. Once you’ve chosen your path, Bruce shows how to identify the superpowers you’ll need to succeed and the stepping stones that will help you reach your bigger goal.

This episode is a practical blueprint for anyone who wants to stop drifting and start building a career with purpose.

⬇️ Download Bruce’s Tech Career Strategies guide free from the Build Your Edge downloads page.

Read more about Bruce on LinkedIn.

Your photo speaks before you do. Whether it’s your LinkedIn headshot, a team photo, or the images that sell your product, people decide what to think of you in about two seconds.

In this episode, professional retoucher Beth Perkins shares five fast edits that make any photo look sharper, brighter, and more trustworthy without turning you (or your brand) into something fake.

You’ll learn:

• Why your image is your first hook, and how to make it count
• The five fixes that instantly lift quality: straighten & crop, exposure & contrast, white balance, vibrancy, and spot-healing
• How small visual tweaks create trust and consistency across your brand
• Why “real” always beats “filtered”, and where AI editing crosses the line

Beth’s also created a free visual guide with before-and-after examples so you can apply the changes right away.

When a big project goes off the rails, panic spreads fast. Deadlines slip. Teams freeze. Leaders stop sleeping.

That’s when you call someone like David Crawford, a delivery leader known for running toward the fire, not away from it. David’s built a reputation for rescuing complex, high-stakes programmes and turning them back into wins.

You can use his approach to rescue everything from small, time-critical projects that simply can’t afford to fail to large, multi-million-pound programmes that have gone off the rails. In this episode, he shares the exact five-step approach he uses to stabilise chaos, rebuild trust, and deliver results at any scale.

We break down:

• How to spot the early signs a project’s in trouble
• The five steps to bring focus, control, and momentum back
• What to say (and not say) to customers when you’re behind
• Why authentic leadership in crisis is more about calm than control

David’s also shared the Turnaround Measure Tracker, the simple spreadsheet he uses to diagnose problems, focus your efforts, and track recovery week by week.

If your project’s wobbling, or you just want to lead with clarity when pressure hits, this episode’s worth your time.

Download David’s free Turnaround Measure Tracker at https://www.buildyouredge.org/downloads/turnaround-measure-tracker

There’s also an accompanying guide to help you apply it today, available for free at https://www.buildyouredge.org/downloads/a-guide-to-the-turnaround-measure-tracker

Job interviews are meant to reveal the best people for the job, but too often, they don’t. Candidates feel lost in the process, managers make rushed decisions, and both sides leave thinking, 'that could’ve gone better.'

In this episode, Sam Grill—a hiring manager who’s sat on both sides of the table—breaks down the interview process step by step. He explains what really happens behind the scenes, how decisions are made, and why small mistakes can cost big opportunities.

You’ll learn how to:

• Prepare and structure your interviews to uncover real capability
• Ask better questions that reveal fit, mindset, and impact
• Spot red flags early and avoid bias in decision-making
• Present yourself clearly and confidently as a candidate

Whether you’re running interviews or trying to ace them, this conversation gives you a clear, honest look at how interviews actually work, and how to win at them.

Plus, Sam leaves behind a free digital handout: a practical framework of interview questions for both candidates and hiring managers to plan, prepare, and evaluate effectively.

Download 'The Interview Cheatsheet' at buildyouredge.org/downloads

Most career frameworks stop at progression: tick the boxes, climb the ladder, chase the promotion. But what if growth was about more than just the next level?

In this episode, I sit down with Dan Ashby to explore how traditional frameworks fall short and how his approach flips the script by focusing on impact.

Dan shares how to connect your personal growth with company objectives, why tasks alone don’t qualify you for promotion, and how managers and employees can use his five-part framework to make growth measurable, meaningful, and strategic.

We cover:

• Why checklist-style frameworks create frustration and entitlement
• How to reframe growth around impact, evidence, and outcomes
• The role of intrinsic motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose—in performance
• Practical tools like skills mapping, growth tables, and Dan’s radar for impact
• How to use this framework as a “career passport” you can carry into any role or company

If you’re tired of frameworks that feel like admin exercises—or if you’re a manager stuck in endless promotion debates—this episode will show you how to build growth strategies that drive results, inspire teams, and actually matter.

Communicating with senior leaders isn’t like talking to your peers. The C-Suite live in a world of packed diaries, rapid context-switching, and high-stakes decisions. If you can’t deliver clarity, brevity, and impact, you’ll lose their attention and your opportunity.

In this episode of Build Your Edge, Cheryl Warlow joins Jeremy to share her playbook for making your mark at the top. We talk about:

• How to secure precious time in a senior leader’s diary
• The art of writing emails they’ll actually read (and act on)
• Why you must lead with a recommendation, not a ramble
• Handling tough questions and chaotic meetings without losing your footing
• The role of “friendlies” and sponsors in helping you succeed

Whether you’re preparing for your first presentation to the C-Suite or want to sharpen your influence in the boardroom, this conversation will give you the tools to nail it.

Giving feedback is one of the hardest yet most important parts of being a manager. Do it badly and you dent confidence, damage relationships, and risk losing people. Do it well and you unlock growth, build trust, and create a culture where people excel.

In this episode, leadership coach Clem Pickering joins Jeremy to break down why feedback so often goes wrong and how managers can flip it into a powerful tool for development. Clem shares practical methods for delivering feedback that lands, including his See, Think, Feel, Intent framework, and explains how to receive feedback without getting defensive.

You’ll learn why annual reviews are the worst place for feedback, how to make timing work in your favour, and what to do when even your top performers are hungry for more.

If you’ve ever felt awkward, fearful, or just plain stuck when it comes to giving feedback, this conversation will give you the tools and confidence to do it right.

Too many organisations spend months wordsmithing values and end up with one-word posters nobody uses. The result: wallpaper slogans that don’t shape culture or guide behaviour.

In this episode of Build Your Edge, I sit down with culture consultant Alya Lilani to show how to define and embed values that actually work. We cover:

• Why most company values fail
• Three steps to turn values into daily behaviours
• How strong values improve hiring, retention, and performance
• Practical ways to make values memorable and impossible to ignore

If your values don’t change how people act, they’re not values. This conversation shows how to make them real and how to turn them into a driver of culture and business results.

Download Alya’s Values Starter Kit to run this in your team today: buildyouredge.org/downloads.

Most people lurk on LinkedIn. They scroll, they like, but they never post. The result? Beige feeds, the same recycled content, and a missed chance to actually stand out.

In this episode of Build Your Edge, I sit down with video creator Jack Ralph, who went from hating LinkedIn to building a following and picking up clients in just a few months.

Jack admits he was terrified of posting at first, but decided to “just post the damn thing,” and everything changed.

We dig into:

• Why so many of us freeze before posting
• How to come up with ideas and turn everyday moments into content
• Simple ways to make your posts and videos pop (no fancy kit needed)
• How to move from fear to confidence, one post at a time
• Why imperfection and honesty beat polish and perfection every day

Jack’s honest, funny, and refreshingly real approach will change how you see LinkedIn. If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, this is your invitation to step up, hit post, and finally stand out.

How to Job Hunt Like a Sales Pro, with Marylin Schlamkow

If your job search feels like throwing CVs into a black hole, this episode is for you.

Marylin Schlamkow believes the best job searches aren’t passive; they’re strategic. Drawing on her background in both sales and recruitment, she shares how to take control of your job hunt with a structured, proactive approach.

In this episode, we cover:

• How to build and manage a job search pipeline like a sales funnel
• Why storytelling matters more than lists of skills
• How to follow up (without being annoying)
• The tools she uses to stay organised and track progress
• How to move from wishful applying to intentional prospecting

Marylin also shares a downloadable tool that walks you through her entire process, from targeting and outreach to interviews and offers.

If you’re ready to shift from “hope and apply” to “plan and close,” don’t miss this one.

Watch or listen now and download the free job search framework at buildyouredge.org/downloads.

If you’re ambitious but feeling stuck, this episode is for you.

Kevin McDonnell joins Build Your Edge to break down how continuous learning—and sharing what you learn—can transform your career. Kevin’s approach is practical, honest, and proven. He explains how to learn by doing, how to build credibility in public, and why perfection is the enemy of progress.

We talk about:

• Why side projects and open source work matter
• How to work out loud without feeling like a fraud
• The link between learning and visibility
• How to avoid stagnation and keep your edge sharp

🎧 Plus, there’s a free downloadable resource to help you apply everything we cover. Find it at buildyouredge.org.

High Performance From Happy Teams

Can you push for results without pushing people away? In this episode, executive and leadership coach Charlotte Rooney joins Jeremy Burns to share her framework for leading teams that deliver at a high level and thrive while doing it.

Charlotte draws on her experience leading in war zones, boardrooms, and high-scale startups to show how to set clear goals, prioritise the right work, and adapt without losing sight of relationships. You’ll learn how to balance heart and results, avoid the traps of over-caring or over-commanding, and keep your team engaged, even when the pressure’s on.

Whether you manage three people or three hundred, this conversation will help you create a high-trust environment that delivers exceptional results.

The Goal Setting Method That Actually Works – with Aaron Norris

Most people set goals. Very few actually achieve them.

In this episode, Aaron Norris joins Jeremy to unpack why that is, and what to do instead. Aaron left a high-flying sales career at Amazon to help people build successful, purpose-driven lives. His new book Sales Life shares the system he now teaches to clients, and in this conversation, he breaks it down for you.

You’ll learn:

• Why big goals aren’t just for ambitious founders and salespeople
• How to create a personal vision that actually moves you forward
• The difference between busy work and meaningful progress
• Why being clear on who you’re doing it for changes everything
• A powerful 7-step method called “An Email From Your Future Self”

Aaron also shares the exact tool he gives to his clients, a free downloadable asset to help you get started right away.

Whether you feel stuck, distracted, or just ready for a reset, this episode will help you take action on the goals that matter most.

🎧 Download the free tool: An Email From Your Future Self

📗 Buy Aaron’s book Sales Life

📲 Connect with Aaron on LinkedIn

We spend our lives chasing success, expecting happiness to follow. But what if we’ve got it backwards?

This week, I’m joined by executive coach Ellinor Glesner to talk about the pursuit of happiness. Not the fluffy kind. The real, hard-earned kind that comes from aligning your work with your values, your life with your priorities, and your decisions with who you want to become.

Ellinor shares how she redefined success for herself after burning out in a high-flying corporate role. She explains why happiness isn’t found in titles or achievements, but in clarity, courage, and the small, consistent choices we make.

We talk about:

• How to know when something isn’t working, even if it looks like success on paper
• The difference between ambition and alignment
• How to make room for joy in a demanding career
• The questions that helped Ellinor reshape her life, and how you can ask them, too

This episode is for anyone who’s ever thought, “I should be happy—but I’m not.”

And yes, there’s a downloadable guide from Ellinor to help you reflect, reset, and design your own version of a successful life. You can find it here:

https://www.buildyouredge.org/community/podcasts/episodes/the-pursuit-of-happiness

If you'd like to connect with Ellinor, you can find her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellinorglesner/

In this first episode, Jack Cole turns the tables and interviews Jeremy Burns, the creator of Build Your Edge, on its origins, mission, and principles, and explains why he and WeDo are supporting it so much.